Should dark hair and eyes be included within Curtains Match the Windows?

So, to my understanding, Curtains Match the Window was mostly intended for matching implausible colors because techicolor eyes and hair together is particularly striking and visually pleasing. I don't think dark eyes and hair carry the same effect as it's a mundane combination that most people have and doesn't really stand out. The playing with page lists dark hair and eyes as a downplayed version of the trope but I dunno if I'd even list it under that. I don't think I'd have a problem with it if the trope treated as a setting trope instead of an individual character trope though.

Edited by MacronNotes on May 11th 2022 at 11:36:41 AM

Wasn't there a discussion about this trope that decided to exclude examples of brown/black hair, since that's very common, especially in Asian countries?

I can see it counting in a World of Technicolor Hair and Eyes That Match, but it's completely useless when used to describe most people of color in a vacuum.

Edited by Synchronicity on May 12th 2022 at 10:25:40 AM

I thought that as well. Also, the trope image is a little misleading because it looks like it includes a blonde-haired girl with honey-coloured eyes and a red-headed girl with chestnut eyes (both of which are possible to find in real life). I appreciate the eyes are probably supposed to be yellow and red respectively, but that isn't how they come across in an image that small without looking hard to realise that. A quick glance at the image makes it look like normal hair and eye colour matches are therefore in scope.

In fact, that image might be an example of how the trope can be downplayed. The image portrays the blonde and the red-head having technicolour eyes with natural hair colour (and the eyes are almost natural-looking on first glance). One of the characters in the image also has green hair and green eyes. Green eyes are natural, but green hair isn't, so perhaps that's downplayed? Or perhaps if they had a more natural green eye shade to go with the unnatural green hair?

Edited by Wyldchyld on May 22nd 2022 at 4:08:33 AM

i was under the impression that it's fine for the colors being matched to be real-life colors, as long as it's clear that it's not common for the colors to match, and the matching colors are more for aesthetic purposes than for being colors that commonly pair in real life. i wonder if it might be worth making this into a counterpart of World of Technicolor Hair where it should be a trait of a large group of a work's characters for it to qualify

Edited by NoUsername on May 21st 2022 at 11:01:26 AM

The trope description does seem to emphasize that the hair color is "unusual" in-universe, so that would disqualify most examples of characters with brown, black, or blond(e) hair + corresponding eyes. The Laconic does have the problem of that "Any color." tacked on at the end which could be causing confusion.

I would be against expanding it like World of Technicolor Hair (or I guess, restricting it to a work-wide phenomenon like WoTH). The way I've seen it used is usually only one or a few characters, usually to emphasize something about them (either a personality type or just their physical oddness like the trope description says). And also because sometimes Hollywood Genetics is in play.

For example: Let's say our hero Bob has a little sister named Alice. Now Alice is meant to be a motivation for Bob. She's defenseless and innocent, so she's given blue hair and blue eyes.

Or maybe in our universe of magicky magic, we invoke Color-Coded Wizardry by giving Tom the fire mage red hair and red eyes.

I am personally not used to seeing it be utilized on an individual level. All the examples I can think of include multiple characters. Not saying that it should expanded because of my perception though, obviously.

I agree. As for the earlier comment about blondes: Almost nobody has yellow irises, the closest most people get is light brown that looks yellow in certain lighting and that's already rather rare. (It's why Supernatural Gold Eyes is a thing.) So I think it would still count stylistically for a blonde character with yellowish eyes (assuming that's not the actor's natural coloring, like this lady◊).

One example of "unnatural matching" for an individual character is the creepy priestess Melisandre from A Song of Ice and Fire, who has red hair and red eyes (also dressed in red, wears red jewelry, known as the Red Woman, you get the idea). There are a lot of other gingers/auburn-haired people in the story, but the specific shade of red in her hair is specifically noted to be odd. And of course nobody really has red eyes.

Oh for certain, I wasn't saying they didn't exist, after all, this wiki is vast, and I don't think anyone has read every single article and work page here .

True. When I wrote that, I was thinking more of the light light brown (or honey) and hazel-colored eyes, but it is true those are not yellow/gold. I retract that portion of my comment.