Yellow is a very bright and vivid color, the brightest of the six primary and secondary colors (doesn't matter which colorspace you're thinking of). It is an intense and agitated color, known to cause anxiety in humans from prolonged exposure. It's the perceptible color of our sun, thus symbolizing sunlight (although the sun is technically white, and through most of the day it is barely yellow). And it's the color of the precious metal gold, thus also symbolizing wealth and opulence (particularly Chinese royalty). In everyday life, it is common to see yellow used as a color of caution, such as in yellow signage, amber traffic lights and yellow "Police Line" tape. For the same reason, construction vehicles are often painted yellow. Yellow is also a popular color in flags, and it is used in the Olympic Games to symbolize the continent of Asia. Because it is the brightest color, yellow is used as a highlighting color to bring attention to words or pictures. On fictional people, the yellow or blonde hair is generally used to signal that they are attractive (or pretty and dumb). Yellow is also associated with cowardice. It is also associated with urine (a healthy pee ranges from clear to pale yellow; if there's more yellow, it's advisable to drink more water).
Compare The Gilded Index (although tropes of merely a golden color belong on this page instead).
Tropes
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: A trio consisting of a blonde, a dark-haired, and a red-haired character.
- Blonde Republican Sex Kitten: An attractive female conservative to show that they're not all old white men.
- City of Gold: A place where ivory, jewels, and precious metals are in abundance.
- Cowardly Yellow: The color yellow is associated with cowardice.
- Dumb Blonde: Blonde hair on a person, usually a woman, shows stupidity.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: When a blonde character is sexually attractive.
- Gold-Colored Superiority: If something is gold-colored or has a gold-colored version, it will often be stronger than others.
- Gold Is Yellow: Yellow used as a visual shorthand for the more earthy color of real gold.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: A blonde person who is pure and innocent.
- "Have a Nice Day" Smile: The yellow smiling face with the message "Have a Nice Day".
- Orichalcum: A legendary precious metal.
- Plenty of Blondes: A disproportionate number of blondes for the setting when a show has no fewer than half of the female white cast being blonde.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: When characters who have gold or yellow-colored eyes have some form of supernatural origin or powers that place them above normal humans.
- Warm Place, Warm Lighting: An orange or yellow color wash to make a setting look warm.
- Yellow Earth, Green Earth: Earth colors are either portrayed in yellow or green.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: Yellow eyes are for suspicious people.
- Yellowface: White people pretending to be Asian.
- Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: Cartoonish lightning colors.
- Yellow Peril: Evil Asian masterminds, or just Asians being depicted as stereotypical villains.
- Yellow/Purple Contrast: A popular Color Contrast between purple and yellow.
- Yellow Snow: Snow colored with urine.
