Superman
Here the two contrasting colors, red and blue, play the two leading roles, blue as the protagonist and red as the antagonist. Blue here signifies value and support as it makes superman stronger whereas, red portrays destruction and helplessness as superman loses his superpowers under the red sun.
Even his suit is made up of three colors: red, blue and yellow. These colors portray how the different colored suns effect him. Blue is used most widely because of its positive impact, red is the second most used color because of its negative impact on him and yellow is the least used as it has little to no effect on his superpowers.
Blue portrays superman’s calmness and strategic tactic whereas red portrays his dominance and dignity. His planet, Krypton’s sun, which is red in color, displays his connection to the planet and blue displays his connection to Earth.
Leroy and Stitch
In “Lilo & Stitch” Stitch is the lead character who is a blue alien and his primary role was to destroy everything and causing chaos in the entire universe. However, his personality changed when he met Lilo. He was still chaotic, aggressive he became kind, sweet and caring towrds everyone. All he needed was a little love and support by his new family.
Whereas, his twin brother Leeroy, a red alien who looks exactly like Stitch is sent to fight him. He is the antagonist. He is seen to be ruthless, destructive with no emotion to be seen. He is considered to just be a destructive machine who is loyal to his creator. Leeroy is mischievous, harmful, aggressive, sadistic and cruel with no morals. Unlike stich he is more mature, merciless, brutal and enjoys torturing others. Leeroy is also strategic, smart and cunning as he uses proper strategies for battle unlike Stitch who acts on impulse. The two contrasting personalities of similarly built characters and their portrayal through different colors used symbolically to portray the protagonist and antagonist is evident in this example.
Myosis
A short film that touches a topic on different layers i.e. a character’s struggle to not conform to societal expectations as he struggles to hold on to things that he loves. In the film Red and Blue is used to convey two conflicting themes – passion versus dullness. Red and Blue can be interpreted in many ways – using colors to differentiate two different sides; or even evoking feelings by relating the colors to common daily themes. For exxample red to feelings like love, lust and passion; while blue is commonly related to feelings of calm and serenity (while in this case, a muted, grayish blue is used to evoke dread).
The Blue Umbrella
Even if the plot is brief and adorable and doesn’t focus too much on serious subjects, the superb execution nevertheless leaves a lasting effect.
Red and blue are used in the short film’s straightforward plot to distinguish between two characters.
The film makes creative use of camera angles, the soundtrack, and lighting to subtly express emotions without the use of overt body language or gestures.
Of course, the 2D animated facial expressions contribute as well, but that seems more like a creative choice to appeal to a wider audience as the plot could have been told without the 2D images.
The Super Mario Movie
The classic fire vs. ice is used to symbolise the red vs. blue debate.
References
Myosis. 2013. [Film] Directed by Ricky Cometa, Guillaume Dousse, Adrien Gromelle, Thibaud Petitpas Emmanuel Asquier-Brassart. France: Gobelins.
Siegel , J. & Shuster, J., 1938. Superman. s.l.:DC comic.
The Blue Umbrella. 2013. [Film] Directed by Saschka Unseld. s.l.: Pixar.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie. 2023. [Film] Directed by Michael Jelenic aron Horvath. s.l.: Universal Studios.
Leroy and Stitch. 2006. [Film] Directed by Bobs Gannaway, Tony Craig. s.l.: Disney.
Arsalan Awais 