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PT Colors, Symbols, and their Importance in the PT

Discussion in 'Prequel Trilogy' started by AstroDroid88, Jul 14, 2016.

  1. AstroDroid88

    AstroDroid88 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 30, 2016
    In all seriousness, does Anakin have a thing for yellow or is his favorite color yellow? I'm only asking cuz every ship he flew during Eps 1-3 has been yellow or has yellow on it. Whether its his pod racer or Naboo Starfighter in TPM, the air speeder he chooses to go rescue Obi Wan on Coruscant in AOTC, or his Jedi Starfighter at the beginning of ROTS, they all have a yellow scheme to them.

    Is it only me who notices these things? [face_thinking]
     
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  2. CT-867-5309

    CT-867-5309 Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jan 5, 2011
    He specifically chose the speeder in AOTC for it's totally gonzo color.
     
  3. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    That was a tongue-in-cheek comment on his part. Hence Obi-Wan's response about working on his swordsmanship the way he works on his wit.
     
  4. HevyDevy

    HevyDevy Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2011
    Yeah it's been noticed. Apparently yellow is Lucas's fave colour.
     
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  5. Lulu Mars

    Lulu Mars Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 10, 2005
    Yellow accompanies Anakin to balance his bravery ;)
     
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  6. Alexrd

    Alexrd Chosen One star 6

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    Jul 7, 2009
    No, it was done on purpose.
     
  7. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    I understand it's a reference to John Milner's car in "American Graffiti".
     
  8. {Quantum/MIDI}

    {Quantum/MIDI} Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 21, 2015
  9. Mr. Forest

    Mr. Forest Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 1, 2012
    Since he never drinks water, he just figure being the chosen one granted you different pee colors, such as yellow.
     
  10. heels1785

    heels1785 Skywalker Saga + JCC Manager / Finally Won A Draft star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 10, 2003
    After some discussion with a great member of this forum, we're going to reopen this one, and expand the scope a good bit.

    Enjoy!
     
  11. Cryogenic

    Cryogenic Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2005
    I'll contend: Colours -- and colour generally -- are used in fantastically expressive and wonderfully symbolic/architectonic ways across the multifarious wonder-canvas that is the PT.

    As for the conspicuous example of Anakin riding inside of, or, in the case of AOTC, grabbing hold of to then ride inside of, or, in a second case, to subsequently attempt to stop, yellow-hulled vehicles ("gonzo"-coloured or otherwise)...

    On a rather plain but still quite fascinating level, one can read it as a hint of subconscious likes/dislikes and idiosyncratic tendencies pushing us to shape our destinies: a supple (and subtle) visual commentary (one that is entirely visual and inherently silent).

    Anakin, of course, is also described by various characters, overtly or implicitly, as being "The Chosen One". In a sense, he is associated with the "sun" of the Force: with destiny, divinity, immortality. So his presumed preference for yellow in-universe, or his basic connection to yellow extra-universe, is simply a reminder of his "deeper", cosmic nature; and a reminder or indication of the totalizing, sign-dominated, hyper-symbolic construction and attitude of the story in general.

    And yes, there is certainly, I would say, a hearkening back to "American Graffiti", as well: that sediment out of which Star Wars partially arises. Artists like to reference their prior stuff. Lucas does this rather blatantly in AOTC, with that single, but very striking, "diner" scene between Obi-Wan and Dex. Perhaps we could read into that (this is all subjective, of course) as Lucas saying that the prequels are buzzing with the "colour" of life; or life caught in strange rituals, trying to transcend itself. A wonderful design fixture, in my opinion.
     
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  12. corinthia

    corinthia Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 16, 2016
    I think color symbolism is fascinating, and I think GL was probably very conscious of the decision to use the color yellow for Anakin. In literature and in many cultures, yellow has a lot of meanings that rather capture the duality of Anakin's character.

    In a positive sense, yellow represents sunlight, warmth, courage, and strength, which is pretty descriptive of pre-dark side Anakin, in my book. But on the flip side, yellow can also represent weakness, deceit, cowardice, instability, and non-emotion. And, in the context of the Great Gatsby, symbolizes corruption (which I think is quite interesting if applied in this context!). If read in the negative sense, I think the use of yellow along with Anakin's character is a foreshadowing of his fall to the Dark Side.

    And I agree with what Cryogenic's said above! The sun symbolism and gaudiness of the color yellow is important to Anakin's character.
     
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  13. HevyDevy

    HevyDevy Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2011
    This may be the place to post some reoccurring things I've noticed with saber colours.

    Qui-Gon's and Luke Skywalker's sabers are green, book-ending the saga (1-6), both starting and reawakening Anakin's Jedi path, and making a neat visual cue for Obi-Wan symbolically becoming a Jedi when he uses his Master's green saber to kill Maul (and taking Qui-Gon's role as Anakin's master). Plus Yoda loses his green saber when Palpatine defeats him in ROTS.

    Anakin's sabers in AOTC are repeatedly lost or broken. After his blue saber is destroyed he then attains a spare green saber, which he fights with until Dooku cuts it in half (Anakin having been using the green saber and the blue saber Obi-Wan throws to him). Interestingly, Anakin loses his arm to Dooku using the same saber Obi-Wan just lost to Dooku with. In my personal reading Anakin's slashed green saber falling to the floor kind of ominously looks like a reflection of Anakin's lost potential when he eventually falls.
    Then in ROTS Anakin beheads Dooku in cold-blood with his blue and Dooku's own red saber, replacing Dooku as future Sith apprentice. The blue and red demonstrates Anakin's potential dual paths, and Anakin of course never has the Dagobah cave revelation that tries to tell Luke where following in Anakin's path will lead (aptly there Luke beheads the Vader apparition also).

    Anakin and Obi-Wan face each other as brothers with fittingly the only blue vs blue fight of the saga.



    Plus most of the green hues of the original six films occur in Ep1 and Ep6. The galaxy spiraling into darkness and returning.
     
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  14. Lulu Mars

    Lulu Mars Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 10, 2005
    There are different sets of primary colors depending on context, but if we use the RYB color model as our basis for symbolism analysis, it would seem that red is used to represent darkness, blue to represent light and yellow to represent balance. Since yellow is usually associated with Anakin, I deem it an appropriate interpretation!
     
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  15. Tonyg

    Tonyg Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 16, 2016
    The color palette in PT tells a story itself: the softened mysterious colors of TPM, the bright colorful worlds in AOTC and the darkened tones of ROTS are in perfect harmony with the events that happened. But I should say that this yellow makes it difficult for me to understand it. It is specific yellow: very dare, very unusual. The starfighters of Naboo are yellow and Anakin drives one of them, the speeder of AOTC is yellow and also, some of the vehicles in ROTS have yellow elements. I don't know.. It could be that the yellow is a prelude to the orange fire that burns Anakin soul and body but also it could mean joy and happiness, so maybe I concur with the opinion of Lulu Mars
     
  16. E 50

    E 50 Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jul 15, 2016

    I looked at it as more of a Spring/Renewal thing but also I agree with a lot of what you said. tbh I don't think they really had any plan like this other than to choose designs which were more visually striking. In that regard, the prequels were a success. There is a lot to look at and it is vibrant and memorable.
     
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  17. Alienware

    Alienware Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Apr 19, 2013
    And don't forget Anakin's yellow starfighter.

    [​IMG]
     
  18. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

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    Sep 30, 2012
    In light, yellow is a mix of red and green, so it could be said that yellow represents a mix of the light and dark sides.
     
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  19. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012

    In TV screens, yes - but there's also light that is purely yellow wavelength between 570 and 590 nanometres :

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow
     
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  20. corinthia

    corinthia Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 16, 2016
    I wanted to come back to this thread after talking about color symbolism in the PT in a different thread. We got on the topic there of visual symbolism being the heart and soul of the PT, and being the color enthusiast I am, I've been biting my tongue to not derail the other thread with talk of color symbolism. :p

    I found this just a few minutes ago: http://www.vox.com/culture/2015/12/17/10322514/star-wars-colors I find it really interesting to see the entire films broken down into their very "color essences", if you will. I'd love to talk about this.

    And Subtext Mining posted this in the other thread, and I wanted to put it up here: http://www.fubiz.net/en/2015/04/20/the-colors-of-star-wars-palettes/

    Cryogenic also talked a little about the way Rothko's paintings evoke emotion with color, and how the PT may possibly do the same.

    Just wanted to open up discussion about the PT and colors again...!
     
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  21. Subtext Mining

    Subtext Mining Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2016
    Yeah. Talk about bookends and ring theories; viewed in numerical order we see the SW Galaxy go from a full spectrum of colors: primaries, secondaries, as well as neutrals, Then as the saga carries on, the color is drained from the Galaxy. And it isnt until Cloud City on Bespin that the color starts to Return - as Han & Leia's love blossoms while Luke grows in his powers with The Force. And of course, with RotJ, as the Jedi returns, so does the color.


    Also, Corinthia, I've seen that other SW color palette site before, love that! I drool over stuff like that 'color palette by the second' thing.
     
  22. Subtext Mining

    Subtext Mining Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2016
    This artist I've admired for a while has done a masterful job of not only rendering the iconic turning points in each film (literally), but also the color palettes.
    These were used as the book covers for the Chinese novelizations, I believe.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    You can see all 7 of his Star Wars pieces here:
    http://breath-art.deviantart.com/gallery/
     
  23. corinthia

    corinthia Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 16, 2016
    Gorgeous!!! How do I get these installed in my house as real stained glass windows?
     
  24. Subtext Mining

    Subtext Mining Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2016
    If I knew, I would've already done it. [face_love]

    Seems like you can't even order prints, unlike most of his other stuff.

    I've been settling for desktops. They're like meditation mandalas or hieroglyphic tracing boards.
     
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  25. Darth Basin

    Darth Basin Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 15, 2015
    That art is amazing.
     
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