Equestria Girls World-Building Workshop: "Chromism" · 6:40pm Aug 28th, 2016
Something I was kind of thinking about earlier, thought about tossing it at a few of my writer friends, decided I'd just make a blog post about it instead.
In some of my works as well as in my head, I've entertained the notion that perhaps in the EG universe, there are preconceived notions and stereotypes about people of certain skin colors. For example, it's a running gag in my story Persona EG that pink girls are ridiculously oversexed. I've also been toying with a headcanon that gray girls have a certain sex appeal other girls don't have for whatever reason (*coughtaviandsilcough*), and that maybe there are other things people might associate with different skin colors in that universe.
Which led to me coining (I think I've coined it, I wouldn't be surprised if it's cropped up in some other fanwork already) a term for this type of stereotyping in the uniquely spectrum-rich universe of Equestria Girls:
"Chromism".
So I thought I'd toss this notion out for fellow authors to discuss and play with, see what we can all come up with based on the concept.
Here's a third one to add to the ones mentioned above:
Peach-skinned/pale orange-skinned people (like Applejack and Flash Sentry) are boring.
I'd be interested to see what you all come up with/think about this whole notion.
Disclaimer: Stereotyping is bad, racism is bad, but adding an element like this for dramatic purposes offers a broader range of story types we can tell using these characters.
I feel obligated to point out who else this applies to.
In any case, people do tend to look for patterns in the strangest places. Astrology, phrenology, blood type fortune telling... A wider, non-latitude-dependent skin spectrum would certainly provide rich fodder for apophenia. No potential examples are coming to mind, but it would make sense if it cropped up. Heck, different cultures might have different associations with each skin color, especially depending on how those colors are perceived elsewhere in society.
Hmm, blue skinned girls, such as Rainbow and Luna, seem to be competitive, a bit flashy, and a bit egotistical
So what would white be? Rich aristocratic brats?
Shades: With most people, chromelanin in their skin gives a colored tint that appears somewhere on the rainbow. However, some individuals are more monochrome--having skin that ranges from white through various shades of grey, all the way to black. These "Shades" were, in ancient times, assumed to have a deeper connection to the supernatural--the whitest shades were assumed to be chosen by gods and suchlike while darker shades were either the children of fey or, in unfortunate extreme circumstances, outright assumed to be demonic. While much of this has faded over the course of history, anyone with white or grey skin is assumed to be 'exotic' or 'unusual,' which attracts attention.
Brown: Like shades, browns were considered unusual. Unlike Shades, browns were not considered to be special or exotic. The rumor was that the browns were somehow more level-minded, and assumed to be logical--even when this was not the case.
Warms: Red, Orange, and Yellow represent the Warms. They are assumed to be go-getters, proactive and willing to get their hands dirty. Unfortunately, this does put a lot of pressure on them to achieve.
Greens: Greens are distinct, when they are separate from the foliage. It was once believed they were reincarnated forest spirits, and thus anything 'unusual' they did was assumed to be due to their unique nature. Even today, green-skinned individuals are expected to be very, very quirky.
Cools: Blue, Indigo, Violet, the Cools are supposedly calm under pressure, very rational, and quite collected. Anyone who does not fit this model is an instant stand-out.
Pinks: The color of energy, life, and renewal. Old beliefs held that those who were pink had large souls, and would act on emotion or impulse before thinking things through. People look to pink for matters of the heart... even when that is distinctly a bad idea!
I'd argue that Flash isn't boring at this point, but since you just brought him up to make a point of this being an in-universe possibility, I won't go into that right now.
As for this concept, here's one I'd like to add:
Blues: These people are often seen as hot-headed, extremely stubborn, and really into sports.
4177825 Watchu got against blues, huh?
green people practice witchcraft or something similar so that Wicked would make sense
I don't know about orange. The oranges might be more of them being less intellectual. Scootaloo and Applejack being examples. Flash is also a little out of it at times. Perhaps this extends to all the warm colors, since that includes a lot of the Apple family. It might even provide a bit of extra motivation for Sunburst; being that magic is an 'intellectual' art, being bad at it plays back into that stereotype. Likewise with Spitfire.
I agree with Diaknow: Blue might be the energetic ones, being blue-hot. Purple, on the other hand, are the scholars and magic-users. Greys just kind of stay out of the spotlight.
4177830 what color was blue blood?
4177789
Don't forget Maud!
Lantern corps attributes. Just cuz. And don't give me any crap about shades or whatever like with Sunset. Sunset is amber, which is a yellow orange, so she can apply to both
Green: They achieve just about anything from their willpower or they inspire others to do the same
Yellow: Either fearful (like Fluttershy) or they inspire fear (Like Sunset and Adagio.)
Orange: Greedy. Something I've seen commonly done with Applejack
Red: Generally angry or very quick to anger.
Indigo: Compassionate
Violet: Very loving. The coloring and naming is contradictory and/or odd in the DC comics. Star Sapphire is most notable for wielding a violet ring but she had a violet color scheme with more of a pinkish hue. So the stereotype you posed of pink girls being oversexed can technically apply
Blue: Hopeful or inspure hope in others. Prettu sure Rainbow's competitive behavior can be seen as being hopeful. She's enthusiastic and hopeful of winning, or is that the same?
White: Very lively, embraces life, or appear like a shining example of a living being if that makes sense. I think Celestia definitely applies to that last one. Rarity's flair for fashion, or making things look their best, I suppose can be interpreted as a sort of embracing of what can be done with life, something along those lines.
Black: Asssociated with death. This would probably be an old, rare and/or almost defunct stereotype. Essentially a goth, emo, whatever other lifestyle is centered around death or depression. They either are or they give an air of being so. Like they could be happy but they just make you think of this stuff. Chrysalis applies for sure.
That's it for lantern corps, so I'm out of colors.
Purples, skin and hair, are smart, uncanny, untrustworthy.
They're so totally full of themselves! Look at that nerd Twilight Sparkle... always keeping to herself. Always thinking she's better than us! I bet she thinks we're idiots!
And Sunny Flare, does she even talk to anyone outside the Shadowbolts? Have you talked to her? All she does is sneer. What gives?
And Principal Cinch! Oh my God, she scares me! She's, like, super smart I heard, but she gives me the creeps! Did you hear she blackmails some of her students? The schoolboard should've gotten rid of her long ago, but she has dirt on them too!
Do you think that's why Twilight left? I heard she tried to do something during the Games. Something very bad. Yeah, really! They don't talk about it, but she went totally crazy and threatened both teams! Good thing she's gone.
I actually really like this idea. I might have do something with it later. I also got another one for you: pale colors like white or light gray or even cream tend to be creative types (Rarity, Vinyl, Coco). Rarity would also fit into that trope of grey girls having more sex appeal.
Red folks would be calm and decisive, possibly wise, even if they may not be real book smart.
I can also see this idea coming into play for people designing new characters. It would definitely be a useful tool.
I'm sure I posted this yesterday, but how about in addition to the colors, you also have intensity. An example is the PEG version of Pinkie, who is intensely pink and pretty much seems up for anything sexual at least once. Meanwhile, we have Cadence, who is a paler pink and seems to be more restrained in terms of sexuality, but still is fairly poly-amorous (although, it seems that she's toning it down to being Demisexual, which seems to be "sleeps with people they have a close, emotional bond with")
Here's My Colors.
Blue: Hyper-competitive. It could be Sports, it could be Gaming, it could be Cooking. It doesn't matter, Blues WILL strive to be the absolute best at it.
Grey: Oddly attractive. The hair-equivalent for us would be red hair. It's almost a dead horse trope that if someone is cheating on their partner, the mistress/bit-on-the-side is a grey.
Red: Contemplative. They speak little, but think deep.
Yellow: Issues. People with yellow skin tend to have issues of some sort. Whether it is social anxiety, bipolarism or a sibling complex, Yellows seem to always have some sort of issue
White: Elite. (This is going to sound horribly racist if taken out of context) White is the color of Royalty, just as Purple is for us. The more White someone is, the more elite they seemingly are.
Black: Other. People with black skin tend to be...other. They might hold strange views. They might know strange things. They may very well prefer to look at the bright side of the dark side of life.
Green: Strange. Greens always seem to be the strange ones. It could be that they think that they are otherkin. It could be that they like to point out the obvious to the oblivious.
Pink: Passionate. Most of the time, this manifests in a passion towards people, but there are times when it is a passion for music.
Purple: Intelligent. It is assumed that the best people to ask about a subject are those with purple skin. They tend to freak out if there is something they don't know. Another dead-horse trope.
Orange: Active. Oranges won't just sit around and wait for things to happen. They will MAKE things happen!
Brown: Boring. There really isn't much to be said for Browns
Octarine: Wish-Fulfillment. When developing writers want to make their OC super-speshal, chances are that it will be Octarine in the same way that some writers will use a strange ability or heterochromia to make them different.