The Superman Archetype's Colors

jwr1947

Summary
In a historical retrospect the designers of the most popular superheros seem to have preferred the standard colors red and blue to characterize their symbolism. In contrast in the Middle Age yellow and green sometimes have been reserved for traitors, enemies and evil characters. Analyzing the Jung's archetypes in the Liber Novus (the Red Book) we also identify a majority of illustrations combining red and blue elements in the manuscript's illustrations and initials1. In retrospect we may recognize red and blue combinations in the majority of ancient up to medieval illustrations, manuscripts, sculptures, architecture and flags in Europe and other parts of the world. Red and blue seem to have been considered as archetypes for antipodal symbolic elements. The colors for modern superheroes may seem to reflect the flag's colors, but we will have to trace back the flag's colors to ancient medieval respectively the biblical symbolic roots red and blue, which first occur in the Book Exodus 25:4 as a divine command for the priests' garments and the sanctuary's decorations.

Superheroes
The divine commands in Exodus 28-28 and 39 (-21,22,30) clearly reveal a preference of blue for Aaron and his sons. These religious commands must have influenced all medieval artists in their coloring code. But the colors probably arose from predecessor symbols such as a red earth or a red sun as opponents of the blue sky, respectively a blue moon2. Except for the Rado-Bible medieval bibles usually apply some combinations of red and blue, which will be found in the header-lines, in the initials, in the garments and in the other decorations. In most paintings Mary's garments reveal a blue robe over a red dress. Sometimes an additional yellow veil or towel will be used. Analysis of 33 selected paintings ranging from 1295 up to 1938 reveals 66% matches for standard compositions (red for the inner robe and blue for the outer robe) for Mary.3 Red and blue combinations belong to the most popular colors to depict heroes such as medieval emperors, kings, queens, saints and the members of the divine family. In the Middle Age yellow and green tended to be reserved for traitors and evil characters. In medieval painting Jesus Christ and Mary often wear a blue outer garment over a red inner dress. In a statistical analysis 66% of Mary's depictions have been painted with blue outer robes over a red inner garment 4. Emperors (e.g. Barbarossa) prefer to be depicted wearing a blue overcoat over red garments. In the Codex Manesse King Tyro from Schotten and king Wenzel of Bohemia both wear a blue overcoat and a red undercoat. In contrast to Egyptian architecture, which was based on the three colors red, blue and green, Greek and Roman temples concentrated on red and blue combinations5. Roman and Greek garments however restrict the color symbolism on heroic red and divine purple.

1 2 3 4 5

Red and Blue in C.G. Jung's "The Red Book" The Viennese Bible (6th Century) displays a red sun symbolizing a male red God and a blue moon. The Fundamental Color Symbols Blue and Red Gender References for Purple, Red and Blue Red and Blue in Architecture and Artwork

In modern eras pink may have been a color associated with masculinity. In 1914, The Sunday Sentinel, an American newspaper, advised mothers to use pink for the boy and blue for the girl, if you are a follower of convention. The return (or change) to pink for girls and blue for boys happened in America and elsewhere only after World War II.

Jung's archetypes6
C.G. Jung's Liber Novus (the Red Book) has been created 1914-1930. In this book Jung visualizes and describes his (and our own) inner images, from unconsciousness, from which anything else has been derived. The bipolarity, the androgyny, the coloring of initials, the colors' red and blue in Jung's masterpiece corresponds to similar symbolism in a great number of medieval manuscripts. Jung created this document as his private overview and record of his own experiences. These experiences however correspond to a great number of equivalent symbols. I merely found one contradiction to the medieval symbolism: in medieval documents red is a male, and blue a female symbol, whereas Jung applies red as a female and blue as a male element. The manuscript has been written as a medieval, religious concept with (mostly) red & blue alternating initials. The illustrations often also are colored in red & blue. Initials in dialogues are alternated in red & blue colors, which is a common practice for medieval manuscripts. Jung may have used these alternating color codes to symbolize the I and the I's antipodal element S. Each ego consists of a male and a female element. The opposite partner is considered as evil. In Jung's Red Book the male element may be blue and the female element red. A couple has been depicted as a white-bearded man in a blue dress and a black-haired women dressed in a red garment. The men is greeting a white-dressed person at the roadside7. Philemon has been depicted with the kingfisher's colors red & blue, which also may be found in the borderline's patterns. William I, Prince of Orange, has adopted the kingfisher as his favorite bird. The kingfisher is also found on a medal created 1572 in honor for the city of Delft's transition to the Geuzen and carrying the royal motto. The Watergeuzen (pro-independence privateers), acting on his instructions, harassed the enemy everywhere they could and they did this under a kingfisher's Orange, White & Blue, the colors of the Prince's coat of arms. Abraxas is described as a bipolar deity, hermaphrodite, truthful and lying, good and evil, light and darkness, in the same word and in the same act.

Bipolarity
All of these codes indicate a bipolar set of archetypes centered around red and blue including the divine symbolic color purple as a combination of a joined red and blue. Bipolarity ruled the symbolic world of superheroes before writing had been established 8. The ancient decorations of temples, sculptures, bibles, paintings, frescoes, coats of arms, flags have been revived in the modern comics9, games and movies of the twentieth century. Subconsciously the archetypes survive and will be inherited to the next generations to perform their stabilizing functionality in coming generations.

6 Red and Blue in C.G. Jung's "The Red Book" 7 In this dressing code Jung uses the antipodal version of the medieval color code (blue for female, red for male symbolic elements). 8 The Hermetic Codex II - Bipolar Monotheism 9 Such as Superman see appendix for some details

Appendix: Superman
Superman is a fictional character, created 1932 in the USA. The character's appearance is distinctive and iconic: a mainly blue, red and only partially yellow costume with a stylized "S" shield on his chest10. In its original inception in Action Comics #1, Superman's symbol was a letter S with red and blue on a yellow police badge symbol that resembled a shield. Superman is most vulnerable to green Kryptonite, mineral debris from Krypton transformed into radioactive material by the forces that destroyed the planet. Exposure to green Kryptonite radiation nullifies Superman's powers and immobilizes him with pain and nausea; prolonged exposure will eventually kill him11. One of Superman's antipodes, the Toyman, has been depicted in green or red & blue combinations12.

Fig. 1: This is an original Superman costume owned by owner of Egeskov castle in Denmark.
This is an original Superman costume owned by owner of Egeskov castle in Denmark from the Superman Wikipedia-entry. Creative Commons-Lizenz Namensnennung 3.0 Unported

10 Superman - Wikipedia 11 Superman - Wikipedia 12 The original Toyman