Unfortunately, the staff’s busy schedule has prevented them from ever seeing a single episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Alas, as we hear little but good things about it. One of the editors over at Toon Zone, Ed Liu, obviously has more free time than we do, for last year he wrote a truly epic analysis of the color palettes of seemingly everybody. How epic? It had to be split into two parts. Here’s one snippet:
Interestingly, darker hues of green can be associated with decay and putrefaction because the mental association shifts from vegetation to mold. The Dai Li agents of Ba Sing Se are colored in a much darker green than the rest of the citizens of the Earth Kingdom. The on-screen reason for this hue is just a uniform color, versus the lighter greens of regular soldiers. However, the fact that they are also the instruments of the inner decay affecting the city is an interesting coincidence.
And for good measure, here’s another:
In contrast, Zuko takes much longer to adopt Earth Kingdom greens and yellows. Fire Nation brown and red continue to dominate his clothing for the remainder of the season, even when he’s on his date with Jin in “Tales of Ba Sing Se.” The only time he ever puts on full Earth Kingdom green and yellow clothing is at the very end of the season in “The Guru”, when his extremely un-Zuko-like behavior even raises the suspicions of Uncle Iroh. It’s extremely short-lived, though — by “The Crossroads of Destiny,” Zuko is wearing Fire Nation colors again when he and Uncle Iroh visit to the Earth King’s palace. It’s the first hint we get how he will ultimately turn on the Avatar by the end of the episode.
If this floats your boat, and if you’re still reading this then it really should, then head on over and read the full article.
Color Coding: How “Avatar the Last Airbender” Uses Color (Part 1) >Catena Ex Situ
Color Coding: How “Avatar the Last Airbender” Uses Color (Part 2) >Catena Ex Situ
Tags: Airbended, Airbender, Airbending, blue, green, red, to Airbend, white, yellow
