Men in Black (A World of Color, Day Eight)

Note: This is part 8 in a series of posts titled A World of Color. You can read the previous posts here: Introduction, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple.




Black is technically the absence of color. It is very powerful and quite varied in its symbolism. It can express mystery or confidence and power. It can be a color of sophistication or a color of mourning.

Particularly in Western countries, black is very strongly associated with sorrow and grief. A widow will often dress in black to indicate the loss of her spouse, and black bunting is commonly used on buildings to indicate a loss within that house or organization. But on the opposite end of life's spectrum, black in China is the color of little boys.

Often black is used in opposition to white; for example, to indicate the "bad guy" (black) and "good guy" (white) in a story. However, the air of mystery created by black has caused some authors to attire their heroes in black, as if to say they might not be completely squeaky clean, but they get the job done.

The other night, I was preparing to attend a black-tie dinner with my brother (who, by the way, has always been the black sheep of our family). He had been blacklisted from these formal dinners after the big blackmail scandal, so we were excited about this first opportunity for him to step back into the social scene. However, just as we were about to leave the house, there was a complete blackout. I mean everything. It was pitch black. In fact, today I am sporting a black eye because I couldn't see the door in front of me. As we attempted to make our way in the dark, it occurred to me the fortune that could be made in flashlights on the black market in a situation like this, and I was also thankful that I had a black belt in martial arts to protect from vandals. The next day we found out that a plane had crashed into the electrical junction. Recovery of the black box revealed that the pilot had blacked out, possibly from stress upon finding out over the radio that his wife had discovered his little black book.



Sophisticated, Mysterious, Asian....