Why is purple associated with evil?

[Johnny Novgorod]

When did it become the chromatic shorthand for malice? Comic books are ripe with examples. Both Superman and Batman's archnemesis wear purple. So do the lead villains of Spider-Man and X-Men and just about every villain in Dragon Ball. The bad guy from He-Man. The bad guy from Watchmen. Even a live-action movie like Unbreakable that purportedly tells the origin of a superman and a super criminal - comic book style - has the criminal wear only purple. Same with the bad guy from Speed Racer: you know he's evil because, if anything, works strictly with purple.

And then there's the crew below.

Title question: why is purple almost always associated with evil?

 

[ZeroFarks]

Purple is the color of royalty, because in Olden Times purple dye was the most insanely expensive dye around (two words: snail guts), therefore only royalty could afford to wear purple.

Which, considering the USA's history (think "Revolutionary War") naturally makes purple the color of evil because "royalty = evil" in the eyes of our propaganda department.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

Purple is firstly associated with royalty, but it is also associated with mourning and death.

 

[Albino Boo]

I'm afraid the answer is rather boring. In the early days of colour film technical limitations meant that only certain colours showed up strongly. This created the convention of the Disney villain being purple. The same goes for printing, full colour printing was expensive to comics were printed with a limited colour palette and once again purple was picked for the bad guys.

 

[senordesol]

albino_boo has it from a technical standpoint, but why was purple chosen?

Purple is used, typically, for only certain 'types' of bad guys. A few have pointed out that it's most associated with royalty, but according to color theory 'purple' (particularly deep purple) appears very rarely in nature and thus lends itself to a dour, unnatural, almost sickly bent.

It also combines the 'stability' of blue with the 'passion' of red; which may subliminally hint at subversiveness, hidden ambition, or ulterior motives. Many of the villains you depict are connivers and schemers. They may appear outwardly genial or aloof, but this masks a more sinister nature.

Purple also goes well with black.

 

[Asita]

There's also of course the fact that because of its [historical] expensiveness and association with royalty, purple makes for a handy shorthand for pride. And if you notice, pride is a defining feature of several of the example characters, most notably Frollo[footnote]"Beata Maria, you know I am a righteous man, of my virtue I am justly proud. Beata Maria, you know I'm so much purer than the common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd..."[/footnote], the Evil Queen[footnote]"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?"[/footnote], and to an arguably lesser extent Yzma. Three of the examples (the Evil Queen, Lady Tremaine and Governor John Ratcliff) have aristocratic backgrounds that the color helps to illustrate, and the remaining three (Doctor Facilier, Malifiecent, and Ursula) have it due to purple also being a common signifier of the supernatural (and in Doctor Facilier's case, the principle cast was strongly associated with the principle colors of Mardi Gras: Green for Naveen and Tiana, Gold for Madame Odie, and Purple for Doctor Facilier).

In truth, however, Purple's not strongly associated with evil characters. Yes, a lot of villains use it, but then so too do a lot of more heroic characters.

Spoiler

 

[Vault101]

not only being the royalty thing but I wonder if its also a color that invokes flamboyishness and excess...something often attributed to villans

also in Animation it might make a sort of alternative to the over use of black (like in frollos case) a bit like how in old comic books black haired characters hair was accented by blue...

In truth, however, Purple's not strongly associated with evil characters. Yes, a lot of villains use it, but then so too do a lot of more heroic characters.

not to mention the book "The Color Purple" in fact I think part of the reason there was the significance of purple as a "special" color, a color grander and brighter than our main characters dreary surroundings and life

 

[Duster]

We all know it's associated with wealth, and it's easy to justify writing a screenplay that appeals to the 99% 8^)

 

[Zhukov]

It is?

I've only ever seen it associated with wealth, decadence and pride, which, as has already pointed out, comes from the Roman/Byzantine days when purple was the rarest and most expensive dye, and thus became the exclusive colour of nobility and royalty.

 

[TheRiddler]

Not just purple. Green's a pretty common bad guy color too. To wit:

Spoiler: Scar

Spoiler: The Green Goblin

Spoiler: Doctor Doom

Spoiler: Poison Ivy

Spoiler: Lex Luthor

Spoiler: Loki

Spoiler: Mysterio

And me, of course.

Spoiler: The Riddler

Spoiler: Almost forgot! The greatest evil.

[image/]http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130407200053/barney/images/8/81/King_Barney_-_Magical_Musical_Adventure.jpg[/IMG]

An intersection of green and purple!

Fear him.

 

[Doopliss64]

A few reasons. As previously stated in this thread, the fact that purple pigment used to be the most difficult one to produce led to a cultural association with lavishness and excess, and by association greed and vanity. In addition, purple has more base psychological associations with languid and sexual sensations, two things that exist as specifically taboo in Disney's world, which rewards character agency, and demonizes laziness and sexuality. Finally, there were only so many colors available in the early days of animation, and with the strong disparity between different shades emerged a certain shorthanded color-coding of ideas and themes. Green and purple became "evil" colors, with green being more about "ambitious" evil and purple being more about "established" or "tyrannical" evil. As in, an evil king tends to be portrayed as purple and an evil revolutionary tends to be portrayed in green.

 

[VanQ]

When I think purple and green, I think my Warlock in WoW. Purple is the class color and green is the color of Fel Fire.

Spoiler

Suits the evil image just perfectly.

 

[Rahkshi500]

I think by this point in the history of fiction and storytelling, just about every color under the rainbow has been used at least one as an association with evil.

 

[Plasticaprinae]

Purple is a very difficult color to get in nature. We are very spoiled color wise. Our technology allows us to have a full range of colors, where in the olden days people would've never seen a canvas full of blue paint. But blue is still one of the more common colors, in water and the sky. Purple is more rare. So the rich wore it to show their prestige. The rich also had the habit of.. inbreeding. So they often had bouts of maddness. So purple is mysterious and associated with maddness due to its rareness in nature and them crazy royals.

 

[Ieyke]

Really?
Okay, no. Purple isn't associated with evil.
Black is.
Purple is an accent color for black. It's a cool color and generally dark, which means it doesn't break the "dark" color scheme.

And how can you have an "EVIL PURPLE" thread and no one at all mentions Decepticons.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Purple (and all other Colours) are like Pokémon. They aren't inherently evil. Its just about how people use them.

Spoiler: Ain't that right Poochy?

I mean Blue is predominantly a 'good' colour right?

Spoiler: Well

There are exceptions everywhere.

*shrug*

Some colour schemes for villains seem to stick like purple and black but I don't think villain when I see purple instantly. Colours are neutral until the character wearing them (usually immediately) is identified in their role for the story. Black and purple is just common art design for villains.

 

[Story]

TvTropes has the answer!
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PurpleIsTheNewBlack

And I agree with that theory. Purple is a dark color and is easier to shade than black.
And of course your villian needs to be dark because darkness is equal to evilness.

 

[San Martin]

I only associate purple with Prince. Therefore, for me purple is the colour of sex, seduction and amour.

Is there anything evil in the silky touch of flesh lying against flesh? No? Then evil purple is not.

 

[Prepare Your Keyhole]

If purple = Evil and purple = EPIC (as taught to me by numerous videogames)

Then the only logical conclusion is that Evil = Epic
But that means that games teach me that Evil = Epic so actually Videogames = EVIL

THEY WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG D:

Hey the villains always have a better fashion sense than the holier than thou heroes

 

[Asita]

I think by this point in the history of fiction and storytelling, just about every color under the rainbow has been used at least one as an association with evil.

Well what about yellow- er...green- ...red? Well surely white- DAMMIT SINESTRO! At least let some other villain take the spotlight!