Color in cultures is a fascinating study. In the United States black is the color for death, but in Asia white is the color of death. The reason for black in the West probably stems from the Bible, "to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."
," (Luke 1:79), and perhaps Medieval associates with The Black Death. However, the Oriental association of death is white, and this has merit due to the fact our bones, and specifically our skull is white; and if you see a skeleton you know that person is not only dead, but not coming back until Resurrection Day (1 Corinthians 15:52). For this particular study I have chosen perhaps the most universally liked color, Red. It is one of the primary colors, with yellow and blue being the other two, and so is basis for many other colors. But what does Red symbolize, what does it mean to us Christians, and how is it associated in our culture?
The color Red has long been beloved by royalty. The ancient Roman Empire used it for their flags, seals, and even wardrobe. For Roman centurions the color red had mystical and supernatural authority, hence why they often wore a red cape. Red has been the favorite of Kings, like Richard Lionheart, and has along with purple been considered the hue of the regale and dignified. That is snapshot historically of the color, and we shall return to it momentarily. But what does red symbolize today, better yet what associations does it have in Western culture? The answer is not hard to find.
Red has become universal for evil, death, and corruption in the West., particularly in cinema and science fiction. The most famous villains of history and fiction had red as their banner or weapon, Hitler with the red banner of the Third Reich (Swastika) and Darth Vader with a red bladed lightsaber, which became the color of Sith and Dark Jedi. In Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers, the villains like the Cardinal and his Guard are in red (although this is historically accurate, because Catholic Cardinals do wear red). Then there is the mixture of red and black, as in case of Sith Lords, Captain Hook, Gothic clothing style, and even Satanic cults. Red seems to have been hijacked and turned into something associated with sorcery, sin, and slaughter. Perhaps, the associations come from the disturbing feelings one gets from seeing a pool of blood, which indicates to us immediately someone is dying or dead. While this makes some sense, the problem is Eternal Life was bought with blood, which is red.
Jesus Christ's blood is red, and through his blood Scripture says, "Swe have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him!" (Romans 5:9).
It is by the Blood of Jesus Christ that we have been set free from the power of sin (Romans 6:18, Ephesians 1:7). The world in its wickedness has flipped the meaning of red to mean sin, and lustful passion, the very things Christ's blood forgives and leads us away from! It then stands to reason, that the demonetization of the color red is from radicals in Satan's armies who use their creativity in the many different medias to predisposition children to associate red as evil, and blue and green as good. Some notable exceptions are Spider-Man, Superman, Ironman, Raphael the Red Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Mario from Super Mario Bros. and some others. But these heroes don't wear solid red, they mix it with other colors like blue in case of Superman and Spidey, and green in case of Raphael.The only quasi-heroes who wear all red, and even red and black are antiheroes like Deadpool and Shadow The Hedgehog. Being antiheroes they aren't exactly paragons of virtue, nor do they really want to do good, it just happens to turn out that they do good on accident or because of some other ambition.
As Christians we need to reclaim red in popular culture. So many children who love the color, with good reason, find that in many cases the villain of their favorites stories had the red outfit, red weapon, and red powers. My own nephew has to resort to using Kylo Ren's Lightsaber (red) and because he wants to be the hero has to make up that he "took it after destroying Kylo." I in similar fashion when I was a young Jedi, would pretend that I could use a red ligghtsaber because the Jedi Council sanctioned it or that I had ruby colored lightsaber rather than blood red color of the Sith.
I believe the aim to associate red as evil or make it the predominate color of villains is both Satanic, an attack on the Passion and Blood of Christ, and perhaps a reaction to former empires who used the color for evil. In former case, the goal is to make children predispostioned to evil, by making the dark and evil character have the most appealing outfit, and weapons with red and black colors. The latter I believe is a reaction to the Third Reich and the Roman Empire which were both oppressive, and did genocidal acts towards Jews.
I believe history and fictional writers have been motivated by the devil to caste a bad light on red, because it is the color of the saving Blood of Christ. The enemy always wants to taint, tarnish, and tear down what would point people to Jesus the Savior, and so I believe through horrible and abominable empires like The Third Reich, and the Satanic creative minds of people in Hollywood, Video Game Industry, and more have tried to make people associate red with evil. Ever notice how most horror films, even their trailers have red and black credits, and scenes? That is not a mistake. What is sad is that even blood has been twisted into death, when it is life: "For the life of a creature is in the blood..," (Leviticus 17:11) and "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:7).
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