What Rhymes with Purple? (You Know!)
This past week was the rebroadcast of 4.13 After School Special. Since it aired originally I’ve made the leap from snowy broadcast to a digital converter box. Goodness, I’ve been missing a lot! One thing that leaped out at me was a use of purple in characters’ accessories. I might not have noticed these first two except they are in the same scene.
I took it for a pen, but maybe it’s a mascara tube or something?
Every ghost possession needs a fashionable headband!
And then there’s another use….
Dean’s whistle lanyard (it makes him their God!) is more purple than blue in the caps I’ve seen.
It was enough to get me remembering that any meaning associated with purple in the Supernatural universe has been nebulous at best. As far as I know it doesn’t have a place in hearseeno’s Supernatural Color Wheel. (Yet.)
I’ll admit right up front that one reason I got excited about purple again when I noticed its use in After School Special is because the sixth grade is well into this year’s read aloud of The Odyssey. The Bernard Evslin version I use describes the sleep and dream inducing lotus flowers as purple with a single red petal. Since that fits with my sense that S4′s abundance of sleep scenes are purposeful, it caught my attention.
There is a variety of thought about dream symbolism for PURPLE, but I like this one.
Purple symbolizes nobility of purpose, spiritual leadership, spiritual teaching, regal power and authority in spiritual matters. It signifies you are a spiritual leader / teacher. Spiritual leadership works through empowering others to be able to face their own challenges and works through female energy.
That “female energy” could go partway to understanding Dean’s odd, “I’d come back as a cheerleader,” type comments and the girl characters (like Pamela and Anna) who I see as being drawn from him. Woman as creator and all that jazz?
I went looking for evidence that would back up purple = sleep/dreams in the Supernatural universe.
Purple is already on the radar because of a couple big occurrences from S4. These have been:
in the eggplant purple motel walls and bedspreads in 4.07 It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester and…
the angel stained glass and rosy purple church attic window the boys make their miraculous leap from in 4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer (There’s some color discussion in the comments of this post.) and…
the plot point emphasis placed on the bluish purple hyacinths in 4.14 Sex and Violence.
Looking back further (though not exhaustively), a couple more examples have made their way into my consciousness.
What about the title card for S3?!
And the demon smoke from 3.12 Jus in Bello? Its arrival was charged with an electric purple not present when it descended in 3.01 Magnificent Seven. I don’t keep up with behind the scenes interviews, etc. and don’t know if there was ever an explanation for the difference.
Then there’s 3.12′s Nancy in her muted grayish purple sweater vest. She’s the virgin who was a candidate for sacrifice to avert a demon attack.
Randomly, I then came across the use of purple in the wardrobe of the moms in 3.02 The Kids Are Alright. Both of them had changelings substituted for their own children and were being sucked dry.
Sam plays insurance investigator for this widow.
This mom still breaks my heart.
3.09 Malleus Maleficarum has the most sympathetic member of the book club (I forget her name!) wearing purple when the boys first arrive to interview her.
The witches wear very similar V-neck tops in red, blue, and purple. Purple is worn by the one who comes to the rescue (and pays with her life) by distracting demon Tammy.
I decided to look back at the Pilot episode to see how long it would take for purple to show up. Actually, a lot of the blue lit backgrounds seemed purplish to me, but I assume it’s what my eyes were looking for or the way the color balance is set on my TV. The first definite use I found though was this from when Sam is still at Stanford.
At that point I remembered Sam’s purple unicorn greyhound t-shirt! I’m not sure why I always consider it purple because the screencap I found (from marishna – the rest are oxoniensis caps, I believe) of the phone call from John waking the boys at the close of 1.10 Asylum/ opening of 1.11 Scarecrow doesn’t look particularly purple. When else does he wear this shirt?!
While I was looking for another, better greyhound shirt cap, I came across this season one use of purple from 1.07 Hookman. I don’t think it’s likely to help settle on a meaning for the color, but it sure is a big example.
HA! I didn’t even think of this until I was done and trying to name the post, but now I have to include it! What about Dean’s Purple Nurples from 2.15 Tall Tales? We know these were Trickster influenced.
A quick flip-through of episode caps shows purple light behind the alien abductee (a dick who deserved it?!) as the boys interview him at the bar.
And compared to the red bedspread and lamp, I’d call the trim on the brunette illusion-girl’s lingerie… purple!
(I did jump to flip through 3.11 Mystery Spot, but don’t see purple popping out of that Trickster ep. That one seems filled with yellow and green – and pink flamingos. I have the feeling it would be a fun episode to look at for color use.)
This is unfinished, obviously. But, I’m posting now in the hopes that new eyes might bring more examples. Right now, I’m spinning my wheels. With any luck, someone will spot a pattern I’m missing. I certainly haven’t come to any conclusion about the color’s deeper meaning within the whole of Supernatural. I’ll have no problem if someone starts from scratch with the same bank of images and comes to another conclusion. Just be sure not to leave us hanging – share how your thinking goes.
As for S4, if I let my understanding of the season guide my understanding of the color: I’m thinking perhaps purple = unspoken (perhaps contradictory to evidence) communication? The hyacinths = “I’m sorry” even while we’re hurting each other; the church windows = “We can make this leap of faith” even though it’s crazy; the motel decor = “I can handle it” as Sam decides to use his powers despite angels in the neighborhood; the After School Special accessories = popular or not, we’re all hurting each other?
edit 04/26/09 to add tags and correctly identify episodes
12 Apr 2009 10:38 am robin 1 comment
I also recall there being a bright purple dress that the hooker in BUABS was wearing. Not that helps settle the meaning of purple anymore for me!