Feature

Captured in Green

Fariha Ishrat Khandaker

LET'S see now; money, trees, tree leaves more rather, cannabis, little antenna scripted aliens…what do they all have in common? Functions are different, but somehow when we look at them there is something strikingly similar. They are usually all wearing the same shade of colour; green. So, whether it's poison ivy or some highly moral metaphor about life that refers to the shade of grass, green is one of those colours that is quite hard to avoid.

Some billion years back, when the earth cooled down and was being tagged as the blue planet, the poor fella who lost a mere second was 'green'. Well, maybe not because of envy. Whatever the case is, a simple diagnosis of this colour; the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520570 nanometres, would show how its influence in society might actually be of a much higher frequency.

The best way to describe green is nature. When pagans worshipped mother nature, green is how they saw her; which could probably explain why there are less of them in today's world, as there is all the more less of nature to be seen. Thus, the association of the colour with regeneration, fertility, and rebirth as that is how nature does her job. Then, there is the Green Revolution, an attempt to reinvigorate nature and give her a fighting chance in the world of technicoloured smoky grey. But that would be invading on another shade of colour, now wouldn't it? Doesn't matter, we are trying to figure out why green is so very important to the immaculate running of the order and chaos in our lives, in which case it needs to be mentioned that we all go green at times. Maybe the effect is not the same way as the itsy bitsy Martians, but through the symbolic ways in which this particular colour affects us.

Though 'envy' is already mentioned, it has a more effective competitor, 'youth', something which might have deep psycho-analytic connections that people are still trying to decipher. Green has been a symbol of youth in many cultures, and yet again, in others it stands to mean the other extreme of death, sickness, and envy. Popular culture takes has already brought about the various shades of green that can glorify our lives and yet take away a little bit of solace in dealing with the fact that every colour fades…eventually. Green colour also encompasses the connotation of money, wealth, and capitalism. It's a sign that we see most often when want to get out of a place; giving the green signal is always a clarification that you are free to go. Thus, some of the key issues in our lives are often pictured in one overlaying form that is easy to identify. Emotions, appearances, politics and religion and even prosperity all seem to have a favourite attire. Paint them all in green and viola… we have the modern world in one of its multi shades of

Picture source:
www.deviantart.com