Of all birds , the pigeon has been framed from a most dubious perspective. The pigeon has been labeled as a pest, a flying rat, and in some respects a villain. But, why? The mislabeled pigeon has benefited society by serving as a messenger in times of peace and war. However, this robust bird is seen as a villain.
While walking up from the subway, I noticed a woman walking along the sidewalk upon being inconvenienced by having to walk around a lone pigeon this woman began scowling at the once respected army messenger; the pigeon’s only crime was minding its own business. I thought this was interesting because her reaction was instantaneous.
This maybe a reach but I feel that people’s reaction to pigeons stem childhood. The cartoons in our youth have steered how we feel about certain colors and how we feel about the things connected to certain colors. For example, Big Bird from the Channel 11 program Sesame Street was yellow. We connect yellow to being happy and cheerful and orange with being fun and full of energy.
In contrast those characters associated with darkness and evil commonly have two colors attached to them. Purple and green. Where ever the colors purple and green are seen we instantaneously attach these twos to something negative. In our youths the villain always wore green, purple or a combination of both. The evil Queen from snow white, the Octopus Queen Ursula from A little mermaid, Dr. Doom, Kang the Conqueror, Lex Luther, Dr. Octopus, Vulture, Hawkeye, The Hulk, The Joker, The Riddler, The Green Goblin, Maleficent, and countless others. Since childhood we are predisposed to the visual notion that villains are associated with green and purple. Green with purple give the idea that something is unnatural or rare in nature.
The green and purple nape on the pigeons’ neck illicit an unconscious response to the viewer that what they are seeing is something unnatural, unwanted….. a villain.
This idea of psychology based of colors, could explain how peoples reaction towards one ethnic group could be a constructed response based on years of conditioning.
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