InsaneJournal

100. Picspam: Meta Picspam
Title: 4x02 Color Meta Picspam
Creator: LJ's sakesushimaki
Theme: Team Colors
Notes: caps self-taken; cap count: 19, cap size: 500x282px

4x02 Color Meta Picspam





Good Day!

In this picspam (my very first one, so please excuse potential lameness) I am going to prove to you that there's some serious color meta-worthy stuff in Episode 4x02.

If intended by the makers or not remains open, as does the accuracy of my interpretation.

I'm going to focus on Justin and Emmett, but we'll have a little Brian as well.



Get ready for never looking at the color red in the same way again and for polishing up your ballet knowledge.

Sounds good? Off we go then! ;)



1: Starting off, we're taking a closer look at Justin's outfit in the first scene of the episode.

Early in 4x02, he is dressed particularly unflashy, very earth tone-y.

He all but blends into the background, uncannily advantaged by Darren's interior.





To illustrate my point to extremes, I chased this particular cap through a Photoshop

filter that splits the picture up into color fields. See how similar the colors are?

We're barely leaving one color family!





2: Mustn't forget the red, foreboding towel of doom! Notice how the light red-colored towel stands out in that scene? There’s a reason for that.

Also, is that a ballet move? I think it just might be.





3: Now we're at Darren's again. Justin is wearing red. Deep, angry, almost burgundy-ish red. It feels very foreboding (again!) and as the scene progresses, we also learn why. This sort of marks the beginning of the Pink Posse-anger-cycle.





*) additional pic:

I always want to shout "Plié!" whenever I see this part of the episode, but alas, the cute feet constellation is not a Plié. *weeps*

Apparently, the correct term would be something like "Arabesque à terre".

Meh. "Pliè" would be so much cooler. (Disclaimer: I know nothing about ballet whatsoever and I have no idea how reliable my research findings are.)

So anyway, here's Justin and his non-Plié:





4: Enter Brian with a Plié! ...with an Arabesque. Actually, it's neither of those, it's just some very cute kick-flick step.

Note the ultraneutral clothing: white tee and blue jeans.



Sidebar: ‘neutral’ is hot, kthx. Just goes to show how effective the basics can be.

We appreciate your work, Mr. Antosh.



Sidebar2: I think the major reason for Brian being dressed completely neutral in this episode, is that he doesn't live through any major emotional development here; neither positive nor adverse.



Also, I think there’s no doubt that Justin is indeed ‘angry’ like his shirt in this scene? (personal note: if anyone intends to make ‘angry like a/the/my shirt’ a song/fic/anything title – this is where I claim copyright.)





==> In case anyone buys that ‘Brian neutral clothing’ theory (Let’s face it, when is Brian ever dressed flashy?), I also have these two examples prepared:









*) additional pic sequence:

This really isn’t part of my meta theme here, but I figured it’d go through due to cuteness? Personally, I’ve never given that much thought to the detail here. I already fell into a happy-fluff-cute-but-also-tragic coma when Brian simply reaches out to pet Justin’s head.



FIRST – So, look at the hands, please! Brian won’t let go! <3





SECOND – See how Brian grabs onto that hand? How his fingers curl around Justin’s? That’s LOVE, people! RIGHT THERE!





THIRD – No, this is not the exact same pic! See how Brian draws the hand a little closer? And the space between table thingy and hands becomes a tad larger?

Brace yourselves for the inevitable, cruel ending of the hand!love… don’t pull away Justin, please stay… don’t… don’t!





FOURTH – But there he’s gone. And with him, the hand!love. I have no words. Here… *hands out Kleenex*





5: Justin’s arc in this episode ends with that uncomfy scene at Woody’s. Outfit: neutral!

You might think now that my wannabe-meta jumps cliff right here because naturally, this would have to be Justin’s high point of anger red-ness, right?

But au contraire! Notice the hot bartender? See how he contrasts Justin in everything? Skin, hair, SHIRT COLOR?! Cause what color is his shirt? ANGRY-RED! Ha!

Result: this is just another facet of the color theory, working with contrast and subtext, which makes it extremely powerful, in my opinion.



Sidebar: it is shots and scenes like this one that make me think the rumor about Randy wearing a wig at some point could be true, after all. :x

If you compare this hair with e.g. 401, you’ll see that either he’s been using two bottles of roots volume hairspray or… well, that this is not his real hair. It makes me sad, too, believe me.





6: Welcome Emmett onto the stage now, please.

So, here’s where his arc starts out in 4x02 – the diner, pre-Fairy adventure.

He wears brown in brown in brown. It’s ridiculous almost; extremely unflashy, un-Emmett-y.





7: Self-explanatory, I think.

Oh, one thing: notice how Emmett basically stays within the same color family? What was brown-brown before, is now yellow-brown.





8: Still with the same sarong, but now with a fancy little jacket that enables him to blur into the background. Funny, yes, but very unflashy; very forcefully stealing all color to underline his emotional state.





9: Ooooh but there he is back! All sparkly gold and contrast-y!

No more getting swallowed up by the wilderness background, nuh-uh.

His flame burns bright again (very demonstrably illustrated through actual fire) and so does his closet. <3

Also, notice how he still wears the same basic sarong? Style varying, but still!





10: Yes, there is something to learn here, too.

Emmett shows how it’s done:





11: And the colorful, grand finale. Welcome back, Emmett!

Welcome back, you bright colors.





THE END



Thank you for joining me in this little picspam experiment and oh-so profound color study of episode 4x02. I hope it was at least somewhat entertaining :)

*bows and makes exit with Plié*