As a child, I hated the color green and everything that even looked close to the color. I hated broccoli, spinach, green beans, peas, and refused to eat anything green, even if it was candy. I hated frogs, plants, and even Shrek the ogre. As a child, I correlated green as something gross or evil, due to Disney movies depiction of the color. In many Disney movies, the presence of green is always associated with something evil or bad.
For example, The Lion King, there is a scene where Scar, the evil uncle, sings about his plan to take over the kingdom– the musical number is entirely showcased in green: both fume and fire exploding up around him.
Also, in the movie The Little Mermaid, Ursula the villainous witch of the sea projects horrifying green lightning hands when she takes away Ariel’s voice.
Another great example is in the movie The Sleeping Beauty, where Maleficent the evil witch has an aura of green light surrounding her and her castle; even when she turns into a fire-breathing dragon, she breathes out is green fire.
Last but not least of the Disney movie, The Princess and the Frog, shows the shady Dr. Facilier singing along with The Shadow Demon syncing with green fumes.
However, it is not just Disney that shows that green is correlated with something bad or evil. In the show Sesame Street, Oscar the Grouch, who lives in the trash can has a green body and is always grouchy. Even the Grinch that stole Christmas is green, smelly, and jealous. As a child, I saw that everything green was correlated with a bad presence, which can explain why I disliked the color.
Despite being conditioned to look at a certain color differently, I slowly learned my love and appreciation for the color green. I have learned that broccoli, spinach, green beans, peas are all healthy and have high nutrition values with low calories. I appreciate the presence of frogs and realize that they are important to our environment. I have even grown to love plants and trees and their aesthetic beauty. And I realized that Shrek has a big heart and strives to be a caring ogre.
Now, as a late teen, I correlate green with nature, growth, harmony, and freshness. Green is now one of my favorite colors.