Mayor Hop-along Casualty: The Sheriff's got a yeller-streak down his back!
Beetlejuice: You callin' me a chicken?
Beetlejuice: You callin' me a chicken?
— Beetlejuice, "Pest o' the West"
When calling out an act of cowardice, it's common to call the person "yellow" or "yellow-bellied". To get the point across that someone is a Dirty Coward or a Nervous Wreck, they may be associated with the color yellow. Sometimes, particularly in cartoons, a character's whole body briefly turns yellow when they are extremely frightened. A specific version is someone with a yellow streak on their back, based on the phrase "a yellow streak (possibly a mile wide) down their back".
One explanation for why yellow is generally associated with cowardice is the insinuation that the insulted person would void their bladder and thus make a yellow puddle if confronted with a situation that required a level of courage. "Yellow-bellied" is believed to come from old folk medicine where courage "comes" from the livernote ; when you have liver disease, you may get jaundice, where your skin (including the stomach) becomes yellow. Diseased liver, and thus the yellow belly, means the opposite of courage — cowardice.
Another theory is that "yellow belly" refers to egg yolk, as chickens are associated with cowardice, and egg yolk being yellow. However, this idea didn't arrive until the 20th century. People have also speculated that it was designed to be the opposite of guts, a term used to describe bravery, because of yellow's association with falsehood (i.e. fake courage).
A subtrope of Color-Coded Emotions. Related to Color Motif, Metaphoric Metamorphosis and Visual Pun. See also Bring My Brown Pants, when they actually void their bladder or rectum in fear. Not to be confused with Color Failure, which is when characters turn white or grayscale in response to hearing shocking and/or bad news.
Examples:
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Advertising
- When Pringles potato chips were first introduced, there was only one plain variety available and they came in a red can. When Pringles with ridges were introduced, the new cans were yellow. One commercial, probably in an old-west saloon type setting, has one guy saying "Hey, it's yellow". An adjacent cowboy-type character replies, threateningly, "Watch who you call yellow!". The first guy says "No, I mean the Pringles can."
Anime & Manga
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Zenitsu wears a yellow haori and has bright yellow hair. He has no real desire to be a demon slayer, balks at the first sign of danger, bursts into wails and tears when confronted with a fight, and faints when stressed, which seems to be the majority of the time. The only reason he is a demon slayer is because he has developed a highly competent Split Personality he slips into when unconscious after his former instructor put him through brutal training.
- Pretty Cure: Typically inverted, as yellow Cures tend to be either energetic and outgoing (ex. Urara, Homare, Elena, Hinata, Ran) or gentle and elegant (ex. Inori, Itsuki, Alice, Yuko, Kirara, Minori). However, occasionally yellow Cures will be a Shrinking Violet, such as:
- Smile PreCure!: Yayoi/Cure Peacenote is associated with the colour yellow, and she is the shyest and biggest crybaby of the Cures.
- KiraKira★Pretty Cure à la Mode: Himari/Cure Custard has yellow as her theme colour, and is a very shy girl, like Yayoi before her; she actually hides from Ichika during their first meeting. This trait lessens as she goes through Character Development to gain confidence.
Asian Animation
- BoBoiBoy: In "Emotive Chemical Y", Adu Du blasts BoBoiBoy and his friends with a ray that tampers with their emotions. Ying's eyes turn yellow as she turns into a coward, and she acts so fearfully that she carries a large leaf to hide under.
Comic Books
- Crossed: Edmund "Yellowbelly" Wickenthorpe got his nickname for his cowardice and the series. He runs from danger, abandons people, and is responsible for two deaths. After killing Nicole in a fit of fear (he was checking if she was ok and she lunged forward, causing him to instinctually pull the trigger), he was convinced by Harold Lore to defile her corpse so he can cover up his crime (only to be told after having sex with the corpse that he only needed to destroy the head). Edward does own up to his crime, escapes his execution through a random cross attack, and redeems himself by saving Donna. However, Donna kills him after they have sex, brutally staving his head with a rock as punishment for killing Nicole.
- Green Lantern: Yellow is associated with fear on the emotional spectrum, with its embodiment Parallax needing a host to be afraid before possessing it. The Sinestro Corps play with this idea somewhat, as unlike the other lantern corps they inflict their emotion rather than feeling it. Among their ranks Amon Sur plays it straight, being a Dirty Coward who could never overcome fear like his father Abin and fled when the Green Lanterns were authorized to use lethal force.
- Lucky Luke: "Yellowbellies" often comes up as an (untranslated) derogatory term for cowards, as does the French equivalent "foies-jaunes" (yellow-livers).
- Sin City: The Yellow Bastard is a Serial Killer whose attempts to undo his Crippling Castration by John Hartigan have made him unable to process waste properly, turning his blood and skin yellow. He's also a Dirty Coward and a Sadist who fights by sneaking around and is impotent unless he hears the sound of his victims screaming in fear.
Fan Works
- In the K.R.D. Chronicles Danganronpa Series Fic, all three students associated with the color yellow display a lack of bravery:
- Danganronpa: Memento Mori: Yura Ouka wears a yellow airsoft suit, and displays fragile bravado that quickly evaporates when she's threatened, deliberately targets a sickly classmate when she commits murder for the sake of a few medals, and when all is said and done, her last moments are spent begging that she doesn't want to die.
- Danganronpa: Komm Susser Tod: Masato Oda wears the yellow work uniform of Wacky Burgers n' Fries, and is an extremely paranoid young man who shuts himself off from everyone as he's convinced they're going to kill him.
- Danganronpa: Paradise Lost: Takeshi Tashiro wears a yellow suit. He is also a Dirty Coward and the first murderer, rather quickly succumbing to the urge to kill once Monokuma threatens to reveal his status as an Addled Addict to the drug-intolerant populace of Japan.
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Novelization: Fairies' colours can change depending on their mood. They turn yellow when afraid.
Film — Animated
- Home (2015): The Boov change colors to reflect emotions, and naturally yellow represents fear.
- Robots: When Rodney says it is time to show the villains what they are made of, Fender replies that he is made of is afraidium, which he describes as yellow and tastes like chicken.
Film — Live-Action
- Back to the Future Part III: "Yellow" is used by Mad Dog to imply Marty is a coward. Marty has the same reaction to Mad Dog calling him "yellow" as he does to being called "chicken."
- The Caine Mutiny: Capt. Queeg releases a yellow dye into the water as he retreats, earning the nickname "Ol' Yellowstain" as a reference to his apparent cowardice.
- Popeye: At the end, a humiliated Bluto's clothes turn yellow as he swims away from Swee'haven.
- Ran: Taro displays a lack of valor in combat, is easily manipulated by his wife, and quickly turns on his own father to try and save his own hide. He and his army are associated with the color yellow.
- Reservoir Dogs: The gangster who is given the codename "Mr. Pink" objects, saying it makes him sound like a pussy. Joe Cabot, his boss, retorts that he should be thankful he's not "Mr. Yellow".
Live-Action TV
- The Big Bang Theory: In "The Wildebeest Implementation", Sheldon discusses this trope while listing colors for emotions.
- Black Mirror: In "Shut Up and Dance", the color yellow frequently appears in the episode in association with Kenny; he has a yellow phone screen, his home and the hotel have a yellow interior decoration, and he wears yellow-tinted sunglasses while robbing a bank. The color actually references Kenny's cowardice, as everything he does in the episode is to save himself from being exposed as a pedophile.
- Super Sentai/Power Rangers:
- Power Rangers Wild Force: This trope is referenced in "Soul Bird Salvation" during a fight between Jindrax and Taylor the Yellow Ranger (who is as far from a coward as one can get).
Jindrax: Has anyone ever told you that yellow is the color of fear? As in "Yellow-bellied" Power Ranger?- Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger: The Series has a Central Theme of bravery and noticeably lacks a Yellow Ranger. That said, every Ranger has a yellow sash and the Sixth Ranger is a Gold Ranger which is close to yellow.
Music
- Bob Dylan puns on the association of yellow with cowardice in "Tombstone Blues" from Highway 61 Revisited:
The Commander-in-chief answers him while chasing a fly
Saying, "Death to all those who have whimper and cry"
And, dropping a barbell, he points to the sky
Saying, "The sun's not yellow, it's chicken" - Jimi Hendrix alludes to the trope in the song "Bold As Love":
My yellow, in this case, is not so mellow
In fact, I'm trying to say, it's frightened like me - Kenny Rogers: "Coward of the County" is about a man who was considered a coward by everyone, and he is often nicknamed "Yellow". When some hooligans raped his girlfriend, "Yellow" makes an exception to his pacifistic ways and beats the crap out of them.
Video Games
- Cave Story: In the Updated Re-release with the new difficulty modes, the game makes fun of you for playing on Easy Mode by swapping the player character's normal black and red outfit for a yellow one.
- Horizon Zero Dawn: CYAN's complex hologram turns yellow when she experiences fear or anxiety.
- Injustice: Gods Among Us: When Hal Jordan sees that his Injustice-verse self goes by Yellow Lantern and has joined the Sinestro Corps, he points out his disappointment to his alternate self for choosing yellow, stated to be the color of cowardice.
- Mortal Kombat: In the first game, Scorpion's outfit was a yellow variation of the Lin Kuei ninja garb as a way of him mocking his rival clan for their cowardice. This was ignored in later games and subsequent adaptations and later retconned into being the official color of Scorpion's former clan, the Shirai Ryu.
- Brad Vickers from the first and third Resident Evil games is known for his cowardice among his teammates and one of his defining articles of clothing is his yellow vest, meaning he is literally yellow-bellied. His appearance in the remake of the third game averts this as, while he still wears the yellow vest, he's portrayed as being lot more heroic.
Web Animation
- Mystery Skulls Animated: Arthur's Color Motif is yellow; it's the color of nearly all his clothes, and his hair is a light yellow with orange and dark brown segments. He's the easiest to scare of the Mystery Skulls and the first to run at the sight of danger, but he still tries to be there for his loved ones and make sure they make it out okay too.
Web Videos
- Why Week: Why Does Yellow Mean Cowardly
explains why yellow is associated with cowardice.
Western Animation
- Aladdin: The Series: In one episode, the characters are enchanted by colored gemstones which instil them with corresponding emotions - blue for depression, green for envy, yellow for fear, etc.
- Beetlejuice: In "Pest o' the West", Beetlejuice takes on the role of Sheriff in the Neitherworld Wild West town of Tombstone and is forced to contend with the minotaur-esque outlaw Bully the Crud. When Beetlejuice uses his Toon Physics powers to outwit and overpower Bully, Bully responds by painting his back with a yellow stripe, giving him a literal "yellow streak down his back." This causes Beetlejuice to turn into a chicken before he runs out of town on his horse in fear.
- Classic Disney Shorts:
- In Pluto's Heart-Throb, Butch is afraid to save Dinah when she falls into a fountain and slinks away with a yellow stripe down his back, leaving Pluto to save the day.
- Lend a Paw: Pluto's shoulder angel stands up to his shoulder devil, who turns yellow as he tries to slink away.
- Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines: Zilly wears an oversized yellow pilot's outfit and is the least brave of the team. He is frequently seen objecting to Dick Dastardly's plans to catch Yankee Doodle Pigeon, often hides his head inside the shirt of his pilot's outfit when and speaks with a distinct quiver.
- The Jetsons: Orbitty changes his colour to express emotion. He turns yellow when scared.
- Looney Tunes:
- In "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs", Prince Chawmin' gets a yellow streak and runs away after So White is kidnapped.
- In "The Foghorn Leghorn", Henery Hawk's grandfather is beaten up by Foghorn Leghorn, and to save face claims that Foggy is not a chicken but a "loudmouthed schnook". However, as he turns around, there's a flashing yellow streak down his back.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Fluttershy is shy and timid, hence her name, and she has yellow fur.
- The Simpsons: The episode "Old Yeller Belly" is about Santa's Little Helper's cowardice.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: The titular yellow sponge has had plenty of cowardly moments, notable examples include "Scaredy Pants", "Graveyard Shift" and "The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom".
- Tom and Jerry: In The Milky Waif, Tom turns yellow in fright right before getting a savage beating from Jerry.
- Xiaolin Showdown: In the Bad Future from the first part of the series finale, Jack Spicer captured all the monks and all the Heylin and tortures them in different ways. Chase Young is restrained above a machine that spreads yellow paint on his abdomen, as a Visual Pun for coward.
- Yin Yang Yo!: When Yang gets his emotions blasted out of him, they're represented as tiny, colorful ghosts. Happiness is green, sadness is blue, anger is red, fear is yellow, sarcasm is orange, and so on.
