White is the lightest shade of gray, being a combination of all wavelengths of visible light combining into the one lightest color. In the West, it can symbolize life and good. In Asia, white often symbolizes death. It also symbolizes purity and cleanliness, as the color white betrays nearly any stain, and its pure whiteness is also a symbol of pure cleanliness. In human society, the color white is also a symbolic designation for the lightest superficial human skin complexions and their social meaning — though these complexions more often look pink or light beige than pure white. Sometimes more insidiously, "white" refers not only to lightness of skin, but to being of Caucasoid descent — other similarly light-skinned peoples of predominantly non-Caucasoid descent are more likely to be excluded from this definition.
This index includes any tropes that literally or symbolically invoke the color white, including Race Tropes.
Tropes
Related:
- Albinos Are Freaks: Discrimination against albinos.
- Blank White Eyes: Eyes with just plain white sclerae and no irises or pupils on them.
- Blank White Void: A blank slate or a dimension of eternal whiteness.
- Eternally Pearly-White Teeth: When characters' teeth are both perfectly healthy and perfectly white.
- Ethereal White Dress: A character dressed in pale or white clothing who's either literally or metaphorically dead.
- Fade to White: When the screen fades to white as opposed to black.
- Fairytale Wedding Dress (white being the standard color for this trope): A fancy wedding dress designed to make the bride look like a fairytale princess.
- Fat, Sweaty Southerner in a White Suit: An obese, Southern character almost always dressed in white.
- Gay Groom in a White Tux: Fictional portrayals of gay men's weddings, in which one of them will invariably be wearing a white tuxedo, and the other a black tuxedo.
- Gold and White Are Divine: Gold and white associated with angels and/or deities.
- Good Wears White: Heroic characters dress in white to symbolize their goodness.
- Great White Feline: Big cats with white fur given some form of importance or strangeness.
- Hereditary Wedding Dress: White wedding dresses that run in the family.
- Light Is Good: Light depicted as a source of goodness.
- Light Is Not Good: Light portrayed as evil.
- Mystical White Hair: When white hair indicates that the person has magical powers, has super powers, is divine, is mysterious, or has otherworldly origins.
- Prophet Eyes: Cloudy white eyes that indicate that there is something off about the one who has them.
- Red-and-White Comedy Poster: A film poster with big red letters on a white background.
- Significant White Hair, Dark Skin: White hair stands out even more on characters with dark complexions and indicates they are supposed to be important.
- The Rich Have White Stuff: Rich people associated with white objects.
- Villain in a White Suit: When a villain's sophistication and managerial position is emphasized by wearing all-white formal clothing.
- Virgin in a White Dress: Virgins portrayed as wearing white clothes.
- White and Red and Eerie All Over: White with red accents as an uncanny or creepy color scheme.
- White Bunny: Hares or rabbits depicted with white fur.
- White Gloves: Puffy white gloves commonly worn by cartoon characters.
- White Hair, Black Heart: When a character's villainy is signified by the whiteness of their hair.
- White Is Pure: When white represents virtuousness and cleanliness.
- White Mask of Doom: A white mask that's cool and/or scary.
- White Shirt of Death: The death of a character wearing white clothes.
- White Stallion: A white horse who's only ridden by someone in a position of authority or leadership.
- White Void Room: A featureless white room.
- White Wolves Are Special: Wolves with white fur portrayed as heroic or otherworldly.