The trope I wanted to focus on was women and their connection to the color pink. Whether it be in women’s fashion choices, the color of their room, or their car, women are commonly tied to the color pink not only in media but in products in everyday life. In many of these circumstances the color pink is usually tied to a woman who is a bit dumb, maybe the antagonist, or very obsessed with her looks. Fortunately, throughout the years, many women in media have taken back that trope by not allowing a woman’s looks to determine who she is or what she is capable of.

The first two images are both from movies. The one on the left is from Mean Girls (2004), and the one on the right is of Sharpay Evans from the movie High School Musical (2006). I chose these women to write about because they have many things in common. Besides the fact that both movies depict these women as overly “girly” due to their pink attire, but also that they play the movies’ antagonists. Regina, the girl on the phone is the main antagonist, she is obsessed with her looks, she’s overly judgmental towards others, and she is wearing pink most of the time. Sharpay is very similar in the way she dresses, and her obsessiveness not only over herself, but over her role in the musical and her romantic interest throughout the movie.

The photo above is from a music video by Ariana Grande for her song 7 Rings. This song came out in 2019, which is more recently, but I found it very interesting that the whole theme of her music video surrounded around the color pink. The song is essentially about how much wealth she has, how she is able to afford diamond rings for her and her friends, hair extensions, designer clothing and more. It is a song about very artificial things, which is why I was interested to include it, due to its use of the color pink. I think this specific example can be seen as a trope in two different ways. I see this as a woman celebrating her success that she worked hard for, and perhaps the pink color is just a personal choice. I also wonder if pink seemed obvious for this topic, because of its past roots in the focus of the material and artificial. I think either one makes sense here and it seems to blur the lines between the two sides of this trope.

The next two photos are examples of how this trope has evolved over time. The first image is an advertisement from 1987, where you can see Barbie surrounded by a pink background and the little girl looking up to her. Barbie has been known over the years as a toy for little girl’s and has been changed so much throughout the years because of its stereotypical themes. Many Barbie’s a long time ago only came with dresses and hair accessories, often in the color pink. But as you can see by the advertisement on the right, made in 2014, Barbie changed a lot when it added more styles of dolls, but also in their advertising. One thing that did not change though was the use of the color pink. I believe this is a way to reclaim that color, that does not have to mean a woman is unintelligent or focused on her looks. Pink can mean a woman is a boss, an athlete, or even an astronaut.