The point of contrast is to help you notice what is there. A good example of both sides of the argument comes in the form of a video game called "The Unfinished Swan." At the very beginning of the game, you are dropped into a 3D environment where absolutely every object is painted white. Not just white, but pure white, the same shade of white. This causes you to be essentially blind. Everything is there, but there is no contrast at all, making everything invisible.
You soon find out that you can throw out paint balls that add color to the various walls and stairways, finally allowing you to see what's there. These paint balls are adding contrast to the white that's everywhere. The point of contrast has always been to make things more visible.
In the opposite court, soldiers use something called camouflage, which causes them to blend into their environments better. These articles of clothing are designed to remove contrast from themselves. The removal of contrast makes things less visible, which is entirely the point. If they were standing in the jungle wearing a bright orange shirt, they would have a great deal of contrast. They would also be promptly shot.
In the medium of the motion picture, contrast has it's place. Some of the more extreme examples are "Dick Tracy (1990)" and "Speed Racer (2008)," both of which used contrasting color schemes to make everything pop out of the screen onto your eyeballs.
But it isn't all about color. Sometimes it is about contrast in characters or personalities. The "buddy cop" genre often paired two people up that were very different from each other. In fact, that was a staple of the genre! The contrast in their characters made them both all the more visible. If they blended into each other, you might have trouble remembering one from the other.
In classic comedy, you had Laurel and Hardy. One was fat; one was skinny. One was simple minded and childlike; one was pompous and easily aggravated. It was very hard to get the two mixed up.
Contrast in film does not require two characters. In the case of "Mr. Bean," the character contrasted with the world around him. He was so strange that he seemed to stand out like a sore thumb, and that made him all the more amusing when he did goofy things.
Contrast can also be found in the written word. This is accomplished nearly in the selfsame way as it is done in film. You merely need to create contrast of character types or situations in the same manner. If done correctly, those characters will be more memorable to people who have read about them. If you, however, mistakenly write every character to be roughly the same, people may struggle to remember one character from another. Character variety creates contrast. Contrast creates visibility. If everything feels the same, people will struggle to care about the details.
In conclusion, look around you right now. What things inside your house seem to blend in, and what things feel like they are standing out. Take note of it. Think about movies and books you have read where you specifically remember the difference in things. Become aware of the contrast around you, and perhaps you can use it to your advantage. And most importantly remember this: if you can see something, that means that there is at least a little contrast happening. Without it, we'd all be blind.
This blog was written on April 9, 2026.
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