Would there be a big cotroversy over purple eyes?

[Silver7]

Let us say there was a normal looking person that was born with purple eyes, in fact lets say that they look like a beautiful White Caucasian person but the only thing is that they have purple eyes that enables them to see things sharper than other people. (Would a lot of people act hostile towards them over that, just for having purple eyes?)

Also if a Black person lets say had yellow golden eyes, would or might people react to that Black person different than how they reacted to the White person with purple eyes? (Does the person's skin color change the dynamics of how people react to them?)

My thoughts: It would be cool if the purple eyed White person and the yellow eyed Black person could be friends

[jwabeasley]

If you do a fictional story where someone has purple eyes, and they are better than regular eyes in some way, then old internet hands might make fun of you due to this old thing:

Otherwise, I doubt eye color alone or 20/5 vision would be a big deal to people. Lots of people don't notice eye colors in any conscious way for acquaintances, unless it comes up in conversation or something. Skin color is far more visible from a distance.

The only way you'd get hostility is by adding some history in there - maybe the ruling class all had purple eyes and they made it the mark of being wealthy for a while, and then fell out of power so now people associate it with slave owners or something.

It would be cool if they were friends but not that weird unless you do a lot to the setting to make it weird.

[Silver7]

The only way you'd get hostility is by adding some history in there - maybe the ruling class all had purple eyes and they made it the mark of being wealthy for a while, and then fell out of power so now people associate it with slave owners or something.

Good point, thanks for your reply man

[Breeze.Hill]

Elizabeth Taylor was famously said to have "purple eyes" on occasion. In reality, her eyes were blue, but depending on the lighting, they could appear violet. This was seen as a beautiful and unique trait.

But she was also a very conventionally beautiful, major Hollywood star—so the rules were always a bit different for her. Celebrities often set new beauty standards that the general public follows.

Whether people would love or hate a trait like that depends on whether we're talking about the real world or a fantasy world.

In a fantasy setting, you could make something as common as brown hair into a trait people are mocked for. If history has taught us anything, it’s that those in power often try to make their “club” more exclusive as a way to maintain control.

There was once an entire pseudoscientific craze claiming that white people had superior skull shapes compared to the supposedly “ape-like” skulls of Black people—total nonsense, of course. But if people could be hostile over skull shape, then yes, purple or yellow eyes could easily become something others are hostile over too.

It just depends on how you write it.

As for the differing attitudes toward a Caucasian with purple eyes versus a Black person with yellow eyes—that also depends on whether we're in the real world or a fantasy one.

In the real world—especially in the West and Europe—racism would likely play a role. Yellow eyes might be demonized, especially given how we often portray demons with yellow or red eyes (and sometimes purple).

But in a fantasy world, it’s entirely up to you. If you don’t want racism in your world, you don’t have to include it. And they could simply be hated or loved based on their eye colour with skin colour playing no role. That’s the fun of fanatsy it can be whatever you want.

[NGChloe]

I don't think so. I think people would view them as kind of cool. I think there would need to be some historical context, like a past person with purple eyes who was a ton of trouble. As for the golden eyes, if they were a racist society and the black person had special abilities from their eyes. Then yes, I think they would be hostile, because racists tend to view POCs gaining any kind of power as a threat to them, because "If we were racists against them when we had power, then they'll be racist to us," is the general mindset

[moontokkym]

I feel like every question you ask about "would it be weird if people I consider beautiful had one weird quirk? Would you reject them?" And it's oftentimes stuff that exists or has existed.

People with purple eyes exist, if you have albinism your eyes look purple or red depending on the extent of it, and if you have ocular albinism you don't look pale you just have the red/purple eyes. The main difference is that it doesn't aid your vision, you're legally blind (because you have no melanin to protect your vision from the sunlight like a very extreme version of people with blue eyes). If you want to know how people react to people with purple eyes: go watch a bunch of videos about people with albinism's experience of school, it's a mixed bag.

Also, people with golden eyes exist, it's just what happens when you have less melanin in brown eyes, and happens relatively often in places like east Asia where there's a lot of variance in brown eyed people.

Broaden your horizons, a lot of your "hypotheticals" are things you can have genuine real-world answers for if you just look.

[Silver7]

People with purple eyes exist, if you have albinism your eyes look purple or red depending on the extent of it, and if you have ocular albinism you don't look pale you just have the red/purple eyes. The main difference is that it doesn't aid your vision, you're legally blind (because you have no melanin to protect your vision from the sunlight like a very extreme version of people with blue eyes). If you want to know how people react to people with purple eyes: go watch a bunch of videos about people with albinism's experience of school, it's a mixed bag.

Also, people with golden eyes exist, it's just what happens when you have less melanin in brown eyes, and happens relatively often in places like east Asia where there's a lot of variance in brown eyed people.

People don't really have purple eyes unless the lighting makes them seem purple and people don't have the kind of yellow eyes that I'm thinking of, so it's all imaginary

[rmmanlapit2023]

In Anime now, trends are pointed at red eyes to denote demonic strength or capabilities. Why purple? Great information @jwabeasley, did not know that.

[moontokkym]

I mean technically correct, in the same way people don't actually have blue eyes either, it's just the light passing through the lack of melanin in the iris.

But I can assure you that there are many people with albinism that have eyes that look purple in basically all natural light, and there are even a few who are educators online who talk about their experiences with albinism, including reactions to their purple eyes. Again broaden your horizons and look things up before affirming things you don't know.

[michoverse]

It depends on many things, if it's in our modern world probably it will be cool and people might think it's lenses or something. If it was old times they might think of them as witches or possessed. And of course in your universe such eye colors could have superstitions behind them, like people think it's bad luck or some old legend or myth. And the most realistic outcome would be different reactions from different people like someone with a facial tattoo.

[abigaillmartin]

My immediate thought was “Dude. Alexandria’s Genesis.”

It’s literally just someone in the late 1990s writing fanfiction of the MTV show “Daria” and their self insert character had purple eyes.

They called it Alexandria’s Genesis. They were literally just trying to make their self insert oc look cool. It’s not real.

[jwabeasley]

In Anime now, trends are pointed at red eyes to denote demonic strength or capabilities. Why purple? Great information @jwabeasley, did not know that.

Red often evokes violence and rage, so artists frequently depict demonic and monstrous enemies with glowing red eyes, with no commentary on real life red eyes intended. Since red eyes have that connotation, it makes sense for characters to be depicted with red eyes if the artist wants them to seem demonic or hostile. Especially in anime, where eye and hair colors are often purely fantastical.

Modern anime creators are likely referencing the Sharigan, which was referencing Hiei, who probably referenced another similar character in a reference chain that goes back to a Osamu Tezuka origin, like most anime tropes.

Also, I may not have been clear that Alexandra's Genesis is a hoax/meme originating from bad fanfiction, not a real thing. I meant that readers familiar with that hoax-meme would find a character with purple eyes that made them better than others to be humorous rather than dramatic.

[ThunderChicken]

In the Songs of Ice and Fire books (otherwise known as Game of Thrones to those who have only watched it on TV) purple eyes are a trait of the Targaryan family, which is also associated with madness.

In my fantasy world purple eyes are not uncommon among the shapeshifters, but heterochromic eyes (two different colours) is very common as well. This is explained as being a genetic thing - since there are no X chromosomes (all shapeshifters are male, though they reproduce sexually - this is also explained) there is no dominant eye colour gene, so if one parent has blue eyes and one brown, the offspring will often have one of each (or entirely different colours from their parents, as well).

[Stargazer31]

Coloured contact lenses, dude. Not just gold and purple