Abstract

Color is a kind of visual effect towards light through the eyes, brains and our life experience. When facing different colors, people may have different likes and dislikes. They tend to choose the colors they like and avoid the colors they dislike, which is commonly called color preference. The general color preference of a nationality has particular cultural connotation, revealing its social inventions, political system, economic situation, trend of thought, literature and art, and even the lifestyle of people. Color preference of American is blue preference. Americans’ blue preference is attributed to the special American culture, and its development and revolution are also closely related to American culture. This thesis analyzes the mutual relation between blue preference and American cultural phenomenon on the basis of essential connection between color preference and culture.
The thesis is divided into three parts. It firstly begins with a brief introduction of blue, the functions of blue, the historic events in its symbolic meanings and scope of application, and illustrates the connotation of blue preference and analyzes causes of emergence of blue preference. Then in the second part it states the connotation of culture and gives an overview of American culture. In the last chapter it illustrates the interaction between blue preference and Americans’ cultural phenomenon on the basis of the relation between color and cultural phenomenon.

Key words: color; blue preference; American culture
 
摘  要

    颜色是通过眼、脑和我们的生活经验所产生的一种对光的视觉效应。面对不同的色彩，人们会产生不同的好恶，倾向于选择喜爱的颜色，回避不喜欢的颜色，这正是所谓的颜色情结。一个民族普遍的颜色情结具有独特的文化内涵，揭示了其社会习俗、政治制度、经济状况、思想潮流、文学艺术以及人们的生活方式。美国人的颜色情结是蓝色情结，这归因于独特的美国文化，其发展变革也与美国文化息息相关。本论文以颜色情结与文化的本质关系为基础，分析美国人的蓝色情结与美国文化的相互关系。
本文分为三个部分。第一部分首先简要介绍蓝色的概念，蓝色的功能和历史演变，然后简述了蓝色情结的基本内涵和产生原因。第二部分介绍了文化的含义和美国文化概况。第三部分重点分析蓝色情结和美国文化的相互关系，介绍颜色与文化的关系，并在此基础上分析蓝色情结与美国文化现象的相互关系和由此产生的实际意义。

关键词：颜色；蓝色情结；美国文化