In-detail look at purple color in "Daredevil"
Expansion from previous post on color symbolism.
Also read: longpost about yellow and green
1x01 "Into the Ring"
Directed by Phil Abraham
Cinematography by Matthew J. Lloyd
Purple is a very rare color. Not just in "Daredevil", but in media in general. It has a historical reason for that, as for many centuries purple dye could be acquired only through hard and expensive process of secrection of sea snail, which made purple strongly assosiated with royalty and religion (we'll come back to that later).
But our first exposure to purple color happens in pilot episode, as Matt let Karen stay at his appartment, while also having their first talk outside of professional environment, with Matt revealing his vulnerable side with discussion of his blindness.
Because purple is a secondary color, made out of red and blue, it has a connotation of ambiguity and ambivalance and... Wait a second, that's what I talked about yellow color right?
Another intresting thing about purple, is that it is complementary color to yellow in traditional RYB color wheel, basically being the opposite of yellow color. In context of "Daredevil" we already learned two significant meanings of yellow color: past and fear. If we talk about the first, then the opposite to it is quite opposite: it's the future. But when we talk about second it becomes tricky, because purple is definitely not a color of courage, it's more of red color's job.
The answer is hidden in comics: fear is a great motive to Daredevil as a character, and oftenly it is presented in a constant battle with... Love. And that's intresting, because one of the characters who makes this comparison, about correlation between fear and love is none other but Karen Page, deemed as a greatest love Matt Murdock has ever had by makority of comic authors, including Jeph Loeb, writer of "Daredevil: Yellow" and head of Marvel TV at the time.
We'll come back to Karen's part in that narrative later, as in Season 1, purple color appears next in episode where Wilson Fisk asks Vanessa on a date, and when Matt is treating Claire in his appartment, as they gain more feelings to each other, while it is lit by combo of yellow and purple. The same combination of lighting in Matt's appartment can also be seen when Stick arrives, as the main story is about Matt's fear of rejection and his search for fatherly love in Stick.
1x04 "In the Blood" / 1x07 "Stick"
Directed by Ken Girotti / Brad Turner
Cinematography by Matthew J. Lloyd
Off-topic: In the next episode, there is a glimpse of purple in poiice station, to be more precise, in advertisment about citizen's awareness of a crime and report on it, with slogan "You don't have to reveal your identity to help solve violent crimes". This might allude to another meaning of color purple: mystery. We can again return to that appartment scene, focal point of which is that both Matt and Karen hid the truth from each other in order to protect one another from violence they think they can bring to the person. Mystery in question is masked vigilantism, some sort of secret that is used by people who "solve violent crimes".
In the same episode, Karen wears purple-ish dress, tyrian purple to be more exact, the one that made purple to be associated with royalty and spirituality. In bright lighting it seems like red one, but the neutral lighting reveals its true nature. It is more of a quick observation, rather than addition to the point, so don't take it too much into account.
1x05 "World on Fire"
Directed by Farren Blackburn
Cinematography by Matthew J. Lloyd
Foggy wears purple-ish clothes in two scenes that are connected to "Nelson & Murdock" union, with him making a real sign and his proposal on a napkin in flashback sequence, as Matt jokes in both occasions with "I'm not gonna kiss you" and "Sounds like we're getting married". From narrative standpoint, it's obvious that Matt and Foggy's relationship are platonic, but it's really hard to deny that these two love each other in deeper sense than just friends. They are brothers, they are family, and their joint law firm is none other than great symbol of that love they share.
1x09 "Speak of the Devil" / 1x10 "Nelson v. Murdock"
Directed by Nelson McCormick / Farren Blackburn
Cinematography by Matthew J. Lloyd
In final episodes, Ben gives his wife Doris purple flowers, when he propose a trip to Paris (the city of love) followed by dialogue that encourages Ben to write an article about Fisk to publish it on Internet. Purple flowers are also ones that Ben's family, Matt and Karen bring to his funeral.
1x12 "The Ones We Leave Behind" / 1x13 "Daredevil"
Directed by Euros Lyn / Steven S. DeKnight
Cinematography by Matthew J. Lloyd
In the funeral scene we can also notice that Father Lantom wears a purple scarf. He later wears it Season 2, in the Grotto's funeral, and yes, indeed, in Catholicism, purple is a color used for Masses for the Dead. But is is also a color used during Advent, Lent, Confessions and various other rituals, representing penance, devoution and sacrifice.
And that's where we come back to Karen Page. Season 2 lacks any purple, but it again appears in Karen's outfits as blue-purple and red-purple (the same as in Season 1), correlating with her emotional state throughout the episode.
2x08 "Guilty as Sin"
Directed by Michael Uppendahl
Cinematography by Martin Ahlgren
Same play on blue-red mixing into purple is seen in lighting of flashback sequence from the beggining of Season 3, where Matt confesses in him being Daredevil, also referencing their "first night" back in 1x01.
Although Season 3 doesn't have explicit romantic connotations, this flashback in particular mentions "trip down memory lane" as Karen visited indian restraunt where she and Matt had a date, and also Karen mentions that she dreamt of Daredevil. The flashback ends with Matt's promise to Karen that he doesn't need Daredevil, thinking that this was the problem that caused their break-up, basically chosing Karen over Daredevil, and lets her hear his heart.
3x01 "Resurrection"
Directed by Marc Jobst
Cinematography by Christopher LaVasseur
Later in Season 3, when Karen is fired from Bulletin because of hiding Daredevil's identity from Ellison, she wears a purple shirt, as she drowning her misery. This is the scene where Foggy comes with a plan to take down Fisk, inspiring Karen to basically sacrifice herself by confessing to Kingpin that she was the one who killed Wesley. After that, she feel regret and tries to escape the city, afraiding the penance for what she has done, and she wears a purple jacket (that she's gonna wear for the next few episodes) as she approaches Sister Maggie and stays in church while waiting for refuge. Poindexter arrives and we see a basically page-to-screen adaptation of "Guradian-Devil" storyline.
3x08 "Upstairs/Downstairs" / 3x09 "Revelations"
Directed by Alex Zakrzewski / Jennifer Lynch
Cinematography by Christopher LaVasseur
The choice of purple clothing is intresting, because in "Guardian-Devil" Karen also wears purple jacket during Daredevil vs Bullseye stand-off in church. Karen is also seeking penance for her past actions that destroyed her own life and lives of those who are close to her, and in a desperate attempt to save Matt from Bullseye's deadly throw, she sacrifices herself for Daredevil and dies. From now on, every single appearance of Karen in comics, mostly in flashbacks, is in purple colors.
The series subverted the moment and Karen survives the battle, but it leads to her confessing of her "sins" to Matt, which has a great impact on their understanding of each other and Matt's own personal journey, as Karen helps him to return to his sense of humanity. She also says about Foggy's devoution to Matt and alludes that she has the same feeling, saying she won't leave him now.
The dynamic of past/fear (yellow) and future/love (purple) can also be seen in narrative with Elektra, as she not only just "ex-girlfriend, past that cathes up", she also appears in only yellow lighting and oftenly Matt is very uncomfortable by various reasons, either Elektra's violence or her attempts to seduce Matt. Matt's connection to Elektra is developed out of his fear of rejection by others, that's why he clings on past so much.
But with Karen he shows his vulnerability since day one, trusts her his deepest emotions and eventually she confronts his fear of rejection directly with her declaration of devoution to him no matter how shitty he treats those who are close to him. Every season ends with Matt and Karen entering a new phase of their lives with changed view on a world and self-understanding, as Karen is seen as the one who leads Matt to the future. She is his North Star in his path of change to a better man, as he faces the truths about himself and the world around. She is his forgiveness, someone to whom he confesses more oftenly than he does to priest.
The ultimate meaning of purple is that Karen Page is Matt Murdock's love of his life.
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