Is the Color Grading on ‘White Lotus’ Season 3 Offensive?
The release of the third season of The White Lotus on HBO has provoked a debate about its color grading and whether it’s offensive to poorer, non-Western countries.
The White Lotus, written and directed by Mike White, is a show about wealthy guests staying at a luxury resort. It explores themes of privilege and power dynamics and has been a huge success. Season 3 is set in Thailand and so far, with two episodes released, the show has a strong yellow hue which has long been a Hollywood tactic when filming in places like Mexico or parts of the world that aren’t Europe or the United States.
@juststevenart I didn't know it was a real thing… #mexico🇲🇽 #yellowfilter #mexico #comedy #breakingbad #flight #airplane #findyourgrace #nourisheveryyou #fypã‚· #fy ♬ original sound – DDG
ABC News Australia reports that Steven Soderbergh’s 2000 film Traffic was one of the first to employ the yellow filter to distinguish between the storyline unfolding in the United States and events taking place in Mexico. Viewers of Breaking Bad will also remember that scenes taking place in Mexico also had a strong golden look.
In a recent YouTube video titled “Is Digital Color Grading Destroying Modern Movies”, Dean Butler of Alucinor Productions reveals the first theatrical film to be “100 percent color-graded with a digital intermediate” was the Cohen Brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou?, also released in the year 2000. Before that, the color and look of the film were decided on set by the crew’s choice of film stock, lighting, and filters.
TV colorist Juan Mela tells ABC News Australia that he believes over time the warm look has come to signify that events are taking place in a country that is poor and a foreign land to the characters.
When the trailer for season 3 dropped, some fans were triggered by the color grading; going so far as to call it “racist” and rapping the show’s makers for taking an archaic approach.
Others point out that in season 2 of The White Lotus, which is set in Italy, the show had more neutral colors but the first season, set in Hawaii, also had the strong yellow hue. So what’s the reason behind this?
Some suggest that the color grading is to show the oppressive daytime heat but the yellow filter is still present at nighttime. What’s intriguing is that the season set in Italy didn’t have that filter. Perhaps it’s to show how the characters feel about their vacation destination: Italy, with its old world charm, might be viewed differently than Thailand which is affectionaately known as “The Land of Smiles.”
Ultimately, it’s a decision that’s made behind closed doors in production meetings and the editing suite.
Image credits: HBO
