Reception
During its repeat run in the UK in 1993, Captain Scarlet became involved in the black-and-white dualism debate for its use of the codenames "White" to designate the head of Spectrum, Colonel White, and "Black" in reference to the villainous Captain Black. Gerry Anderson defended his series against the accusations of racism and political incorrectness by reminding critics that Lieutenant Green, Melody Angel and Harmony Angel are heroic characters despite being of either African or Asian descent.
Guyanese actor Cy Grant, who voiced Green and saw the series as having positive multicultural value, has also noted the allegorical nature of Captain Scarlet. Christian symbolism is heavily implied, with Colonel White as God, Captain Black as the Devil, Captain Scarlet as Christ, Cloudbase as Heaven, and characters codenamed "the Angels", but Grant also mentions the idea of Lieutenant Green as an African trickster hero. On dualism, he suggests that, "the 'darkness' of the Mysterons is most easily seen as the psychological rift—the struggle of 'good' and 'evil' — of the Western world as personified by Colonel White and his team. Dark and light are but aspects of each other. Incidentally, green is the colour of nature that can heal that rift."
Read more about this topic: Colonel White
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