Reiterative controversy: Color disputes in the dress and the shoe’s cyberevents

Abstract

This article intends to understand the formation of controversies surrounding the blue and black or white and gold dress and the blue and gray or pink and white shoe, both in relation to the scientific discussion regarding the issue and web discussions centralized in BuzzFeed’s publications, the acting propeller of both. The confusion brought by these color combinations stems from a dilemma of philosophical and scientific malaise about the very nature of colors. This malaise solidifies in a black box, a concept of Bruno Latour, an illusory and provisional stability, updated periodically. Understanding these controversies in Ronaldo Henn’s proposal for cyber event, we can see a categorization of the conversations, where one perceives a fierce dispute between the combinations of colors and explanation attempts triggered by the use of technologies.

Keywords: colors, cyber event, actor-network theory.