Somewhere over the rainbow

way up high

There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby

Somewhere over the rainbow

Skies are blue

And the dreams that you dare to dream

Really do come true

Have you seen a rainbow in the sky? This lyric is the intro of Somewhere Over The Rainbow, which has been loved for ages since it was the famous theme song of The Wizard of OZ. In this movie, Dorothy purely sang the song hoping to be a bluebird that can fly freely over the rainbow after missing her old home. Do you know one of the famous Korean tales, “The fairy and the Woodcutter”? In this story, the rainbow is described as a mystified beauty. Some European countries have sayings about the rainbow, “There are buried treasures at the end of the rainbow,” such as giant pearls, a gold key and golden jars.

Rainbows have remained a precious weather phenomena for all ages. Then, how does it appear? A rainbow is a natural phenomenon after rain. A rainbow appears when raindrops and the sun meet. More specifically, when rain drops on the opposite side of the sun, raindrops in the air reflect the light. The angle of refraction makes all the colors of the rainbow, usually 7 colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and violet. However, it’s becoming more and more difficult to see a rainbow.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, Rainbows are disappearing in Korea because of air pollution. Fine dust covering the sky blurs and obstructs the view. One expert said, “In Hawaii, it appears more than 20 times a year. The reduction of rainbows tells us of a serious environmental condition especially on air pollution.” Recently, yellow dust and smog from China has become a serious problem in Korea. However, there isn’t any clear antipollution measure yet. Have you ever thought of a world where there is no Rainbow? It may be sorrowful. To keep our beautiful memory and to deliver a lovely sight for future generations, we should act now.

People often see the 7 colors of rainbow after it rains. People think that rainbows are just amazing and beautiful. However, rainbows’ 7 colors represent diversity. Furthermore, that diversity sometimes represents homosexuality.

In 1978, Gilbert Baker, a painter who lived in San Francisco, was asked to make the symbol that could represent the gay society from the homosexual rights activists group. After much consideration, Gilbert made a rainbow flag with 8 colors.

Gilbert made that flag from the idea of the Olympic flag’s 5 colors. Gilbert tried to express the diversity through 8 colors (pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple). 8 colors each symbolize sexuality, life, healing, sun, nature, art, harmony, and soul.

However, this 8 colored flag ran into a problem. For the homosexual rights activists group’s demonstration, they had to produce flags in quantity. By the way, pink didn’t come into the market commercially at that time. As a result, they made flags with 7 colors without pink.

Meanwhile using the 7 colored flag, finally the homosexual rights activists group decided to use the current rainbow flag with 6 colors. In November 1978, in San Francisco, Harvey Milk was assassinated. He was the first homosexual elected after coming out. Gay society was upset. They planned a huge parade demonstration to announce their force and solidity. The homosexual rights activists group decided to use flags designed by Baker in the 1979 gay parade demonstration. For an easy demonstration, the homosexual rights activists group tried to divide the line into two sides of the road. As a result, they had to remove the indigo for the divide, after that, rainbow flag became popular with 6 colors.

<’Apple’s rainbow apple logo>

Many people use Apple products. As popularity increases, Apple’s logo is considered as the most successful enterprise logo in history. What does Apple’s logo have to do with homosexuality? First of all, Apple’s logo is well known as the image of an apple missing a bite.

Until now, there were so many views about Apple’s logo. ‘Isaac Newton’s apple who discovered the law of gravity’, ‘Apple eaten by Adam in Genesis’, and ‘Apple from The Beatles’ apple record (Steve Jobs was a fan of The Beatles.)’ are some ideas. Among all, the strongest view was ‘to praise Alan Turing (1912-1954) who made the origin form of the modern computer and was also homosexual’.

In the 1950s England, homosexuality was accepted as a crime. Turing, who was England’s genius scientist, came out at that time. As a result, Turing was under indictment, so he had to receive hormone treatment. Turing writhed with shame. Finally, he injected potassium cyanide into an apple, and ate it.

Steve Jobs who was a founder of Apple, has regarded Alan Turing as an idol. So 20 years after the very first computer, he named his company ‘Apple’, and also made a logo related to Turing. In the beginning of the foundation of Apple (1976~1998), he not only made its logo with a shape of the apple, but also put the rainbow color which means homosexuality.

Likewise, the rainbow is used as a symbol of homosexuality consciously and unconsciously. If you see the rainbow logo while passing by, how about recalling the meaning of homosexuality sometimes?

Park Sarah, Oh Yu-ju  -

<저작권자 © The Campus Journal, 무단 전재 및 재배포 금지>