I recently got back into Gorillaz and rewatched all the music videos that have since come out and have been obsessing over 2D’s eyes for the last few hours. All throughout Phase 1, 2, and 4 they’re black. But in Phase 3 they are almost always white, are exclusively white in Phase 6, and are mostly white in Phase 5 with the exception of the part in Humility where 2D’s head gets hurt and he blinks and his eyes that had been white for the entire video turn black.
I think it was really interesting that the meaning of white colored eyes for 2D specifically was suddenly changed following Phase 4. For most fans, it was pretty easy to believe that 2D’s eyes were white because of an intense amount of stress and anxiety. He was trapped on an island in the middle of nowhere, imprisoned underwater where a whale constantly watched his actions as a giant psychological mindfuck, and the only other characters he had constant interaction with was one of the most abusive assholes in the world who has basically taken control of his 2D’s life whenever he wants no matter what 2D may or may not want and a cyborg imitation of one of his best friends/ pseudo child that only follows Murdoc’s orders and can kill anybody on command with the weapons in her body. Of course he’d be stressed the fuck out and what better way would there be to show this in a character who is known for his eyes being black suddenly turning white as if somehow instead of his skin turning pale like a normal person’s does when scared and anxious, the blood making his eyes black rushes out. Then he came back in Humanz with black eyes and it seemed everything was back to whatever Gorillaz version of normal is, meaning 2D was less stressed or dealing with his stress better and his eyes were back to black. When Humility came out and 2D’s eyes were white while he seemed so happy and free, it was the real head spinning moment.
I think If Noodle had been right in thinking 2D had been possessed like Russel and that was why he was acting so different than before and had white eyes in Phase 5, that might have been a little much even for Gorillaz since while 2D is one of the more odd looking members of the band, he is also the most relatively normal member. He had a fairly normal childhood with the exception of the accident that led him to have blue hair, he has loving parents with normal jobs, and between phases he had pretty average stories of working at his dad’s fairground and going to school or traveling. He wasn’t Murdoc who made deals with the devil, or Noodles who was a child soldier and assassin also dealing with literal demons, or Russel who had been possessed and turned into a giant because of chemicals as he swam to Plastic Beach. There’s no real connection he has to anything exceptionally strange or supernatural until Phase 6 and that’s not particularly exceptional since everyone in the band also interacts with the portals.
I’ve heard two different theories about why 2D’s eyes are now almost exclusively white. One is that his eyes mimic the energy and emotion he feels. Black is a neutral state. Extreme happiness or extreme sadness/ stress? White eyes. I think it’s a fairly decent explanation. It feels like a better fit for 2D while also explaining why he has the same colored eyes for such conflicting emotions and circumstances. It doesn’t have quite as much depth as I would hope for though. The second theory is that 2D’s eyes being black has been because of consistent head trauma because people who suffer from 8-ball fractures should be able to heal and their eyes turn back to normal, but they also need to be more careful of their head hitting anything because it can easily send blood rushing back into the eyes. While Noodles is definitely the most dangerous of the group, Murdoc has always been the one to become violent easily, and seems fond of finding reasons to harm 2D. During Phase 3 (the lore not the clips), Murdoc and 2D are all alone and are not performing. During Phase 5, Murdoc isn’t around because he’s in jail, and when he returns in Phase 6, he no longer has as much power within Gorillaz and doesn’t seem as prone to anger and violence as before. In this theory, 2D’s eyes being black has been the result of Murdoc continuously hurting his head to maintain the specific image of 2D that he had when he woke up from his coma, the same image that 2D had when Gorillaz was originally being marketed. For Phase 3, they’re not touring at all, so 2D doesn’t need to keep his black eyes. For Phase 5 and 6 Murdoc is either not present or not attempting to harm 2D. His eyes are white not to show a specific emotional state but because they’re healing since he hasn’t suffered continuous head trauma from Murdoc anymore. While I think this is a more interesting theory that delves into the interesting and fucked up relationship between 2D and Murdoc, I have very clear memories of clips from Murdoc’s radio show while on Plastic Beach. Sometimes 2D would come in and those would end with major fights between the two that included the sound of physical hitting, things being thrown, and 2D making very big dramatic noises that sounded like he was hurt or scared. I can’t imagine that the entire time 2D and Murdoc were stuck on Plastic Beach together, Murdoc didn’t just decide to hit 2D whenever he felt like it which is why this theory also isn’t entirely full proof.
I feel like there’s this great middle ground theory somewhere between the two that actually makes a lot of sense. Because even in Phase 3, despite 2D being believed to have white eyes throughout the entire phase, in the artwork and videos his eyes do go back and forth from black to white and vice versa. This could just be a lack of consistent character design, but it could also be a way of showing 2D’s complexity despite him seeming to gradually be more uwu-fied by the story and fans. I guess I’m going more along the mental state route, but I guess 2D’s eye color could indicate his clarity of mind at the time? Or how focused his mind is? For his eyes to be white is for him to have a focus on a fairly simple singular goal or have a somewhat definitive idea of who he is, what he wants to be, and what he wants to do. He is trapped inside his underwater prison bedroom in Plastic Beach and his eyes are white? His singular goal is getting out but he doesn’t have the ability to because he is worried about the whale seeing him. He’s on Plastic Beach with Murdoc and Cyborg Noodle and his eyes are black? It’s been a while since he’s been on the island, long enough that Murdoc will let him leave the prison bedroom and roam under supervision, and he’s lost looking out into the ocean trapped with Murdoc and a dangerous imitation of someone close to him he thinks is dead and will never get to the see the sunset again, or sing with him, and oh god she would have been an adult and she practically was one compared to the rest of them when she died and Cyborg lacks all her warmth and he can’t tell if it’s better or worse that Murdoc attempted to recreate Noodle at 14 then attempt to create the wonderful adult she could have turned into at 19 and where the fuck is Russel. He’s skating and having the time of his life with Murdoc gone? He’s free and enjoying himself and wow this album that he’ll be a major creative force behind will be amazing and he’ll make sure it is and Noodle and Russel will be there and they’ll all support each other and he can experiment with sound in a way he’s feared to do since Murdoc came into his life. He trips and hits his head but quickly shakes it off and his eyes that briefly turned black are white again? The hit and the somewhat imposing blurry figure of Russel standing over him briefly sent him spiraling back to a place in time he would order not to revisit, but he knows where he is and who he is and while his confidence is shaken, he still knows what’s happening. His eyes are still white as he reaches back down through a portal to a fearful and hopeful Murdoc smiling with outstretched arms because Murdoc’s fear is that he has no use, no power, and has been abandoned to die in the middl of nowhere with the palace he attempted to create long ago and imprisoned 2D in? He knows that Murdoc has been a horrible person and may always to some degree be one and while he will never forget the physical verbal and emotional abuse, he can see Murdoc attempting to be a better person every day and knows that he will never know the person Murdoc could be if he let him die but also that he Stuart 2D Pott is not a killer, and not even Murdoc fucking Niccals will make him be one.
Idk. I feel like there’s so much that could potentially be done with 2D and his eyes and it’s just never fully addressed even though it could easily provide a short hand for understanding his emotions and development and relationships with other characters.
