What is it about women dyeing their hair in movies?
What is it about Women dyeing their hair in films?
Currently watching Salt with the liptastic Jolie, and the moment the going gets tough, of course Jolie whips out her handy dye for a little transformative styling. Is this warpaint for women, or is it perhaps the male directors fantasizing about and controlling their cast?
Salt starts off with Blond hair, but can you have a blond empowered heroine who kicks ass and who gets home in time for their anniversary dinner? Blonds have more fun, but brunettes get the job done!
I can't think of any male characters who have dyed their hair in films, although I'm sure there have been a few. The trope seems centred around females, which is, if you think about it more unlikely than men. How many female friends do you know who would be happy to splash cheap dye on their hair and shear half of it off? Now think of how nonplussed men are about haircuts and hair in general... the numbers don't add up.
So what do we have then? A directors desire to objectify and literally idolize his lead? A way to protect gender lines by de-sexing the woman, making them a masculine force? Or just a plot device and simply nothing more?
One last thought strikes me. Perhaps this is the directors way of emphasising how serious an undertaking a female character is about to undertake. We all know that women's value lies in their looks, or so pretty much every piece of modern media keeps trying to reinforce. What greater sacrifice can a woman make than dyeing and cutting off her beautiful hair so that she can ‘Become’ that demon, that Fury of purpose, unstoppable and totally terrible and fearful.
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Further addendum. Just getting to the climax of the film, I had absolutely no idea this would happen while writing the above, but, they've actually got Jolie to dress up and pretend to be a man. I kid you not. The transformation is complete!
