The Take | What Curly Hair Represents In Movies & TV (& How It's Changing) | Trope Explained @thetake | Uploaded June 2024 | Updated October 2024, 1 week ago.
Curly hair, like hair colors, is often used to represent something specific about a character on screen. Sometimes curly hair is a positive signifier – like of an untamable strength within a character – but for a long time curly hair was used as an indication that something about a character needed to be changed and, well, straightened out. In recent years, things have begun evolving as we’ve seen more and more characters come to love their hair (and themselves) as is, following on the back of real world movements to do the same. So let’s unpack the different tropes that have sprung up around curly hair on screen (good and bad) and how we’re finally bouncing past those into a much more positive, accepting place.
Join our Patreon to unlock the members-only series “Total Take," vote on what we cover next, and more: patreon.com/thetake
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:48 The curly haired woman who must be tamed
02:20 A sign of evil
02:36 Powerful & not afraid to take up space
03:16 Quirky curls (& why they aren't forced to to straighten their hair)
04:48 Why society always wanted curly girls to change
05:59 They tried to make Julia Louis-Dreyfus blow out her hair forever
06:43 Film & tv's issues with black hair textures (are improving but not fixed)
08:59 Love your curly hair!
The Take was created by Debra Minoff & Susannah McCullough
This video was written/narrated/produced/edited by Jessica Babineaux
Films & shows mentioned/shown in this video:
The Bold Type
Sex and the City
Black-ish
Clueless
The Princess Diaries
Foxy Brown
Broad City
Girlfriends
The Hair Tales
Seinfeld
Moonstruck
Insecure
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
A Wrinkle In Time
A Star Is Born (1976)
Almost Famous
Eyes Wide Shut
Fatal Attraction
Sesame Street
The Righteous Gemstones
Harry Potter
Tangled
The Today Show
Harper's Bazaar - How I Do (Tracee Ellis Ross)
Curly hair, like hair colors, is often used to represent something specific about a character on screen. Sometimes curly hair is a positive signifier – like of an untamable strength within a character – but for a long time curly hair was used as an indication that something about a character needed to be changed and, well, straightened out. In recent years, things have begun evolving as we’ve seen more and more characters come to love their hair (and themselves) as is, following on the back of real world movements to do the same. So let’s unpack the different tropes that have sprung up around curly hair on screen (good and bad) and how we’re finally bouncing past those into a much more positive, accepting place.
Join our Patreon to unlock the members-only series “Total Take," vote on what we cover next, and more: patreon.com/thetake
Read articles on film, TV and culture: the-take.com
Follow our socials: https://linktr.ee/thisisthetake
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:48 The curly haired woman who must be tamed
02:20 A sign of evil
02:36 Powerful & not afraid to take up space
03:16 Quirky curls (& why they aren't forced to to straighten their hair)
04:48 Why society always wanted curly girls to change
05:59 They tried to make Julia Louis-Dreyfus blow out her hair forever
06:43 Film & tv's issues with black hair textures (are improving but not fixed)
08:59 Love your curly hair!
The Take was created by Debra Minoff & Susannah McCullough
This video was written/narrated/produced/edited by Jessica Babineaux
Films & shows mentioned/shown in this video:
The Bold Type
Sex and the City
Black-ish
Clueless
The Princess Diaries
Foxy Brown
Broad City
Girlfriends
The Hair Tales
Seinfeld
Moonstruck
Insecure
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
A Wrinkle In Time
A Star Is Born (1976)
Almost Famous
Eyes Wide Shut
Fatal Attraction
Sesame Street
The Righteous Gemstones
Harry Potter
Tangled
The Today Show
Harper's Bazaar - How I Do (Tracee Ellis Ross)
