Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
116,199
edits
Dumb Blonde: Difference between revisions
m
→Film: replace redirect
m (revise quote template spacing) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) m (→Film: replace redirect) |
||
| (21 intermediate revisions by 10 users not shown) | |||
Line 2:
[[File:marilyn-monroe-glasses-colour.jpg|link=Marilyn Monroe|frame|Those glasses aren't fooling anyone, [[How to Marry a Millionaire|Pola]].]]
{{quote|''"For, though very beautiful, with large grey eyes and the hair the colour of ripe corn, the heroine of a thriller is almost never a very intelligent girl. Indeed, it would scarcely be overstating it to say that her mentality is that of a cockroach -- and not an ordinary cockroach at that, but one which has been dropped on its head as a baby."''
|'''[[P. G. Wodehouse]]''', "Do Thrillers Need Heroines?"}}
[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Blondes are dumb.]] Perhaps no more than a [[Foil]] to the [[Brainy Brunette]], but can also appear as [[The Fool]], [[The Ditz]], or even the [[Brainless Beauty]]. Extreme cases can make her the [[Cloudcuckoolander]]. Her character is otherwise flexible; the
The Dumb Blonde may be less worldly-wise, or she may have decided to skate through life on her looks, leaving intellectual pursuits to her [[Brainy Brunette|darker-haired]] [[Foil|counterpart]] because she does not want to spend the effort to cultivate her mind. It may be even a deliberately cultivated act, to appear in need of [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit|help before men]]. Whatever the reason, she tends to be scatter-brained and lacking in [[Common Sense]].
Line 10 ⟶ 11:
Very prone to subversion now, with the characters who assume the blonde is foolish paying for it dearly. This may be a form of [[Obfuscating Stupidity]], with the blonde playing off the stereotype, or she may have both [[Genius Ditz|strengths and weaknesses]], and the blonde hair causes characters to overestimate the weakness and underestimate the strengths.
The stereotype seems to have originated from the fact that some Caucasian children have blond hair that darkens as they grow
Arguably an [[Undead Horse Trope]].
Line 17 ⟶ 18:
(When the blonde is ''innocent'' rather than stupid, the trope is [[Hair of Gold]].)
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* [[Sailor Moon]] and Sailor Venus. (Sailor Moon manages to get [[Hair of Gold|blond-pure]] and blond-ditz in the same character.)
Line 26 ⟶ 27:
* Averted for the most part with the titular character of ''[[Candy Candy]].''
* Averted with Lisa Gordon, a ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' secondary character. Her father was a scientist and she also was a perfectly competent scientist on her own. In fact, Professor Gordon bluntly stated he needed her help to upgrade Mazinger-Z into a machine capable to swim and dive.
* [[Naruto]], zig-zagged.
* [[Trigun|Vash the Stampede]] pretends to be this as [[Obfuscating Stupidity]].
Line 36:
* Miki Hosokawa from ''[[Hell Teacher Nube]]'' is pretty street-smart and ''typically'' [[Genre Savvy]] enough to take advantage of situations(repeat: [[Genre Blind|typically]])...but she has an [[Curiosity Killed the Cast|endless curiosity]] and just [[Schmuck Bait|won't stop poking]] any [[Artifact of Doom|Artifacts of Doom]] she [[Happy Fun Ball|comes across]], testing [[Urban Legends]], [[Scare Dare|going into haunted places]], or [[Evil Is Not a Toy|teasing the eldritch powers just for the fun of it]]. Or daring others to do the same.
* Ayaka plays with this trope in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. She's a bit shallow and slow on the uptake, and quite dense when it comes to recognizing when people are in love (besides herself, of course), but actually gets good grades and is apparently a little smarter than average. This trope is than slammed to the ground and stomped on into a pulp by [[Old Master|Evangeline]] {{spoiler|and [[Hot Mom|Arika]]}}.
* Miria Harvent from ''[[Baccano!]]'', dumb enough to be a poster girl.
** Her partner, Isaac, would be in this too, if not for the fact that he's not blonde (we're just not sure what hair color he actually has).
* Eleanor Mercer in the [[Hentai]] series ''[[Honey Blonde]]'' is an american student in Japan...who is the only one in her class who can not speak English.
Line 45:
* [[Tenshi ni Narumon|Noelle]].
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Nami calls the CP 9 agent Kalifa a dumb blonde when she mistakes Chopper's Monster form for Nami.
* ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'' has Keith Goodman/Sky High, a superhero whose [[The Ace|skill and popularity]] is eclipsed only by his amazing [[Ditz
* Averted oh-so-hard in ''Fushigi Yuugi'', where blond beauty Yui is the intellectual genius and brunette Miaka is the idiot who's [[Too Dumb to Live]]. Blond Nakago is also intelligent.
* This trope is endemic in [[German Humour|German-speaking comedy]]. This is possibly due to the fact that the German word for dumb, "blöd", is spoken very similar to the word "blond". And, of course, "blauäugig" (blue eyed) is used as a synonym for "naive".▼
** This casts an entirely new light on the plan [[Those Wacky Nazis]] had for the "Master Race"...▼
* Chanel West Coast from "Ridiculousness".▼
* [[Double Subversion]]: a ventriloquist is performing a routine with his dummy, telling a series of dumb blonde jokes. Suddenly, a well-dressed platinum blonde business woman stands up and says "How can you judge people based on their hair color? It has no bearing on intelligence!" The ventriloquist says, "Lady, please, I just—" The blonde snaps, "You stay out of this! I'm talking to that jerk sitting in your lap!"▼
Line 63 ⟶ 56:
== [[Fairy Tale
* [[Goldilocks]] combines both the [[Hair of Gold|innocence]] and the folly associated with blond hair.
== [[
* Chiara/Cure Vanilla in ''[[Pretty Cure Perfume Preppy]]'' is blond and described as being "just clueless" by her [[Redheaded Hero|redhead sister]] Chloe. However, she matures a little through the course of the fanfic, becoming less [[The Ditz|ditzy]] but still retaining her [[Genki Girl]] status.
* Bebe from ''[[South Park]]'' is often [[Flanderization|flanderized]] into this for [[Die for Our Ship|various]] [[Ron the Death Eater|different]] [[Het Is Ew|reasons]].
Line 82 ⟶ 75:
* ''Blonde and Blonder'', [[Distaff Counterpart|a female version]] of ''Dumb and Dumber'' starring Denise Richards and Pamela Anderson, the latter of whom is yet another actress who specializes in dumb blondes.
* ''[[Romy and Michele's High School Reunion]]'': the two main characters are dim but loveable blondes with a snarky brunette foil.
* [[
* Susan Alexander in ''[[Citizen Kane]]''. Apparently, even the Greatest Movie of All Time isn't above this.
* Buttercup in ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]''; she also has [[Hair of Gold]]. But she's not nearly as dumb in the movie as she is in the book.
* Inverted in the movie version of ''[[My Favorite Martian (film)|My Favorite Martian]]'': The vain, shallow [[Brainless Beauty]] is played by the brunet Liz Hurley while the smart,
* Subverted in ''[[Superman III]]''. Pamela Stephenson's character displays all the traits of a dumb blonde when other people are around. When she's alone, though, she likes to kick back and read philosophy. Interestingly, the actress herself tired of playing blond comedy bimbos and is now a psychologist.
* [[Nicole Kidman]] plays a rare outright villainous Dumb Blonde in ''[[To Die For]]''. Rarer yet, she is also the [[Villain Protagonist|main character]].
* [[The Rocky Horror Picture Show|Rocky Horror]] is a male example of this. He's also a nearly literal example of [[Brainless Beauty]] (he's only got half a brain, folks).
* [[Dead Set|"Do you even understand what is going on here, or is the whole world just colours and shapes and the occasional noise in your head?"]]
* Mia from ''[[Stan Helsing]]''.
Line 94 ⟶ 87:
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rNfZxgkH7k "Cause I'm a Blond"] from ''[[Earth Girls Are Easy]]'' sums up the the stereotype quite nicely.
* Parodied with Lt. Tawny Madison in ''[[Galaxy Quest]]''.
* Many of Sarah Jessica Parker's roles before ''[[Sex and the City]]'' consisted of playing airheaded blondes, including
** In her review of ''[[Hocus Pocus]]'', [[The Nostalgia Chick]] asks why she [[Typecasting|always gets the role]] of the "hot airhead".
* To show that this doesn't just refer to women, look at just about every role Owen Wilson has had.
* The main character's college fiancée, Emily, in ''[[Definitely Maybe (film)|Definitely Maybe]]'' doesn't know how to tell the man she cared about that she didn't want the same things as him any more so she admitted that she did it the most cowardly way possibly. Ever since then, she felt lost, especially when it came to relationships.
* Tatum Riley from the 1996 film ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]]'' falls into this category, {{spoiler|especially during her death scene}} - the prime example of this being that, {{spoiler|when confronted with the garage door as her only means of escape, she chooses to try and squeeze through the small pet-flap instead of simply lift the door and run away. And to top it all off, she doesn't even call for help until she's already trapped, with the garage door taking her upwards, moments from death}}!
* Kevin in the 2016 [[Continuity Reboot|reboot]] of ''[[Ghostbusters (2016 film)|Ghostbusters]]'' is an extremely rare male example of the Dumb Blonde who is ''so'' dumb that they shouldn't be allowed out without a minder.
* Cora Corman in [[Music and Lyrics]]. {{Quote|'''Cora:''' I'll show you the roof. It's upstairs!}}
== [[Literature]] ==
Line 109 ⟶ 103:
* Inverted in the ''[[Col Sec Trilogy]]'': the one blond female character is Samella, who's [[The Smart Girl]], an [[The Empath|empath]], a [[Wrench Wench]], and described as average-looking.
* Inverted by Annabeth Chase in ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'', who is probably the most intelligent of the main characters.
* Inverted by Astrid Ellison in ''[[Gone (novel)]]'', aka ''Astrid the Genius''.
* [[Our Angels Are Different|Raziel]], from [[Christopher Moore]]'s books ''[[Lamb: The Gospel According To Biff]]'' and ''[[The Stupidest Angel]]''. Biff, the narrator of the first book, says Raziel is the [[Ur Example]] of the trope and the reason the world has dumb blonde jokes today.
* Lauren Mallory from ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' is a shallow, vapid [[Alpha Bitch]]. Mike, the male blond, is a [[Dumb Jock]] who routinely skips homework and is pathetically jealous of Edward. Rosalie, the only blond female vampire who doesn't want to gut Bella (or at least refrains from trying) isn't stupid, but she's ''also'' pathetically jealous and vain. In fact, until minor characters Tanya and Kate appeared in ''Breaking Dawn'', the only blond in the series who wasn't an idiot, evil, or at least nasty was Carlisle.
Line 115 ⟶ 109:
* ''[[Special Circumstances]]'': [[Averted Trope|despite]] the main character being a strawberry blonde, she's shown to be quite intelligent.
* Georgina Talgarth in ''[[Sorcery and Cecelia]]'' is often referred to by her cousin Cecy and her sister Kate as a peagoose. In all fairness, she never challenges that perception.
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Chronicles of Chaos|Fugitives of Chaos]]'', a character describes a location as easy enough for Amelia -- "blond brain"
Line 131 ⟶ 125:
* Goldie Hawn on ''[[Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In]]''
* Loretta Tortelli on ''[[Cheers]]'' is a well known example.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' set out to subvert this trope with the titular character; she comes off on first acquaintance as a stereotypical
** Glory from the fifth season is another example and also the [[Big Bad]].
{{quote|'''Buffy:''' Spell it out for me. I feel an attack of [[Lampshade Hanging|dumb blonde]] coming on."}}
Line 148 ⟶ 142:
** Later spoofed by Rodney McKay:
{{quote|'''McKay:''' I wish I wasn't so attracted to you. I've always had such a weakness for dumb blondes.
'''Sam:''' (''Looks shocked for a minute, then glares'') [[Plot Allergy|Go suck a lemon.]] (''Exits'')
'''McKay:''' Sexy. Very, very sexy. }}
* Also inverted in ''[[CSI: Miami]]'', where brunette Natalia is less intelligent (relatively speaking) than blonde Calleigh.
Line 162 ⟶ 156:
* On ''[[The West Wing]]'', Lt. Jack Reese breaks a $400 ashtray (for submarines) to show Donna why it costs so much money. He wishes he hadn't done it and says to Donna (jokingly), "It's...'cause you're blond."
** As that quote implies, Donna neatly and completely subverts the trope through the entire series, often entering into heady debates with her boss and winning more than half the time because of [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|how smart Josh is about not-politics]].
* In ''[[That '70s Show]]'', Laurie Foreman is a dumb blond; might also be considered the skanky blonde.
** There was also [[Sweater Girl|Midge]] [[Hot Mom|Pinciotti]] and Annette, played by guest star Jessica Simpson.
* Cheyenne and Barbra Jean from ''[[Reba]]'' both have plenty of "blonde" moments, though Cheyenne is pretty smart most of the time, whereas Barbra Jean embodies this trope to the point where most of the characters (usually Reba) make fun of her craziness and lack of intelligence.
Line 201 ⟶ 195:
* Both inverted and played straight with the titular characters on ''Hope and Faith''. Hope is blond, but has the most common sense out of anyone, Faith, on the other hand, fits the stereotype perfectly as she's so dumb that she almost steps over the line into being an extreme [[The Ditz|ditz]]. She's also a bit of a [[Cloudcuckoolander]].
* Serena van der Woodsen on ''[[Gossip Girl]]''.
* Paisley in ''[[
* Taken to its logical extreme on ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' when Micheal romances a beautiful blonde who, unbeknownst to him, is actually mentally handicapped.
* In season 1 of ''[[Degrassi]]'', Emma Nelson, while book smart, was introduced as lacking common sense and went on to be scatter-brained on multiple occasions and was always so narrow minded that she, in Sean's brother's words, would not understand that there are two sides to every story.
Line 218 ⟶ 212:
* Hoku's "Another Dumb Blonde"
* [[Dolly Parton]] has been quoted as saying that dumb blonde remarks don't bother her, "because I know I'm not dumb...and I also know I'm not blonde."
== Recorded and Stand-up Comedy ==
▲* This trope is endemic in [[German Humour|German-speaking comedy]]. This is possibly due to the fact that the German word for dumb, "blöd", is spoken very similar to the word "blond". And, of course, "blauäugig" (blue eyed) is used as a synonym for "naive".
▲** This casts an entirely new light on the plan [[Those Wacky Nazis]] had for the "Master Race"...
▲* Chanel West Coast from "Ridiculousness".
▲* [[Double Subversion]]: a ventriloquist is performing a routine with his dummy, telling a series of dumb blonde jokes. Suddenly, a well-dressed platinum blonde business woman stands up and says "How can you judge people based on their hair color? It has no bearing on intelligence!" The ventriloquist says, "Lady, please, I just—" The blonde snaps, "You stay out of this! I'm talking to that jerk sitting in your lap!"
Line 233 ⟶ 234:
** Jennifer may look like this at first, but she turns out to be the [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]] instead.
* Miki Hoshii from ''[[The Idolmaster (video game)|The Idolmaster]]''. When she gets serious, though...
* Berri the Chipmunk, Conker the Squirrel's girlfriend from ''[[
* Candy from ''[[Space Colony]] ''ticks all the boxes. Blonde? Yep. Cheerleader? Apparently. Obsessed with shopping? Yes. Dumb? Definitely.
* Rock from ''[[Harvest Moon]]''. He's, well, dumb as a ''rock''. Muffy may count at times, but she's more naive than dumb.
* Cassandra in the ''[[Soul Calibur]]'' series behaves in a slightly [[
* [[Wrench Wench|Tess]] from ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' acts like a typical ditzy yellow-haired bimbo, but she is a [[Genius Ditz|genius]] when it comes to building weapons.
* Nell from ''[[Atelier Iris 3]]'' is a classic example: [[The Ditz|ditzy]], very busty, and [[The Fool|quite foolish]].
Line 245 ⟶ 246:
== Visual Novels ==
* '' [[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]'': Youhei Sunohara arguably counts as a male example. Then again, he dyes his hair from its natural onyx to bright blond. When NOT blond, he is actually a very positively received person, but serves as the [[Butt Monkey]] most of the time WHEN blond.
Line 251 ⟶ 252:
* Marzipan, that limbless [[Granola Girl]], from ''[[Homestar Runner]]''.
** Of course, the Old Tymie Marzipan may be smarter.
* Averted by Sophie of ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131017015617/http://livworld.com/ Liv World]''; a certain brunet friend could be the real klutz. :D
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Illumina in ''[[Sidekick Girl]]''
* Carol in ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131015185848/http://www.suburbantribe.net/ Suburban Tribe]'' is actually a dumb ''redhead'', but because most of the comics are uncoloured, many new readers mistake her for a blonde. This has been [[Lampshaded]].
* Kim of ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131206160056/http://thinks.com/family-fun/kim-and-jason.htm Kim & Jason]'' may qualify, as despite being 4 years old, she once ran a presidential campaign — with a toy skunk as her running mate.
* Gertrude from ''[[The KAMics]]'', although [[Word of God]] is that if he knew she would end up that dumb, he would have given her another hair color.
* Susan of ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' is a heavy inversion. She is a natural blonde who dyes her hair black/blue/some dark colour and is, in fact, one of the smartest and most sensible people in the comic.
Line 271 ⟶ 272:
* To a degree, Laura in ''[[Collar 6]]'', although it's partially just naivete about the lifestyle she's entering into.
* ''[[Bird Boy]]'': while part of Bali's problem may be his youth, he certainly gets himself into foolish trouble very quickly.
* ''[[Footloose (webcomic)|Footloose]]'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20111204181208/http://www.footloosecomic.com/footloose/pages.php?page=13 I do not want to see you grow up as some blond idiot damsel in distress. which is frankly the way you're headed.]
* Sarah from ''[[Las Lindas]]'' hovers dangerously close to the line between this trope and being [[The Ditz]].
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'',
** [
** [
* Cookie Jarr of ''[[Jet Dream (webcomic)|Jet Dream]]'' isn't dumb, but might give that impression to people who aren't fluent in [[Totally Radical]].
Line 284 ⟶ 285:
* Clarabelle of ''Disney World of War'' is this, but she has moments of being a [[Genius Ditz]] when her brain decides to kick in.
* Side character Aiofe of ''[[Notting Cove]]'' series.
* Aphrodite in ''[[
Line 310 ⟶ 311:
* Sally Avril from ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]''.
* Bubbles of ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' plays just about every blonde stereotype perfectly straight, being both less intelligent than the other girls, being more upbeat and having more fun, on average. [[Cute Bruiser|Of course, that doesn't mean she can't still be the heroine of the story.]]
** She ''can'', however, cross over into [[Genius Ditz]] in some stories, given how she seems able to speak multiple languages and take to mathematics rather well.
** Bubbles appears to have gotten the short end of the subversion stick, as brawny Buttercup and brainy Blossom have hair to the opposite of their tropes...
** Bubbles' [[Distaff Counterpart]] Boomer is certainly a dumb blonde. Well, he's certainly a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] and designated [[Butt Monkey]], but he generally comes off as less intelligent to the other characters. Not that his brothers Brick and Butch are all-too smart either, seeing as in one episode they are fooled by Bubbles disguising herself as Boomer.
* Nazz from ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' is this. She's a bit smarter than she appears, but that isn't hard.
** And don't forget May Kanker from the Kanker sisters.
* Courtney Gripling from ''[[As Told by Ginger]]''. She's more of a [[Brainless Beauty]], but I don't remember the show mentioning how good a student she was. Ginger's friend Dodie is also a bit of a stereotype.
* Chester McBadbat and Veronica on ''[[The Fairly
* The Flesh and Thundergirl from ''[[All That]]'', later ''[[
* Cal of ''[[Undergrads]]'', a male example.
* The titular character of ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]''.
* The Time-Travelling Renet from ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]''.
* Bart Simpson of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', but at least he has an excuse. He has the Simpson gene, which makes all Simpson males stupid with age.
** [[Inverted]] with [[The Smart Guy|Lisa]], but one episode [[Played With]] the
** Played straight with "Miss Springfield", Mayor Quimby's recurring mistress.
* Dee Dee from ''[[Dexter's Laboratory|Dexters Laboratory]]'' is a mix of this and [[Cloudcuckoolander]].
Line 329 ⟶ 331:
* Charlotte La Bouff from ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]''.
* Francine Smith from ''[[American Dad]]''.
* Potisha Gibbons from ''[[The Mighty B!]]''.
* Sheirk from ''[[
* Lemony from ''[[Yakkity Yak]]''.
* The titular star of ''[[Pearlie]]''.
* While not blond, ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' is yellow with [[Blue Eyes]], which makes him fit the stereotype. He's an [[Idiot Hero]] and [[Flanderization|got worse after the movie]]. Possibly averted, since every time he's shown with hair, he's a brunet.
* ''[[Johnny Test]]''.
* Averted with [[Harley Quinn]] on ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]''; by her own admission, she is ''not'' a real blonde. The "dumb" part is debtable. Whether she's truly a ditz or just faking it seems to be [[Depending on the Writer]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Index of Exact Trope Titles]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Stereotype]]
[[Category:Hair Colors]]
Line 345 ⟶ 348:
[[Category:Stupidity Tropes]]
[[Category:Dumb Blonde]]
[[Category:The Ditz]]
| |||