Important Haircut: Difference between revisions

When a character cuts off his or her hair, it often symbolizes a rite of passage or bout of character growth. A princess striking out on an adventure, or a new recruit at boot camp, for instance. Hair is something that takes time and effort to grow, so parting with it voluntarily can be a powerful act.

 

 

In many religions (Western Christianity, Ancient Egyptian religion, and others) priests and/or monks cut/shave their hair. The cutting of one's own hair is also a part of Buddhist mythology, specifically something done by Siddhartha himself early on in his path to enlightenment, so anime examples might draw from this as an allusion. There are also some cultures, including Native American and many Asians, where a person would cut his or her hair as an act of grief, disgrace, or even rebellion. Furthermore, prisoners and psychiatric patients commonly have their heads shaved, often to prevent the spread of lice, but sometimes also [[Traumatic Haircut|as a demeaning measure]].

* The opening credits for ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'' consist of a montage of all the <s>maggots</s> new recruits getting shaved in preparation for basic training.

* The transformative moment in ''[[The Legend of Billie Jean]]'' is when Billie Jean hacks off her hair. She goes from a long blond beauty to an avenging rebel.

** More soberingly, Putter does the same thing out of defiance after her mother hits her.

* The protagonist of ''[[Cthulhu (film)|Cthulhu]]'' (2007), shortly after arriving back in his hometown, shaves his head similar to his estranged father. As this happens early in the movie I'm not sure exactly what it was supposed to symbolise, though it's apparently a case of [[Real Life Writes the Plot]]—the actor had shaved his head for another role, yet was playing a college professor).

* In ''Frida'', Salma Hayek's titular character gets drunk and cuts her hair in reaction to her marriage failing and then creates a well known painting of the event.

* In ''[[The Long Kiss Goodnight]]'', Geena Davis's character has an Important Haircut (while also dying it blonde) after we've seen the Charly Baltimore personality completely take over (or appear to) and the Samantha Caine personality disappear (maybe).

 

== Literature ==

* Many religions have prohibitions or rules in regards to hair. In literature, the most famous example is probably the Biblical Samson, whose parents were visited by an angel who allowed his barren mother to become pregnant if she would abstain from unclean meat and alcohol and never cut the child's hair or shave him. This essentially constituted a pre-natal initiation into a Jewish ascetic cult, and this super out-of-proportion before-birth devotion granted Samson the mystical power of invincible strength, allowing him to become one of the judges who were leaders of Israel. The major part of his story is a negative Important Haircut that eventually results in his blindness and death, making even the inversion of this trope [[Older Than Feudalism]].

** Isaiah 15:

''Everyone's head is bald and every beard is cut off. ''

* In the ''[[Babysitters Club]]'' series, Mary Anne has one when her father stops being overprotective of her.

* In ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'' (the original story) the mermaid's sisters give the sea witch their hair in exchange for a knife that will grant the mermaid her tail back.

** Starbuck's haircut at the end of "Torn" was contrasted with Colonel Tigh's draining of a bottle of booze: Both had been valued crewmembers that had lately [[Heroic BSOD|turned unpleasant]], so Adama had to chew them out. Starbuck then puts on a clean uniform, cuts her hair, and goes to apologize to a family she had offended. Tigh just gets dirtier and drunker.

* In ''[[Breaking Bad]]'', Walt's decision to shave his head rather than deal with the hair loss from chemo coincides with a truly phenomenal [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]]: at the end of the episode in which he goes bald, he {{spoiler|uses a bag of crystal meth to gain entrance to the den of a druglord who had just hospitalized his partner... then ''blows up the room'' with what he reveals to be, in fact, fulminated mercury}}. [[Took a Level in Badass]], indeed.

* Peter Petrelli, in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', has his floppy fringe cut off while Sylar is attempting to remove his brain. This could well be in response to repeated requests (by not only other characters in the show, but also fans and the actor himself) for him to cut his hair.

** Elle later adds to this by giving him a more complete hair cut. Claude would be proud.

 

 

* Almost done in ''[[Ace Attorney]]: Investigations'' with Lauren Paups. One of her 'upset' animations is pressing a pair of scissors to a lock of her hair, on the verge of cutting it. She never does, of course. But compare the short, choppy hair she has tied back with her long, curling locks in front, and you can imagine how often this has happened before.

* Similarly, in ''[[Kanon]]'', Ayu's hair has grown long {{spoiler|in a coma}}; {{spoiler|not long before she awakens, Yuuichi gives her her headband}} and Nayuki cuts her hair to look like the Ayu that the viewers know.

* ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]'', in the Kyou OVA/Kyou route of the game, when Tomoya calls Ryou out to {{spoiler|break up with her and apologize for falling for her sister}}, instead Kyou comes in Ryou's place, but her hair was already cut short, thus making her fool Tomoya until she utters his name.

* In [[Katawa Shoujo]], {{spoiler|Shiina Mikado aka Misha}} chops off her long hair in a very tomboyish cut. It's important because {{spoiler|this happens only in Shizune's route, and Misha cuts it over [[Love Hurts|her feelings of inadequacy and jealousy]] [[Matchmaker Crush|over Shizune and Hisao's relationship]] -- because [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|she loves Shizune]] and feels out of place now that Hisao is her boyfriend, despite Misha's own care for him.}}

 

== Webcomics ==

** ''Inverted'' recently, with {{spoiler|the ever strange Miho}} growing about a foot and a half of hair in no more than a week. And her personality seems to have changed as well...

* ''[[Red String]]'' loves this trope.

** Miharu's characteristic blond hair is the result of one of these - her friend Reika had her hair lightened (though not bleached) at the same time, symbolizing the strengthening of their friendship and their new lives at a new school. Miharu got ''another'' one when she was expelled from that school and had to let her hair go black again, symbolizing the subsequent identity crisis she suffered through. Then she bleached it ''yet again'' over the summer, symbolizing trying to reclaim her identity. As the comic still hasn't moved past summer break, it's to be seen if she changes her hair again.

** {{spoiler|Hanae}} did this in Chapter 45. In this case, {{spoiler|she was trying to make a point to her mother that she was serious about her lesbianism.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Native American Mythology]]

[[Category:Hair Tropes]]