Power Hair: Difference between revisions
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Women in politics have it rough. Not only is it a merciless, dog-eat-dog, male-dominated field, but they also have to be incredibly meticulous with their appearance, much more so than their male counterparts, lest they look weak, inexperienced, or unprofessional. Perhaps the hardest, most tragic part of this ordeal for a woman politician is that the only acceptable hairstyle she can have is
It consists of a short cut reaching the jawline, parted in front and coiffed expertly with mousse or hair net and swept towards the edge of the jaw, so you'll never see it cross in front of the face like many a lovestruck [[Damsel Scrappy]] does incessantly. Power Hair is patterned somewhat on the hairstyle commonly used by flappers in the twenties (emancipated women, the ones you always see in Al Capone movies with tube dresses to the knees and cloche hats shaped like little tea cosies on their heads). Another common variation is cutting it short all over but leaving it longer near the top and "sweeping" it upwards.
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Power Hair is so pervasive it's worked its way even into Disney cartoons. However, it's stereotypically given to villainesses. Whether this is out of [[Reactionary Fantasy|fear of women's movements]] or to give them an [[God Save Us From the Queen|air of authority]] is an exercise left to the reader.
This trope is an example of [[Truth in Television]]: many (if not all) female politicians will have
See also [[Iron Lady]], who is likely to sport this hairstyle.
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* [[Meryl Streep]]'s character in ''[[The Devil Wears Prada]]'' is a good modern film example.
* In ''[[Sliding Doors]]'' the Helen who catches the train gets one.
* Another of Streep's memorable performances was in the remake of ''[[The Manchurian Candidate]]'', where she plays a senator and mother to Raymond Shaw, again with typical
* [[Angela Lansbury]] in the original ''[[The Manchurian Candidate]]''. She's the the power behind the throne of her politician husband. Her Power Hair is poofier, but is short enough to qualify.
* In ''[[American Beauty]]'', Carolyn Burnham's methods of "projecting an image of success at all times" was a shock of Power Hair.
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** In later seasons the actress's hair got longer, and she started arranging it in a very tight updo which creates an even more power-y effect. The comparison became obvious in a flashback to pre-season 1 {{spoiler|before Arthur's apparent death}}.
* Kathryn Janeway in ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'', although less obviously so as the series went on (in the first season it was so heavily moussed it would probably have worked as a crash helmet).
** Her original hairdo was the Power Bun. Later she got an unimportant haircut, [[Letting Her Hair Down|not quite up]] to
** Seven of Nine's hairstyle is intended to ''look'' like this, even though she actually has long hair in a French twist.
* Major Kira Nerys in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' started off with
* Cherry Jones as President Allison Taylor on [[24]].
* Inara's client "The Counselor" from ''[[Firefly]]'' has hair like this.
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* Adelle De Witt from ''[[Dollhouse]]'' has slightly longer than average Power Hair by season two, but it's still much shorter than her hair in season one.
* Maggie Walsh from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' wore her hair like this.
* Eva Thorne from ''[[Eureka]]'' has classic
* Leslie's mother on ''[[Parks and Recreation]]'', who is the head of the Department of Education, has this haircut.
* On ''Veep'', vice president Selina Myers has a longer version of this currently, around a medium length, but averted this in the opening montage symbolizing her earlier career aspirations. Amy, her chief of staff, has hair ending slightly longer than hers while Sue, her secretary, has longer hair than both though she keeps it in some sort of bun most of the time.
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== Western Animation ==
* Cruella de Vil in ''[[101 Dalmatians|One Hundred and One Dalmatians]]'' was perhaps the earliest Disney villainess with
* Ursula in the Disney version of the ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'' had the second variety of
* Courtney from ''[[Total Drama Island]]'' has this along with her desire to be a lawyer.
* Mina Bonteri of [[Star Wars: The Clone Wars]], complete with graying sideburns.
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* Averted by former French Presidential candidate Ségolène Royal (she's left-wing), while played straight by right-wing politicians such as current and previous Ministers of Justice.
* Averted by Meg Whitman, former CEO of [[EBay]], current President and CEO of Hewlitt-Packard, and the Republican candidate to succeed [[Arnold Schwarzenegger|the Governator]] in 2010 (she lost to Democrat Jerry Brown); she wears her hair [[wikipedia:Meg Whitman|medium-length]].
* On the other hand, another California businesswoman, Carly Fiorina, is a prime example of
* Roza Otunbayeva, who overthrew the government of Kyrgyzstan and became head of the interim government, has this kind of hair.
* Averted by [[wikipedia:Julia Gillard|Julia Gillard]], the new [[Australian Politics|Prime Minister of Australia]], [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10393918.stm who wears her hair in a sort of bob].
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