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News, Reviews & Commentary on Lesbian and Bisexual women in Entertainment and the Media

Lesbian roles and hair color

In most lesbian films and TV, it is the darker-haired female who is the established lesbian seducing the lighter-haired straight girl into the world of lesbianism. This is a reflection of the lightness=innocence/femininity and darkness=mystery/masculinity stereotypical symbolism.

Now, my question is does anyone know of a TV show or movie depiction of a brunette being being pulled into the world of lesbianism by a blond? I can't recall any off-hand, but it may have happened. The closest I can think of is Two Girls in Love with the "straight girl" being black and the lesbian a white red-head.


deja's picture

The first that comes to mind

The first that comes to mind is Fried Green Tomatoes.  Idgie is lesbian and a blonde, while Ruth is brunette and straight.  What about Rachel and Luce from Imagine Me & You?  Rachel, the straight girl, is a brunette and Luce, the lesbian, a redhead.  Nearly the same situation for Lost & Delirious, though it would be Paulie, a brunette as the lesbian, and Tory, the redhead, as the straight girl.   The latter are subject to debate since neither identify as lesbian or straight.  In the redhead/brunette scenario, which would fall into the blonde category?    

Interesting theory -- I'm intrigued by it.  In some cultures, the symbolism you're using is exactly opposite.  Take the Yin/Yang in Chinese culture -- the darker side is associate with the feminine, passivity, mystery and night whereas the lighter side is aligned with brightness, activity, masculinity and the sun. 

Morrigan's picture

Yes the first movie that

Yes the first movie that came to my mind is Fried green tomatoes as well, just because I  saw it again couple days ago. Bound is also another on.

What you came across in my opinion leads back to the Nazi regime, where blonds are preceived as innocent, more worthy of anything. So I think they stem most movies off that even though it's not stated, it's like an undertone, you just have to look for it.

And it's also patriarchy as well. If you read about feminist politics you'll see what i'm talking about.

what_katy_did's picture

Hmm...

In 'Six Feet Under', Edie is a blonde established lesbian who straight red-headed Claire becomes drawn to for a while before deciding that she's not attracted to women in that way.

In 'Show Me Love' (Swedish film) Agnes, who is dark-haired, is the more obvious lesbian - but Elin, who is blonde, is the one who goes after her initially and really pushes the relationship along.

In 'Girl, Interrupted' Angelina Jolie's character is blonde and seductive, and it's suggested that she may be at least sexually ambiguous, though she isn't explicitly defined as a lesbian. Winona Ryder's dark-haired character, who otherwise seems straight, is very drawn to her. (Admittedly, WR is the one to instigate a kiss).

In 'If These Walls Could Talk 2', Chloe Sevigny's character is blonde (and butch), and she sort of seduces Michelle Williams' brunette character.... although MW already identified as a lesbian. But she is femme.

In 'Calamity Jane' (admittedly this isn't explicitly a lesbian movie), Doris Day's character is blonde and butch, and the female character she becomes friends with is femme and brunette

In 'The O.C', Olivia Wilde's blonde character is the established bisexual, whom otherwise straight and brown-haired Marissa is drawn to

In 'Sugar Rush', lesbian Kim is red-headed and straight/bi-curious Sugar (who has a few kisses with her) is brunette and biracial.

So I think there are probably examples on both sides.

ETA: Oh, and in 'The Hunger', Susan Sarandon's red-haired character is seduced by Catherine Deneuve's blonde character.

shamWow's picture

I'm not quite sure about your theory

I think this image of the blond and innocent woman occured even before Nazi-Germany.

Just think about film and literature before 1933. Or think about literature for children back in 1850-1900; the heroine was most likely to be blond and innocent.

 

MsWoo's picture

yes, Calamity Jane!

I am so glad someone mentioned that film. This is slightly off the subject, but I did read a great review of the film that mentioned the relationship between Calam and Katie Brown as having great lesbian subtext!