The trope that bothers me is when they make the single minority character also the lead female character and also the gay/bisexual character.
Conveniently squeezing all the required diversity into one convenient character.
While all of it makes little sense in movies, short hair doesn’t. Reason why military cuts hair short is so your hair doesn’t get tangled in trees, bushes or fences, compromising you. It’s really of practical nature. But given how many cockups they make elsewhere in movies, I don’t think they were going for that kind of realism.
The Expanse has the justification of it meaning that they don’t have to deal with representing long hair in microgravity situations, but they still have variety like Camina Drummer’s ultra-tight braids and Naomi’s curls which solve the problem without everyone having a crew cut
Man, Cara Gee, the actress that plays Drummer is just so stunning. Aside from her being so much my type, I enjoyed her portrayal of the character. Very commanding on screen presence.
I absolutely love basically every scene she’s in. Especially with how much she committed to the Belter accent
Either short cut hair, or at the very least, done up in a very tight bun, or fairly short ponytail or braids or cornrows or something.
As you say, tangling with the environment or your gear… in a hand to hand fight, you do not want hair that can be pulled or wrapped up, you don’t want long hair getting in the way of reloading a gun, longer bangs blocking your view through binocs or iron sights or a scope…
Also… for tampons and pads…?
The ‘old ways’:
Lint wrapped around wood. Knotted ropes. Papyrus. Paper. Moss. Animal skins.
These were all used before the tampons and pads, with some more … unique solutions beginning to be mass produced in the late 1800s, eventually leading to modern tampons and pads.
So… I guess uh, assuming a post apocalyptic woman’s ‘survival’ stat is high enough, presumably they would return to much more locally sourceable, less complex to produce, decent enough solutions, after the last box of tampons gets looted from the last dilapidated Walgreens.
So… if your character is a postapoc woman badass… you could just add this into your own headcannon as an explanation, of sorts.
… I wonder how many post apocalyptic movies pass the Bechdel test lol.
EDIT: Going a bit further, and arguably off topic…
Common ammunition calibers, cigarettes, condoms, and possibly bandage/compress packs, tampons/pads, bic lighters… maybe also small sewing needle kits?.. would be pretty good candidates as physical commodity psuedo-currencies…
Basically for the reason that they are small, light, easily transportable, roughly standardized, are generally durable if stored properly… and are no longer in mass production… and basically everyone would either directly have practical use for them or know someone who does.
Bottlecaps as a currency would represent some level of general social cohesion beyond and above that, lol.
EDIT 2: … having long hair could …probably become something of a status symbol, as it would only really make sense if you were not roughing it all the time.
Men would also presumably keep their hair and beards short generally as well, and longer hair/beards could also become something of a status symbol as well.
Bottlecaps as a currency would represent some level of general social cohesion beyond and above that, lol.
Yep. Currency is usually backed by something, like the US dollar used to be backed by their gold reserves, caps in the wastes are backed by The Hub and its Water Merchants.
As I understand it… this is somewhat theoretical, and somewhat backed by fairly scant historical, prehistorical/anthropological data…
Caps, being accepted … broadly, regionally… implies, as you say, the infrastructure of The Hub’s water merchants and traders.
This would be a greater level of … general social cohesion and trust… because the caps, a cap itself… is not really a directly useful commodity in and of itself.
Cigs and tampons and condoms… things like these often naturally arise as psuedo currencies in situations like prisons, PoW camps… and part of the theory on why that seems to fairly consistently happen is that, in addition to having other attributes of a good money, a good currency… is that they do have a generally applicable direct use as an actual good.
So basically, the more inherent trust and level of technological development in society… the more likely you are to find that society with a currency/money that is further removed from being a directly useful or consumable good.
There are a good number of historical exceptions to this though, so… just a theory hehe.
Yep i agree! In movies it’s a way to make a woman look strong, because obviously a man’s haircut gives us some of the magical powers of a man.
a man’s haircut
That’s a little sexist. I also completely disagree. Short hair, especially in a military setting, is not about a borrowed appearance of strength, but utility and competence. Early episodes of Stargate SG-1 had some infamously awful commentary about emancipation, but Carter’s (Amanda Tapping) short haircut never compromised her femininity: she wore it like that because she was a frontline soldier and accomplished USAF pilot, and that’s what the circumstances demanded. It would have been weird and against her character to participate in missions with long hair.
Just for fun, this is the “”“improved”“” scene where Carter is introduced, without the part where she talks about her reproductive organs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gR-ouftevE
I think that’s what OP is getting at, that this attitude of “male” haircuts has been used in such a way. They’re not defending it, they’re pointing it out, alongside military doctrine.
Unless I can’t read…?
Apologies I should have put an eyeroll or something to indicate tone. What I was getting at is that it’s seen as a man’s haircut so that’s why it’s given to the character.
This is something I’ve always found a bit perplexing - US female combat troops often have long hair, which they keep up and tight while working.
Both me and my other half often do physical work (I’m a volunteer firefighter, she does arbourist work on the side) and neither of us can stand having long hair … if I were doing military work, I can’t imagine how needlessly uncomfortable that long hair is!
Same goes for women MMA fighters.
In other news, my other half looks like Sinead O’Connor when she shaves her hair, while I look more like a Gulag escapee for some reason … so I have to live with a pixie cut or longer.
The zero body hair always gets me. “Oh god, zombies! Pass me my razor I need to do my legs, underarms and of course my bikini line”
Honestly so lucky that they had all those laser hair removal sessions a year before the world ended 🤭
Absolutely! Even luckier than having a neverending supply of entirely smudge proof make up
It’s simply survivorship bias. The only women who survive these situations long enough to get a movie are the ones who have short hair on their heads, no visible body hair, and makeup somehow welded to their faces. It’s probably quantum, or something.
I’ll do you one better!
I’ve extracted and manipulated certain glandular fluids from zombie corpses, experimented… and found that it actually topically removes hair, permanently!
I call it… Ozombic.
… Eh? Eh?
I love it!! You may have the last known tube of toothpaste as a reward. In post apocalyptic society that’s a great honour
… Could I perhaps be allowed back into your community to occasionally discuss women’s fashion instead?
(puppy eyes)
They don’t often show people scavenging toilet paper or toothbrushes either, it’s just something they skip, not necessarily people not knowing how to write women
Sure ok but if they made movies with stats without make up and hairy legs and gross teeth, all about finding hygiene products in post apocalyptic society… not many people world watch it.
There was a really good Swedish detective true crime drama with the lead female detective or anyone wearing makeup. Yeah they looked wrinky as shit, and yeah they still looked beautiful. It gave the show an open honest feel.
Hairy legs can be bypassed by just having a scene showing a little normal leg hair from time to time with shaved legs from time to time. The audience will figure it out.
Gross teeth I’m not sure what you mean by this. Yes they won’t have perfect american overly whitened tictacs, but have you never met someone with dull crooked teeth and still thought they were still pretty?