Blond Beast
By Izzy
Speaking of the negative portrayal of slick-haired men in Hollywood movies, even worse is the treatment of blond men. (And worst off of all are slick-haired blonds.) With the exception of the broken-nosed Owen Wilson, called by some the butterscotch stallion, tow-heads are nearly always cast as bad guys, never as romantic leads. (Admittedly, Luke Skywalker was also an anomaly.) Is it because one part of “tall, dark, and handsome” will always elude them?
May 14th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Owen Wilson was spotted today filming in Center City, Philadelphia
May 14th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Robert Redford?
May 15th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Matt Damon? Brad Pitt? 007? Perhaps it has a lot more to do with the incidence of blondness in the general population of men, and less to do with stereotyping. Because claiming that villainy is associated with tow-headedness is…crazy.
May 16th, 2008 at 1:56 am
Don’t forget Ivan Drago from Rocky IV!
May 21st, 2008 at 3:10 am
[…] Blond BeastWith the exception of the broken-nosed Owen Wilson, called by some the butterscotch stallion, tow-heads are nearly always cast as bad guys, never as romantic leads. (Admittedly, Luke Skywalker was also an anomaly. … […]
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Add Daniel Craig to the blond hero list.
May 24th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Hm. Darker blonds turn up as romantic leads a lot. There just aren’t that many natural light blonds around. I think our perceptions might get skewed by the number of light blond women around — but many many of those are not naturally light blond. (I come from a large family of Northern European blonds & redheads, and we’ve got a grand total of 2 natural light blonds in the entire clan. They’re just _rare_.)
June 25th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
In addition to what Laura has suggested, it is also because that very fair hair, blond or red, is not often found in adults, especially adult men; it is a colour generally associated with young children, before their hair darkens as they grow up.
The men most likely in the past to have blond or red hair as adults were likely to have been Vikings, come a-raiding and leaving behind terror and tiny Vikings as a legacy; is it possible that there is a subconscious association still?
September 21st, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I think the anti blond feeling towards men really comes from the fact that men generally like the hero to be dark haired, because they like the hero to look as much like themselves as possible.
Women won`t really care what the hero looks like as long as they are attracted to him..
You will also find the number of dark haired men outweighs the number of blond, so it is easier to choose the hero from a bigger pool of men.