History Main / RedHeadedStepchild

[[folder:Film – Animated]]

[[folder:Film – Live-Action]]

* ''Film/CheaperByTheDozen2003'' has Mark, the redhead with glasses who got his nickname, [=FedEx=], because his siblings tease him by saying the [=FedEx=] truck dropped him off.

* Besides being plot-important, ''Literature/ThePrisonerOfZenda'' has a good explanation for the prejudice. The hero has fiery red hair, the result of an affair between one of the traditionally red-headed kings of {{Ruritania}} and a female member of his traditionally dark-haired family. Thus, his appearance is a [[HeroicBastard reminder of that the family's current claim to their title is illegitimate]].

* [[Literature/AnneOfGreenGables Anne Shirley]] is treated this way by every family and orphanage she goes through before finally ending up at Green Gables. Even then, she gets this reaction from various members of the community. It goes a long way towards explaining why she so vehemently longs for hair that isn't red.

-->'''Mike Trainor:''' Oh, Danny! He's beating you literally like a red-headed stepchild!

* In ''Webcomic/WildeLife,'' [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Cliff]] is a literal example: he's a ginger (and some of the other wolves make cracks about that) and has a strained relationship with his stepfather. He's really close to his mother and brother, though. (His brother is adopted and black, incidentally, so it's not like ''Cliff'' is the one who stands out in this family.)

-->'''Oscar:''' And you're not popular?
-->'''Clifford:''' Uh. I'm ''ginger.''
-->'''Oscar:''' Have you considered the real problem is that you're kind of ''[[JerkWithAHeartOfGold mean]]'' sometimes?
-->'''Clifford:''' [[HypocriticalHumor Hey! Fuck you! I'm not]] ''[[HypocriticalHumor mean!]]'' [[HypocriticalHumor Asshole.]]

* A little Brit-o-centric clarification may be in order. Dying your hair to a deep, sultry red is not the same as being born ginger. The color is different, and so is the tendency to be heavily freckled, paler of skin, and unable to tan easily. The genetics are rather complicated, but the gene that causes red hair does so because it prevents a certain pigment from being made. This gene also affects other things such as skin tone and generally results in having paler skin than you would have otherwise and causing you to burn more easily.
* It's also worth bearing in mind that, way back in Medieval England, having ginger hair would mark a person as likely from (or descended from) Celts[[note]]with partial accuracy - it is a bit more common with them, but it exists just fine with the Germanic peoples, hence the old Chinese name for the Dutch: 'red headed barbarians'[[/note]] - that is to say, not English, not native. The general attitude of the English (and especially the Norman aristocracy) was to look down on those from OopNorth beyond Hadrian's Wall as generally inferior. The racism may be (mostly) gone today, but the aesthetic stereotyping of gingers remains.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', [[spoiler:the titular character's mother, Kushina Uzumaki]] went through this as a child (red hair is later revealed to be symbolic of her clan). She grew to hate her hair color [[HeroesWantRedheads until her future husband complimented it]].

* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' takes occasional potshots at red-haired men, [[SelfDeprecation such as the artist]]. Red-haired women, on the other hand, tend more toward [[HeroesWantRedheads the kind heroes want]].

* An [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythrism erythristic]] [[http://animaltracks.today.com/_news/2011/09/16/7792779-owner-of-a-lonely-heart-albino-seal-left-to-fend-for-himself seal pup]] was abandoned by its mother because of its unusual coloring, which gave it ginger-colored fur. Luckily, there's a happy ending: it was rescued and taken back to a dolphinarium.

* ''Film/CheaperByTheDozen2003'' has Mark, the redhead with glasses who got his nickname, [=FedEx=], because his siblings tease him by saying the Fed-Ex truck dropped him off.

* Shooting Mr Garrison in the ''Creator/{{Acclaim}}'' ''VideoGame/SouthPark'' game will cause him to shout "I’m gonna spank you like a red-headed stepchild".

See also WickedStepmother, HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood. If the redhead is made fun of for more than just her hair color it falls under RedheadsAreUncool.

* In the anime version of ''Manga/ElfenLied'', all diclonius have pink hair (only Lucy/Nyu did in the manga). Nobody else does, including the parents of them, so red hair must be some kind of diclonius trait.

* Kyo Sohma from ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' has naturally orange hair due to being possessed by the spirit of the Cat (an animal who never officially became part of the EasternZodiac due to being tricked by the Rat). He's treated as the pariah of the Sohma family because of this status, and people who don't know the about Sohma family's curse have made fun of him since [[MistakenForDyed they assume his hair is dyed]].

* Claire Stanfield from ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'' is a literal redheaded stepchild of the Gandor Family. Mind you, the other three [[TheMafia aren't exactly on the straight path]] either, but at least they are not [[AxCrazy batshit frickin' insane.]] However, none of the Gandor brothers treat Claire with anything other than fraternal bonhomie, though they are admittedly wary and befuddled by his behavior.

* Yoko Nakajima of ''Literature/TheTwelveKingdoms'' is a natural redhead, which, in Japan, truly makes her stand out; [[MistakenForDyed other people think she dyes it]] and her mother nags her to dye it black. [[spoiler: She's also literally a stepchild: an unborn child of the Twelve Kingdoms who was implanted in a human woman through some bizarre AppliedPhlebotinum.]]
* In the anime version of ''Manga/ElfenLied'', all diclonius have pink hair (only Lucy/Nyu did in the manga). Nobody else does, including the parents of them, so red hair must be some kind of diclonius trait.

* Claire Stanfield from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' is a literal redheaded stepchild of the Gandor Family. Mind you, the other three [[TheMafia aren't exactly on the straight path]] either, but at least they are not [[AxCrazy batshit frickin' insane.]] However, none of the Gandor brothers treat Claire with anything other than fraternal bonhomie, though they are admittedly wary and befuddled by his behavior.

* There's also the myth that red hair is the mark of [[CainAndAbel Cain]], which serves to very visibly brand redheads as [[TheDescendantsOfCain his descendants]]. Like redheads didn't already have [[AcceptableEthnicTargets enough problems]]. Although that does pose the question of whether or not all of a redheads' ancestors who ''didn't'' [[FridgeLogic have red hair happened to be of Cain's lineage]] and, if they aren't, how the hell that works. Perhaps [[DidntThinkThisThrough all redheads are actually adopted]].

* This is inverted in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fics of Creator/AAPessimal. The Smith-Rhodes family has, over the years, unconsciously selected for red hair. Red hair and freckles have therefore become the family's dominant gene. Every so often, a family member might marry somebody without red hair. But red is still dominant. Johanna Smith-Rhodes-Maaijande, the daughter of a red-blonde mother and a blonde father, has hair that is mainly blonde with a hint of red - the classic strawberry-blonde look. And no freckles. This makes her stand out in the wider family.[[note]]This also causes further headaches to the traditional enemy of White Howondaland, who realise the latest Smith-Rhodes Assassin has combat skills as good as her two aunts - but lacks their red hair, and therefore cannot be called ''The Red Death''. The Zulu Empire is stuck on a name for her: ''The Pink Death'' is held not to cut it in terms of gravitas. And the person who suggested ''The Raspberry Ripple Death'' has been dealt with for not taking it seriously. Young Johanna exploits this uncertainty by deliberately adding stylish pink-dyed streaks to her hair, just to make the point.[[/note]] Her cousin Ruth Smith-Rhodes-Stibbons is the younger sister of two striking redheads who take after their mother. But Ruth takes her look from her father, wizard Ponder Stibbons. She is therefore slight and has her father's very dark brown, almost black, hair. People do not immediately register she is the daughter of respected Assassin Johanna Smith-Rhodes. Ruth herself wonders why she is so physically unalike to her two sisters and wishes she had their red hair...