History Main / RedheadsAreUncool

* In Creator/AAPessimal's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' continuations, Mariella Smith-Rhodes, despite being no plain jane in her own right, is continually eclipsed by a stunningly beautiful best friend who crosses a continent breaking hearts and attracting, at the final count, a hundred and seventy-eight offers of marriage. Mariella is the disregarded companion, and a running joke is that whatever culture or civilization she is in, she attracts a name in the local language meaning "Oh, Her? Ginger With Freckles". When the adventure is at an end and she is conscripted into her country's army for National Service, her Army nickname is, inevitably, ''Sproetjie'' or somply ''Sproet''. [[note]]Afrikaans: ''Freckles''[[/note]] Her older sister Johanna, also red-haired, pale skinned and freckled, points out she got it too: her best friend at school was an archetypical gorgeous blonde who attracted all the attention, leaving the red-haired best friend disregarded on the sidelines. Read about Mariella's rite of passage in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12321109/1/Gap-Year-Adventures Gap Year Adventures]]''.

* Chuckie Finster of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' is danger prone, cowardly, wore glasses that would break from time to time, had a perpetually stuffy nose, and was often picked on by other kids. So much so that there were entire episodes devoted to him having an operation that temporarily cleared his nose, him trying to dye his hair black to fit in with the rest of the kids, and his other quirks.

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* Amusingly enough, the writer/artist of ''[[Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal SMBC]]'' is a ginger, and as his comics would imply, a MASSIVE nerd. Also played straight with several of his comics.
** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2105#comic One strip decided]] that ''male'' redheads fall into this category, while females [[HeroesWantRedheads fall into the opposite camp]].
--->'''Doctor''': Not only are you ugly, but if you ever have any daughters, everyone will want to nail them!
* Tyler Dawn from ''[[{{Webcomic/Morphe}} morphE]]'', a red-headed college student who makes obscure pop culture references to compare his strange new situation. In canon he is barely tolerated for being annoying and uncool.
* ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'': Siblings Clinton and Claire Augustus have brilliantly red hair and unabashedly geeky passions. Clinton is an AI buff who briefly {{stalk|erWithoutACrush}}s Hannelore when he learns that her father is a famous AI pioneer, while Claire is a literature camp-attending aspiring librarian who claims that she couldn't survive outside the "library ecosystem". Both get significant CharacterDevelopment and end up befriending the main cast.

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* Rachel Tice from ''WebAnimation/TheMostPopularGirlsInSchool'' is the one of the most unpopular girls at Overland Park High School.

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[[caption-width-right:350:When even the disabled kid rejects you.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:When even the disabled reject you.]]

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* ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'': Siblings Clinton and Claire Augustus have brilliantly red hair and unabashedly geeky hobbies. Clinton is an AI buff who has a stint as Hannelore's StalkerWithoutACrush when he learns that her father is an AI pioneer, while Claire is a literature camp-attending aspiring librarian who claims that she couldn't survive outside the "library ecosystem". Both get significant CharacterDevelopment and end up befriending the main cast.

* In Creator/AAPessimal's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' continuations, Mariella Smith-Rhodes, despite being no plain jane in her own right, is continually eclipsed by a stunningly beautiful best friend who crosses a continent breaking hearts and attracting, at the final count, a hundred and seventy-eight offers of marriage. Mariella is the disregarded companion, and a running joke is that whatever culture or civilization she is in, she attracts a name in the local language meaning ''{{Oh, Her? Ginger With Freckles}}''. When the adventure is at an end and she is conscripted into her country's army for National Service, her Army nickname is, inevitably, ''Sproetjie'' or somply ''Sproet''. [[note]]Afrikaans: ''Freckles''[[/note]] Her older sister Johanna, also red-haired, pale skinned and freckled, points out she got it too: her best friend at school was an archetypical gorgeous blonde who attracted all the attention, leaving the red-haired best friend disregarded on the sidelines. Read about Mariella's rite of passage in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12321109/1/Gap-Year-Adventures Gap Year Adventures]]''.

* In the pilot of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' nine year old Lex Luthor is being chastised for being scared and keeping his eyes closed while on the helicopter ride. Once he opens them he gets more scared and needs to use his inhaler because he has an asthma attack. That day the meteor shower caused him to lose all his red hair.
* Rachel Tice from The Most Popular Girls In School is the one of the most unpopular girls at Overland Park High School.

* Amusingly enough, the writer/artist of [[Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal SMBC]] is a ginger, and as his comics would imply, a MASSIVE nerd. Also played straight with several of his comics.

** Sam from ''Revenge of the Island''

They're often gingers, redheads with pale skin and freckles, but not necessarily. They might have intellectual hobbies like [[{{bookworm}} reading]]. Their clothes are probably far from stylish and they are likely to have minor health problems. They are easily picked on for these things, not necessarily for their hair color, unlike the RedHeadedStepchild. They also have a tendency to be a ShrinkingViolet. If they're not then they'll be an uncontrollable FieryRedhead who gets into big trouble. Despite how different they are, they can grow out of it and by the time they mature they can be expected to blossom into a self-assured person who is calm, strong, and elegant. In the mean time they will probably make a loyal friend.

!!Examples

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* Tyler Dawn from ''[[{{Webcomic/Morphe}} morphE]]'', a red headed college student who makes obscure pop culture references to compare his strange new situation. In canon he is barely tolerated for being annoying and uncool.

* Twist of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' shows several stereotypically nerdy traits, such as a curly red mane and tail, pale coat, large, large glasses, and a nasal speech impediment (she has a hard time pronouncing W's and S's). She is the last one in her class to get her cutie mark before the cutie mark crusaders.
* Carl from ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresofJimmyNeutron'' is chubby, awkward, and frequently uses his inhaler as well as receiving other injuries (specifically injuring his scapula.)

The character might think that it's just their hair color making people look down on them like the RedheadedStepchild, but if it was a different color they wouldn't be so self conscious and make themselves look bad. Dye jobs tend to backfire though. A sign of maturity is fixing up their hair but keeping it red.

* ''Series/ChicagoMed'' has an episode where a childhood bully of Dr. Halstead's comes to the hospital. Despite now being in his thirties and literally on his deathbed, he still mocks Halstead for being a redhead.

* ''VideoGame/TheSandMan'': The game's protagonist, a red-head insomniac named Sophie, is teased by the resident GirlPosse for her red hair - noting how strange it is - which is kind of [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocritcal]], considering one of them has bubblegum pink hair. [[spoiler:During the best ending, Sophie finally stands up for herself and threateningly tells the girls not to insult [[MissingMom her mother's]] red hair ever again]].

* Amusingly enough, the writer/artist of [[WebComic.SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal SMBC]] is a ginger, and as his comics would imply, a MASSIVE nerd. Also played straight with several of his comics.

* The "Ginger Kids" episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' features Cartman turning his bigotry on red heads, claiming that they're soulless and unattractive to the point of being frightening. Subverted halfway through when the other boys make Cartman look like a ginger to teach him a lesson: Cartman immediately starts a ginger supremacy group and tries to kill all of the non-ginger kids. [[spoiler: Several seasons later, this becomes a double subversion: [[WhamEpisode 201]] sheds some light on Cartman's true father, and Scott Tenorman, whose parents had been previously murdered by Cartman reveals that they are half-brothers on their father's side, meaning Cartman himself is in fact half-ginger. Cartman is also one of the most unpopular kids at South Park Elementary, not at all helped by the fact he's a sociopath.]]

* The; Goldman family, father, wife and son from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' are all gingers and are walking clichés of uncool tropes.

On the other hand, mature redheads are [[HeroesWantRedheads wanted by heroes]].

* ''Series/ChicagoMed'' has an episode where a childhood bully of Dr. Halstead's comes to the hospital. Despite now being in his thirties and literally on his deathbed, he [i]still[/i] mocks Halstead for being a redhead.

* In Creator/AAPessimal's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' continuations, Mariella Smith-Rhodes, despite being no plain jane in her own right, is continually eclipsed by a stunningly beautiful best friend who crosses a continent breaking hearts and attracting, at the final count, a hundred and seventy-eight offers of marriage. Mariella is the disregarded companion, and a running joke is that whatever culture or civilization she is in, she attracts a name in the local language meaning ''{{Oh, Her? Ginger With Freckles}}''. Her older sister Johanna, also red-haired, pale skinned and freckled, points out she got it too: her best friend at school was an archetypical gorgeous blonde who attracted all the attention, leaving the red-haired best friend disregarded on the sidelines. Read about Mariella's rite of passage in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12321109/1/Gap-Year-Adventures Gap Year Adventures]]''.

* Thé Goldman family, father, wife and son fromage ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' are all gingers and are walking clichés of uncool tropes.