History Main / SurrealSymbolicHeads

[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1638479331071182900&page=1 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]

[[quoteright:241:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/68758_340_5393.jpg]]

A recurring motif in SurrealHorror, SurrealHumour, and, really, surreality in general, is an apparently human being whose head is something else entirely. In some cases, it's simply been replaced with the head of some species of animal; in others, it's actually an inanimate object walking about on a human body; in still others, it's neither a human with a strange head nor an object piloting a human body, but rather some other entity that looks ''mostly'' human. Whatever the reason, the result is often referred to as an "object head".

In any case, the effect ranges from unusual to sinister; they appear mainly in dreams, visions, hallucinations, and if they appear ''physically'' it's a good sign that RealityIsOutToLunch. As a result, they are frequently subjects of the RuleOfSymbolism.

Compare MalevolentMaskedMen, which plays on much of the same imagery in a way compatible with a more mundane setting or situation. Compare ''and'' contrast AnthropomorphicPersonification and PhysicalGod - many take the form of a person with the head of something else, but unless they are used for surreality and metaphor they are ''not'' this trope; instead, they are NonHumanHead, its supertrope. Not to be unnecessarily confused with TVHeadRobot.

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! Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Advertising ]]

* Subverted in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAdH7RhqNMk this Pepsi Max advert.]] Towards the end, the boss sees one of the office workers with a horse's head and assumes that he's hallucinating. But that's just what the workers want him to think; the horse's head is fake and the workers are looking for an excuse to goof off.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Anime ]]

* Schoolgirls with winged insects for heads appear in the dream world of ''Anime/WonderEggPriority'' after [[spoiler: the girls "revive" their friends]]. They're the only enemies in the series that remain undefeated, and all of their encounters leave the main characters shaken.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Art ]]

* Several pieces by renowned surrealist painter Salvador Dali show people who have things other than human heads. These include "Printemps Necrophilique", "Three Women With Heads of Flowers Finding the Skin of a Grand Piano on the Beach", "Female Figure With Head of Flowers", and "Woman With a Head of Roses".
* "The Pleasure Principle" by René Magritte is a portrait of a business man with a glowing ball of light in place of his head.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comics ]]

* ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol''
** Several of [[RealityWarper Dorothy Spinner's]] [[ImaginaryFriend imaginary friends]] and [[ImaginaryEnemy enemies]] take this form. Damn All has a newspaper with multiple eyes and a broad smile, his 'wife' Darling-Come-Home's face is a portrait of a light bulb, and their ghost baby Flying Robert has the head of a balloon.
** Many agents of the Cult of the Unwritten Book have similar appearances. The Weeping Blades are flayed, beheaded corpses with blades for heads. The assassin group Fear the Sky all have celestial objects as heads.
* Creator/MarvelComics have a group of villains called The Headmen who have interchangeable heads and odd bodies. They're mostly joke characters but are every bit as surreal.
* ''Prez'':
** In [[ComicBook/Prez1973 the original series]], Prez Rickard, teen president of the United States, had a few run-ins with Boss Smiley, the physical embodiment of political corruption, whose head was a bald sphere with BlackBeadEyes, a tiny nose, a broad smiling mouth -- basically, a flesh-toned version of the classic yellow smiley face emblem.
** Boss Smiley makes another appearance as his slimy eerie self in ''ComicBook/TheSandman''.
** In [[ComicBook/Prez2015 the 21st-century reboot]], the character is given [[CorruptCorporateExecutive a disturbing twist]] where -- due to corporations achieving full personhood under the law -- all [=CEOs=] have become ''de facto'' mascots, disguising their true faces behind holographic "masks" and being referred to by their company names; Smiley, befitting his origins, has established himself as the most powerful simply because, by getting everything to the consumer as quickly and cheaply as possible, he sells the most valuable commodity of all: ''time''.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* As the name of the film might suggest, ''Film/{{Eraserhead}}'' has heads as its [[BodyMotifs Body Motif]]. Henry Spencer and his girlfriend Mary X are [[AdultFear stuck with tending to a disfigured child]] with a horrible, chickenlike head. In a DreamSequence, the baby's head sprouts under Henry's, [[OffWithHisHead beheading him]]. [[BodyHorror The result is a body]] [[SurrealHorror of an adult man with a]] FetusTerrible for a head.
* ''Film/DonnieDarko'' has recurring visions of 'Frank', a man with the head of a creepy rabbit, giving him warnings about the future. [[spoiler:Frank turns out to be [[MalevolentMaskedMen a real person wearing a rabbit mask]], whom Donnie has never met before... which doesn't actually explain much.]]
* In the film ''Film/{{Ink}}'' Bad Guys from the monochromatic dreamland carry the teleimage of [[StepfordSmiler smiling faces]] on shoulders.
* In the film ''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich'', when John Malkovich is inside his own head (long story), every other person's head is replaced by his own head, and all they can say is "Malkovich."
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Part of the mythos in ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' revolves around visions of strange creatures who are humanoid in shape, but have strange symbols for heads. It is revealed in ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'' that these are the Cryptics, essentially the idea of lying given sentience. Despite being creepy, they aren't evil, just strange.
* In the First Book of ''Literature/{{MARZENA}}'', while in Dr. Sam's Virtual Dream World, Kristen gets attacked by a plumber wielding a circular saw and who has a Model House instead of a head. The monster appears to be linked to some tragedy that happened in Dr. Sam's house.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/{{Danger 5}}'' has an eagle-headed colonel commanding the show's elite Nazi-fighting team. A later episode has a Swiss gangster with a tiger's head challenge Tucker to a duel. [[WidgetSeries No explanation for any of this is given]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Music ]]

* The cover of Music/MinorThreat's ''Bottled Violence'' single depicts a man with the top of a beer bottle for a head, who is clad in a leather jacket and Music/SexPistols shirt, and is also holding a beer in one hand and making a raised fist with the other. It MakesSenseInContext because the title song is an OdeToSobriety dealing with those who get drunk as an excuse to pick fights.
* The video for ''Surfing on a Rocket'' by Music/{{Air}} has several of the people [[RidingTheBomb riding the rocket]] being this, including people with smoke-spewing chimneys for heads, a man with a shark's head, a person who's head is a TV with tentacles coming out of it, and a man with a [[YourHeadAsplode nuclear explosion for a head]].
** Another music video by Music/{{Air}}, ''How Does It Make You Feel'', has a woman being assembled piece by piece. She appears to be put together normally for most of the video, but at the end [[spoiler:she is given a fish head]].
* The video for '''Cause I'm a Man'' by Music/TameImpala features an invisible man in a suit. Throughout the video, various objects appear in place of his head.
* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQKGUgOfD8U PV]] for the Music/{{Vocaloid}} song Echo features a schoolgirl with multiple limbs and a TV for a head as symbolism.
* The persona of the music producer [[https://li.sten.to/5FZuScl Faythexx]] is a man with a TV for a head named Alfa Y. Thexx.


[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu''
** Supplement ''Curse of the Chthonians'', adventure "Thoth's Dagger". One of the Investigators who touches the title magic item will fall under its curse. He sees visions of ancient Egypt that include a guard with the head of a baboon and a priest with the head of an ibis.
** Supplement ''The Fungi from Yuggoth'', adventure "Sands of Time". While the Investigators are trapped in an underground area they have a vision of two men with the heads of crocodiles.
* Creator/{{Chaosium}}'s supplement ''All the Worlds' Monsters''. The wind witch monster has a human body but the head of a crocodile.
* In ''TabletopGame/LamentationsOfTheFlamePrincess'' one possible consequence of resurrecting a character with the ''Electric Grave'' spell is that the resurrectee's head is replaced by "some cosmically appropriate object". Some of the art in the sourcebook the spell comes from features a character whose head has been replaced by a large ornate clock.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* One of the first-person areas in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' contains a mannequin of the Joker, with a television head that plays a message. [[spoiler:Actually, it's the Joker himself.]]
* Tele-evangelists in ''VideoGame/CivilizationCallToPower'' are shown as a business suit topped by a television.
* ''VideoGame/{{DARQ}}'' features a number of bizarre creatures of this kind, unsurprisingly considering its nightmare setting. These include gun-toting humanoids with lampshades for heads, who periodically turn the lightbulbs inside them on and off and shoot you if you step into the pool of light they cast, and a wheelchair-bound creature with what appears to be a tuba for a head which propels itself around backwards by the sheer force of its off-key notes.
* ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin'':
** The Keeper has a safe wrapped in barbed wire for a head. Not only that, it can regenerate itself from other safes scattered throughout the game.
** The DLC missions ''The Assignment'' and ''The Consequence'' have Shade/Spotlight, a monster that's just a lumpy torso mounted on a pair of human legs with a searchlight for a head.
* In ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'', the protagonist is visited by three strangers in animal masks, in dreamlike settings.
* All the characters in ''VideoGame/MondoMedicals'' have televisions for faces - with a blank screen, simple faces, or [[JumpScare a gnashing mouth]]. ''VideoGame/MondoAgency'' uses the same idea, only now the screens are four-sided and spin!
* ''VideoGame/Psychonauts2'': In the level Hollis' Hot Streak, there are various [=NPCs=] roaming about that have card suits, cartoon skulls or dice for heads. The nurses in the level have a syringe, a speculum and a urine cup for a head.
* The infamous Pyramid Head from ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' has the body of a man with, well, a large pyramid for a head. Looking closely reveals that it really ''is'' his head and not just headgear, as [[BodyHorror the underside shows flesh reaching all the way to the "helmet's" edges]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Turgor}}'', the brother called Whaler has his head replaced with a kind of ornate metal spire. ([[LosingYourHead The head itself is strapped onto his back...]])
* ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'':
** The Eye Palm effect allows Madotsuki to dream that her head has taken the form of a large hand with an eye in the palm. Using the effect allows her to return to the hub area.
** The Lamp effect gives Madotsuki a lamplight for a head. It's useful for navigating dark areas.
** There are also the Toriningen, the "enemies" of the game, who resemble tall girls with eerily silly bird-like heads.
* In the fan sequel ''VideoGame/{{Yume 2kki}}'', Urotsuki can dream her head into a telephone, a box of tissues, or a bomb in the shape of an eyeball.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* The syringe-headed [[http://www.bogleech.com/awfulhospital/075 Dr. Phleboto Mizer]] in Webcomic/AwfulHospital.
* [[MeaningfulName RGB]] from ''Webcomic/ThePropertyOfHate'' has a TV displaying a dripping test bar for a head. The test bar curves to represent the line of his mouth, and each color represents an emotion, although it's uncertain what color represents what; the more a color drips, the more prominent the emotion is. His antennae also quirk and shift as he emotes. He can also change the color and pattern of his clothes at will, as well as activate a stealth mode.
* Human characters with various objects for heads is a recurring setup in ''Webcomic/ThePerryBibleFellowship''. [[http://pbfcomics.com/203/ Here's one example.]]
* ''Webcomic/ImTheGrimReaper'' has an example in a flashback, narrated by [[spoiler:Ana. her parents' heads are replaced by a megaphone and a stapler respectively, and her ex-husband's face is permanently covered by a paper bag. He's referred to as "Paper Bag" as well.]]
* Flint the Box Head Boy from ''Webcomic/TheDreamwalkerChronicles'' who can open up his box head to pull out flashlights and other useful items, when he eventually loses the box [[spoiler: his true face is identical to Kyle's revealing that he is the spirit of Kyle's dead twin.]] Interestingly, the Box Head Boy in its entirety was the borrowed disguise as the character continues to exist separately and creeps out the human characters when eating bad dreams.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* One of the unexplained screens in the ''Literature/NESGodzillaCreepypasta'' shows a figure in a pinstriped business suit, whose head is a dripping faucet.
* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': PlayedForLaughs in the ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'' "crazy cartoon". Strong Bad's AuthorAvatar in "Sweet Cuppin' Cakes" is a version of himself with a Casio keyboard for a head for no reason other than [[SurrealHumor he's in a cuh-RAZY cartoon]]. Keyboard Strong Bad tends to dance around while playing "Unterlanders Heimweih" whenever he gets mad, though in the Sweet Cuppin' Cakes [[ChristmasEpisode Decemberween episode]] from "Decemberween in July" he plays "Jingle Bells".

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life]]

* One morning in August 2019, a neighborhood in suburban Virginia woke to find that at least 50 houses in the area had had old CRT televisions mysteriously deposited on their porches overnight. A check of doorbell-cams showed [[https://people.com/human-interest/person-wearing-tv-on-head-leaves-old-tvs-on-porches/ a man wearing a TV for a head]] calmly walking up to each house, setting down a TV, and then walking away again. While their identity was never publicly announced, [[https://www.wtkr.com/2019/09/04/police-believe-they-know-the-identity-of-the-masked-man-leaving-vintage-tvs-on-doorsteps-in-virginia local police claimed to have traced it down to a 19-year-old]] who was probably doing just some kind of prank, though put out a warrant for his arrest since dumping trash is a crime.
[[/folder]]

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* The infamous Pyramid Head from ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' has the body of a man with, well, a large pyramid for a head. Looking closely reveals that it really ''is'' his head and not just headgear, as [[BodyHorror the underside shows flesh reaching all the way to the "helmet's" edges]].
* All the characters in ''VideoGame/MondoMedicals'' have televisions for faces - with a blank screen, simple faces, or [[JumpScare a gnashing mouth]]. ''VideoGame/MondoAgency'' uses the same idea, only now the screens are four-sided and spin!
* In ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'', the protagonist is visited by three strangers in animal masks, in dreamlike settings. (It was produced by Creator/{{cactus}}, who also made the aforementioned Mondo games.)
* In ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'', the Medamaude effect allows Madotsuki to dream that her head has taken the form of a large hand with an eye in the palm. ('Blinking' allows her to return to the hub of her DreamLand.)
** Another effect replaces her head with a functioning street lamp (useful for illuminating dark areas, naturally).
** There are also the Toriningen, the 'enemies' of the game, who resemble tall girls with eerily silly bird-like heads.
** In the fan sequel ''VideoGame/{{Yume 2kki}}'', Urotsuki can dream her head into a telephone, a box of tissues, or a bomb in the shape of an eyeball.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Turgor}}'', the brother called Whaler has his head replaced with a kind of ornate metal spire. ([[LosingYourHead The head itself is strapped onto his back...]])

* ''VideoGame/{{DARQ}}'' features a number of bizarre creatures of this kind, unsurprisingly considering its nightmare setting. These include gun-toting humanoids with lampshades for heads, who periodically turn the lightbulbs inside them on and off and shoot you if you step into the pool of light they cast, and a wheelchair-bound creature with what appears to be a tuba for a head which propels itself around backwards by the sheer force of its off-key notes.

* In ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'', the Medamaude effect allows Madotsuki to dream that her head has taken the form of a large hand with an eye in the palm. ('Blinking' allows her to return to the hub of her DreamWorld.)

* One morning in August 2019, a neighborhood in suburban Virginia woke to find that at least 50 houses in the area had had old CRT televisions mysteriously deposited on their porches overnight. A check of doorbell-cams showed [[https://people.com/human-interest/person-wearing-tv-on-head-leaves-old-tvs-on-porches/ a man wearing a TV for a head]] calmly walking up to each house, setting down a TV, and then walking away again.

* One morning in August 2019, a neighborhood in suburban Virginia woke to find that at least 50 houses in the area had had old CRT televisions mysteriously deposited on their porches overnight. A check of doorbell-cams showed [[https://people.com/human-interest/person-wearing-tv-on-head-leaves-old-tvs-on-porches/ a man wearing a TV for a head]] calming walking up to each house, setting down a TV, and then walking away again.

* The persona of the music producer [[https://li.sten.to/5FZuScl Faythexx]] is a man with a TV for a head named Alfa Y. Thexx

* In ''Literature/ANightInTheLonesomeOctober'', when a mass occult ritual starts to distort reality, the participants' heads all seem to shift places while their consciousness remains in place. As many of the participants are {{Familiar}} animals, this leaves many of the humans with animal heads.

* ''VideoGame/{{DARQ}}'' features a number of bizarre creatures of this kind, unsurprisingly considering its [[BadDreams nightmare setting]]. These include gun-toting humanoids with lampshades for heads, who periodically turn the lightbulbs inside them on and off and shoot you if you step into the pool of light they cast, and a wheelchair-bound creature with what appears to be a tuba for a head which propels itself around backwards by the sheer force of its off-key notes.

* Flint the Box Head Boy from ''Webcomic/TheDreamwalkerChronicles'' who can open up his box head to pull out flashlights and other useful items, when he eventually loses the box [[spoiler: his true face is identical to Kyle's revealing that he is the spirit of Kyle's dead twin.]] Interestingly the Box Head Boy in its entirety was the borrowed disguise as the character continues to exist separately and creeps out the human characters when eating bad dreams.

* Flint the Box Head Boy from ''Webcomic/TheDreamwalkerChronicles'' who can open up his box head to pull out flashlights and other useful items, when he eventually looses the box [[spoiler: his true face is identical to Kyle's revealing that he is the spirit of Kyle's dead twin.]] Interestingly the Box Head Boy in its entirety was the borrowed disguise as the character continues to exist separately and creeps out the human characters when eating bad dreams.

Compare MalevolentMaskedMen, which plays on much of the same imagery in a way compatible with a more mundane setting or situation. Compare ''and'' contrast AnthropomorphicPersonification and PhysicalGod - many take the form of a person with the head of something else, but unless they are used for surreality and metaphor they are ''not'' this trope; instead, they are NonHumanHead, its supertrope. Also, not to be unnecessarily confused with TVHeadRobot or PettingZooPeople.

* [[MeaningfulName RGB]] from ''Webcomic/ThePropertyofHate'' has a TV displaying a dripping test bar for a head. The test bar curves to represent the line of his mouth, and each color represents an emotion, although it's uncertain what color represents what; the more a color drips, the more prominent the emotion is. His antennae also quirk and shift as he emotes. He can also change the color and pattern of his clothes at will, as well as activate a stealth mode.

* The infamous Pyramid Head from ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' has the body of a man with, well, a large pyramid for a head. Looking closely reveals that it really ''is'' his head and not just headgear, as [[BodyHorror the underside reveals flesh reaching all the way to the "helmet's" edges]].

* The infamous Pyramid Head from ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' has the body of a man with, well, a large pyramid for a head.

* Several of reknown surrealist painter Salvador Dali's pieces show people who have things other than human heads. These include "Printemps Necrophilique", "Three Women With Heads of Flowers Finding the Skin of a Grand Piano on the Beach", "Female Figure With Head of Flowers", and "Woman With a Head of Roses".

** Many agents of the Cult of the Unwritten Book have such appearances as well. The Weeping Blades are flayed, beheaded corpses with the heads of blades. The assassin group Fear the Sky all have the heads of celestial objects.

** In [[ComicBook/Prez2015 the 21st century reboot]], the character is given [[CorruptCorporateExecutive a disturbing twist]] where -- due to corporations achieving full personhood under the law -- all [=CEOs=] have become ''de facto'' mascots, disguising their true faces behind holographic "masks" and being referred to by their company names; Smiley, befitting his origins, has established himself as the most powerful simply because, by getting everything to the consumer as quickly and cheaply as possible, he sells the most valuable commodity of all: ''time''.

* Part of the mythos in ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' revolves around visions of strange creatures who are humanoid in shape, but have strange symbols for heads. It is revealed in ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'' that these are the Cryptics, essentially the idea of lying given sentience. Despite being creepy they aren't evil, just strange.

* ''Series/{{Danger 5}}'' has an eagle-headed colonel commanding the show's elite nazi-fighting team. A later episode has a Swiss gangster with a tiger-head challenge Tucker to a duel. [[WidgetSeries No explanation for any of this is given]].

** Another music video by Music/{{Air}}, ''How Does It Make You Feel'', has a woman being assembled piece by piece. She appears to be put together normally for most of the video, but at the end [[spoiler: she is given a fish head]].

* Part of the mythos in ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' revolves around visions of strange creatures who are humanoid in shape, but have strange symbols for heads. It is revealed in ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'' that these are the Cryptics, essentially the idea of lying given sentience.

* The cover of Music/MinorThreat's ''Bottled Violence'' single depicts a man with the top of a beer bottle for a head, who is clad in a leather jacket and SexPistols shirt, and is also holding a beer in one hand and making a raised fist with the other. It MakesSenseInContext because the title song is an OdeToSobriety dealing with those who get drunk as an excuse to pick fights.

* Flint the Box Head Boy from ''Webcomic/TheDreamwalkerChronicles'' who can open up his box head to pull out flashlights and other useful items, when he eventually looses the box [[spoiler: his true face is identical to Kyle's revealing that he is the spirit of Kyle's dead twin]].