Just a dude with long hair and a sword: Badass Longhair

The way it is now, even the leading option isn't getting much support.

I've noticed that a lot of these get some early votes, and apparently people don't revisit the thread, at least, not immediately.

"Good grief, how is the collage that actually has some symmetry being beaten by the other one?"

They are both very poor, "being beaten" is kind of generous. Maybe "doing less badly"?

I like Van Damme alone but it doesn't look like that'll get picked, so maybe back to the collage idea. I agree that the frames should be chosen more deliberately. Maybe two live and two illustrated, rather than choosing by medium?

edited 28th Mar '12 4:53:53 PM by rodneyAnonymous

I don't have a patent on the collage idea, it was as much a suggestion for a course of action as proferred alternative. My personal preference would be that it include both the Van Damme motorcycle scene and a version of Casey Jones.

More stuff to consider or collage with:

Qui Gon Jinn [1]◊

Conan (Frazetta) (NSFW, needs cropping) [2]◊

Claw the Unconquered [3]◊

Red Sonja (should be cropped prolly to focus on her hair!) [4]◊

Against Red Sonja. I don't think this should have a female picture (in fact, I don't think it should apply to women at all, but that's for another day).

Currently, the description mentions it. Further, a Badass can be female.

New collage [1]◊

Yes, but most female Badasses have long hair anyway, to show that they're female and/or make them hot; long hair on a woman is neither a marker of badassery nor something that would be incompatible with badassery, and is therefore not narratively meaningful. Badass Longhair is a trope primarily because of the expectation that manly men will have short hair and long-haired men are effeminate and non-badass. But that's a TRS discussion.

Well, I picked a female with Wild Hair, in order to avert the assumption that females just tend to have long hair. Real Women Don't Wear Dresses also has the same masculinity/femininity memes in play, so I don't think a female Badass Longhair is invalid. It's the inverse of GI Jane.

edited 28th Mar '12 7:08:17 PM by pawsplay

What the fuck? Women can be this trope? No way. No way, no way. We need a TRS thread on this, stat. Also, Kurt Cobain isn't a badass at all, and has nothing to do with this trope!

Wow, I'm getting worked up over this.

I also think it should be Always Male. And I think the claim is that Kurt popularized long hair in the 90s, not badassery, but that is still wrong. Even if the sentence said "all grunge musicians" it would be wrong (or at least bear elaboration); deleted the sentence.

edited 28th Mar '12 7:33:13 PM by rodneyAnonymous

Bam.

Collages aren't always the answer, though I'm having a hard time figuring out precisely why I prefer Van Damme alone to the various collage options. I think maybe it's because there's some variation in the trope, but not really all that much.

And I still think a "modern" setting works best. Like lebrel says, this trope is really about "incongruity," at least in part. Of a guy who's badass despite having long hair, or at least a setting/culture where there's still some residual resistance to men with long hair.

But if you're talking about, oh, a story about Vikings, say... those guys aren't really Badass Longhair so much as Badasses who all happen to have long hair.

Would like to see others without long hair in the frame, to contrast against, but don't know what that would be. The examples didn't give me any ideas.

Is it about incongruity? I read an article a while back about how long hair has often symbolized apartness from society. And what about the Biblical Samson?

Unfortunately, the TMNT are also badasses.

edited 28th Mar '12 8:04:10 PM by pawsplay

Short hair, not bald. And preferably human, or at least a mammal. Hair is a unique, defining feature of class Mammalia.

Also, Samson.

edited 28th Mar '12 8:08:53 PM by rodneyAnonymous

Btw, I added the qualification in the article that long hair was associated with femininity in 20th century Western culture. Before that, the article stated it without qualification, which is wrong. There are many eras in which men were expected to have long hair.

You might wanna specify that that was during the early and middle part of the century...the 80s and 90s pretty much put paid to that.

edited 28th Mar '12 8:15:34 PM by Willbyr

You were right to add that, but I think you're confusing this one for the TRS thread I linked to up there. Which I believe you already posted in.

No, I'm not confused. I mentioned it because Samson is not an example of a man who has long hair in the 1980s and 1990s despite the general custom of the time to have short hair. Since long hair was common in his era, and routinely worn by members of his tribe, he would actually fail to qualify for this trope if that's the definition.

The current definition does not specify Always Male. It is not restricted to late 80s, early 90s male action heroes. Red Sonja is a valid suggestion. I wouldn't put her forward as the best example of this trope, and indeed I haven't, but I included her in the collage amongst a lot of men.

edited 28th Mar '12 8:34:18 PM by pawsplay

Well, since we might be restricting it back to Always Male, maybe we should hold off on picking an image until the TRS thread is resolved.

But yeah, I agree Samson isn't a good example and that is indeed relevant to this thread. My mistake.

edited 28th Mar '12 8:36:10 PM by Martello

Since more than a couple of people seem to feel this should be Always Male, I think that really needs to be resolved before we continue with this vote.

edited 28th Mar '12 8:51:29 PM by pawsplay

TRS first, then?

I think IP is more useful than it first appears. Many a broken trope are found when we try to find an image for it.

"This is good." "No it isn't, it isn't the trope." "No it is." "OK, this trope is unclear."

Bump for votes; the nicer-formatted collage is the only thing in the green.

The TRS thread really needs to be resolved. If the consensus is Always Male, I'll supply an alternate version of the long column.