Rename: Pale Skinned Brunette

Yet another game of Guess The Trope Meaning. Seems simple doesn't it?

Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette

Yeah.

The person that MADE the page obviously didn't have a clue what brunette meant and misuse appears to be pretty rampant. Haven't checked completely though, but in my opinion this DEFINITELY needs a rename. Also, trouble with the name was noted in the YKTTW discussion.

edited 20th Aug '10 11:53:47 AM by Autarch

Dark brown hair can look pretty black.

"Deepest brunette - The darkest brown, which can be a very Dark Chestnut; sometimes appears to be off black at a distance"

edited 20th Aug '10 6:24:08 AM by Twilightdusk

The Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette is a character not just with black or brown hair and fair skin, but with a downright near deathly pallor, thinness, and hair as black as midnight.

Emphasis mine.

edited 20th Aug '10 6:25:29 AM by Autarch

Check the wicks.

I'm pretty sure people have been using this to mean any character with dark brunette hair that otherwise meets the criteria. Maybe we should just change the description to match?

"A white, brown haired character," Isn't really much of a trope though...and yea, there seems to be a large number of people confusing this trope for just that at a cursory glance.

But a good number aren't "white, brown-haired", but "very pale, dark-haired, evokes either an evil or a Dark Is Not Evil reaction to the character." True there's lots of examples that just don't fit, but they should get scrubbed out.

Yeah, it's "Dark hair for evil + pale skin for sickness, usually metaphorically = definite villain character". Which would exclude characters like L from Death Note: he fits the physical description to a T but despite being an antagonist is not evil or twisted.

Which means it needs a cleanup in addition to a name change.

edited 20th Aug '10 9:54:15 AM by Yamikuronue

It's called Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette, and it's about... pale skinned brunettes.

What is wrong with it? The fact that it only refers to pale skinned brunettes who are evil and/or creepy? I can see how that's a problem, but what would it be changed to? Pale Skinned Brunettes Are Creepy?

edited 20th Aug '10 10:01:58 AM by DoktorvonEurotrash

Just tweak it to Pale Skinned Evil Brunette.

Brunette is properly used to mean brown hair. This trope wants black hair exclusively.

It's called Pale Skinned Brunette, and it's about... pale skinned brunettes.

What is wrong with it? The fact that it only refers to pale skinned brunettes who are evil and/or creepy? I can see how that's a problem, but what would it be changed to? Pale Skinned Brunettes Are Creepy?

It's called pale skinned brunette (brown-haired woman, have a look at this picture◊ for about the darkest it can go) whilst the trope is about girls with pale skin who have black hair (see this◊). There's a considerable difference.

That's not even including the rampant misuse to refer to anyone who is caucasoid with brown hair.

It's very pale skin with very dark black hair - maybe something about contrast? High Contrast Evil?

Black And White Evil?

Sounds kind of like Black-and-White Morality

Would Sickly Pallor Black Hair be too obvious?

OR Milk Bottle Black Top?

Hair Like Coal Skin Like Snow?

edited 20th Aug '10 10:48:50 AM by shimaspawn

Evil Black Haired Pale Girl?

I don't see a problem, frankly. People seem perfectly comfortable using "brunette" for very dark hair; image Google "brunette" (for some reason, it is absolutely necessary to have safe-search on, unless you want to be deluged with porn), and you will pull up every hair color from mid-brown to black. The trope itself applies to dark-brown as well as black hair, despite the description. Just clean up the bad examples.

If you insist on a rename, go for something basic like Black Hair White Skin.

The French word brun means "dark". So "brunette" means "dark-haired".

The French word brun means "dark". So "brunette" means "dark-haired".

Err..

No. It doesn't. It really, really doesn't.

Brun means brown. Not dark.

This trouble was noted in the YKTTW discussion.

edited 20th Aug '10 11:53:17 AM by Autarch

It doesn't have to be a girl. The examples I can think of off the top of my head are all guys. It *does* have to be evil.

I think we need an administrivia page explaining that tropes aren't just about appearance or use of an object. It has to MEAN something. Just having pale skin and dark hair isn't a trope, it's a valid combination of genes. Using it to mean "creepy~ and up to something" is. Pale skin to mean sickly body is, pale skin to mean sick and twisted mind is, pale skin to mean purity is, but pale skin alone is not. Dark hair to mean dark soul is, dark hair meaning demonic heritage is, dark hair alone is not.

edited 20th Aug '10 12:10:19 PM by Yamikuronue

"It *does* have to be evil."

I'm not getting this vibe from the examples or the description. Creepy and/or weird, yes, but not evil.