Are redheads disproportionally represented in popular culture?

[AK84]

@MrDibble

It’s part-and-parcel of the fact that European-origin folks are over-represented in movies & TV out of proportion to their world demographics anyway (err, that’s considering global cinema rather than Bollywood, Nollywood, etc). So that needs to be factored in - what percentage of US whites are carrot-topped? If it’s closer to 8% there, coupled with the prevelance of dyejobs, it’s no longer so mysterious. Red hair stands out, so it’s an obvious choice for professional [del]narcissists[/del] actresses.

Then, there’s also a consideration that this is just current fashion, and wasn’t the case in past eras - how many 50s stars were redheads? Or the 70s? 90s?

Well strictly speaking there are only two hair colours, red and black.

[MrDibble]

Grey’s a colour…

[Chronos]

That’s just a very light shade of black.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@Mister_Rik

Huh. Her IMDB page says she’s a natural redhead.

This page differs.

Prepon is a brunette. She was asked to dye her hair red by the producers of “That 70s Show.” When she dyed her hair blonde for another role, the producers liked it and told her to keep it.

So does this earlier Buzzfeedpage.

And this Orange Is the New Black fan page.

Sorry.

[dougie_monty]

Don’t forget Alfred E. Neuman.

[Robot_Arm]

@dougie_monty

Don’t forget Alfred E. Neuman.

I read somewhere that redheads were popular in comic books of the past because the color reproduced well with the inks that were available to comic book printing presses. Now that so many of those properties are being made into movies and TV shows, maybe that explains some of the popularity.

Not that I’m complaining.

[Chronos]

Such considerations also often led to blue hair (often seen on Superman, for instance).

[I_Love_Me_Vol.I]

@Exapno_Mapcase

Who was a natural brunette before That 70s Show and then dyed her hair blonde for a role. She kept it that way, apparently because she got more parts offered to her. Now she’s famous for her dark hair on Orange Is the New Black.

I guess for her Black Is the New Orange.
DISCLAIMER: This observation is so obvious that it’s probably already been made numerous times. Sorry I didn’t finish the thread or scan the interwebz for it.

[Dendarii_Dame]

Whole lot of redheads in cartoons…Ariel, Lucy (in Despicable Me 2), Anastasia, etc.

[Mister_Rik]

@Exapno_Mapcase

This page differs.
So does this earlier Buzzfeedpage.

And this Orange Is the New Black fan page.

Sorry.

That fan page rips a bunch of the “trivia” from IMDB, verbatim, but contradicts it where it says:

“Is a natural redhead despite common misconception. Prepon stated in an interview that she dyed her hair black, for the role of “Alex Vause” in Orange Is the New Black (2013), to give her character the ‘rockabilly look’, but she is, in fact, naturally redheaded.”

(I’ll grant that this statement doesn’t cite the interview.)

Under “Personal Quotes” it says:

“I love being a redhead. It’s a rare thing, so I think there’s a bond between redheads.”

[dougie_monty]

From the Book of Lists: Renowned Redheads:
Lucille Ball
Sarah Bernhardt
Lizzie Borden (“took an ax, gave her mother forty whacks…”)
Sir Winston Churchill
Oliver Cromwell
General George Armstrong Custer
Emily Dickinson (poet)
Queen Elizabeth I of England
Arthur Godfrey*
Harold “Red” Grange
King Henry VIII
Katharine Hepburn
Thomas Jefferson
Rod Laver
Sinclair Lewis
Napoleon Bonaparte
Nero
Ignace Jan Paderewski
Salome
Margaret Sanger
William Shakespeare
George Bernard Shaw
Beverly Sills
Svetlana Stalina
Titian
Mark Twain
Martin Van Buren
George Washington
William the Conqueror
*When I was a kid I thought this was the name of Tony the Tiger’s son.