The Symbolism of Blue Hair

Summary

Characters with blue hair in media often symbolize unique personality traits through their distinct appearances. They can be representations of whimsicality, rebellion, or melancholy, reflecting an evolution in cultural symbolism from literary origins to contemporary pop culture. The analysis delves into various examples, from Ramona Flowers in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" to Marge Simpson in "The Simpsons," illustrating how blue hair in animation and film has become shorthand for characters that stand out, embody otherworldliness, or experience deep emotions. The examination suggests that blue hair serves as a versatile trope in storytelling, representing a spectrum of traits instead of a monolithic identity.

Highlights

• Ramona Flowers' blue hair suggests a rebellious, ever-changing personality. 🎨
• Clementine in "Eternal Sunshine" uses blue hair to symbolize emotional distance and novelty. 🌊
• Joy’s blue hair in "Inside Out" hints at the underlying sadness amidst happiness. 💧
• Emily’s eerie appearance in "Corpse Bride" is accentuated by her blue hair, highlighting her ghostliness. 👻
• Marge Simpson's blue hair results from a mix of cultural and personal references by creators. 🏗️

Key Takeaways

• Blue hair in media is often used to symbolize a character’s unique or rebellious nature. 🎨
• Characters like Ramona from "Scott Pilgrim" utilize blue hair to depict constant change and nonconformity. 🔄
• The color blue often represents melancholy, linking to the emotional depth of characters like Joy from "Inside Out." 💙
• In children’s movies, blue hair can signify magical or otherworldly traits, making a character stand out. ✨
• The trope has literary roots, evolving from early uses like the fairy in "Pinocchio" to modern animations and films. 📚

Overview

Blue hair in media serves as a vibrant visual cue that often points to a character's unorthodox nature, symbolizing everything from rebellion to inner sadness. From anime to blockbuster films, it typically marks characters with a distinct aura, enabling storytellers to convey depth and complexity instantaneously.

In many instances, blue-haired characters are layered with meaning beyond their striking appearance. They can reflect a sense of whimsicality or detachment, while also invoking stereotypes like the manic pixie dream girl or the quirky outsider, challenging traditional narrative roles.

The phenomenon evolved from its literary origins—such as the fairy in Carlo Collodi's "Pinocchio"—to become a multifaceted feature in modern storytelling. Today, blue hair continues to be a visual shorthand for uniqueness, serving as both a trend and a trope that explores themes of identity, individuality, and expression.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction to Character Design The chapter introduces the concept of character design, emphasizing that while in real life we are taught not to judge a book by its cover, in movies, character appearances often align with their personalities or roles. For example, a 'tightly wound' character may be designed with more rigid and angular visual elements.
• 01:00 - 05:00: Examples from Movies In this chapter, the author discusses how character design in media often uses physical traits to represent personality characteristics. Through examples like a big hat and crazy bow tie for eccentric characters, or sloths representing the slow DMV, the author explores how these design choices can eventually lead physical traits to symbolize specific personality traits. A focus is placed on 'blue hair' and its frequency in media, as the author aims to identify common traits among characters designed with blue hair.
• 05:00 - 10:00: Examples from TV and Video Games In this chapter, examples from TV and video games are explored, starting with the 2010 movie 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World'. The character Ramona Flowers is highlighted for her changing hair color, specifically blue at one point, which symbolizes her rebellious and ever-changing nature. This change also serves as a reference to the three golden goddesses from 'The Legend of Zelda', with the blue goddess representing wisdom, thereby contributing to Ramona’s character portrayal.
• 10:00 - 15:00: Historical Context and Themes The chapter discusses the historical context and themes of a film, focusing on characters like Scott, who must complete tasks to reach Ramona, and Scott's girlfriend Knives, who changes her hair color to get Scott's attention. It draws parallels with the character Clementine from 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,' known for changing her hair color and resisting the 'manic pixie dream girl' stereotype. The chapter explores themes of identity and perception in relationships.
• 15:00 - 16:00: Conclusion on Blue Hair Symbolism The chapter titled 'Conclusion on Blue Hair Symbolism' explores the character's journey towards finding personal peace, rejecting others' perceptions. Through the character's changing hair color - from green, to red, to orange, and finally to blue - her personal growth and evolving identity are symbolized. Blue hair signifies a paradox of distance and familiarity, reflecting her decision to erase someone from her memory, which illustrates a cold, rational choice.

The Symbolism of Blue Hair Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] don't judge a book by its cover that's one of the first things a lot of us are taught by parents or teachers things can be different on the inside from the way they appear on the outside and that's often true except in movies the majority of the time characters are designed with appearances that match their personalities goals or interests a tightly wound character might be given a rigid and angular design a wild
• 00:30 - 01:00 character can be designed with a big hat and a crazy bow tie the DMV is slow so it's run by sloths vanelope is hyper so she has candy in her hair etc etc obviously this is subverted sometimes but when it's not characters with specific personalities can be given certain physical features until the feature itself comes to represent the personality traits as a whole and one of the character designs that I've seen reused in media often with the same purpose is blue hair so I'm going to see if there's a through line a common trait among characters designed with blue hair blue hair in media is actually extremely common to to prove this point of course
• 01:00 - 01:30 I'm going to go through some examples starting with movies in the 2010 movie Scott Pilgrim versus the World Ramona Flowers Sports blue hair among other colors she starts off the movie with pink hair and the first color she dies it to is blue you know your hair I know of it it's all blue I changed my hair every week and a half D get used to it besides this being an indication to Scott that Ramona is constantly changing and rebellious it also serves as a reference to the three golden goddesses in The Legend of Zelda din nou and feror nou the Blue Goddess is the goddess of wisom wi this contributes to Ramona's
• 01:30 - 02:00 position above Scott she's on a completely different plane and he has to complete a number of tasks in order to be able to reach her another character in the movie Scott's 17-year-old girlfriend knives also dyes her hair blue to mimic Ramona in order to get Scott's attention sticking with girls who dye their hair a lot we have Clementine krinski from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Clen like Ramona goes through a lot of hair colors in her movie but she's determined to maintain her lack of participation in the manic pixie Dream Girls Club too many guys think I'm a concept or I complete them or I'm going to make them alive I'm just
• 02:00 - 02:30 a [ __ ] up girl who's looking for my own peace of mind don't assign me yours I'm not a concept Joel I'm just a [ __ ] up girl who's looking for my own piece of mind I'm not perfect chronologically she starts out with green hair then red then orange and finally blue her hair has died blue after she erases Joel from her memory in this instance the blue takes on two opposing meanings distance and familiarity her dark blue hair reflects her cold callous decision to erase Joel this dark color also
• 02:30 - 03:00 represents a lack of vibrancy seen in the other colors which mimics the emotional distance between the two characters I the whole thing with the hair it's all [ __ ] I really like your hair I really like your hair thank you however this is also the color she wears when her and Joel respark their relationship because besides being cold blue can also be cool relaxed and assured CLM and Joel both know from listening to the tapes that their relationship is essentially doomed Joel will try to tie CLM down and Clen will grow to resent him nevertheless they're content with it and they're willing to try it out regardless of its ending
• 03:00 - 03:30 another movie with a supposedly clear manic pixie dream girl is Bladerunner 249 but with this example as well joy represents a subversion of this Trope she's a holographic companion and her appearance can be changed constantly based on Kay's desires but Kay wonders throughout the film whether her feelings for him are authentic or merely due to her programming I'm so happy when I'm with you you don't have to say that the only times Joy has blue hair is when she's being advertised she's a nearly cartoon character dancing to interest buyers and a holographic billboard advertising an
• 03:30 - 04:00 exciting experience to lonely pedestrians like the other examples she has a lurking sadness underneath her exciting exterior and she's not even the only blue-haired joy to experience sadness under her happy exterior 2015's Inside Out follows a group of emotions that exist in the head of and control pre-teen girl Riley she's happy and content in the beginning of the movie until her family moves and being uprooted from her friends experiencing social anxiety and just growing up turns her into a sad frustrated child for a period of time Riley learns to adjust to the move and accept all of her emotions
• 04:00 - 04:30 as normal and necessary for her development the emotion of Joy inside her head follows a similar Arc Joy wants Riley to be happy all the time once Riley starts growing up though the struggles of adolescence start to cause her to have more sad than happy memories Joy goes on a journey with sadness to fix this and by the end of the movie learns to accept sadness as a part of Joy this final character Arc is revealed in Joy's first appearance through her character design all of the emotions in Riley's head are one color disgust is green anger is red fear is purple and sadness is blue but joy is yellow and her hair is blue blue her design
• 04:30 - 05:00 communicates the point that it's normal for happiness to include a little sadness I can't Joy yes you can Riley needs you the emotions see this firsthand with the concept of nostalgia as sadness goes around touching happy yellow memories turning them blue and effectively reworking the way Riley reflects on her past another child that acts out because of a move is Coraline Jones at the beginning of the movie Coraline is living in this boring drab gray World her blue hair allows her to stand out against her setting and eventually forces her to see herself fit better in the other world her parents
• 05:00 - 05:30 are constantly working and her attempts to get their attention only result in her being pushed away to entertain herself adding to her isolation go out and count all the doors and windows and write that down on list everything that's blue just let me work everything about Coraline slightly alienates her her hair is an unnatural color a shade or two away from the normal black but clearly different like her name a letter or two away from the normal Caroline but clearly different it's Coraline Caroline what Coraline Coraline Jones hm it's not
• 05:30 - 06:00 real scientific but I heard an ordinary name like Caroline can lead people to have ordinary expectations about a person so in this example the blue hair serves as a way to reaffirm her worldview that she is starkly different from both her parents and the environment around her characters like Brian Slade from velvet gold mine and steo from SLC Punk sport blue hairstyles as symbols of rebellion steo is a contrarian to the core he looks down upon his parents for giving up their hippie Ruth to settle down to live boring lives and he rejects his acceptance to Harvard because of his repulsion to the idea that it upholds
• 06:00 - 06:30 his mindsets changed when he meets Brandy and she poses an interesting question wouldn't it be more of an act of rebellion if you didn't spend so much time buying blue hair dye and going out to get Punky clothes she kind of dismantles his whole Persona by suggesting that the blue hair and punk clothes symbols of rebellion have turned into uniforms to identify oneself as Punk thereby missing the point of the mindset being in the mind and unable to be displayed through physical appearance you want to be an individual right you look like you're wearing a uniform I
• 06:30 - 07:00 mean you look like a punk that's not Rebellion that's fashion there's a lot more punks than there was 4 years earlier but there was also as many posers posers were people that look like punks but they did it for fashion I guess when all was said and done I was nothing more than a goddamn trendy ass poser movies like pink sky ahead and Kimmy feature female protagonists with blue hair and for them the hair is less of a symbol of rebellion and more of a suggestion of isolation Winona appears to be confident in her choices and in secure in herself but she's actually
• 07:00 - 07:30 pretty lost she's dropped out of school and she's stuck in place and her struggles with her identity come to a head when she's diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and it questions the personality that she's been crafting you know but she feels like something's wrong she feels like there's something wrong with her she feels like she's different from everybody else but she doesn't feel she looks like somebody or or acts like somebody with an anxiety disorder so she kind of brushes it off for children's movies the blue hair tends to relate to a couple different character traits in Corpse Bride Emily's hair is mainly used to show her
• 07:30 - 08:00 otherworldliness her whole design is very muted and Airy to reflect her ghostly nature and her blue hair is the cherry on top of the unrequited love story if red is Passion then blue is longing and if Victoria through her neat tailored appearance represents consistency natural Bonds in the future then Emily in her Whimsical flighty appearance represents unpredictability unnatural connections and the past in Disney's Hercules Hades has blue hair meant to show his surprising Tranquility it matches his muted look finished off by his pale complexion and gray robe he's an interesting example though
• 08:00 - 08:30 because when he gets angry his hair erupts into bright orange Flames this would suggest that his rage makes him get hotter but in reality the blue flame is hotter than the orange Flames I'm sure these colors were chosen simply because audiences especially child audiences associate blue with cool and orange with hot but it would be interesting if the leader of the underworld was constantly at the hottest temperature until he raged and that loss of control actually cooled him down blue hair actually pops up a lot in children's movies Silver Mist and Tinkerbell has blue hair most likely to fit in with her power set as a water fairy the blue blue hair matches both
• 08:30 - 09:00 her personality and the traits of water calm free-spirited Serene Nori is another example of a blue hair children's movie character but her identification is completely different her blue hair fits her power set of a mermaid that lives in the water but she's pretty short-tempered and Lively perhaps to match with the traits of more rough water unpredictable impulsive volatile I mean you're beautiful now but you're not that beautiful what Aur from Barbie Fairytopia matches up with this more headstrong depiction and I think the brothers and onward match up with each
• 09:00 - 09:30 trait with barley being the assertive confident blue-haired character and Ian being the more reserved one aside from movies there's a ton of examples throughout TV video games Comics even music for recency sake I'll start with Jinx when she's a child her hair is pretty tame and short then when she gets older it turns into this unique double braided hairstyle this unruly all down look and eventually a VI style half shaven purple streak side park her blue hair becomes a meaningful plot Point within the show's Universe in season 2 Jinx dies isa's hair blue watering the seeds of isa's unspoken bond with Jinx
• 09:30 - 10:00 and serving as a catalyst for her brave decision at the end of the season the blue hair doesn't only impact Isa the people in Z begin to dieye their hair blue as a way to mimic Jinx the figure they adopt as the symbol of their rebellion in the paint the town blue scene we see how this movement has completely taken over Zan in Star versus the forces of evil Moon's hair serves a similar purpose it's a light blue possibly used to reflect her calm Authority when she's in a defined position of power it's in a stiff updo but when she's younger and more flighty and impulsive it's worn down the hair isn't always is used to reflect this
• 10:00 - 10:30 type of character though in the same show Janna has dark blue hair and it's meant to be a Topper to her quirky eccentric personality then there's characters like Jackie who have blonde hair with blue streaks because she's edgy I don't know I like a little edge and a little pop in my hair so I wanted to add something different especially for the teen Vue party I think the streaks in the hair are often used to reflect some sort of Separation Tibby in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and aquamarine both have blue streaks in their hair aquamarines are used to depict her otherworldliness a quality that's accepted when the girls Dy blue streaks in their hair to match hers and
• 10:30 - 11:00 tibes are used to reflect her alternative personality and differentiate her from the other girls and she ends up probably having the most serious and traumatic plotline of all the girls in the movie there's a couple shows that have multiple blue-haired characters in them in Shira frosta merista and Natasa all have blue hair in the 80s cartoon frosta has long icy blue hair in the Netflix reboot she has a short blunt Bop 80s merista has long blue hair Netflix merista has this sort of mid-length teal hair and 0s natasa's long sweepback hair is swapped for a half shaven look a bunch of characters
• 11:00 - 11:30 in Gem and the Holograms have blue hair Stormer has voluminous dark blue hair to match her Rock Persona Craig and the lead guitarist of gem and the Holograms both have blue hair as well Steven Universe has its fair share of Blue Characters Blue Diamond is a grief stricken sometimes compassionate sometimes cruel leader lapis is self assured and cunning and Sapphire is calm and composed even Rugrats has a host of blue-haired characters so with all these examples is there any through line for these characters blue hair being shorthand for quirky has become a wide ranging Trope why is that and when it's not being used to suggest that what is
• 11:30 - 12:00 it being used for to answer that we have to go back for a minute in 1883 Carlo kod released The Adventures of Pinocchio a book which featured the fairy with turquoise hair this wise fairy described as having a Zur hair who has lived in the forest for over a thousand years gives Pinocchio advice forgives him after he lies to her and rewards him with becoming human this is one of the first widely known accounts of a literary character with blue hair her hair both adds to her Whimsy as a fairy and serves as a useful trait for Pinocchio to easily recognize her she's the beginning of blue-haired characters
• 12:00 - 12:30 that are intriguing with a hint of Otherworldly mystery as the blue hair in media continues I think it boils down to represent three types of character traits first they're Whimsical blue hair is unnatural so immediately when we see a character with blue hair we assume that they're intentionally designed to be unique I think this Whimsical aspect can evolve into two things the character can be literally powerful the Whimsical element contributes to some sense of Magic the blue-haired characters in Shir have literal Powers many of which relate to ice or water moon has powers and she's Royal placing her in this sort of
• 12:30 - 13:00 unreachable position of power and Comic characters like Nightcrawler or beast have powers as well the second thing that this can evolve into is being Whimsical to the character this is that sort of manic pixie dream element characters like Ramona Clen and joy become these other worldly beacons to the male characters in their respective movies whether they want to or not secondly I think that blue hair can clue that a character is upset blue is a Melancholy color the old English term Blue Devils which referred to Low Spirits and sadness started this association between blue and depression to this day people still associate
• 13:00 - 13:30 feeling blue with sadness Blue Diamond was in this constant state of grief for thousands of years following the shattering of pink this sadness is reflected in her all blue design low energy behavior and sunken downturned eyes Joy the embodiment of happiness has traces of blue sadness in her hair sometimes these characters being upset or angry can mean that they're misunderstood they've experienced some trauma and in some instances those events might have encouraged them to make a physical change in their appearance Khloe price from life is strange and Winona from pink skies ahead both dye their hair blue and both go through pretty draining journeys of
• 13:30 - 14:00 self-discovery 2D from gorillas experienced pretty serious trauma as well his name 2D even coming from the two dents that were beaten into his head the third explanation that's often associated with blue hair is to show that the character is an outsider or a rebel sometimes his hair is used to show a character's eccentricity or denial of social norms sometimes this Outsider notion has led them to develop a rebellious Persona steo is a punk Coraline feels ignored by her parents and out of place in the world around her Janna lives on Earth the normal counterpart to mun but she's intrigued with the occult magic and the Paranormal
• 14:00 - 14:30 Jinx constantly feels discarded by family members and becomes a symbol of a rebellion and Stormer is literally part of a band called The Misfits but these categories aren't exclusive some design elements have come to be synonymous with certain traits glasses were a standin for nerd blonde hair was a standin for mean girl but the Blue Hair Works more like a ven diagram and characters blue hair can be justified using multiple or all of these explanations moon is a powerful leader From Another Dimension but she's also misunderstood by her daughter for having this double life as a composed Queen a dark magic user and a
• 14:30 - 15:00 powerful Rebel in Corpse Bride Emily is very Whimsical she has a flowing outfit gaunt appearance She Glows but she's also very upset from the past Trauma from her murder and she's an outsider she's literally separated from the living by the veil between life and death and sometimes the explanation behind the hair has less to do with the characters and more to do with the references being made by the production in miraculous Marinette has blue hair her mom does too so it's genetic not a choice she's pretty shy and awkward making the hair that's been tagged as making people stand out even more of a
• 15:00 - 15:30 cruel joke but she's not really a rebel and she's not angry or experiencing any trauma but she is a superhero and her design was apparently a reference to superhero comics where black hair was highlighted using blue another example of a character design being decided by behind the scenes references is with Marge Simpson blue hair is a naturally occurring color in The Simpsons but what makes Marge Stand Out is the shape of her hair the creator of The Simpsons Matt groaning has stated that Mar's hair was inspired by his mother's beehive hairdo and the Bride of Frankenstein so really it can happen for a number of of reasons which brings us back to the
• 15:30 - 16:00 original question does blue hair communicate a one-size fits-all narrative to the characters it's designed with I think the ending of SLC Punk said it best then what's Rebellion Rebellion happens in the mind you can't create it you just are that way blue hair can't be used as a costume to serve as a catch-all for weird characters some of the blue-haired characters represent anger some calmness others whimsicality and others isolation it's kind of a catch 22 blue hair is meant to signify uniqueness unique that gets erased when the symbol of separate expression
• 16:00 - 16:30 becomes its own Trend but no singular explanation can be given to fit every scenario that would undermine the focus on individuality the blue hair as a whole aims to represent [Music]