For anyone leaving a comment about red heads being "erased" from movies/tv, i BEG you to watch this video and educate yourself. Red heads were used in TV to show a visually diverse character (with negative stereotypes) *when actors of other races so so rarely shown on TV.* Now that its the TWENTY FIRST CENTURY we are lucky to see diverse casting that includes more than just white people. As stated in the video, red heads are *vastly* over represented in media. We're shown nearly 90% more on screens than we are on the streets based on the world or just the US population. We are not being erased. Our over representation is a product of racism in the media and we should be celebrating seeing other people getting their rightful chance to be seen. Adaptations do not erase the original. Keep your 1990s Disney Ariel, and appreciate future adaptations that have cast, story, and other kinds of adaptations. Your red head family card is revoked the second you show how racist you are fyi.
It's a serious red flag if someone is watching a live action disney remake and the ONLY criticism they can think of is "brown people". They're not just racist at that point, they also have horrible taste in movies.
Randomly fell on this video and this message alone is making me sub! You are freaking hilarious and repping diversity all at once I love it 😂 "redhead family card revoked!!" 👏👏👏👏 P.s. half Asian with subtle coppery auburn that pops up only in the summer, do I get a card? 🥹😂
@@ChiefOfMessenger Yeah, this is my biggest problem with it. It has nothing to do with racism, I'm just disappointed that they aren't coming out with interesting stories that are actually about other cultures, instead of taking white fiction and casting people of color to play the same characters we've always known. Like, why make Cleopatra black instead of making an awesome series or movie about the great Amanirenas or any of the other actually black queens in history? Why hasn't there been a really cool AAA mainstream production about the Zulus still (STILL!)? There are so many great stories and history from actually black cultures they could be portraying and instead they're just casting people of color to take their place in white fiction and calling it a great triumph. No shade to the actors and actresses, because I think these are still great opportunities for them. I just don't think we need to pretend like there isn't any legitimate criticism about missed opportunities as well on the producers' part...
As a now 30 year old who grew up watching CN, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, PBS, etc', I have to say, I've always been kind of surprised by the under representation of brunette white girls. I know this might sound ridiculous to some, but if you really go and look back, you'll see that what I'm saying is completely true. The only time a white female is represented in a show(especially animated shows), they always have either red hair, blonde hair, or black hair. This always made me feel a little left out as a brunette growing up, and made me feel honestly like the world was telling me that brunette females weren't as good, that they were plain and boring, and didn't "stick out".
I think the decrease in bullying redheads is gender specific. For women, it’s generally considered pretty. However, redheaded boys were bullied about their appearance all the time when I was a kid, and I am 21.
I was relentlessly bullied for my ginger hair (I’m a woman) it only stopped when I turned 20 and men started fetishising me. I don’t know what was worse 😂
Here in Argentina people are obsessed with soccer and they are very superstitious about it. Last year, a host of a soccer program who used to be a player, cried on public television because they kept calling him mufa (a person who brings bad luck) because of his red hair. He is 47 years old and said he was tired of the bullying he has suffered since he was little because of his hair.
I think you’re right on the money. I’m in my 30s and even back in the early 2000s my younger brother got bullied a lot because of his red hair. He would either get bullied by kids his age or receive a lot of unwanted attention from grown women who were constantly trying to touch his hair. It’s like people ceased to see him as a person and more of a thing…all because of the color of his hair.
I actually like that combination. I have a female character with dark red hair, green eyes and freckles. She's the love interest in a certain trilogy I'm planning.
Knowing history, the association between red headed women and bad temper is probably because a redhead women rejected a man a long time ago and he made it his personal mission to take it out on every red headed woman😂😂😂😂
@@caricanread I mean... I wasn't not-taking the joke(?)-I was being "serious" humorously. Lol (But please forgive me if it came off too wet-blanket instead!🙏😅)
"redhair IS my personality" so true 😭 Not only is my hair red, but it's also curly. I can barely walk out of the house without random strangers making a comment on it (or even touching it it!) It's hard not to make it my personality
My fiancé is a redhead and I’m a brown dude. I never knew the world of redheads until I started my relationship. I got a lot of hate for dating a red headed person for some reason from friends and family. Literally till this day, I don’t understand why people even hate on redheads or how some people fetish them. Whenever someone finds out my fiancé is a redhead people always act odd. I’m with you about the whole getting mad when ppl say annoying things. 😂 I get mad for my fiancé when ppl say, “You’re only this angry because you’re a red head.” I’m like bro I’m not even a redhead and that annoys me 😂
This is unrelated to your post, but I love the fact that you're talking about your redheaded gf while having Pain/Pein as your pfp 💀. But fr people need to chill out with that, it's so weird.
wth I swear I’ve never heard anyone say anything negative about red hairs. I’ve hairs jokes suggesting they are bad luck, but nothing more than that, just friendly jokes not ill-intended at all
As a Indian girl same, I think its because authors tend to write about their own race. Most of the time fantasy authors tend to be white women, most black and south asian authors I see tend to be contemporary writers.
idk if anyone else remembers the collective fandom gasp when The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner came out and Bree just casually calls Edward Cullen "the redhead" bc Bella always just referred to his "bronze" hair and somehow no one picked up on that meaning his hair was red, lol
Such an interesting video! I was also thinking while watching that promescious women are often referred to as "vixen", and the most common fox's fur is red. I wonder if there is also a link there? Especially since in mythology, foxes are often tricksters and unreliable, but also clever.
I know a lot of mythologies from around the world have foxes that can shape shift into women to trick and seduce men ..... that is probably where it comes from
Author response here. I have auburn hair, and it turns bright red in the summer. I probably add red hair to my books because I have it myself. Also, in my main cast, I have a black boy character (with black hair), a red head boy, and a blonde girl. Partially, the reason is just to have three characters that are visually distinct from each other and easy to keep straight in the mind. If you're curious, he is a bit fiery, but it's because he's the foil for the more stoic other male MC, not because he has red hair, haha. I'm a very chill red head.
As a redhead, I have so many thoughts and responses to all of this! I wrote out an essay, basically, but it’s too much- so what I want to say is: I think you are great at including your audience and making us feel as though we’re sharing ideas or learning about something together. It never feels like you’re assuming we won’t know something, which is something I think must be really challenging! I’m also curious about your favorite red headed character, now. 👩🏻🦰
I can't even deny the redhead stereotypes because I am in fact firey and sassy and stubborn as hell LMAO. Also....was reminded to take my vitamin D during this video 😔
Super interesting video. It's funny because every friend I have that has red hair are the calmest most patient people I've met so I never got the short tempered firey link.
The Weasley family from the books tick every red hair stereotype ever lol Ron is framed as “dumb”, comic relief, envious, weaker than the other main characters. Ginny is fiery and seductive (dates more and earlier than older characters and is ultimately the love interest), the twins are mischievous troublemakers, Percy is aloof and annoying, Mrs Weasley has a bad temper and sends Ron a howler etc. But every character besides Harry in those novels is a stereotype to be fair lol
Even harrys a stereotype, messy hair and green eyes are another witch stereotype. Not to mention how many green eyed characters have main character syndrome (says the green eyed girl)
it’s also interesting how both achilles and helen of troy are sometimes described or portrayed as redheads! achilles representing the fierceness and bad temper and helen representing an adulteress
I actually originally had two red-headed characters in my story (literally the mc and the main love interest lol) but I'm going to have to change the mc's hair color to brown for lore/worldbuilding reasons. I initially gave them red hair purely for aesthetics based on reference photos I found on Pinterest lol, but I really just can't imagine the love interest looking any different. He is very warm and sweet, but also a bit mischievous and fun-loving, and I feel like the red hair suits that perfectly. Plus, he's the court jester, and from his hair being red I created a whole red-headed foreign country, which ties into the idea of him being different from the dark-featured people of the main kingdom, resulting in him not being taken seriously and being suitably entertaining for the court since he looks so "other".
I loved this video. It didn't really feel disorganized. I grew up with auburn hair that became dark brown in my late 20's (my mom was the same). I 100% agree that it was part of my personality and it was sad to no longer have that. I have started dying it and the last time at the salon, a woman remarked that I looked like a redhead and I wasn't sure how to respond 😂
I am a blonde that has dyed my hair red and I can 100% attest that I was treated much differently while I was red! I was taken more seriously and listened to better. It was a wild little social experiment.
it’s interesting that it’s not just like romance fantasy or ya fantasy. i can think of several epic fantasy novels where the main character or several characters have red hair (kvothe in the king killer chronicles and rand in wheel of time) so it really is super present lol
I could list about 30 redheaded girls in fiction that I adore, but for the boys i can only really think of the Finsters, Oz (but his hair has also been blonde and brown) and Bronson from Round The Twist.
This was sooo interesting! For me as an author, when I was writing Askia in The Frozen Crown (think Throne of Glass meets Sixths Sense) so much of her character was inspired by my grandma Dot. She was such a big presence in my life growing up and, you guessed it, she was a redhead. When it came time to create the main villain of the series, Radovan-- who is also a red head-- that decision was actually all about Askia. I always thought of those characters as foils for one another. Radovan is what Askia could become if she gives in to all of her worst impulses, so a lot of times he's described in the same ways that Askia is.
I made my main character a (male) redhead with his mom, because I always liked red hair, but it also symbolically disconnects him with his very light haired blond father (because [Red] just physically takes after his mom) and his adopted brother who looks very much like Dad's side of the family. Also Celtic legend does play a large role in the story.
Interesting video. Promiscuity doesn't surprise me too much since I remember learning in one movie that I think was called Melena that cutting your hair and dying it red meant you were opening yourself to prostitution. But I was surprised by the possible reason for it. I have written like a redheaded male mc before when I was a kid, but it was more for, like, you said, it was kind of this exotic, special hair color to me at the time, especially since I lived in an area where I didn't see a lot of people with natural lighter hair. I didn't know some of the things that come with it or it's origins
I have wavy red hair, waist length, and my hair is my favorite physical feature, I love it and never wanna cut it or dye it. What you said about red hair being a huge part of your life/personality is so true, I get complemented on my hair like once a day, my mom remembers when I was around one and a half and a friend who hadn’t seen me for a while exclaimed “look at you!” And I responded “and look at my hair”, it was already something I was so used to hearing that I was saying it before she could 😂 I feel like if I wrote a book with a red headed character having that kind of experience people would be like “this is so weird the author is just obsessed with her hair and keeps writing in people talking about it”, but that’s genuinely a big part of the experience. I didn’t really experience the negative stereotypes until high school, as a kid people were always very nice and I was proud of my hair. In high school I did have people occasionally joking about me having no soul, but by then I already loved my hair so thankfully it never was something I was self-conscious about. I’m very glad the culture is shifting towards viewing redheads in a positive light because I can imagine being very self-conscious if I heard people talking negatively about my hair. I didn’t know a lot of these facts about redheads so I really enjoyed this video, thanks Cari! I don’t really know what the point of this comment was but I guess it was fun to talk about the redheaded experience with a fellow redhead 😊
I include red-haired characters in my stories because I always had a fondness for red-heads. Ever since Ariel I was wanting to be one, I associated myself with every red-haired character I saw. Bonus points if it's not the natural hair color but the bold red dark colour like Ariel's. My hair colour is uneven naturally and has a slight red tinge to it and I squeal on the inside whenever someone notices and comments on it. I used to dye my hair with toners bright red but grew to love my uneven hair colour with time. Even if it's just a shade of brown it's a very unique blend of brown. But I still have a soft spot for red hair hoho On the other note, I've encountered a lot of fetishism for red hair. I knew a guy who had curly red hair and he very much felt fetishised. Like girls would say things I'd a bear your kid if it got your hair and things like that. He liked it as a teen cuz he didn't know any better, but now it makes him super uncomfortable. To the point he didn't date for several years in fear his new girlfriend would also fetishise him.
Loved this video! The other thing i am always dying to talk about is how many authors (esp female) have redhair!! like for years, Cassandra Clare had this ginger thing going, how there's Clarissa Broadbent, JK Rowling again, VE Schwab... just off the top of my head ( I mean, I kind of love it, but also think its interesting!)
My favorite fantasy redheads: Alanna from Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce and Aerin from The Hero & the Crown by Robin McKinley. Also, a lot of redheaded characters have A-names: Ariel (Little Mermaid), Amy Pond (Doctor Who), Anne of Green Gables...
commenting to help offset some of the more ignorant comments that clearly didnt watch or understand this video! thought this one was super interesting & informative! hopefully people can think before they comment lol
I've got the red hair and blue eyes. It's funny that growing up I got a fair amount of teasing for it, but as an adult if anyone says anything, it's almost always positive.
I'm a man with (long) red hair, and most negative comments that I still get as an adult come from other men, while positive comments usually come from women. But yeah, things have definitely improved compared to like 15-20 years ago.
red hair is so pretty...but so is blonde. and brown. and dark hair. i honestly can't decide, they're all gorgeous. I wish i could just spell my hair any colour, texture or length to try it out.
I’m college I had a dream of being a writer and I made a note to myself to never fully describe what a main character looked like unless it mattered. It makes it easier for the reader to feel as though they have some sort of choice in how they read a story.
I wrote a redhead in my latest book to express a fiery attitude. Not so much negative, but just full throttle. There's a bug-aversion scene and I had no idea that was a thing.
This is a full circle moment for me because one of the first videos I watched in this new channel of yours years ago was your “Eleanor and Park” video where people told you that you’re like Eleanor because of your red hair (and proceeded to rant about the book which I found hilarious). You’re one of the few redheads that I know and I think you guys are awesome!!
After I watched this video, I immediately purchased this book as a gift for my mom's birthday! She will eat this up!!! My mom also got comments during school about her red hair but she's very proud of being apart pf the club! 🔥🧡
I considered myself blonde, and then at high school I was called ginger, and this was clearly supposed to be a bad thing and something worth being teased about. An actual hairdresser called me strawberry blonde, and my mum calls it auburn. So definitely feel I fit in with the redheads but not completely. My mum definitely has the fairer skin and freckles, whilst my colouring is darker.
Hey i loved this video, definitely subscribing :) I recommend the book Fire by Kristin Cashore, a YA fantasy where the main character, Fire, has literal flame-like hair and is a "monster," a human who is innately alluring and has telepathic magnetism (without trying or wanting the attention). I ADORE this book and think it addresses some of the conceptions you mentioned, mostly about how people view red-headed woman as seductresses. Fire is a sweetheart. It's part of Cashore's Graceling Realm series, which are all standalones, so you don't need to read them in order. I read Fire before reading the other books. (You will get a spoiler for the first book, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment when I went back and read the first book, Graceling.) Sorry for the long message!
somehow a really cosy video. ...meaning not the topic perse, but the style and manner you just talk freely and got a pleasant voice. cheered me up at 3:45 am, while beeing in the deepest low in my life yet xD
I’m glad someone else pointed out the theme of “redhead=stand-in for diversity”, because I was going to go insane if I had to deal with another person saying “black people replacing redheads is a woke conspiracy1!1!”. I personally go a step further into it via Red hair is a way to historically include a “lesser” status character of Irish/Highlander heritage (historically lesser whites compared to Anglos along with Italians and Poles etc), and now that it’s more accepted to have non-whites fill the “diversity slot” there is no need for the redhead. Also, Red hair (from my experience) is (usually) used because of the “exotic” factor for the general audiences. Also sexualization themes as you mentioned.
This was super interesting!! And I remember being so upset when I found my first white hair, because like a lot of us, red hair is a big part of my personality as well. Now though I'm kind of looking forward to my Targaryen era. It's also congregating in a streak in my right side so I'm excited to maybe start looking like Rogue too, lol.
I'm currently reading Outlander and even though I'm only in book 2 I think I already read the whole thesaurus of different words for "red". As much as I like redheads, Diana Gabaldon describing every single hair on Jaime's body separately, exactly defining the shade of red, can be tedious. 😂
Fun fact as the grandchild of a red head I also have the high pain tolerance and the anesthesia thing. Ganted I'm brunett, but when I bleach my hair, I get the red head copper, so it's still there, just hidden, hahaha!
The more you know. As an artist/writer one of my main characters I'm making/drawing/etc is red headed and I only thought about one of those tropes. Pretty much the -sexy- one but I went a different route I - THOUGHT- and made her more nerdy. AS for why? Red just made sense, I tried blonde, brown and a few others but red was her color. Red in general I think is interesting and if I look at all my characters in history... red must be my fav color. From hair, to clothes I'm always using it. Sorry for the ramble T.T Loved your video.
Super interesting video! I never really thought about it, to me it was always just another hair colour/ author's personal choice. Your video really opened my eyes, I realised that there's much more to that. Thanks Cari for educating us! ;D Also, I never really understood the dislike towards red hair, like I said, just another hair colour to me, if anything I'd say that I find it really attractive and unique. I had a friend in high school who was bullied by his own father for having red hair. When he told me that I was shocked and disgusted how such a normal thing to me can be such a huge issue for others. That's probably the very first time I realised that you can be bullied for sth as simple as your hair. Sending love to all redheads out there, you are beautiful!
I've spent the last 2 years writing a sci-fi novel. One of the main characters is a redheaded female character. I chose red hair for her because it creates a distinct image on the page, and because it's rare and there's often a negative connotation to it, it plays into her character. Blondes and brunettes tend to be far more romanticized, and my character had a hard childhood as well as bullying that resulted in part from her hair color, so she has a chip on her shoulders and many of her (often foolhardy) decisions are informed by her unresolved anger. I just thought it was a good idea to tie these internal issues to something physical about her character. That and one of my favorite movies is Run Lola Run and I just imagined her as looking like the character in that film.
13:30 We were taught about this in military in de-escalation courses: basically what you are describing there is when people are instilling their conclusion onto you and it is a form of mental offence that will provoke your pushback (unless you have a willpower of a doormat). A prime example is "why are you angry?", a question that can infuriate me. Maybe I was just tired to begin with, but now I am angry. Funny enough just the small modification of wording can make confrontations so much easier. Even when guarding the border with an assault rifle in hands, I did not say "you can not go here", but rather "you go where you want, but I have a duty to stop you if you happen to walk into this country". That way I did not rob them mentally of their free will, just informed of consequenses.
My mom and brother are redheads, as well as my best friend. My mom would tell me stories of how she was bullied over it as a child- and I always thought she looked like Ariel and couldn’t understand it. Thanks for this video, very interesting.
On the fear of losing the red hair- the white hair honestly makes you stand out just as much if not more, when you’re older, bcs even if your red hair stays it most likely fades (that’s the trend, from what I’ve seen, and scientifically speaking lol). So going bright white may be more noticeable
This was really interesting, no need to feel bad for it being on the casual side. Also I’ve loved Anne of Green Gables since I was really small, and I didn’t understand at all why she and (some) others hated her hair color so much. I always thought it was beautiful. I don’t think I understood where the prejudice was coming from at all until South Park made such a big deal of it (which sucked).
Natural blonde here can confirm that when I was a server I definitely was treated differently based on what I had died my hair. I got away with way more blonde because everyone assumed I was dumb. When I was a red head older women would definitely side eye me. And brunette I was definitely perceived as more competent and smart. Fun fact made the most tips blonde though
As an asian and writing a game-based fanfic where the OC is a redhead elf... It's because I am writing a fantasy setting that isn't connected with my culture and nationality. Not everything you write has to be about yourself or your culture. It's actually therapeutic or liberating to research/learn and write about other themes. Just go write who and what you want as long as it's not with offensive or unkind motives.
I love red hair but here in Australia people are really weird about it, that Chris Lily clip is what some people call “rangers” and I hate it and always go off at people when they use it. My half brothers father came home with him when he was born and when we were asking about the baby he was acting strange saying he was born “ranger” like that’s a problem?. He’s not even ginger, he has strawberry blonde hair but regardless it’s strange how that was seen as negative. With the word “ranger”, People don’t think it’s offensive but nicknaming a person after an animal cause of their hair colour is rude. Also I have totally noticed how red headed men and women are like treated in opposite ways in terms of desirability. Stereotypes in general are so annoying
It's interesting to me to hear Western society associating redheads with Ireland and Scotland, while I grew up and always associated redheads with the Middle East... And to add to the list of books with a male red-haired MC: The House Witch series by Delemhach
Most people choose red headed characters because of desirability, aka, the girl I would most like to be intimate with. Also, everyone has the desire to stand out and red hair stands out the most, so they end up .... sort of having that in common and creating it the most. Everyone is co-reflecting their desire to be special or have someone special.
Hmmm ... my book, Necro - Flames and Thesca, male and female redheads. P.S. They are both heroes. I never thought about it before, but it was a great way to quickly differentiate these two characters from their friends/sisters. But, they also have great personalities.
I have naturally brown hair but with very heavy orange/red undertones so this was a very interesting watch (: Interesting to know where all these tropes about my hair cousins (if i am allowed to hold such a title) came from.
This was such an interesting video. Surprisingly, my favorite Red Headed character was a male Red Head written several years ago. In JRR Tolkien's time, I do think it's the perception of Red Heads was worse than it is now and it made me think of how all the stereotypes apply to Maedhros the Tall. He was a morally gray man, who did bad things, but Tolkien also paints him in a fairly good light. He does fall under the fiery trope, with his symbolism often pertaining to fire, though it's not exclusive to him as his raven-haired father had as much, if not more association to fire. I think his character was handled well however, though that may be partially do to my own biases. Perhaps apart from Acotar's Lucien & WoT's Rand, he's the only Red Headed male character I can think of that's known to be tall & handsome.
My mother is red hair with hazel eyes and freckles, when she was a kid the other children pulled her hair and made fun of her! I find my mother beautiful the way she is, she still gets bullied at church for the color of her hair, they say you color your hair because you want to be red haired, truth is NO because you can see her grey hair also. Red hair girl are beautiful
I get how you can think of yourself as a brunette but other people tell you you're a redhead because I'm pretty sure I'm a blonde but in bright sunlight my hair does have a bit of a redish shimmer that isn't visible at all when I'm inside the house looking in my mirrors.
I'm a fantasy webcomic creator (it's called Whispers of the Past, for those who want to check it out) and I have a redhaired male lead. I chose to give him red hair mostly because it is a genetic mutation, and in my comic lore, magic causes genetic mutations. I know that sounds weird, but I like blending fantasy with science lol. My comic is Asian fantasy, so my redheaded character is not European/European adjacent. In my fantasy setting, the red hair is basically unheard of in that region.
Anne Shirley, Sansa Stark, Demelza Carne, Ian Gallagher, my og red-headed crush Anya from Anastasia. Red hair is sooo beautiful, I always felt so drawn to characters with red hair😆
I envision the protagonist of the YA fantasy series I haven't written yet as a redheaded girl, and during the tropes section of this video I was making a mental checklist: 1. Temper - kinda? My character starts out more shy and soft and not wanting to stand out too much, but does gradually become more bold and ready to throw hands against injustice (she basically becomes a civil rights activist) 2. Promiscuous - lol no, if anything I imagine her to be on the ace spectrum (though she does eventually catch romantic feelings for someone she develops a close friendship with) 3. Magic - I mean, yeah, it's fantasy and she has a unique type of magic (but is far from the only magical character) 4. Evil - nope! She's mostly Lawful Good, maybe Neutral Good at her spiciest (5. Pale - yeah, you got me there 😅) But I'll have to consider the pain tolerance and anesthesia thing more, I imagine her as being physically disabled (amputee) and neurodivergent (most likely autistic).
I think the bullying of redheads is more of a thing in some countries than the others? I grew up in a Nordic country and me and my ginger brother never received anything but praise for our red hair. Then I moved to an English-speaking country and people were like "I'm sorry, you must've been bullied at school for you hair" and I was so confused lol. But I really hate when anyone calls my red hair strawberry blonde. Red hair is also my personality hahah
As an aspiring author who has a redheaded main character, I only really put the character as a redhead because I kind of like red hair and it's not really meant to be a large part of her personality. I originally intended to have a different character with red hair instead, but I ultimately changed my mind because I thought it was more suitable for her. However, I am now considering making it more prominent in her character as maybe she's a little more resistant to some forms of magic. I'm really not sure. I have only recently started taking writing more seriously since like 10 years ago
For female red hair I think of Triss Merigold from witcher and its a symbol for fire and attractiveness especially if you know the lore behind sorceress in the witcher universe. For Males I think about Dwarves right away and like you said about vitamin D, Dwarves live under ground so that red headed dwarves gene would be more prominent makes sense with all you said. Did'nt know about that and it brought a new perspective on why dwarves are often portrayed with red or auburn hair. Cool and fun video
Great timing after K M Shea just announced her first red haired lead for one of her series’. Love all the Magiford books and I’m equally excited to see how this one goes and where she takes the character (and her hair).
Hey! I’m part of the family! Love it! I’m not a natural redhead but I am super freckled (which is part of the manifestations of the MC1R gene) so at some point during university I thought it was going to be part of my identifier because people thought it was natural because of the freckles. No one ever questioned if I was a natural or not and because I do have a temper people tend to relate that to ma fake red hair and I just laugh to myself because they’re completely unrelated 😅
Only part way into the video and barely into the comments, but I thought of a rather positive red headed male fantasy character from a well known fantasy series. Tanis Half-elven from the Dragonlance books. I hope that others have brought him up and great topic. Got a bit further in and was waiting for the crazed red haired Viking trope (Erik the Red). And that has translated into a lot of fantasy dwarven tropes. Another Dungeons & Dragons literary connection comes up with the characters of the dwarf Bruenor Battlehammer and his adopted human daughter Cattie-Brie. If I might suggest, try reading some of the TSR and Wizards of the Coast published Dungeons & Dragons novels, if you haven’t already. You didn’t make any references to iconic characters from the multitude of novel series published by them.
Hear me out. Cal Kestis in the Star Wars jedi series and Aloy in the Horizon series. Best characters are always the gingers. Ahhhhhhhh beautiful redheads. 😂😂😂
I am a red haired man. many of the red haired women I have met have conformed to that fiery, stubborn stereotype, even without even mentioning that red-headed temperament. whereas the red haired men I have met have always been pretty odd, or genius, idk why (maybe a self fulfilling prophecy) most of the people I have met happily play along with the self-deprecating jokes because it was funny. 30:20 the pain tolerance and resistance to anaesthetics/opioids is probably where the Brute/Barbarian/Berserker stereotypes come from, with Bees and Birds mistaking us for flowers is probably where the Druid/Natural magic archetype comes from
Also: the red hairs always have curls. I suppose it better ties in with being fiery/tempered. But the evil seductress is sometimes more slick and has straight hair. The pale white skin that burns in the sun really works well for vampires though😅
I had no idea that redheads produce their own vitamin D! I'm not a total redhead but a bit...my Dad used to have a really red beard when he had one ❤❤ I've coloured my hair red since I was a teenager and Lost my red hair i had as a small child...In literature outside of Fantasy its seems very common in Ireland, Scotland and also Norway. Norwegian redheads can be forgotten outside of Scandinavia...I was so annoyed with Anne of Greengables as i child because her obsession not liking her red hair and freckles. She made me not liking my freckles. It wasnt until university when someone told me freckles are sexy I decided that was true. Their cute!! ❤
@@caricanread But then it wouldn't be a Cari video. It's your thing to be able to talk in depth for an extended time (but still in a very interesting way) about literary topics. 🙂BTW, historically speaking: George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were both redheads!
Im a red head who dyed my hair black to hide from the bullying I received. I’ve since red dyed it back to ginger now and love it more than anything. I feel like media red heads have been serverly declining with representation (I live in the Uk for reference). When I see red hair in book I genuinely love it, It makes me feel like I’m important especially when they are a lead or a romantic interest. Not sure why maybe because it shows that you can be appreciated no matter what you look like! Much love gingers 😘
I looove this!!!! Growing up I had so many people tell me that their mom or grandmother told them to always befriend a redhead because they are loyal and make for great friends. I always loved that!!!
the thing with southpark too is that southpark is like the creators are jewish, kyle and stan are explicitly like based on them lmao, so cartman's whole ginger kids are evil is probably experienced by trey who I believe is ginger
yess im so happy you made this vid bc i was watching a video on lilith and they talked about how shes characterized w red hair. Also i just watched a video about fairy origins/folklore and so many fae characters in folklore have red hair and i was like hmm im seeing a connection but idk what it is loll
this video was really interesting and helpful, considering how little we know about this topic! not to mention that i am working on a fantasy story and in my world, i made red (and brown, but mostly red) hair the royal bloodline's colour. mainly, because so far i have encountered black and blonde which they use as the sign of that in fantasy and i wanted to do something a little different lol (and because i love red hair, hence why i have dyed mine with henna since i was 16) there will be an evil (and later gone mad) prince and a bastard young woman who dies her hair to hide her heritage for reasons. but now I'll know where to look and what to keep in mind when fleshing out all these things, so I'm so happy you made such a video! i adore this type of video essays! plus: I'm currently reading Interview With The Vampire so hehe
xD my mains usually have red hair cause im both attracted to red hair and have red hair lol; also NO KIM POSSIBLE??? I am shocked! lol. I spent part of my life as a literal red headed stepchild so i like to say "same" when anyone mentions the phase, idk it cracks me up at least. xD
I always thought that it's because blond hair is a bit overused as a way to represent "typical ideal woman" and even if brown hair is sometimes used for a character that's "not like other girls" probably is unconsciously seen as not special enough for a fantasy setting. red hair way is less common making it the go-to choice. (Sadly I can't think of any black haired protagonist right now)
For anyone leaving a comment about red heads being "erased" from movies/tv, i BEG you to watch this video and educate yourself. Red heads were used in TV to show a visually diverse character (with negative stereotypes) *when actors of other races so so rarely shown on TV.* Now that its the TWENTY FIRST CENTURY we are lucky to see diverse casting that includes more than just white people.
As stated in the video, red heads are *vastly* over represented in media. We're shown nearly 90% more on screens than we are on the streets based on the world or just the US population. We are not being erased. Our over representation is a product of racism in the media and we should be celebrating seeing other people getting their rightful chance to be seen. Adaptations do not erase the original. Keep your 1990s Disney Ariel, and appreciate future adaptations that have cast, story, and other kinds of adaptations.
Your red head family card is revoked the second you show how racist you are fyi.
It's a serious red flag if someone is watching a live action disney remake and the ONLY criticism they can think of is "brown people". They're not just racist at that point, they also have horrible taste in movies.
Randomly fell on this video and this message alone is making me sub! You are freaking hilarious and repping diversity all at once I love it 😂 "redhead family card revoked!!" 👏👏👏👏
P.s. half Asian with subtle coppery auburn that pops up only in the summer, do I get a card? 🥹😂
@@ChiefOfMessenger
Yeah, this is my biggest problem with it. It has nothing to do with racism, I'm just disappointed that they aren't coming out with interesting stories that are actually about other cultures, instead of taking white fiction and casting people of color to play the same characters we've always known.
Like, why make Cleopatra black instead of making an awesome series or movie about the great Amanirenas or any of the other actually black queens in history? Why hasn't there been a really cool AAA mainstream production about the Zulus still (STILL!)?
There are so many great stories and history from actually black cultures they could be portraying and instead they're just casting people of color to take their place in white fiction and calling it a great triumph.
No shade to the actors and actresses, because I think these are still great opportunities for them. I just don't think we need to pretend like there isn't any legitimate criticism about missed opportunities as well on the producers' part...
As a now 30 year old who grew up watching CN, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, PBS, etc', I have to say, I've always been kind of surprised by the under representation of brunette white girls. I know this might sound ridiculous to some, but if you really go and look back, you'll see that what I'm saying is completely true. The only time a white female is represented in a show(especially animated shows), they always have either red hair, blonde hair, or black hair. This always made me feel a little left out as a brunette growing up, and made me feel honestly like the world was telling me that brunette females weren't as good, that they were plain and boring, and didn't "stick out".
I think the decrease in bullying redheads is gender specific. For women, it’s generally considered pretty. However, redheaded boys were bullied about their appearance all the time when I was a kid, and I am 21.
Ginger’s do have souls!
I was relentlessly bullied for my ginger hair (I’m a woman) it only stopped when I turned 20 and men started fetishising me. I don’t know what was worse 😂
Here in Argentina people are obsessed with soccer and they are very superstitious about it. Last year, a host of a soccer program who used to be a player, cried on public television because they kept calling him mufa (a person who brings bad luck) because of his red hair. He is 47 years old and said he was tired of the bullying he has suffered since he was little because of his hair.
@niamh7666 the same here!
I think you’re right on the money. I’m in my 30s and even back in the early 2000s my younger brother got bullied a lot because of his red hair. He would either get bullied by kids his age or receive a lot of unwanted attention from grown women who were constantly trying to touch his hair. It’s like people ceased to see him as a person and more of a thing…all because of the color of his hair.
I've got the red hair green eyes and freckles combo, fantasy writers are out to GET me.
youre about to be snatched and taken to Fairy! watch out girlie!!
I actually like that combination.
I have a female character with dark red hair, green eyes and freckles.
She's the love interest in a certain trilogy I'm planning.
@@britt6184 Yes, that's what she's saying haha Writers often choose to write characters with green eyes and red hair and freckles :)
throw in some curly long hair you will be kidnapped away into some fantasy forest
because of race mixing and multi culturism people like that are rare
Knowing history, the association between red headed women and bad temper is probably because a redhead women rejected a man a long time ago and he made it his personal mission to take it out on every red headed woman😂😂😂😂
lmfao you are probably not wrong hahhaha
That’s what I thought about as well lmao. Like he spread a rumor about her or something.
Or it's literally just because of the association by color similarities. Lol
@@jaginaiaelectrizs6341pls just take the joke 😭
@@caricanread I mean... I wasn't not-taking the joke(?)-I was being "serious" humorously. Lol (But please forgive me if it came off too wet-blanket instead!🙏😅)
"redhair IS my personality" so true 😭 Not only is my hair red, but it's also curly. I can barely walk out of the house without random strangers making a comment on it (or even touching it it!) It's hard not to make it my personality
Felt that!!!
Touching it, that's so rude 😢
this is so real, getting constantly teased for it at school and then having old ladies come up to you and marvel at your hair😭
My fiancé is a redhead and I’m a brown dude. I never knew the world of redheads until I started my relationship. I got a lot of hate for dating a red headed person for some reason from friends and family. Literally till this day, I don’t understand why people even hate on redheads or how some people fetish them. Whenever someone finds out my fiancé is a redhead people always act odd. I’m with you about the whole getting mad when ppl say annoying things. 😂 I get mad for my fiancé when ppl say, “You’re only this angry because you’re a red head.” I’m like bro I’m not even a redhead and that annoys me 😂
This is unrelated to your post, but I love the fact that you're talking about your redheaded gf while having Pain/Pein as your pfp 💀. But fr people need to chill out with that, it's so weird.
wth I swear I’ve never heard anyone say anything negative about red hairs. I’ve hairs jokes suggesting they are bad luck, but nothing more than that, just friendly jokes not ill-intended at all
I want to move to wherever you’re from, that sounds great! I’d be straight up trauma dumping if I described what I’ve dealt with because of it
I love redheads!
Red hair is rare and stands out. I only wish there were more Black girls in fantasy, we are practically non existent in fantasy.
💯
Seriously. I hope in the near future there will be more black girl protagonists in fantasy stories.
Well, people write about their own race usually
@@emagalociova and that’s good. But I’m talking about black authors. I hope there will be more black authors in the future writing for fantasy
As a Indian girl same, I think its because authors tend to write about their own race. Most of the time fantasy authors tend to be white women, most black and south asian authors I see tend to be contemporary writers.
idk if anyone else remembers the collective fandom gasp when The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner came out and Bree just casually calls Edward Cullen "the redhead" bc Bella always just referred to his "bronze" hair and somehow no one picked up on that meaning his hair was red, lol
YES! I wanted to mention Edward being a redhead too!
Such an interesting video! I was also thinking while watching that promescious women are often referred to as "vixen", and the most common fox's fur is red. I wonder if there is also a link there? Especially since in mythology, foxes are often tricksters and unreliable, but also clever.
I know a lot of mythologies from around the world have foxes that can shape shift into women to trick and seduce men ..... that is probably where it comes from
Author response here. I have auburn hair, and it turns bright red in the summer. I probably add red hair to my books because I have it myself. Also, in my main cast, I have a black boy character (with black hair), a red head boy, and a blonde girl. Partially, the reason is just to have three characters that are visually distinct from each other and easy to keep straight in the mind. If you're curious, he is a bit fiery, but it's because he's the foil for the more stoic other male MC, not because he has red hair, haha. I'm a very chill red head.
As a redhead, I have so many thoughts and responses to all of this! I wrote out an essay, basically, but it’s too much- so what I want to say is: I think you are great at including your audience and making us feel as though we’re sharing ideas or learning about something together. It never feels like you’re assuming we won’t know something, which is something I think must be really challenging!
I’m also curious about your favorite red headed character, now. 👩🏻🦰
I can't even deny the redhead stereotypes because I am in fact firey and sassy and stubborn as hell LMAO. Also....was reminded to take my vitamin D during this video 😔
i hold the belief that we were not born that way but all the random strangers coming up and talking to us about our hair MADE us that way hahaha
talking to us about our hair and TOUCHING IT 😭the amount of times as a kid that adult strangers reached out and touched my hair...insane@@caricanread
At this point, I'm not sure if I am fiery and suborn for myself or if I developed that way because I was "supposed" to be those things.
Super interesting video. It's funny because every friend I have that has red hair are the calmest most patient people I've met so I never got the short tempered firey link.
its almost like people with a shared physical trait arent a monolith :''') tell your friends thank you for representing us well lol
The Weasley family from the books tick every red hair stereotype ever lol Ron is framed as “dumb”, comic relief, envious, weaker than the other main characters. Ginny is fiery and seductive (dates more and earlier than older characters and is ultimately the love interest), the twins are mischievous troublemakers, Percy is aloof and annoying, Mrs Weasley has a bad temper and sends Ron a howler etc. But every character besides Harry in those novels is a stereotype to be fair lol
Even harrys a stereotype, messy hair and green eyes are another witch stereotype. Not to mention how many green eyed characters have main character syndrome (says the green eyed girl)
Family is one of the nicer families in the book though. One thing that pissed me off is Harry being a little bitch to everyone that was helping him.😂
it’s also interesting how both achilles and helen of troy are sometimes described or portrayed as redheads! achilles representing the fierceness and bad temper and helen representing an adulteress
Cleopatra VII was a Red-head
Not what my grandmother told me...@@clarehidalgo
Literally just finished reading Falling Hard for the Royal Guard, where the main female character is a redhead 😂
LOL you cant escape us!
@@caricanread I don't mind 😂❤️
As a girl with curly hair, I felt you with so many of your points in this video. Loved the history lesson!
I actually originally had two red-headed characters in my story (literally the mc and the main love interest lol) but I'm going to have to change the mc's hair color to brown for lore/worldbuilding reasons.
I initially gave them red hair purely for aesthetics based on reference photos I found on Pinterest lol, but I really just can't imagine the love interest looking any different. He is very warm and sweet, but also a bit mischievous and fun-loving, and I feel like the red hair suits that perfectly.
Plus, he's the court jester, and from his hair being red I created a whole red-headed foreign country, which ties into the idea of him being different from the dark-featured people of the main kingdom, resulting in him not being taken seriously and being suitably entertaining for the court since he looks so "other".
I loved this video. It didn't really feel disorganized.
I grew up with auburn hair that became dark brown in my late 20's (my mom was the same). I 100% agree that it was part of my personality and it was sad to no longer have that. I have started dying it and the last time at the salon, a woman remarked that I looked like a redhead and I wasn't sure how to respond 😂
I am a blonde that has dyed my hair red and I can 100% attest that I was treated much differently while I was red! I was taken more seriously and listened to better. It was a wild little social experiment.
it’s interesting that it’s not just like romance fantasy or ya fantasy. i can think of several epic fantasy novels where the main character or several characters have red hair (kvothe in the king killer chronicles and rand in wheel of time) so it really is super present lol
I could list about 30 redheaded girls in fiction that I adore, but for the boys i can only really think of the Finsters, Oz (but his hair has also been blonde and brown) and Bronson from Round The Twist.
This was sooo interesting! For me as an author, when I was writing Askia in The Frozen Crown (think Throne of Glass meets Sixths Sense) so much of her character was inspired by my grandma Dot. She was such a big presence in my life growing up and, you guessed it, she was a redhead. When it came time to create the main villain of the series, Radovan-- who is also a red head-- that decision was actually all about Askia. I always thought of those characters as foils for one another. Radovan is what Askia could become if she gives in to all of her worst impulses, so a lot of times he's described in the same ways that Askia is.
I made my main character a (male) redhead with his mom, because I always liked red hair, but it also symbolically disconnects him with his very light haired blond father (because [Red] just physically takes after his mom) and his adopted brother who looks very much like Dad's side of the family.
Also Celtic legend does play a large role in the story.
Interesting video. Promiscuity doesn't surprise me too much since I remember learning in one movie that I think was called Melena that cutting your hair and dying it red meant you were opening yourself to prostitution. But I was surprised by the possible reason for it.
I have written like a redheaded male mc before when I was a kid, but it was more for, like, you said, it was kind of this exotic, special hair color to me at the time, especially since I lived in an area where I didn't see a lot of people with natural lighter hair. I didn't know some of the things that come with it or it's origins
I have wavy red hair, waist length, and my hair is my favorite physical feature, I love it and never wanna cut it or dye it. What you said about red hair being a huge part of your life/personality is so true, I get complemented on my hair like once a day, my mom remembers when I was around one and a half and a friend who hadn’t seen me for a while exclaimed “look at you!” And I responded “and look at my hair”, it was already something I was so used to hearing that I was saying it before she could 😂 I feel like if I wrote a book with a red headed character having that kind of experience people would be like “this is so weird the author is just obsessed with her hair and keeps writing in people talking about it”, but that’s genuinely a big part of the experience. I didn’t really experience the negative stereotypes until high school, as a kid people were always very nice and I was proud of my hair. In high school I did have people occasionally joking about me having no soul, but by then I already loved my hair so thankfully it never was something I was self-conscious about. I’m very glad the culture is shifting towards viewing redheads in a positive light because I can imagine being very self-conscious if I heard people talking negatively about my hair. I didn’t know a lot of these facts about redheads so I really enjoyed this video, thanks Cari! I don’t really know what the point of this comment was but I guess it was fun to talk about the redheaded experience with a fellow redhead 😊
I include red-haired characters in my stories because I always had a fondness for red-heads. Ever since Ariel I was wanting to be one, I associated myself with every red-haired character I saw. Bonus points if it's not the natural hair color but the bold red dark colour like Ariel's. My hair colour is uneven naturally and has a slight red tinge to it and I squeal on the inside whenever someone notices and comments on it. I used to dye my hair with toners bright red but grew to love my uneven hair colour with time. Even if it's just a shade of brown it's a very unique blend of brown. But I still have a soft spot for red hair hoho
On the other note, I've encountered a lot of fetishism for red hair. I knew a guy who had curly red hair and he very much felt fetishised. Like girls would say things I'd a bear your kid if it got your hair and things like that. He liked it as a teen cuz he didn't know any better, but now it makes him super uncomfortable. To the point he didn't date for several years in fear his new girlfriend would also fetishise him.
Loved this video! The other thing i am always dying to talk about is how many authors (esp female) have redhair!! like for years, Cassandra Clare had this ginger thing going, how there's Clarissa Broadbent, JK Rowling again, VE Schwab... just off the top of my head ( I mean, I kind of love it, but also think its interesting!)
My favorite fantasy redheads: Alanna from Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce and Aerin from The Hero & the Crown by Robin McKinley. Also, a lot of redheaded characters have A-names: Ariel (Little Mermaid), Amy Pond (Doctor Who), Anne of Green Gables...
commenting to help offset some of the more ignorant comments that clearly didnt watch or understand this video! thought this one was super interesting & informative! hopefully people can think before they comment lol
I've got the red hair and blue eyes. It's funny that growing up I got a fair amount of teasing for it, but as an adult if anyone says anything, it's almost always positive.
I'm a man with (long) red hair, and most negative comments that I still get as an adult come from other men, while positive comments usually come from women. But yeah, things have definitely improved compared to like 15-20 years ago.
red hair is so pretty...but so is blonde. and brown. and dark hair. i honestly can't decide, they're all gorgeous. I wish i could just spell my hair any colour, texture or length to try it out.
I’m college I had a dream of being a writer and I made a note to myself to never fully describe what a main character looked like unless it mattered. It makes it easier for the reader to feel as though they have some sort of choice in how they read a story.
I wrote a redhead in my latest book to express a fiery attitude. Not so much negative, but just full throttle. There's a bug-aversion scene and I had no idea that was a thing.
This is a full circle moment for me because one of the first videos I watched in this new channel of yours years ago was your “Eleanor and Park” video where people told you that you’re like Eleanor because of your red hair (and proceeded to rant about the book which I found hilarious). You’re one of the few redheads that I know and I think you guys are awesome!!
After I watched this video, I immediately purchased this book as a gift for my mom's birthday! She will eat this up!!! My mom also got comments during school about her red hair but she's very proud of being apart pf the club! 🔥🧡
Amy Adams not being a natural redhead is genuinely the most shocking thing I heard this year (murders aside).
I considered myself blonde, and then at high school I was called ginger, and this was clearly supposed to be a bad thing and something worth being teased about. An actual hairdresser called me strawberry blonde, and my mum calls it auburn. So definitely feel I fit in with the redheads but not completely. My mum definitely has the fairer skin and freckles, whilst my colouring is darker.
Hey i loved this video, definitely subscribing :)
I recommend the book Fire by Kristin Cashore, a YA fantasy where the main character, Fire, has literal flame-like hair and is a "monster," a human who is innately alluring and has telepathic magnetism (without trying or wanting the attention). I ADORE this book and think it addresses some of the conceptions you mentioned, mostly about how people view red-headed woman as seductresses. Fire is a sweetheart.
It's part of Cashore's Graceling Realm series, which are all standalones, so you don't need to read them in order. I read Fire before reading the other books. (You will get a spoiler for the first book, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment when I went back and read the first book, Graceling.)
Sorry for the long message!
somehow a really cosy video.
...meaning not the topic perse, but the style and manner you just talk freely and got a pleasant voice.
cheered me up at 3:45 am, while beeing in the deepest low in my life yet xD
I’m glad someone else pointed out the theme of “redhead=stand-in for diversity”, because I was going to go insane if I had to deal with another person saying “black people replacing redheads is a woke conspiracy1!1!”. I personally go a step further into it via Red hair is a way to historically include a “lesser” status character of Irish/Highlander heritage (historically lesser whites compared to Anglos along with Italians and Poles etc), and now that it’s more accepted to have non-whites fill the “diversity slot” there is no need for the redhead.
Also, Red hair (from my experience) is (usually) used because of the “exotic” factor for the general audiences. Also sexualization themes as you mentioned.
This was super interesting!! And I remember being so upset when I found my first white hair, because like a lot of us, red hair is a big part of my personality as well. Now though I'm kind of looking forward to my Targaryen era. It's also congregating in a streak in my right side so I'm excited to maybe start looking like Rogue too, lol.
I'm currently reading Outlander and even though I'm only in book 2 I think I already read the whole thesaurus of different words for "red". As much as I like redheads, Diana Gabaldon describing every single hair on Jaime's body separately, exactly defining the shade of red, can be tedious. 😂
Fun fact as the grandchild of a red head I also have the high pain tolerance and the anesthesia thing. Ganted I'm brunett, but when I bleach my hair, I get the red head copper, so it's still there, just hidden, hahaha!
The more you know. As an artist/writer one of my main characters I'm making/drawing/etc is red headed and I only thought about one of those tropes. Pretty much the -sexy- one but I went a different route I - THOUGHT- and made her more nerdy. AS for why? Red just made sense, I tried blonde, brown and a few others but red was her color. Red in general I think is interesting and if I look at all my characters in history... red must be my fav color. From hair, to clothes I'm always using it. Sorry for the ramble T.T Loved your video.
watching this after dyeing my hair red just a few hours ago 🫣
welcome :''')
Super interesting video! I never really thought about it, to me it was always just another hair colour/ author's personal choice. Your video really opened my eyes, I realised that there's much more to that. Thanks Cari for educating us! ;D
Also, I never really understood the dislike towards red hair, like I said, just another hair colour to me, if anything I'd say that I find it really attractive and unique. I had a friend in high school who was bullied by his own father for having red hair. When he told me that I was shocked and disgusted how such a normal thing to me can be such a huge issue for others. That's probably the very first time I realised that you can be bullied for sth as simple as your hair.
Sending love to all redheads out there, you are beautiful!
I've spent the last 2 years writing a sci-fi novel. One of the main characters is a redheaded female character. I chose red hair for her because it creates a distinct image on the page, and because it's rare and there's often a negative connotation to it, it plays into her character. Blondes and brunettes tend to be far more romanticized, and my character had a hard childhood as well as bullying that resulted in part from her hair color, so she has a chip on her shoulders and many of her (often foolhardy) decisions are informed by her unresolved anger.
I just thought it was a good idea to tie these internal issues to something physical about her character. That and one of my favorite movies is Run Lola Run and I just imagined her as looking like the character in that film.
As someone who is half ginger and born with red hair that went brown as I grew up, I am SEATED.
😂😂😂
13:30 We were taught about this in military in de-escalation courses: basically what you are describing there is when people are instilling their conclusion onto you and it is a form of mental offence that will provoke your pushback (unless you have a willpower of a doormat). A prime example is "why are you angry?", a question that can infuriate me. Maybe I was just tired to begin with, but now I am angry. Funny enough just the small modification of wording can make confrontations so much easier. Even when guarding the border with an assault rifle in hands, I did not say "you can not go here", but rather "you go where you want, but I have a duty to stop you if you happen to walk into this country". That way I did not rob them mentally of their free will, just informed of consequenses.
My mom and brother are redheads, as well as my best friend. My mom would tell me stories of how she was bullied over it as a child- and I always thought she looked like Ariel and couldn’t understand it. Thanks for this video, very interesting.
Here from ur insta post ( the cutest! ) lovvveed the video since u posted it, so don’t bother w the other comments
Thank you 🤍🤍🤍
cassie clare LOVES a redhead and im thankful for it
On the fear of losing the red hair- the white hair honestly makes you stand out just as much if not more, when you’re older, bcs even if your red hair stays it most likely fades (that’s the trend, from what I’ve seen, and scientifically speaking lol). So going bright white may be more noticeable
this was an absolutely fascinating video to watch. Learnt so much
This was really interesting, no need to feel bad for it being on the casual side.
Also I’ve loved Anne of Green Gables since I was really small, and I didn’t understand at all why she and (some) others hated her hair color so much. I always thought it was beautiful. I don’t think I understood where the prejudice was coming from at all until South Park made such a big deal of it (which sucked).
Omg redheads are so prevalent in books! I was considering adding a checkbox in my reading tracker if the main character was a redhead or not! 😂😂
as a red head, married to a red head, with 3 red-headed children, I figure folks are jealous of our hair and are projecting their desires
Natural blonde here can confirm that when I was a server I definitely was treated differently based on what I had died my hair. I got away with way more blonde because everyone assumed I was dumb. When I was a red head older women would definitely side eye me. And brunette I was definitely perceived as more competent and smart. Fun fact made the most tips blonde though
As an asian and writing a game-based fanfic where the OC is a redhead elf...
It's because I am writing a fantasy setting that isn't connected with my culture and nationality. Not everything you write has to be about yourself or your culture. It's actually therapeutic or liberating to research/learn and write about other themes. Just go write who and what you want as long as it's not with offensive or unkind motives.
as an australian i absolutely died at you including the summer heights high clip ahahahaha
I love red hair but here in Australia people are really weird about it, that Chris Lily clip is what some people call “rangers” and I hate it and always go off at people when they use it.
My half brothers father came home with him when he was born and when we were asking about the baby he was acting strange saying he was born “ranger” like that’s a problem?. He’s not even ginger, he has strawberry blonde hair but regardless it’s strange how that was seen as negative.
With the word “ranger”, People don’t think it’s offensive but nicknaming a person after an animal cause of their hair colour is rude.
Also I have totally noticed how red headed men and women are like treated in opposite ways in terms of desirability. Stereotypes in general are so annoying
Cari, the editing in this video 🤌🏼 immaculately done. I was grinning the whole time
It's interesting to me to hear Western society associating redheads with Ireland and Scotland, while I grew up and always associated redheads with the Middle East...
And to add to the list of books with a male red-haired MC: The House Witch series by Delemhach
my all time favorite red hair character is Anne Shirley. I just love her in the books
Most people choose red headed characters because of desirability, aka, the girl I would most like to be intimate with. Also, everyone has the desire to stand out and red hair stands out the most, so they end up .... sort of having that in common and creating it the most. Everyone is co-reflecting their desire to be special or have someone special.
Hmmm ... my book, Necro - Flames and Thesca, male and female redheads. P.S. They are both heroes. I never thought about it before, but it was a great way to quickly differentiate these two characters from their friends/sisters. But, they also have great personalities.
I have naturally brown hair but with very heavy orange/red undertones so this was a very interesting watch (:
Interesting to know where all these tropes about my hair cousins (if i am allowed to hold such a title) came from.
This was such an interesting video. Surprisingly, my favorite Red Headed character was a male Red Head written several years ago. In JRR Tolkien's time, I do think it's the perception of Red Heads was worse than it is now and it made me think of how all the stereotypes apply to Maedhros the Tall.
He was a morally gray man, who did bad things, but Tolkien also paints him in a fairly good light. He does fall under the fiery trope, with his symbolism often pertaining to fire, though it's not exclusive to him as his raven-haired father had as much, if not more association to fire.
I think his character was handled well however, though that may be partially do to my own biases. Perhaps apart from Acotar's Lucien & WoT's Rand, he's the only Red Headed male character I can think of that's known to be tall & handsome.
My mother is red hair with hazel eyes and freckles, when she was a kid the other children pulled her hair and made fun of her! I find my mother beautiful the way she is, she still gets bullied at church for the color of her hair, they say you color your hair because you want to be red haired, truth is NO because you can see her grey hair also. Red hair girl are beautiful
I get how you can think of yourself as a brunette but other people tell you you're a redhead because I'm pretty sure I'm a blonde but in bright sunlight my hair does have a bit of a redish shimmer that isn't visible at all when I'm inside the house looking in my mirrors.
I'm a fantasy webcomic creator (it's called Whispers of the Past, for those who want to check it out) and I have a redhaired male lead. I chose to give him red hair mostly because it is a genetic mutation, and in my comic lore, magic causes genetic mutations. I know that sounds weird, but I like blending fantasy with science lol. My comic is Asian fantasy, so my redheaded character is not European/European adjacent. In my fantasy setting, the red hair is basically unheard of in that region.
Anne Shirley, Sansa Stark, Demelza Carne, Ian Gallagher, my og red-headed crush Anya from Anastasia. Red hair is sooo beautiful, I always felt so drawn to characters with red hair😆
I envision the protagonist of the YA fantasy series I haven't written yet as a redheaded girl, and during the tropes section of this video I was making a mental checklist:
1. Temper - kinda? My character starts out more shy and soft and not wanting to stand out too much, but does gradually become more bold and ready to throw hands against injustice (she basically becomes a civil rights activist)
2. Promiscuous - lol no, if anything I imagine her to be on the ace spectrum (though she does eventually catch romantic feelings for someone she develops a close friendship with)
3. Magic - I mean, yeah, it's fantasy and she has a unique type of magic (but is far from the only magical character)
4. Evil - nope! She's mostly Lawful Good, maybe Neutral Good at her spiciest
(5. Pale - yeah, you got me there 😅)
But I'll have to consider the pain tolerance and anesthesia thing more, I imagine her as being physically disabled (amputee) and neurodivergent (most likely autistic).
Now you need to talk about the obsession with platinum hair.
I think the bullying of redheads is more of a thing in some countries than the others? I grew up in a Nordic country and me and my ginger brother never received anything but praise for our red hair. Then I moved to an English-speaking country and people were like "I'm sorry, you must've been bullied at school for you hair" and I was so confused lol.
But I really hate when anyone calls my red hair strawberry blonde. Red hair is also my personality hahah
This was so fascinating and every clip was perfection haha
As an aspiring author who has a redheaded main character, I only really put the character as a redhead because I kind of like red hair and it's not really meant to be a large part of her personality. I originally intended to have a different character with red hair instead, but I ultimately changed my mind because I thought it was more suitable for her. However, I am now considering making it more prominent in her character as maybe she's a little more resistant to some forms of magic. I'm really not sure. I have only recently started taking writing more seriously since like 10 years ago
For female red hair I think of Triss Merigold from witcher and its a symbol for fire and attractiveness especially if you know the lore behind sorceress in the witcher universe. For Males I think about Dwarves right away and like you said about vitamin D, Dwarves live under ground so that red headed dwarves gene would be more prominent makes sense with all you said. Did'nt know about that and it brought a new perspective on why dwarves are often portrayed with red or auburn hair. Cool and fun video
If you read comics red heads also dominate there.
oh god yes we have so many cosplay options hahah
Great timing after K M Shea just announced her first red haired lead for one of her series’. Love all the Magiford books and I’m equally excited to see how this one goes and where she takes the character (and her hair).
Worst pick-up line ever: "Hey there, I've got a mutatation in my jeans."
Hey! I’m part of the family! Love it! I’m not a natural redhead but I am super freckled (which is part of the manifestations of the MC1R gene) so at some point during university I thought it was going to be part of my identifier because people thought it was natural because of the freckles. No one ever questioned if I was a natural or not and because I do have a temper people tend to relate that to ma fake red hair and I just laugh to myself because they’re completely unrelated 😅
I have natural red hair and no freckles... What makes you say it is the MC1R gene?
@@ochoheido from research I’ve done in the past about freckles
Only part way into the video and barely into the comments, but I thought of a rather positive red headed male fantasy character from a well known fantasy series. Tanis Half-elven from the Dragonlance books. I hope that others have brought him up and great topic.
Got a bit further in and was waiting for the crazed red haired Viking trope (Erik the Red). And that has translated into a lot of fantasy dwarven tropes. Another Dungeons & Dragons literary connection comes up with the characters of the dwarf Bruenor Battlehammer and his adopted human daughter Cattie-Brie.
If I might suggest, try reading some of the TSR and Wizards of the Coast published Dungeons & Dragons novels, if you haven’t already. You didn’t make any references to iconic characters from the multitude of novel series published by them.
Hear me out. Cal Kestis in the Star Wars jedi series and Aloy in the Horizon series. Best characters are always the gingers. Ahhhhhhhh beautiful redheads. 😂😂😂
omg dude red heads yes!!!
And femShep from Mass Effect! 😄
I am a red haired man. many of the red haired women I have met have conformed to that fiery, stubborn stereotype, even without even mentioning that red-headed temperament. whereas the red haired men I have met have always been pretty odd, or genius, idk why (maybe a self fulfilling prophecy) most of the people I have met happily play along with the self-deprecating jokes because it was funny. 30:20 the pain tolerance and resistance to anaesthetics/opioids is probably where the Brute/Barbarian/Berserker stereotypes come from, with Bees and Birds mistaking us for flowers is probably where the Druid/Natural magic archetype comes from
Damn it, now I wanna dye my hair red again 😂 (which would be a bad idea because my naturally brown hair has already been bleached to death)
Also: the red hairs always have curls. I suppose it better ties in with being fiery/tempered. But the evil seductress is sometimes more slick and has straight hair. The pale white skin that burns in the sun really works well for vampires though😅
I had no idea that redheads produce their own vitamin D! I'm not a total redhead but a bit...my Dad used to have a really red beard when he had one ❤❤ I've coloured my hair red since I was a teenager and Lost my red hair i had as a small child...In literature outside of Fantasy its seems very common in Ireland, Scotland and also Norway. Norwegian redheads can be forgotten outside of Scandinavia...I was so annoyed with Anne of Greengables as i child because her obsession not liking her red hair and freckles. She made me not liking my freckles. It wasnt until university when someone told me freckles are sexy I decided that was true. Their cute!! ❤
Surprised you didnt mention wheel of time’s aiel, literally a whole ethnicity of badass redheaded desert people
Because red heads are the best!
this video could have been so much shorter if i just said that hahaha
@@caricanread But then it wouldn't be a Cari video. It's your thing to be able to talk in depth for an extended time (but still in a very interesting way) about literary topics. 🙂BTW, historically speaking: George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were both redheads!
Im a red head who dyed my hair black to hide from the bullying I received. I’ve since red dyed it back to ginger now and love it more than anything. I feel like media red heads have been serverly declining with representation (I live in the Uk for reference). When I see red hair in book I genuinely love it, It makes me feel like I’m important especially when they are a lead or a romantic interest. Not sure why maybe because it shows that you can be appreciated no matter what you look like! Much love gingers 😘
I looove this!!!! Growing up I had so many people tell me that their mom or grandmother told them to always befriend a redhead because they are loyal and make for great friends. I always loved that!!!
the thing with southpark too is that southpark is like the creators are jewish, kyle and stan are explicitly like based on them lmao, so cartman's whole ginger kids are evil is probably experienced by trey who I believe is ginger
yess im so happy you made this vid bc i was watching a video on lilith and they talked about how shes characterized w red hair. Also i just watched a video about fairy origins/folklore and so many fae characters in folklore have red hair and i was like hmm im seeing a connection but idk what it is loll
I have reddish brown hair and my “gray” hairs are all white… I have a Rogue type streak of mire concentrated white at my part area too, I love it!
this video was really interesting and helpful, considering how little we know about this topic! not to mention that i am working on a fantasy story and in my world, i made red (and brown, but mostly red) hair the royal bloodline's colour. mainly, because so far i have encountered black and blonde which they use as the sign of that in fantasy and i wanted to do something a little different lol (and because i love red hair, hence why i have dyed mine with henna since i was 16) there will be an evil (and later gone mad) prince and a bastard young woman who dies her hair to hide her heritage for reasons. but now I'll know where to look and what to keep in mind when fleshing out all these things, so I'm so happy you made such a video! i adore this type of video essays!
plus: I'm currently reading Interview With The Vampire so hehe
The amount of times I’ve heard “do the curtains match the drapes” is ridiculous
xD my mains usually have red hair cause im both attracted to red hair and have red hair lol; also NO KIM POSSIBLE??? I am shocked! lol. I spent part of my life as a literal red headed stepchild so i like to say "same" when anyone mentions the phase, idk it cracks me up at least. xD
I always thought that it's because blond hair is a bit overused as a way to represent "typical ideal woman" and even if brown hair is sometimes used for a character that's "not like other girls" probably is unconsciously seen as not special enough for a fantasy setting. red hair way is less common making it the go-to choice. (Sadly I can't think of any black haired protagonist right now)