Nosferatu, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Lex Luthor, Kingpin, Bane, The Penguin, Golum, Voldemort, Thanos, Red Skull, The Night King… They all are villains. And they all are bald. And the list can go on and on. Male baldness is often used in fiction to equate villainy. This works even better when the hero, in opposition, has lustrous and abundant hair (e.g., He-Man vs. Skeletor), since there is an ancient sociocultural belief that hair is a symbol of health, virility and virtue. However, in “Unbreakable” (2000), Shyamalan fools the audience by introducing a villain with a copious afro (Samuel L. Jackson) opposed to a hairless hero (Bruce Willis). The plot twist is undoubtedly perfect. What other examples of this unusual representation can be found in film? What could it mean to challenge the stereotypical trope? Why would it be worth exploring?
Nick Fury, Aang, Monkey King (in the Forbidden kingdom), Luke Cage, Luke Hobbs, Vision, Saitama, Ikkaku (Bleach). There is quite a few bald heroes. Even though I approved the topic, I think fact that a characters is bald, is irrelevant to the morality of a character. But, I would be willing to hear an argument on why being bald plays into making a character comes across as villainy
. – Blackcat1302 years ago
Following the last comment, I feel like baldness is also often used on 'monk' characters. – AnnieEM2 years ago
This stereotypes are also prevalent in south Indian films . Like the beauty standards of the female , male beauty standards should also be looked into – amalu1 year ago