What’s in a Braid? Hair in Action Film
Who is she?
Her hair is big and full of secrets. National secrets that could end wars and nations. Yet she coyly sneaks a razor-thin knife in her locks. She is unafraid to chop her hair all off. She’s at the point where nothing could faze her. Years and years of men not taking her, or her job seriously has made her immune to her feminine frame. She strives only to think practically.
Every hairstyle and colour suit her astonishingly—a plethora of wigs at her disposal. She never fiddles with her hair. It stands proud on her shoulders. Except when it's shorter than her shoulders. Then she sports a quasi-androgynous look that leaves the audience wondering if she’s still fuckable.
A cool swipe of water across the nape of her neck as she washes her boxed dye job. The affirming tug of a tight bun itches her scalp as she completes another mission. Windswept perfect waves that remain intact even after a twenty-minute fight. What can’t she do? Where can I find a link to her hairspray? More importantly, how does she squeeze in root touch-ups in-between week-long stakeouts??
What happened to make her oh so staunch? Chopping her hair off feels cathartic- but she is too alienated to embrace it fully. Hanging off her scalp, is her hair an accessory or an ally? Will it swipe across her cheeks as she karate chops the bad guys? Or will it inevitably get in her mouth? Will her bangs hinder her 20/20 vision? Perhaps it's better up in a sleek bun or a practical ponytail. Just kidding. We need maximum aloof sex appeal. Somehow the only way to get any semblance of a cool girl is to isolate emotion and inject it into her voluminous hair.
A commonly overlooked feature of film remains hair and makeup. Viewers don’t regard the effectiveness of hair and makeup unless it’s staring them right in the face by way of a prosthetic face. Then again, it is the job of a good hair and makeup artist to make sure the characters blend into the style and ethos of the film. But what happens when certain characters wish to blend in completely? To disappear?
Can a femme fatale destined to be admired embrace her gritty side? Or will her cheap wig crumble under pressure?
I contemplated these things during my monthly action film bender after seeing Charlize Theron go from bald to atomic blonde in two hours. There was a noticeable difference in hairstyles from Mad Max Fury Road (2015) and Atomic Blonde (2017), but it extended to how each character carried themselves.
In Atomic Blonde, the pure desperation and survival pushed Lorraine Broughton to pull out all of the stops, including sacrificing her platinum blonde locks. Her hair was sharp, cut right against her chin with straight bangs. Every swing of her fist made her hair sway. As the fight sequences progressed, her hair got wilder and wilder, taking messy chic to a whole new level. Although her bangs remain relatively intact, the ends of her hair are tinged with a blood-red dip dye.
Atomic Blonde features her hair colour pretty obviously in the title, which leads me to believe that it’s incredibly integral to the plot. There’s something moving about a shock of white hair dashing through the dull background and kicking ass in all black. It’s a story about a woman who truly has nothing to lose, a woman who's so down that it’s completely drained any possibility of colour in her life.
Sigourney Weaver was one of the first women in Hollywood to ever chop her hair off for a film. Alien 3 (1992) boasted a prominent role for Ripley, who was trapped on a lice-infested colony planet fending for herself. With no hair to hide behind, every wince and sliver of emotion appears tenfold. It takes a natural form of vulnerability to “shed” femininity and “commit” to one side of the binary JUST to be taken seriously by the opposite sex.
For the sake of realism, her lack of locks makes perfect sense. It also cements that Ripley is stranded on this colony with anti-social male inmates, who disregard her and even attempt to assault her. Her eventual sacrifice feels heart-breaking. Most female assassins, agents, and spies on screen suffer cruel fates or bittersweet revenge.
Angelina Jolie in ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ (2001) sported the iconic braid that people replicate to this day. With two strands of hair left to frame the face, the rest of her hair is safely entwined down her back. This seems to be the most practical hairstyle for someone who engages in combat every fifteen minutes. When stray flyaway hairs appear around her hairline, she doesn’t run her fingers through. Instead, she perseveres. This just makes the final image of her triumphant victory even more enticing. Lara Croft towering over some pathetic man as the tomb crumbles all around her, with a shiny braid scissoring down her bloody tank top. That’s cinema.
Perhaps the era of cinema where female hair is prioritised is finally upon us. It’s amusing how realism goes out the window when action films come into the picture. Over the years, they’ve impressed us with stunning feats exciting stunts and provided hope for women everywhere. One day, they promise. One day, your hair can also move like that for an hour straight and not budge an inch.
Our own Harley Quinn graduated from stiff pigtails in ‘Suicide Squad’ (2016) to bouncy bangs in ‘Birds of Prey’ (2020). During a memorable action sequence, she spots Black Canary struggling to fight while her braids swing in front of her face.
“Hair-tie?” she asked.
“Yeah!” replied Black Canary.
If hair is a means to express individuality and adds to the experience of being “looked at” as a woman, what does it mean when all these dissident women are alone? They spend time in silence adjusting wigs in front of mirrors or panting as they narrowly escape with their lives. They may look rough with split lips and bloody clothes, but sure enough, there is one thing left standing. Sitting on top of their head will always be the ghostly halo of their signature hairstyle.
Cover Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.