Thursday, July 18, 2013

A Rant about Hair

Something that is imperative to my nature is that I like to rant. I'd almost label it as a hobby, but then I'd have to rant about labeling and we would veer totally off topic. Nope, today I've decided that I would like to rant about hair. But not just any hair. I'd like to rant about the wild, messy, tangled, unkempt mess often sported by the female protagonists of YA paranormal romance novels.
I'm currently reading The Trylle Series by Amanda Hocking(and enjoying it immensely, I might add, though it's not my typical grab)and I noticed how insistent the protagonist, Wendy, is about her hair being wild and untamed. After reading about this heinous problem in such books as Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick and The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer, I'm beginning to think that this may be part of the YA-paranormal-romance-writing formula.So far, the formula stands as: 

1)Girl with messy hair doesn't fit in at school. 
2)Girl with messy hair hooks up with hot Bio partner (usually a new kid at school and probably a hundred years old even though he looks seventeen)who incessantly stares at her like he wants to eat her face.
3)Girl with messy hair discovers that hot sexy Bio partner is a mythical creature. 
4)Hot sexy Bio partner reveals to girl with messy hair that she either is also a mythical creature, or has the potential to become one.
5)After a battle of worlds, hot sexy Bio partner and girl with messy hair live happily ever after. 

Back to messy hair, now. I get it. I really do. The books are usually written in first person, which means the reader only sees what the female protagonist tells them. In my experience, the female protagonists/narrators of YA paranormal romance want to come off as flawed, in a sort of way, and the only aspect of their physical appearances they are willing to undermine is their hair. But they're not really undermining it. In making rude remarks about their hair and illustrating it to be such a tangled mess, they're amplifying their sexuality. No female protagonist of a YA paranormal romance will ever begin her story by saying, "Hi, I'm Jess. I have a drippy nose and an absent chin and yeah, I could stand to lose five or twenty pounds." 
They would never say that!!!
Instead, they choose the more sultry route, like, "My name is Jess. I have fair skin and wild, untamed hair. I don't really fit in at my new school. The boys all stare at me like I'm exotic or something, especially that dark, nameless, mysterious boy in my Bio class."
In this way, I think it's safe to say that our YA female protagonists may not always be the most reliable. Which leads me to wonder, what else might they be enhancing? 
I must admit, I am not sympathetic to these female protagonists with messy, unruly hair. Hair is something that can always be worked with, much easier and cheaper than a chin implant anyway. I mean, I frequently have messy hair, too, but it's not because I'm some sort of troll royalty or a vampire or a fallen angel; I just don't really give a damn. 
Rant Over. 

Cheers! 

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