Rating Redheads #6: Jessica Rabbit

-

Thus far we've explored a lot of the "Special" redheads: the ones a bit ahead of their time, or whose parents just don't "get" them-- but now, it's time for an older, more mature breed of redhead.

It's time for a "real" woman, a redheaded bombshell who both completely embodies and subverts the femme fatale.

It's time for Jessica.




Jessica Rabbit, from the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is the wife of the titular, well, rabbit. Initially caught "cheating"on her husband, Jessica is introduced as a femme fatale, but soon challenges assumptions made about her on her looks and proves to be fiercely loyal to her husband and a capable woman.

Jessica Rabbit is one of the most famous redheads of the modern age. But how does she represent?

1) Accuracy to the redhead experience: 2/5
Jessica isn't real, being a cartoon in her own world as well as ours. Her fetish-level body proportions also separate her experiences from those of real-life redheads.
However, there is one part of her character which is, unfortunately, true to life for redheaded women: sexual assumptions. With her body and her facial features and her hair color, men assume she is sexually promiscuous and available. Personally, I've had a few men point out to me their attraction to redheads specifically because of their passionate nature. I've been asked (by women) about sex as it pertains to my red hair. It's ridiculous, but it is real, and is one thing Jessica has in common with her real-life counterparts.

2)Use of Jessica's gingerness in the film: 2.5/5
I'm lumping Jessica's red hair into the rest of her design here, because while her shape and colors were deliberately made decisions by the animators in our world, the implication is some artist in Jessica's world designed her to be the way she is, making her over-sexualized appearance a plot point for the film. Jessica was created to beguile and seduce, and her red hair was chosen specifically to heighten that effect.
Though she's learned to use her appearance to her advantage, Jessica herself is not a bimbo or a femme fatale. She's a woman who genuinely loves her husband. The whole film she fights for him, even when others use her body to their advantage.

3) Stereotypes used: -1.5
This feels a bit unfair, as Jessica is meant to be the amalgamation and exaggeration of stereotypes, but I'm not judging her as a character but as a redhead. And she propitiates two of the most destructive stereotypes, that of the redhead as the seductress and the villain (read: femme fatale). This is what the filmmakers intended though, so good on them.

Total score: 3/10

 Jessica is not meant to be a role model, but one can still look up to her for her loyalty, self-awareness, and-- well, let's admit it, she's gorgeous.
She may have the ginger stereotypes, but she is not them.

 After all, she's not bad. She's just drawn that way.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rating Redheads #2: Merida from Brave

-
Image
 Since the first Rating Redheads subject was near and dear to my heart, I thought the second should be one I'm indifferent to. When Brave came out, I was SOOO excited for another redheaded heroine. Then I watched it and... eh. But we're not here for my opinions on the film, but my opinions on whether or not Merida is good redhead representation! Merida is the daughter of a king in ancient Scotland. She's fiery and outspoken, and is good enough with a bow and arrow to shoot well from horseback. She is one of four children, all of which are redheads! Her father is also a redhead, with only her mother being a brunette. Coming from a country where redheadedness is part of their culture, Merida has unique insight as a fire-haired character. 1) Accuracy to the Redhead Experience: 5/5 Brave takes place in Scotland, which is about 13% redheads at the time of writing, the highest percentage on Earth. So it makes sense when, in Merida's family of 5, only her mother is not a ginge
Read more

Rating Redheads #5: Kim Possible

-
Image
 Just a bit late of this gymnastic ginger's 20th anniversary, we're discussing Kim Possible! *cue theme song*   Full disclosure: Kim Possible is one of my favorite shows of all time, and Kim herself was a HUGE role model for me growing up. Besides being a red-haired, green-eyed female like me, Kim is in equal parts empowering and down to earth. But how does she rank as a redhead? Accuracy to the redhead experience: 4/5 It's always hard to judge cartoon redheads on design, bc almost all of them have the dark eyebrows and lashes to make expressions more readable. Kim, however, compromises with dark eyebrows, but no bold lashes. She doesn't have freckles, but she's known to suffer from acne. As a Type A who's very particular about her appearance, one has to assume she has a thorough skin care routine. Unlike many other entries in this blog, Kim is the main character is a long-running series, so there's a lot more time to flesh out her ginger history. For exampl
Read more

Rating Redheads #1: Ariel from The Little Mermaid

-
Image
As my first foray into rating fictional redheads, I thought I'd begin with one I know intimately, one who has had a lot of influence on me as a redhead myself, and one most people are familiar with. No, not Jessica Rabbit... though I'll get to her. Today I'm rating Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid I'll be rating all redheads based on 3 conditions (though I may change these as the blog evolves). The first 2 will be ranked on a scale of 1-5, then added together. The last condition will take off a point for each violation. The conditions are: 1) Accuracy to the redhead experience 2) How being a redhead is used, or not used, in the film, and 3) How many redhead stereotypes the character hits. If you'd like an overview on redhead stereotypes, I have a short article about them in the Pages of this blog. Let's begin with a summary of Ariel and her personality. (For the sake of this rating, I'm only going to be considering the 1989 film, not the sequels or
Read more