Graduation Date
Fall 2020
Document Type
Project
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in English, emphasis in Applied English Studies
Committee Chair Name
Michael Eldridge
Committee Chair Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Janet Winston
Second Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Subject Categories
English
Abstract
The study of redheadedness has been largely neglected in the academic community and beyond. Besides a few outdated psychology studies, pop culture books, a handful of student theses, and one dissertation, there has been little investigation regarding how the tropes associated with redheadedness—namely, weakness and unattractiveness in men and unruliness and hypersexuality in women—become embodied. This project considers the way that such tropes are internalized in a variety of “texts”: Scott P. Harris’s documentary, Being Ginger; Marion Roach’s and Jacky Colliss Harvey’s personal narratives; and Tim Minchin’s song (and performance of) “Prejudice,” together with an interview he gave for The Guardian. Using Krista Ratcliffe’s method of rhetorical listening, I reveal the ways that these texts identify and disidentify with redheadedness. Despite the authors' awareness of redhead-related stereotypes, these texts continue to perpetuate many of those same stereotypes in subtle and complex ways.
Citation Style
MLA
Recommended Citation
Thornburg, Morgan Lee, "The ginger, the pin-up, or the stepchild? Redheadedness as an embodied trope" (2020). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 428.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/428