Not a Cinematic Hair Out of Place: Examinations in Identity (Transformation) as Evidenced through Haircuts in The Crying Game

This thesis asks a question: Can transformations to a cinematic character's hair be indicative of a realignment or shifting of that character's identity? As an attempt to answer this question, I introduce three new concepts: the Opaque Movement (OM), the Transparent Violent Moment (TVM), and the Transparent Moderate Moment (TMM). All of these concepts revolve around the treatment and appearance of a character's hair within a film. In this examination, I establish a theoretical foundation for cinematic haircutting and apply the three concepts to several films. I ground the discussion in a thorough examination of The Crying Game by Neil Jordan. The 1992 film contains four haircuts or hair transformations and through analysis of the central characters before and after their haircuts, I utilize the concepts above. This thesis illustrates that in cinema, not a cinematic hair is out of place, a choice in hairstyle, haircut or hair transformation isn't merely, or just, an example of fashion or cultural trend. In film, hair is a marker of cinematic, cultural and identity formation.

Name thesis:degree_name

Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

Year

2011

Author dc:creator

• Herring, Allen, III

Contributors dc:contributor

• Schroeter, Dr. Katrin
• Coleman, Dr. Finnie
• Hayward, Dr. Eva

• hair
• identity
• The Crying Game
• identity formation
• hairstyles
• cinema
• culture
• monster theory
• hauntings
• pain
• warfare
• torture

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/fll_etds/109

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalrepository.unm.edu:fll_etds-1109