ABSTRACT
Fiery gingers: red-headed girls in children’s popular culture by Dafna Lemish, Diana Floegel, and Michal Lentz. An analysis of media exemplars of popular red-hair girl figures that explores the meanings of ‘redheads’ in culture. While in real life redheads are rare, in children’s TV up to three out of four female main characters are red haired. They stand in contrast to the ‘normal’ girl who is generally portrayed as concerned with her appearance. Given the central role that screen characters play in children’s lives, as role models and objects of identification and imitation, it is important to unveil how redheads are depicted in the media. The chapter illuminates how relative gender equity allowed for red-headed girls reconfirms and reinforces the stereotyped presentation of girls in popular culture.
