The cartoons I’ve seen that always had a fat, red-haired king character were very obviously making reference to Henry VIII.
Why are kings almost always redheads?
Submitted 2 weeks ago by cheese_greater@lemmy.world to [deleted]
Comments
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 2 weeks ago
dsilverz@thelemmy.club 2 weeks ago
Symbolism and scarcity.
As for symbolism, red is a powerful color that symbolizes power, passion, danger and bloodlust. There’s also a hidden, metaphysical/spiritual/archetypal symbolism: a darkened red is the first color we “perceive” as we’re babies inside the womb, as the red light can reach the human tissues deeper than other light waves. Speaking of light waves, red is the longest visible wavelength, which kinda of seamlessly blends with infrared, invisible to our eyes, but can be seen by some predatory animals such as snakes (which adds to this symbolism). We can also note how things are “redshifting” throughout the entire fabric of spacetime: as the universe expansion accelerates, light becomes more and more incapable of reaching far, thus leading to a redshifting of distant stars, galaxies, nebulas and other distant space stuff. Billions of years from now, the expansion is theorized to be so fast that individual atoms will break apart, an ultimate cosmic event that is called as “Big Rip”. If this were really to happen and there were still human beings alive, we’d start to see an ever-approaching redshifting, starting at the star we’re orbiting (because our current Sun would be already “dead” by then, so would be the Earth and the current solar system) until eventually a redshifting horizon and, ultimately, redshifting arms and hands as every biological form still alive would start dying. Phew! I digressed… But you got the point. “Redness” can be said as something intrinsically woven within the entire fabric of spacetime, so outside our control, so powerful than anything, so red is simultaneously power, beauty, passion and danger.
As for scarcity, IIRC, the redhairness is a characteristic caused by recessive genes. So it’s not as common as brown, dark or blonde hair, therefore, it can be seen as a symbol of uniqueness. Nobleness and royalty implies a sense of power and uniqueness, so it makes sense to depict queens and kings as redhaired.
Together, they sum inside our “collective unconsciousness” to see red (as well as purple, which symbolizes the other side of visible spectrum, blended with ultraviolet, also invisible to us but visible to certain animals) as a fundamental color for powerful figures.
Iamsqueegee@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Because none of the other characters are? It’s a quick way to set them apart at a glance, I reckon.
PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I can’t say I’ve noticed this, but depending on the design, it might just be about ensuring contrast of different elements. Red contrasts a yellow crown and beige skin pretty well whereas blonde hair would might blend with skin and crown, brown isn’t as bad but isn’t great. Black works, but can be hard to do with any detail in a minimalist style or one using black outlines. This leaves, red, and grey.
Depress_Mode@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’ve never noticed such a pattern myself and I’m not sure I’d agree that most kings are depicted as red-headed. What specific depictions are you talking about? Could you give us a list of examples? If you google “cartoon king”, you’ll find only a few redheads among dozens of brown or white-haired kings, which is what I’d expected to find.
yarr@feddit.nl 1 week ago
If I go to Google image search and put in “cartoon king”, there appear to be a mix of blonde, black, red and white haired kings. Red doesn’t appear to be over-represented here. What cartoons are you thinking about?
xtr0n@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Because it goes with the red-black color scheme of the cards?
EndOfLine@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Do they? Most cartoon kings I can think of have either white or gray hair.
nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
cheese_greater@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
K not aged kings haha
Apepollo11@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The most well-known British King, Henry VIII, was a large bulky man with a bushy red beard, dressed exactly as you imagine a King would be.
I imagine he’s something of a blueprint for the appearances of fictional kings.
cheese_greater@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
He must be the prototype 😅