Something
Provocative for the Week
The Prominence of Facial
Hair in Today’s Society
Forget print culture for a minute and
think about- you guessed it- facial hair culture. While perusing the front page of the
Wisconsin State Journal online to find a topic for this article I came across a
story about Madison’s own Chris Kriskovic. A
local cab driver for the well-known “Green Cab”, Kriskovic has avoided his
razor for two years. With a bottle of hair spray he transformed his beard into
seven points and two curly mustache tips. The work of art that resulted won
him first place in the freestyle full beard category of New Orleans’s National
beard and Mustache Championships.
Kriskovic’s journey to fame got me
thinking about beards in pop culture. Traditionally, a manicured mustache signaled
a law enforcement official, however recently facial hair has had other meanings
in pop culture. Most notably are the men of the Robertson Clan on A&E’s
popular show Duck Dynasty. The men proudly display their beards as a testament
to their manhood and redneck status. They relentlessly ridicule younger brother
Jep when they suspect he has colored his. In AMC’s hit series Breaking Bad, Walter White plays the role of genius high school
chemistry teacher turned millionaire meth producer. White’s goatee transforms
him from loving father Walter into “Heisenberg” – his criminal life pseudonym. The
next time you spot a popular character trying a new facial hair look, dig for
the meaning behind the beard.
Check out Kriskovic’s championship story
by the Wisconsin State Journal : http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/madison-cab-driver-s-freestyle-beard-wins-national-contest/article_536c6acc-f151-5891-a045-85ff644710d8.html
The Duck Dynasty
Men:
Image taken from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/13/duck-dynasty-stars-without-beards_n_3751769.html
Heisenberg’s
look:
Image taken
from: http://img.wonderhowto.com/img/05/69/63485389011449/0/breaking-bad-costume-ideas-for-halloween-plus-make-your-own-blue-sky-meth-candy.w654.jpg
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ReplyDeleteThat is provocative! I am reminded of the classic signal in the Star Trek Mirror Universe that when a character has a goatee, like Spock, he must be Evil Spock.
ReplyDeleteBut I could use a little help from other students in connecting this post to our class readings, discussions, and topic ... anyone care to try to make a link between male facial hair in pop culture and the information society?