Willow with a different hair colour

[BuffMarsters]

I remember reading somewhere that SMG, AH and CC all had the same chestnut brown hair when they first auditioned, and that afterwards Joss said that two of them were going to have to dye their hair to get some variety on the show. We all know that AH got the red. So my question to you is, how would things be different if Willow had gotten blond hair, or AH had stuck to brown?

Given Willow’s shy and more introverted personality, giving redhair to Willow seems like an odd choice (in my experience, the whole redhair going with a fiery personality seems to be quite true in real life! Haha.)
Brunette might have suited Willow’s character more, because she doesn’t long to stand out of the crowd and wants to stay out of the spotlight (and brunettes rule the world, its true).

But then, maybe the giving Willow redhair was a stroke of genius. Because it brings back the focus to Willow in a very visual way. So I a given scene, you could blur your eyes out and you would know it’s willow. There are many blondes and many brunettes, but there’s only been one female redhead on Buffy (and oz was always more of a strawberry blonde anyway, or so it seemed to me!)

Would love to hear your thoughts on this, as well as how Cordelia being a blond and Buffy being a brunette, might have influenced our take on the show.

 

[WillowFromBuffy]

Willow does have a fiery personality. She just hides it a lot of the time. The redhead in overalls. A walking contradiction.

 

[BuffMarsters]

Willow does have a fiery personality. She just hides it a lot of the time. The redhead in overalls. A walking contradiction.

It’s weird. I never got that vibe. She has such a non-confrontational personality. I guess when I think of Willow, I think of classic high school Willow (S1-3). She wasn’t as much of a rebel back then.

Plus, her really soft, hesitant voice isn’t helping either.

 

[WillowFromBuffy]

It’s weird. I never got that vibe. She has such a non-confrontational personality. I guess when I think of Willow, I think of classic high school Willow (S1-3). She wasn’t as much of a rebel back then.

Plus, her really soft, hesitant voice isn’t helping either.

Redhead!

 

[Ethan Reigns]

The most even-tempered girl I ever went out with was a redhead so I don't know where the "fiery redhead" trope comes from. There was no chemistry between us, so meh.

The studio made the right choices. Willow is suited to being the "odd person out" as one of the 2% of the people in the world who are redheads (not counting gingers).
Charisma looked good with chestnut hair.
Buffy was good as a blonde because they were looking for a cheerleader type who starts off shallow and could realistically be the butt of blonde jokes.

 

[buffy1990]

Redhead!

Yes! Here's exhibit B:

 

[Fool for Buffy]

My knowledge of the symbolism behind women's hair color is limited at best. But I do know Willow is far too adorable as a redhead to have any other color.

 

[caitaintdead]

It only ever could have been the way it was. Buffy needed to be blonde because the entire purpose of her character was to subvert stereotypical blonde bimbo cheerleader. It simply wouldn't have worked without the blonde hair. Even in season 1 I thought her look was too down to Earth. Buffy worked best when she had her blondest hair.

Cordelia really didn't suit blonde but more importantly it played with the symbolism of black vs white. Cordelia was meant to be Buffy's shadow self and by making her hair resemble darkness while Buffy's resembled light further drew attention to this.

Perhaps this is just an Australian thing, but redheads were always the nerds at school. We call red heads 'rangas', which is an awful term referencing orangutans. In the early seasons she was meant to be a bit of an outcast. It worked to physically make her an outcast.

I think making Cordelia a redhead could have had potential. Anyone good with photoshop wanna show me what it might look like?

 

[Bite-me]

What would have happened if Charisma had been cast as Buffy and vice versa with SMG as Cordelia? I thought about it and it definitely would have been a different show...

I agree the symbolism is important in a young women subverting expectations , I think they downplayed the California blonde stereotype making Buffy more easily recognizable as a every girl and cipher for the audience. They let go of the cumbersome Valley girl dialet that weighed down the movie and more comfortably invented their own. Imagine Buffy or even Xander saying "Dude" and "Rad" every two minutes. So losing those caricature traits and by being not merely about the upending of a single stereotype, the silly blonde girl victimized by the monster but more of substance being about Buffy's journey of growing up, it wasn't just one long half hour gag about bubble gum snapping and being chased by a vamp at the mall or at cheer practice.

But more then symbolism, the actual reason blonde works in the show is practical, it keeps Buffy inconspicuous. No student catching a peek at her weapons chest or seeing that she carries a knife is afraid of what this girl is up to, because it happens so fervently it becomes whispered rumors about the 'weirdo' and that when the adults over hear this, they assume that is all there is too it, high school bullying and cliques and fallings out. It is believable every time Buffy gets caught somewhere she is not suppose to be that she is able to play it off as being a harmless ditz and that others buy it. So. blonde works no matter who is playing Buffy. I think red hair would draw attention to Buffy's eccentricities.

 

[Priceless]

It's really hard to imagine Willow without red hair, but it would have been fantastic if they'd made the popular mean girl a redhead. I think that would have been really unusual, and against expectations of what a redhead is like

 

[margybee]

It is believable every time Buffy gets caught somewhere she is not suppose to be that she is able to play it off as being a harmless ditz and that others buy it. So. blonde works no matter who is playing Buffy. I think red hair would draw attention to Buffy's eccentricities.

I agree almost all the time -- but there was that great scene in "Anne" where Buffy tries to go undercover to get into that hell...place...but she shows up at the door and says she needs help because she' a sinner and all that... yeah they didn't fall for it and she makes a crack about being terrible at undercover. So that's one instance where the "dumb blonde" schtick doesn't work in her favor!

 

[Bite-me]

I also didn't mean red hair in its self makes someone eccentric, every actor carries a physical personality with them, some bring a more physicality to their acting style, others are very subtle like David Duchovyny's style, SMG in particular like Whedon says brings great sympathy to the character.

I meant if somebody else was cast, not that the Sunnydale residents themselves would notice, they are characters afterall they do what you tell them to do but that we the audience possibly could have had less sympathy and relatability for Buffy's quirky nonconformty and strange life. If they had picked the wrong lead actress, the audience might could have ended up viewing the character in much the same way that her peers did, a interesting point I had not considered before.