Alien 3 was in 1992 and I don't think Mulan did it out of a Crisis situation and more of a woman passing as a boy trope, which is older than TV or cinema.
I've been watching Battlestar Galactica (2004) and noticed a case of the opposite. It makes sense in context, but it's an inversion of the trope. (And when things went back to normalish she cut it short again)
I thought that wasn’t a choice but instead because she wasn’t allowed sharp objects. A symbol of her being forced to do things she wouldn’t normally do. But maybe I’m misremembering. I do remember the dinner scene but it’s hard to cut your hair properly by yourself with scissors much less a steak knife.
it happens in movies because it happens in real life too. when in crisis, often there is sense of loss of control or autonomy. for most, something that can provide an outlet for such a frustration is one’s appearance. and, while men do too, women broadly tend to have the more intimate relationship with their hair. so: haircut (or hair dye, or both).
Can confirm the guy side of this. Have shaved my head in moments of crisis. Not something I consciously considered before doing it. Just felt... Idk, claustrophobic and needed to do something.
Also, when my mom was in the hospital last year, had I been able to get in with one, I would've had a tattoo by the time she got out.
Tropes can absolutely be based in reality. A trope is simply a commonly used stylistic device or convention in media. Sometimes it's commonly used because reality just works that way. There nothing inherently cheap about it.
Cutting the hair short as a trope tells us that the character is in an extremely stressful or even traumatic situation and is trying to regain a sense of control. That's a complex situation but can be told in seconds by relating to actual reality.
It's not a trope in reality but it is one when used to convey a characters emotional state in a story.
But uh, mainly because I literally cannot get to a haircut place. Been functionally hobbled for 6 months, car got stolen, don't know anybody nearby with a car, no public transit, lyft or uber + a hair cut each month is actually pretty pricey when you are living on disability, waiting for public housing.
Been ordering delivery groceries for a while now, added a buzz trimmer to it this month.
At the rate my hair grows, it'll be back to roughly the length I usually keep it at by the time my PT regimen gets me back into 'normal' shape (probably another 6 months).
So sure, I am in what most people would probably consider a crisis, but it makes practical sense too.
Either way, cutting your hair hair is literally a more healthy way to directly exert what little amount of control you have over yourself... but it is, at least in my experience, far more socially ostracizing than cutting yourself.
Not counting me cutting my own hair, I have know several people in my life who have done both or either of these.
When people cut themselves and this is noticable, people who care at all will be concerned and try to talk to them, suggest therapy. They receive more care and attention.
When someone takes all their hair off? They'll be treated as if they are completely insane, should be avoided and are suspect, and/or are dangerous and should be institutionalized.
