Last week, a couple of so-called indie bands released music videos that featured quirky blonde actresses. Michelle Williams traveled to Niagara Falls Wild Nothing's "Paradise" and The Girl Next Door Elisha Cuthbert imagines herself in a movie in The Gaslight Anthem's video for "Here Comes My Man." Both of these actresses may be successful and well known now, but the music video has long served as a platform for relatively unknown folks to get recognition and launch their career (case in point: Courtney Cox).
Through tons of music video watching, I discovered a trend-- most of these music video actresses are blonde and range from A-listers to up-and-coming "it" girls. With that, if you have blonde hair and people say you're a good looking girl, it might be time for you to make an appearance in a music video.
So, why blondes? A quick Google search of "why are blondes attractive" yielded that men have been attracted to blonde hair ever since prehistoric times because it's a sign of youth. Sure, it seems nutty, but some of those brunettes you know were born with awesome golden blonde hair that gradually got darker with age, so now they're stuck with an "ash" or "dishwater" blonde, or some other color so dull that hair dye companies put it down with an unappealing name.
The theory is that men seek out blonde haired women because it's an indicator that they're still young and their hair hasn't darkened yet. Perhaps this is the root of so many blonde bombshells getting cast in movies and becoming quote unquote celebrities, even if they dye their hair. Thanks Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.
Just look at Pamela Anderson- she's one of the most renowned sex symbols of the '90s, and perhaps all time. She starred in her share of music videos as well, from Cinderella to Tommy Lee's atrocious Methods of Mayhem. Anderson perhaps best lives up to her blonde maneater (no pun intended) stereotype in Lit's music video for "Miserable."
But, indie music must be different, right? By and large, the genre doesn't feature bikini-clad gals flaunting their goods. Paris Hilton and Pam Anderson probably won't be starring in the new Radiohead music video any time soon, but the genre is guilty of the blonde fetish as much as any other, except that the Barbie archetype is replaced by the Manic Pixie Dream Girl.
In short, the MPDG is a quirky girly girl who says "sexy" things like how The Shins will change your life (ie. Natalie Portman in Garden State) and will start a romance based on a mutual love of The Smiths (ie. Zooey Deschanel in (500) Days of Summer). This archetype still finds its way into music videos, and contrary to the Natalie and Zooey types, she's as blonde as ever.
Kirsten Dunst is practically the poster child of indie cuteness. Before you scroll down to leave an angry comment about how some other non-blonde girl with bangs deserves the title, think about how many times you've watched The Virgin Suicides. Air made the soundtrack pretty killer and hey look, Dunst starred in the accompanying music video.
This was about as indie as it got for her music video career, as she also appeared in a Savage Garden video.
Chloe Sevigny is another actress who earned her indie cred early on. She bared it all in a Sonic Youth video while she was still in high school- Scarlett Johansson is in the same company. After Bill Murray whispered sweet nothings to her (or did he?) in Lost in Translation, she won the hearts of countless boys who scour record crates for rare shoegaze albums. She was invited onstage with The Jesus and Mary Chain to sing along to "Just Like Honey", and she went on to star in a Justin Timberlake video. Not impressed? She plays a retro babe in Bob Dylan's "When The Deal Goes Down."
Sometimes these blonde starlets appear in non-sexy roles. Kristen Bell went from her Veronica Mars and Sarah Marshall alter egos to the caretaker of a deformed lump thing in Yeasayer's "Madder Red" video. There's nothing sexy about Bell (spoiler alert) grieving over the passing of this...thing, but you, the viewer probably want to comfort her.
"But," you may be thinking, "this only happens to super famous A-list actors." Nope. Remember Phoenix native and model, Project Girl? Last month, she was portrayed having a terrible time in Lotus Plaza's video for "Black Buzz."
You don't need to be Kristen Dunst to be the next indie music video it girl- you just need to have a friend in Carles...or at the very least, convince your musician friends to put you and your luscious locks in a video.
Non-Blonde Bonus: Zooey Deschanel as the girl with issues in this Offspring video.