Rapunzel Horror Photography

This was one of my favorite days. Not just in the project, but in total in my “career”. It was just a lot of crazy moments mixed with funny, wacky shit. First off, the model, Zee had lightened her hair and so Taryn (Photographer) and I were driving all around the greater Ypsi area looking for extensions that better matched her hair so that she could eat them realistically. But because we knew that Zee was actually going to put them in her mouth and that cheap hair sometimes is chemically treated or waxy, we were asking everyone in the shops “Is this hair safe to eat?” and the looks we got were pretty hysterical. We got in both Depot Town around the water tower and in some surrounding woods. Since it was late February nobody was really around to bother us as we walked a blood soaked girl in an outdated dress into the woods. Depot town is a historic Ypsilanti dowtown area that I was surprised to find most people don’t know about, so it was fun to just casually say that the penile shaped water tower is in fact a real historic building that someone designed and got paid to build. Fun fact!

The goal for Rapunzel here wasn’t to be rescued by a prince after a century. The goal was showcasing Trichotillomania- the disorder that causes an irresistible urge to pull out your hair. Sometimes it is a stress reliever, a way to show control over something in a situation you feel out of control in. Sometimes it’s part of an OCD compulsion. Whatever the reason, it’s more common than people know, and I wanted to educate about it in the best way I know how- with devastating side effects and gore. I also added in the disorder of Trichophagia which is common in the manic of hair ripping. I wanted to use Rapunzel’s story about her hair and twist it into a set of psychological disorders that are rarely discussed.

Zee was a real trooper. I had dressed her in a yellow slip dress from 1934 and a cape. It was roughly 8 inches of snow to wade through in vintage heels and basically a nightgown but she smiled through it for the sake of the cause. Again, friends are amazing.

I loved the idea of making things really creepy here because she was portrayed as a Disney Princess- lovable, unharmed, unmoved by the trauma and fit as a fiddle. Because people hear Rapunzel and think of a man climbing up her hair and saving her. But in this story, should there be a prince, and he does in fact start climbing up her golden hair, he would fall. And rip her hair from her scalp. And she would eat it while crying because she realizes that there’s nobody who can save her from her misery. She eats her hair as a form of control- it’s hers and she wants to keep it. It falling out is out of her control in some ways, but eating it keeps it a part of her forever. She’s grown insane in her tower and when she finally is released she’s huddled in the snow eating her hair because now there is just too much happening.

At the concept of my project this was the first character that I had fully developed. Zee immediately agreed to do whatever was asked because the story of it was so weird, so conceptually interesting to her that she said she needed to be a part of it no matter what. That is a high compliment! Especially since I conceptualized this character with her acting ability in mind and if she said no then I probably would have scrapped this whole story for a different project later so as to not risk ruining my vision for it. High compliment to her?

Honestly, It was probably the only character that I would not have asked just anyone to do. The gruesomeness mixed with the psychotic disorders was something this lifelong Criminal Minds fan took seriously, and the first fleshed out character I moved to after Season 5’s Uncanny Valley episode in January of 2010. I watched that episode and thought of doing a living dolls project for that night and the following day and how I would function dolls into everyday life and then thought of Barbies and Princess dolls and it transformed to this the following night. Then while at work in Friday I emailed my teacher my concept using Rapunzel and Snow White as my examples, not sure of she would go for it since it was SO far off from what we were supposed to be doing. But I pleaded my case that just showing photos from our Studio Theatre wouldn’t be enough for the kinds of jobs I wanted and that I needed to do something bigger since my makeup skills were mostly only used for old age in bigger shows and the wacky cast of Dr. Horrible. So with fingers crossed I sent her this idea.

I legitimately thought she would at least want to ask me 50 questions about it like who and where and when but an hour later it was an immediate yes because she couldn’t wait to see my documentary about this horror makeup project because nothing like it has ever come up before. So that, in my mind, made Rapunzel the star of the show since that was the characterization I really drilled into my pitch. It had to be perfect just for this one role.

One funny moment from the shoot was when Zee was walking through the woods and due to previous close up shots of her scalp and hair eating and everyhting, her fake hair was in complete disarray and all puffy and crazy looking. So, as she was walking from the edge of the trees her fake hair, which was braided into her real hair and pretty strongly connected to her person, got wrapped and snagged in a branch sticking out. She did one of those cartoon style pull backs while walking and it pulled her back about two feet (she was unharmed) and then she snapped herself forward, breaking the frozen branch from the tree and walked out to the road with a full tree limb connected to her head. We were laughing so much we were crying and screaming about it, and that’s what this photo is from. I liked it so much because it looks like she’s laughing, but in comparison to the others it takes a more maniacal, more psychotic turn and you question WHY she’s laughing or if she’s just insane. (You can’t see it all but that stick was about 4 feet long)

The real moral of this lesson is to do what you’re in love with. Some people, like me, are in love with shocking others and breaking rules to feel alive. Others may be more in love with controlling certain elements of their lives and bodies because it gives them a sense of purpose. Some would say we both need professional help. *shrug* But if Rapunzel can survive her madness, we all can.

Please try to enjoy some of the nightmares I may offer you.