'Scream 3' trends reigniting memories of Courteney Cox's TERF bangs and comparisons to lockdown self-haircuts
Anytime is a good time to talk about the Wes Craven slasher franchise ‘Scream’, and in that spirit, ‘Scream 3’ was trending on Twitter on Saturday, April 25. The 2000 flick starring David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Foley, and more is a rather contentious topic among fans of slasher thrillers.
On the one hand, it’s considered the weakest film in the franchise (and many claim that list includes the films’ parodies ‘Scary Movie’ and ‘Stab’). On the other hand, many believe that the film was just lost in the post-2000 shift in horror aesthetics in Hollywood. Either way, fans of the franchise, and lovers and haters of the film, were once again engaged in a battle about whether or not ‘Scream 3’ was good.
The best guess for where the trend began is YouTuber Shane Dawson tweeting, “My name is Shane and I’m a lifelong ‘Scream’ fan... who also loves 'Scream 3'. FIGHT ME.”
While agreements and disagreements on the film’s merits led to the trend gaining momentum, it soon digressed to one of the biggest issues surrounding the film -- Courteney Cox’s hairdo in ‘Scream 3’.
Gale Weathers, Cox’s character in the film, sported a look that is now known as TERF bangs. What are TERF bangs? It’s basically short, chunky bangs that people associate with TERFs, an acronym that stands for “trans-exclusive radical feminists” -- typically second-wave feminists who argue that trans women aren’t “real” women.
It’s unclear when and why this look began to be associated with TERFs -- especially considering it’s also a hairdo that was sported by people as varied as René Descartes, Joan of Arc, Amelie from ‘Amelie’, Spock from ‘Star Trek’, Lord Farquaad from ‘Shrek’, and even Pikachu -- but many agree that it is an unfortunate look; especially on Cox in ‘Scream 3’.
There was some defense for Gale Weathers though. A Twitter user wrote, “Scream 3 is trending. Are you guys just going off on Gale's bangs again? Why do yinz pretend she's less of a total babe and absolute bad b***h because of the bangs? I'd still thank her for punching me in the face.”
Another running gag on the trend related to Courteney Cox’s bangs was that right now, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic-induced quarantine, many who were cutting their own hair would ultimately end up looking like 2000 Cox. Cutting your own bangs can apparently go one of two ways: TERF bangs or the Joe Exotic do. Either way, it can’t be good news.
In defense of the trend of cutting your own bangs during quarantine, Vox writer By Rebecca Jennings said, “The point is that there are bigger things to worry about than your physical appearance right now, and sometimes doing something extremely reckless with very low stakes is the best way to waste a couple of hours alone at home.”
Thankfully, the whole ‘Scream 3’ trend did not begin and end at Cox’s hairstyle. It gave people an excellent opportunity to remember Carrie Fisher’s excellent cameo in the film.
Fisher has had many iconic roles from ‘Star Wars’ to ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back’ to ‘The ‘Burbs’, but one that is often overlooked is her tiny role as Bianca Burnette, a veteran aspiring actress.
True to Wes Craven’s style, this Fisher cameo did not resist being beautifully meta. When Gale (Cox) asks a chain-smoking Bianca if she was Carrie Fisher, Bianca cuts her off, saying that although she did audition for ‘Star Wars’, she didn’t get the part. She claims that she only lost the role because she didn’t sleep with George Lucas, implying that Fisher had.
Really, there is no end to how hilarious the ‘Scream’ franchise is despite being a cult classic slasher.