#eleanormax

—Jennifer Nettles | Hamilton

very early on in the series, we always see eleanor with her hair up, whether it was in a bun or a plait (mostly in the early seasons it was in a bun). the only times we saw her with her hair down (in those seasons) is when we wouldn't expect her to have her hair up e.g when she spent the night with max, when she was fucking vane and also when she tried to protect max.

i think there's some sort of symbolism with having the way they had their hair up showcased the amount of control they had over nassau. and i think the looser the hair got, the less control they had over the island.

the hair symbolism also lowkey makes sense when she tried to save max. she thought she was in control but she wasn't! max declined being rescued and black listing vane also backfired.

as the series goes on, eleanor's hair starts to be left down and this mainly happens after she was arrested and taken to england. by the end of the show, her hair is still down and the only time it's put back is when she does lil twists in her hair but other than that it's mostly down.

now of course after she was arrested, she basically lost control of the island in the way she had it in the beginning. sure she had rogers ear and was able to advise and control things that way but she was never fully in charge/control.

with max, it's a similiar story but in the opposite way. in the early seasons, we mostly see her hair down, albeit sometimes pinned back in twist, but basically in the same way eleanor had her hair in s3-4. she very rarely had it pinned up.

from what i can remember, her hair is only really put up after eleanor returns to the island and she starts to help rogers - establishing more control over the island. until of course the finale where she actually is in control.

there was also the scene where eleanor was supposed to have left to ask her grandparents for help and berringer's men storm her room because he wants to see her. when the men enter her room, her hair is down and she's in bed, but when she goes down to meet berringer, her hair is pinned up. which again it sort of establishes some sort of control. she knew berringer wanted her out and i suppose it was also a subtly way to say 'look im in control, im stronger than you think i am'

i can't remember what it was that i read or watched, but what got me thinking about this was the fact women who usually had their hair down were seen as out of control and uncivilised. having your hair tied up (or tied in general) established authority. you were seen as more put together. at time, loose hair could also symbolise prostitution which when max gained more control and had her hair up showed that she was no longer working that way.

i found a couple of contrast images to show the difference between their hair changes and where eleanor and max both stood which are so !!!!!