It's a bit of a dodgy moment by modern standards, but not particularly egregious for the time it was made. As Rucker notes, it's also legit funny (largely by virtue of Reeve's polite, "Excuse me"). TG1's point is fair, though, that it comes off worse because there are no other black characters in the film.
Speaking from experience, when I was an infant/toddler my hair was light blonde almost to the point of being white; by the time I entered school it had gradually turned brown.
Well, the show is ending, but I'd like to take the opportunity to point out that TV's Supergirl isn't a natural blonde, either.
Not the actress, presumably, but I think we kind of have to assume the character is. After all, would it even be possible to dye or bleach invulnerable hair? I don't know exactly how hair dye works, but I assume that if it's meant to last, it permeates the strands or alters them chemically rather than just resting on the surface.
That does not justify that racist scene/character, and black audiences complained about it in 1978. Just as black audiences and actors had the moral argument on their side when complaining about comedians like Jimmy Walker's minstrel "J.J. Evans" from Good Times (CBS, 1974-79), or Antonio Fargas portraying the criminal jive-talker "Huggy Bear" on Starsky and Hutch (ABC, 1975-79), along with characters on other productions of the era. Black actors who took jobs like that were routinely criticized, particularly in the post Civil Rights Movement 1970s, a decade that saw the production of an increasing number of enlightening and/or empowering productions (e.g., Sounder, Cooley High, The Spook Who Sat by the Door, Roots, etc.). There's no excuse nor protection for the Superman filmmakers, or anyone attempting to defend that offensive character.
Well, until yesterday I didn't even realize he was a pimp, he was just a guy with a fun line to me. Glad I wasn't a knowledgeable youngster, otherwise I'd probably be offended by everything.
Indeed: Hair Color Chemistry: How Hair Coloring Works (thoughtco.com) Kryptonians might well not have melanocytes - hair and skin colour instead being determined by some other chemical group than forms of melanin.
The chemistry doesn't matter -- it's more a question of the mechanics. As the article says, temporary dyes just adhere to the outer surface of the hair, while permanent ones penetrate the interior and alter its chemistry. And Kryptonian hair in Earth conditions is generally portrayed as being just as impenetrable and indestructible as any other Kryptonian tissues, which would make permanent dyeing impossible. (Unless it were kryptonite-based dye, which would be highly inadvisable.) I suppose it's possible that Kara could just touch up her dark hair with a temporary blonde dye every couple of days, but I'm not sure that's consistent with what we've seen on the show -- surely there have been some occasions where she's been away for days or weeks and not had the luxury of such things.
How do Kryptonians manage personal grooming on Earth, anyway, if their hair and nails aren't made of keratin? Do their hair and nails grow? Let's assume that they must. What does Supergirl do if she decides she needs a brazilian? How does she shave her legs? How does Superman shave and get his hair cut? Perhaps there is some established canon that answers these questions...
It’s actually pretty well-established. Clark uses his heat vision bounced off a reflective surface to shave (sometimes a simple hand mirror, though other versions have it as a piece of Kryptonian metal from his ship, on the premise that a regular mirror couldn’t withstand the heat). Presumably other grooming needs are handled in similar fashion.
John Byrne's The Man of Steel in '86 established that Clark reflected his heat vision off a polished piece of baby Kal-El's space capsule to burn off his own stubble. (Later iterations of the idea have just had him use an ordinary mirror, which shouldn't work, since normal mirrors would melt in an instant.) I suppose Kara could use the same principle to shave her legs, but it would be more complicated. I wonder if Byrne missed an opportunity, though. He introduced the idea that Superman's invulnerability is due to a skintight force field, which is why he needs a skintight costume so it won't be destroyed (though his cape routinely got tattered, since post-Crisis it wasn't made of indestructible material). So Byrne could've said that Superman's hair was outside the field and less indestructible than the rest of him. It would also explain some more prickly questions about whether his shed hair, skin cells, and other... err... biological leavings would ever decay into the environment. There are some questions about Kryptonian indestructibility that are rather icky to contemplate.
I expect Supergirl has to take quite a bit of care bouncing her heat vision for certain types of grooming.
I will detail later... but it would have a consistent characterization of the Kents, and actually find ways to mold him into a hero...and i would NOT have started with Zod... EVen as a 5 year old, i thought Otis was too goofy...and even then i really despised the Hackman Luthor (the actor living up to his name on that one ). A REAL Luthor should be modeled after Blakc lightning's TObias WHale, who is a masterful manipulator. And the Snyder Luthor kinda worked for me -- a realistic portrayal of a billionaire with lots of power, whose underlings are too afriad to say no to. And the stereotypes were rampant in the 70's. Annie had steretypical Asian music whenever the Asp appeared, and Geoffrey Holden as an Indian, with also stereotypical music. But what made Annie & Superman beloved by many is that the leads truly oozed Goodness and hope...and at least to me, NOT in a hokey way, but rather sincerely. @TREK_GOD_1 you seem to often rail against anyone who likes Marvel Movies and criticizes the Snyder version as being all in for one and totally against the other. You know me -- i really like Black Lightning, so i KNOW there can be GOOD DC intereptations. And i DO see a lot of Good in the Snyder Films -- but i feel like they sabotage that by later actions, particularly of the Kents. The first significant scenes of them with Clark were awesome, and i feel very modern. With Ma, her helping Clark like a special needs student -- that was creative. They COULD have taken that as a way for Ma to become a therapist, and have Clark visit her as she ends with a client, telling her she is his hero. But instead they made her bitter "get off my lawn" attitude that isn't built up well. ALso, with Pa.... his talk with Clark about deciding what kind of man he wants to be -- that is GOOD chalenging stuff... but sabotaged by Pa essentially banning him for EVER using his powers, and dying to save a dog. WHile Snyder did a great job of casting, the PACING of his movies stinks, and doesn't get us a helpful sense of a journey. Compare with Captain America -- in 1st Avenger, he rescues the soldiers, and then quickly followed by a montage of team victories, and ending with a loss. In just a short time, the director really helps demonstrate effectively why Captain America is a hero AND a good leader. In contrast, between Pa's death, we have Clark basically doing the 70's Hulk thing of going from place to place but immediately leaving when he uses his powers. but it doesn't feel like a real journey to becoming Superman. It just comes out of no where.
At present, I have no idea how the actress cast as the DCEU's Supergirl will perform, but as I mentioned long ago, I knew if a Supergirl ever appeared in the movie universe, it was not going to be Benoist, as some were hoping.
After the casting of Flash for the movies showing that these were indeed distinct universes, were people genuinely surprised that Supergirl was recast as well? Or are you talking about before Justice League was announced where there was at least (very very minimal) hope by some?
Yeah, given that the DCEU changed Aquaman from being a blond white guy to being a brown-haired Hawaiian, gave Lois Lane red hair and made Perry White a black man, I don’t see why they’d cast a Latina actress and change her colouring. Helen Slater and Melissa Benoit both looked very much like the comic character come to life, but I’ve no difficulty with giving their Supergirl a new look.