Nappily Ever After: A Theoretical Analysis of Black Women's Hair in Film

This thesis will examine the film Nappily Ever After (Al-Mansour, 2018). I will use the communication theory of identity (CTI) as a theoretical framework to analyze the film. My CTI analysis will depict how hair affects a Black female character's life in terms of her identity. My thesis will use the CTI layers, which include personal, enacted, relational, and communal, to evaluate the film. The film is organized into five parts that describe how the main character's hair changes during a pivotal period of her life: Straighten, Weave, Blonde, Bald, and New Growth. Ultimately, the thesis explores how the main character evolves to be more comfortable with herself as her hairstyles change throughout the film.