Like Neal said, it seems clear from things, this is just a practice with those captured to fight in that arena, Banner and Thor get the same haircut. If any exposition explains the purpose to it, I'm sure it'll be when Thor's hair is cut, otherwise we'll never know, just an excuse to do something new and give fans a variation to his look from comics and marketing something new to keep toys selling after two Avengers films where his look didn't differ dramatically enough to justify toy sales.
yeah i get what your saying about the new looks and the merchandising angle ,but i think helmsworth has had a large say in it ,first he didnt like the original helmet ,it was too hard and hurt his head and kept falling off ,now its the hair ,well wig probably not comfortable and uncomfortably hot ,especially filming in the Australian heat ,a lot less trouble to use his own short hair ,cant say i blame him for trying ,
oligopolies for the orientation of the picture
but for me id robs him visually of some of the things that made Thor stand out and connected him to his comic book roots of otherworldly ancient nobility type stuff
that and the fact the look has rolled on to the Infinity wars movie suggests bowing to star power as much as any other concerns
imagine if one of the batman guys had said he didnt want to wear the full cowl as it was too hot and wanted a eye mask like robins and the studio gave in
personalty from what ive seen the new film looks a ton of fun and im sure ill enjoy it on some level ,but just not as a thor movie ive looked forward to since the 1960s
so far the style of comedy and irreverence coupled with what i think is thors least imposing movie look ,stop it in its tracks as a thor movie for me anyway ,could be a great hulk movie though
i like helmsworth i think hes a top bloke and probably a great guy to have a beer with ,but honestly this other guy looks more Thor to me right now than the generic si- fi warrior version in this movie
not saying hes a better actor,dont think he is a actor , or anything ,just looks more like Thor to me