Blog 6 (That 70's Show)

The Show “That 70’s Show”

Role of Mrs. Forman-Femininity, class, sexuality, race

Role of father Mr. Forman-masculinity, class,

Role of Jackie-femininity, sexuality, class

Role of kelso- Masculinity, sexuality

Vista Cruiser-Class,

Leo-class

Fez-Race, sexuality,

When I began to look into detail about how stereotypes are portrayed each character represents something in a stereotypical manner.  Eric’s Father Red represents all the major faucets of social identity.  His masculinity is defined by his aggression as he always is threatening to “Shove a foot into someone’s ass”. He also has stereotypical bad relationships with his son, as he is the “discipliner” as his job in child rearing.  His image of male pattern balding further leads to his masculine identity.  He is a retired military man that works as a manager at a local grocery store.  These occupations are remarkably middle class. This with his house in the suburbs makes him even more identifiable with the middle class.  At the time in the 70’s only white people were able to purchase homes in the suburbs, this and the location of the house in rural Wisconsin makes his white social identity unmistakable. 

            Mrs. Forman also exhibits many stereotypical qualities of femininity.  Her occupation as a nurse is very stereotypical of a middle classes woman.  She also does all the domestic work around the house like cooking and cleaning.  She also is seen as the sexual toy for Red as she is always ready to perform for him, which relates to Devor’s ideas about femininity.  She is also the more favored parent because she does not do the disciplining and she is very nurturing of the situation giving to her.  Her overall appearance is rather feminine; she is always depicted in house dresses and has classic 1950’s mom hair. 

            Jackie is viewed as the stereotypical spoiled daddy’s girl through out the show. Her femininity is expressed in the way she dressed by wearing very tight fitting or revealing clothing, which makes her appeal more to men by asserting her heterosexuality.  By shopping so much she also asserts her femininity, as this is a very stereotypical feminine thing to do.  And by purchasing these extravagant clothes she shows that she has the extra cash to spend so that makes her associated with the upper middle class. 

            The Vista Cruiser station wagon is a symbol for the class of the Forman family.  During the 70’s it was extremely popular for every middle class American family to own a station wagon. It was seen as the mini van of the 70’s.  The wagon also defines the white nature of the Forman’s.

            The character Fez is the only character of foreign influence in the entire show. Interestingly his nationality is never expressed on the show.  Further he is never stereotyped by any of the other characters towards any particular race.  This makes his foreign image extremely vague and just generally stereotyped foreigners.  His accent is unidentifiable with any particular race, which just makes it sound like he is a generic foreigner.  Like other foreigners they often do not get American humor Fez is no exception as on many occasions he “doesn’t get it”.