Oppositional Gaze applied to Season 1, Episode 4 of That ‘70s Show, “Battle of the Sexists”

In episode 4 of season 1 of That ‘70s Show, “Battle of the Sexists”, Donna beats her boyfriend, Eric, at a game of basketball. This doesn’t seem to phase Eric at all, however it creates an uproar in their sexist hippy Wisconsin community of friends. Hyde, Fez, and Kelso, Eric’s friends, go on to make fun of Eric and tell him that he has been emasculated by his girlfriend and that he is now less of a man. Donna’s friend, Jackie, tells her that she is going to turn Eric off by beating him at sports because sports are “masculine” and that it is a woman’s responsibility to make her man happy and to make sure he looks big and strong in all scenarios. Donna is shook by all of her friend’s reactions, so she goes to her mom for more advice, however she gets an even more troubling response. As seen above, Donna’s mother states that it’s a woman’s job as a girlfriend or wife to be meek and helpless. Donna uses the oppositional gaze back at her mother and tells her about the equal rights movement and how it is trying to do all of these twisted misconceptions that seem to be wrapped up in everyone’s head. However, her mother shrugs off her forward thinking and pretty much just calls her a crazy cat lady.

Donna is just one example of a female character seen in TV that is put down by being less “feminine” by showing “masculine” properties such as being strong and winning. Since when is winning and strength just a male possession? As Hooks writes, “Even in the worst circumstances of domination, the ability to manipulate one’s gaze in the face of structures of domination that would contain it, opens up the possibility of agency”.1 Donna uses the oppositional gaze to show her friends and mother agency by standing up for her right to win at sports be strong. Eric pretty much just stays out of this entire situation, even when Donna asks for his help in supporting her. This media example furthers the troubling societal notion that it can be acceptable for men to be intimidated by strong women and that women should just pretend to be less competent in a relationship.

 

References:

Hooks, B. (2015). Black looks: Race and representation. New York: Routledge.