For my clip analysis I watched the first few minutes of The 70"s show, episode 411. This clip, in my opinion has a strong stereotype towards men. The stereotype labels men as not being capable of living with out women. In other words it portrays the guys in the episode as being lost with out women in their life.
The episode starts out with the four guys all sitting around in Eric's basement watching television. Eric asks the boys if they herd the sweet sound of no women, a statement of freedom. Kelso, who is in a steady relationship with Jacky, says "I still hear voices; Jacky's voice is burned into my brain." The way I understood the statement was that Kelso never hears the end of Jacky; she is always telling him what to do and correcting his mistakes. Even when she is not around Kelso can still hear the ringing in his ears. The author portrays Kelso as a dumb, air head, but usually Jacky straightens him out. As the guys all sit around they realize that without the women to decide what they are going to do for the night that the decision was in their hands.
The boys decide to go out for a guys night at the bowling ally. This is a rare occasion because usually Eric's girlfriend Donna is right beside him and Jacky is also right by Kelso's side. At the bowling ally the guys get about halfway through the game and wouldn't you know it, a girl that Hyde knows walks right up to him and gives him a kiss. At this point Eric, Kelso, and Fez, the other single guy are all shocked. Here once in a blue moon they get a chance to hang out with just the guys and a random girl that the guys have not met before barges right in. The guys now realize that if their girlfriends were their with them that they would not feel left out. Here again, the guys are lost with out their girlfriends, first they had nothing to do because the women usually make the plans, now they could not even have one guys night out because this new girl came barging in.
I do not agree with the stereotype the author portrays men as in this episode. I can think of many examples at the top of my head of very successful single men that are just fine with out a women's help. Sure women can most certainly be beneficial, but a man can defiantly survive with out a women in his life.
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This is a classic example of stereotyping. This particular episode uses the common stereotype of men being unable to survive without women to create a very funny series of events. The male characters are perfect for this example, because Kelso is generally considered to be helpless and Eric is the less manly of the guys in the group and usually follows whatever Donna wants to do. You did a good job picking an episode that presents an example of stereotyping. Your analysis could have touched on some of the material about hegemony, but nonetheless it was an interesting blog entry. Because the end of the episode ends with the guys realizing that they need the girls to make the plans, it somewhat reinforces the stereotype. That being said, it could be argued that the stereotype is true in this example, but I agree with you that as a general statement the stereotype is not valid.
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