Cultural Artifact Analysis

A cultural artifact is an item that can display crucial information about the society that made or used it. An item can qualify as a cultural artifact, if it portrays evidence of either political, social, or religious organization of the specific people or community that it belongs to (Yelnick, "Cultural Artifact", 2015). In my case, the cultural artifact chosen to display the western society is That 70’s Show. That ‘70’s Show was a comedy about a group of teen-aged friends living in Point Place, Wisconsin in the 1970’s. While this show is very entertaining, it exposes western social issues, which were and still are challenged. Some of the problems the show reveals were with femininity and masculinity in gender roles. In Season 1, Episode 4
It was usually unspoken of for a woman to complete an action that ranked them above a man because women were known to be dependent and incapable of higher thinking or action. In the case of the show, this was undoubtedly an issue of gender roles because at first Eric didn’t think it was important that Donna beat him in a “manly” sport until his friends did. However, as of today, women have come a long way with feminine gender roles in the world, especially when it comes to sports. Recently, female athletes have been attempting to gain equal representation and media coverage, in comparison to the past, where there was little coverage of female athletics. In addition, women are beginning to participate in many sports that have previously been male dominated and discouraged. For an example, female athletes, which exemplify racial and sexual intersectionality, such as Serena and Venus Williams have proven their ability to win and be successful both in general and in the world of sports by proving their ability to master a sport once dominated by men and challenging feminine
In the beginning of the episode, Red, Kitty (Red’s wife), and Eric are at the dining table eating their dinner. Red notices that the table is unstable and asks his family if the table is wobbling. Kitty denies that there’s a problem with the table, but that doesn’t stop Red from getting his saw to fix it food (Trainer & Brazill, "Battle of the Sexists", 1998). Later in the show, the scene opens up with Red finishing the table and Kitty attempting to make lunch. Once Red is finished, she tries to place food on the table, but realizes that if she lets go of it, it will roll off the table. Red clearly sees that there’s a problem, and instructs Kitty to let go of the food (Trainer & Brazill, "Battle of the Sexists", 1998). The scene ends with the food rolling off the table causing him to attempt to fix it again. Eventually Red successfully fixes the table; however, he cut the legs too short which makes the chairs now the problem. This incident demonstrates the fact that Red is standing on the “act-like-a-men” box and feels that it’s his responsibility to be the handy-man because that’s what he believes men