![]() ![]() ![]() When it’s revealed that Peggy has size 16 ½ shoes and faces both shaming and fetishiziation for their size, Bobby tries to comfort her by stating: “Mom, I’m fat, but big deal. ![]() King of the Hill’s contemporaries frequently made weight and fat characters nothing more than punchlines, but the series villainized those who body shame and celebrated those who react with kindness. Regardless of how delicately or impulsive Hank responds, King of the Hill never endorses Hank’s opinions on Bobby’s interests, merely highlighting the not-always-easy journey of a father learning to understand his son. So much so that Hank’s catchphrase, “that boy ain’t right,” is usually reserved for Bobby’s refusal to participate in traditional masculinity. While adding gender to any of the aforementioned activities is archaic, pretending that we don’t still live in a world where gender expectations are unfortunately a thing would be inaccurate. On the flip side, the high-femme, ditzy, and boy crazy Luanne desperately tries to adhere to traditional feminine roles but is a dynamite softball player, an iron jaw boxer and a whiz of a mechanic. He puts housewives to shame with the skills he learns in home economics, willingly lets his girlfriend win him pink teddy bears, dreams of becoming a prop comic, has a passion for dog dancing, never passes up a chance to wear costumes (especially if they come with a cape) and experiments with gender presentation with ease. Bobby sees no issue with learning how to defend himself by taking a women’s self-defense class and kicking bullies in the testicles. The pinnacle of healthy masculinity, Bobby is the source of most of Hank’s realizations that he needs to change with the times. Perhaps most relevant is King of the Hill’s progressive examinations of gender politics, with none more prominent than through the exploration of Hank's son, Bobby Hill. Times were simpler when the most ominous conspiracies we had to deal with was Dale suggesting that the Super Bowl was pre-taped at the same studio as the moon landing. Everything that leaves his mouth sounds like a new QAnon conspiracy theory, but what was a funny character twenty years ago is now a more likely reality. Part-time bug killer and full-time wingnut, he genuinely believes the United Nations controls the weather, Hawaii doesn’t exist, and all computers are sentient. He’s surrounded by friends and neighbors similarly struggling with their own ideas of what makes “The American Dream,” many of whom appear to be permanently stuck in their ways and beyond help.įew characters are more unlikable than Dale “Rusty Shackleford” Gribble. While the show is far more heavily rooted in slice-of-life realism compared to its contemporaries like The Simpsons or Family Guy, it consistently took larger swings at pushing the envelope with its storytelling and has continued to stand the test of time.īut at the heart of King of the Hill is the constant war being fought by Hank -between his idealized view of American values and the reality that true happiness and fulfillment will only be achieved if he’s willing to accept that the world is not what he had been led to believe. The series has been easily dismissed as a low-brow “comedy about rednecks,” but the truth is that King of the Hill is a biting commentary on everything from generational differences, the constant shift of American class dynamics, post-Reagan conservatism, idealized leftism, blind patriotism, systemic oppression and was ripping apart stereotypes before it became a buzzword. ![]()
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