Assignment #2:
Comparison of Characters from That 90s Show
Aiden Goetz
VISA1500_01 – Introduction to Visual Culture
Professor Atkins
March 3, 2025
The two characters I chose are from “That 90s Show.” This is a show about a group of friends and what it was like living in the 90s. The characters I chose are Ozzie, who is a 15 year old Asian teen, and Nate who is a 17 year old cis white male.
Ozzie is a member of the LGBTQIA2SP community who is very sarcastic, smart, and deep down cares a lot about his friends. Ozzie signifies diversity and equity in television media. Next is Nate, he is a jock within the show but really he is a kind, loveable, easygoing type of guy. Nate signifies that not all jocks are bullies as represented in the past media, he is breaking this norm by being very caring and compassionate.
While these two characters seem vastly different in many ways, they are actually more similar than you may think. The main similarity between both of these characters is they are portrayed as the nice guys within the friend group with a higher level of maturity and understanding. Just because they are both considered to be the nice guys, their kindness comes from two very different places. Ozzie is kind because the world at this time was not very accepting of him because of his traits, while his friends were overly accepting. Research shows how “Asians are perceived as most likely to be left out; and last, people are least likely to initiate friendship with Asians.” This is the reason why Ozzie really cares about his group of friends. However Nate’s kindness and listening ear comes from a different place. He never had a dad around when he was growing up and his mom was a struggling single mother. Nate wants to provide the support for his friends that he did not necessarily have as a kid growing up.
Furthermore, Ozzie and Nate are great characters that break the media’s assumed stereotypes. Since Ozzie is a member of the LGBTQIA2SP community along with being asian, it breaks the assumed stereotypes of the ‘typical’ gay man. Chong-suk Han argues “that the response of mainstream ‘gay’ publications has been to marginalize gay Asian men by simply ignoring their existence or employing existing stereotypes about Asian men in general, thereby maintaining ‘gay’ as largely a ‘white’ category and relegating gay Asian men to the margins of the gay community.” Ozzie is breaking this stereotype perfectly being a great representation of the LGBTQIA2SP community within the media. In addition Nate is also breaking the ‘jock’ stereotype. The average assumption of a jock is usually they are a bully or a narcissist. Jamie Small shows this is her research discussing jocks, when “a small group of older boys attacking one younger boy and then pinning down his arms and legs; covering his face with a hoodie; punching and hitting him.” Nate is the complete opposite of this stereotype by being a very caring and compassionate guy to all of his friends. Proving that just because you are an athlete it does not classify you as a bully.
From these stereotypes being broken we can conclude that in real life there is such a vast variety of different types of people. This means that we can not make assumptions about people based on their traits or interests.
Since these two characters break the norms within media it can impact the viewer in a positive way. For example if the viewer of the show is someone like me who is an athlete, we are always seen within the media as a bully and someone of hurtful intent. It is refreshing for the media to portray an athlete in a positive light, because not all athletes are bullies and this positively impacts a viewer such as myself. Equally important to enhancing the viewer’s self image is Ozzie. Since he represents multiple different groups such as the LGBTQIA2SP community along with the Asian community he can impact many viewers in a positive way. Many gay men within the media are white, so from a viewers standpoint that is part of the same community as Ozzie it should positively impact them to see a person that resembles their traits to be portrayed in a way that breaks the stereotypical norms.
Lastly, I believe this show can positively change future media to portray stereotypes in a more realistic way, by showing that these stereotypical groups of people can all be vastly different in their own way. Rather than have one set idea of what a person is like based on their traits.
In conclusion “That 90s Show” did a great job portraying Ozzie and Nate breaking the norms within today’s media making a more positive and inclusive viewing space for all.
Bibliography
Han, Chong-suk. “Sexy like a Girl and Horny like a Boy: Contemporary Gay ‘Western’ Narratives about Gay Asian Men,” SageJournals 36, no. 6 (2004): 831, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/a#bs/10.1177/0896920508095101
Small, Jamie. “Jocks Gone Wild”: Masculinity, Sexual Bullying, and the Legal Normalization of Boys’ Victimization,” Social Problems 70, no.1 (2023): 23 https://academic.oup.com/socpro/article/70/1/22/6359617?login=true
Zhang, Qin. “Asian Americans Beyond the Model Minority Stereotype: The Nerdy and the Left Out,” Taylor & Francis 3, no. 1 (2010): 20, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17513050903428109
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