"Freaks and Geeks", Media Myths, and Heterosexual Scripts

While re-watching "Freaks and Geeks" (1999, sadly aired for just one season), I started thinking about how the heterosexual scripts and media myths applied to the show. "Freaks and Geeks" is an interesting media example because it seems to both support and reject a lot of the scripts and myths that we've read about.

One of the main relationships that occurs throughout the show is between Sam Weir and Cindy Sanders. Sam is part of a group of friends that are "geeks", and has been infatuated with Cindy for a long time. Cindy is a tall, popular, cheerleader, and Sam fantasizes about a relationship with her. The interactions he has with her fall into many of the media myths identified by Galician in the Bader reading. In the show, he more or less falls in "love at first sight" (myth 2), believes that she will fulfill his needs and making his dreams come true (myth 10), and despite never having any substantial conversations with her, seems to believe their love is meant to be (sort of myth 9). This video clip is a great compilation of their relationship for the majority of the first season:

 

Yet "Freaks and Geeks" refutes some of these myths as well. Sam is shorter, less popular, younger, and nerdier than Cindy (anti-myth 6), but the two enter into a relationship later in the season. Their relationship raises Sam's social status to hanging out with the rest of Cindy's cheerleader/football player clique, and it seems great at first. As their relationship continues, however, reality sets in and they head for turmoil.

The show addresses the real differences between the typical true love ideal by showing the reality of Sam and Cindy's relationship. Sam begins to realize that he's unhappy with Cindy—she's "boring". only wants to "make out and stuff", and forces him to hang out with her friends, who he finds strange. In an effort to patch up their relationship, he takes her to one of his favorite movies, but she calls it "stupid" and unfunny. He even gives her a family heirloom as a gift, but she rejects it because it's ugly and wasn't expensive.

Sam consults with his sister Lindsey afterwards, asking her why he didn't like Cindy. "What's wrong with me? She's so pretty, how come I don't like her?" Lindsey replies, "Sam, just because a girl's pretty doesn't mean she's right for you". Sam also speaks to his friends about breaking up with her, and they don't understand it because she's "the prettiest girl in school". There's often an implied relationship between attractiveness and good character in television shows, but "Freaks and Geeks" goes against that by showing the two are not necessarily correlated.

Sam and Cindy's relationship is, in many ways, the opposite of the heterosexual scripts described in the Kim article. Sam, the more inexperienced of the two, takes on the sexual gate-keeper role by slowing Cindy down when she wants to kiss him. He dislikes getting a hickey from her and is uncomfortable with displaying it on his neck, whereas she wants him to show them off. In addition, Cindy is the more dominant of the two and initially is the one who chooses Sam, as seen in the clip below, rather than being pursued by him.



"Freaks and Geeks" is a great media example of a show that challenges the typical heterosexual scripts with the relationship between Sam and Cindy. It starts out following the myths of true love and love at first sight, but then deals with the real consequences and reality of a mis-matched couple whose relationship isn't based on any type of substance.

Readings:

Bader, A. (2007). Love Will Steer The Stars and Other Improbable Feats: Media Myths in Popular Love Songs. In M. Galician & D. Merskin (Eds), Critical Thinking about Sex, Love, and Romance in the Mass Media (141-157). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Kim, J.L., Sorsoli, C.L., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B.A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D.L. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44(2), 145-157.