Fresh Off The Boat: Power Dynamics Within Married Couples on TV

With many new shows out on ABC channel, there's an increase on diversity for family comedies. Especially with the most recent comedy Fresh Off the Boat, a comedy about an Chinese American Family moving from Chinatown in D.C to Florida to start a Western themed restaurant. Since this is the first Asian American sitcom in twenty years, I was anxious to watch how they would represent Asian Americans on the show. The show was actually really funny, and I've been keeping up with the episodes ever since.

Originally, I thought this show would be hilarious because of the Huang's oldest son and main character Eddie Huang (played by Hudson Yang). But interestingly enough, the one who stole my attention completely was his mom Jessica Huang (played by Constance Wu). Jessica really caught my attention in the ways that she interacted with her husband Louis (played by Randall Park) because it was unlike normal American married couple dynamics. In many American comedy shows, married couples are portrayed in similar ways. The men are seen as "dumb" dads that are irresponsible, silly, and immature, and yet have the final say as the leader of the household. The women on the other hand are seen as anxiety ridden, responsible, and hyper emotional. And while the women do have the greater responsibility in the household, it seems like the dads still have the leadership in the end and are responsible for protecting the family when there is a threat or tension from the outside.

According to Ivory Holz, Gibson, and Ivory (2009), there are specific traits in heterosexual relationships on television that can be categorized to either dominant or submissive. Dominant traits that are typically masculine are characteristics such as "dominant, assertive, forceful, domineering, firm, self-confident, self-assured, and un-self-conscious. The submissive trait is described by adjectives such as self-doubting, self-effacing, timid, meek, unbold, un-agressive, forceless, and un-authoritative," (174). This play between dominant and submissive traits can be seen in the clip from Black-ish, where Andre and his wife Rainbow are waiting to get their car. Rainbow is about to ask the man for their car, when another man steps in line and responds to her in a hostile tone. Immediately Rainbow is pushed back, showing meekness and timidity, while Andre and later his father step in front of her in a self-assured, firm, and more dominant way that gets the man to leave in the end.

But interestingly enough, the dynamic between Jessica and Louis Huang are pretty different from the other shows. In other shows, the couple always seems to be pitted against each other, in a sort of "battle of the sexes" type manner (see first 40 seconds of The Goldberg's clip below) where the woman and man are portrayed in stereotypical ways and are always pointing that out about each other.

But in Fresh Off the Boat, Louis and Jessica are always a team together first no matter what. In the third episode, Jessica and Louis are faced with a problem when they find out that Jessica's first friend is a shunned member in their neighborhood.

http://abc.go.com/shows/fresh-off-the-boat/video/VDKA0_nxyz60mo


Unlike other married couples on television, Louis does not play the dumb dad that gives all the basic responsibility to his wife and removes himself. Instead, he talks to Jessica as an equal member in solving their problem, acknowledging that she of all people know better about their restaurant situation. Instead of domineering over her, he persuades her to avoid the woman for the sake of their restaurant. Now, some people could argue that Louis is still domineering because he tells her not to watch Stephen King movies, but watching Jessica's interaction with Louis makes it clear that their relationship is different from other married couples on TV.

Contrary to the Gibson, Ivory Holz, and Holz article, Jessica is NOT self-doubting, forceless, or meek, but rather firm, self-confident, and opinionated when she tells Louis that Honey is her first friend. But for the sake of their unified goal, she compromises not because Louis tells her to, but because he persuades her to through logical reasoning. While most couples bicker, fight, and point fingers at each other, these two choose to work together. The gendered dynamic of other couples show more instances where the males are more dominant, self-confident, and firm and the women are more meek, self-conscious, and timid. But Jessica and Louis show a different dynamic where both are self-confident, firm, and bold in their opinions and attitude toward each other. Instead of playing off of gender stereotypes and acting as the dumb dad or the emotionally unstable mom, this couple shows a different side of relationships that are more equal in power and healthier in nature.


Sources
Gibson, R., Holz Ivory, A., Ivory, J. D. (2009). Gendered relationship on television: portrayals of same-sex and heterosexual couples. Mass Communication and Society. 12 (2), 170-192.