This clip from the animated Fox television show King of the Hill aired in 2004. In it, Connie and her family are upset to hear that she has been rejected from a prestigious summer school. When her father sets up a meeting to protest this, the admissions officer informs him that Connie was not accepted because she is one of many “boatloads” of “overachieving Asians”. Connie’s parents are depicted as a highly caricatured Asian-American stereotype – from their thick accents to their obsessiveness with their daughter’s success in school. With that said, the show is intended to be a satire that uses humor – including ethnic humor – to point out problems of discrimination in society.

discussion

Think  about the audience(s) that King of the Hill might appeal to – how do you think the show’s audience(s) would respond to this clip?

Would they be “in on the joke” or would it confirm previously held sterotypes and racial bias?