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After being on CD Kahn's consistent criticism of that type of life should seem very realistic. There are a ton of people on here just like him, and most of them have never even been to Texas.
Haha, so true. There are ALOT of Kahns on this site.lol. But at least Kahn LIVES in Texas, but ALOT of these people have never been.lol
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 16,103,016 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by UTHORNS96
After being on CD Kahn's consistent criticism of that type of life should seem very realistic. There are a ton of people on here just like him, and most of them have never even been to Texas.
I have mixed feelings about his persona. It's not that I think he hates it, but that he tries to show he hates it. Notice he tries to show himself as superior, but in reality he has really come to care about his neighbors and settings. Which is evident in many episodes. He cares for Hank- but will never admit too it.
He even likes living there- but won't ever admit to it for the sake of his own ego.
But South Park should have been on here too! I can't believe you left out South Park!!! That is not forgivable!
PLEASE FORGIVE ME! Yes, both "South Park" (Colorado) and "The Boondocks" (setting???) should have been on the list. A friend of mine does the voice of grandpa on "Boondocks" so I don't know why I omitted it.
I think it does. Not in the same sense we live in the big cities. By the way, in the episode where Peggy gives blood this is what she says "I went to a little town by the name of Houston, Texas to give blood". They stereotypically describe Dallas as the most significant city in Texas- the evidence is in many episodes where they talk about it.
The show in reality shows a lot of small town Texas life. For example the Pick Up trucks, the Lawnmower obsession, the drinking with neighbors in front of the fence. The obsession with Football and man-hood. Hank always gives Bobby heat for not "being manly enough".
The obsession with the Dallas Cowboys in that show is also evident, it's annoying for Houstonians. Lol, Houston gets no significant recognition in that show, but Dallas does even though Hank lives in small town Arlen somewhere in Texas.
The propane reference and Hank's obsession with his work- describes the true Texan mentality.
The distaste for Yankee's- the episode where Hank found out he was born in the Yankee's game in the bathroom of the stadium and he found out New York did support Texas's freedom in the end of the episode to make his distaste for New York go away.
Even the way they talk, "..yup....yup..mhm...yep" has a lot of stereotypical significance.
LoAnne (It's been a while since I've watched forgot her exact name) has the stereotypical Texan mentality.
There was even that one episode where Peggy thought she got a PhD the Nascar episode- which stereotypically depicted every character to Texas love for Nascar racing. By the way- look at all the references to DUI driving they depict the regulations nearly the stereotypical Texan way, even the cops wearing the hats and stuff. Rural and small towns in Texas really do feel like that. Cops where hats like that and such...
Oh and who can forget the episode where Peggy is a Spanish teacher and how she messes up in the trip to Mexico. A lot of it was handled the way most Texans do it- just not as dramatic.
There are even references to the way Texan households stereotypically work.
The thing is, it really shows a lot of how characters are closest in real like. In American Dad (which is a bit more serious than Family Guy) & Family Guy, it shows all these shenanigan and stereotypes for all people. They make fun of everything in there. King of the Hill revolves around a family and a group of friends and their struggles and lifestyle- that's the most realistic thing about it.
I'm just curious, how much experience do you have with Texas outside the major cities? I watch King of the Hill occasionally, and while I enjoy it, I find the stereotypes to be blown way out of proportion for entertainment purposes. Your willingness to say that basically everything they do is stereotypically Texan indicates that you don't have all that much experience with rural Texas. In fact, it's actually a little bit insulting that a man who's overly prideful and obsessed with his boring job (Hank), a woman who has delusions of grandeur about herself (Peggy), and a dumb trailer park girl (Luanne) are thought of as stereotypically Texan not just by people from different regions, but from those from the larger cities in Texas as well.
I will say this, the characters may not be very accurate (they have to be ridiculous if you expect the show to hold any interest), but the settings are eerily familiar to me. I lived in a neighborhood that looked a lot like the one in the show, with the '70s era brick ranch houses, only the one I lived in had way more trees. The countryside is very close to that of Central Texas as well.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 16,103,016 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Westerner92
I'm just curious, how much experience do you have with Texas outside the major cities? I watch King of the Hill occasionally, and while I enjoy it, I find the stereotypes to be blown way out of proportion for entertainment purposes. Your willingness to say that basically everything they do is stereotypically Texan indicates that you don't have all that much experience with rural Texas..
No I really don't have much experience in rural Texas.
My point wasn't to state that the show shows what rural Texas is like. My point was to take characteristics of the show and state how different it is for Texas than it would be in another state perhaps like Colorado.
I was simply trying to say they bring in how people view "Texas".
Go anywhere in the world- tell people you come from Texas, they'll ask you where your cowboy hat is. At least that's happened to me before, in 2 different countries for that matter.
They show IMO was trying to depict what an "average Texas family" is like and how they stereotypically live. I'm not saying that is how people live.
That's like saying everyone in New York goes to the bagel and coffee shop every morning before work and watches a recording of some Yankee's game after work then hits up a bar and drinks till they drop and walks back to their apartment and goes to bed and repeats the same cycle again.
That's how people stereotypically see that, (or close to it) but that's not how majority of the people there live their lives though.
I'm just curious, how much experience do you have with Texas outside the major cities? I watch King of the Hill occasionally, and while I enjoy it, I find the stereotypes to be blown way out of proportion for entertainment purposes. Your willingness to say that basically everything they do is stereotypically Texan indicates that you don't have all that much experience with rural Texas. In fact, it's actually a little bit insulting that a man who's overly prideful and obsessed with his boring job (Hank), a woman who has delusions of grandeur about herself (Peggy), and a dumb trailer park girl (Luanne) are thought of as stereotypically Texan not just by people from different regions, but from those from the larger cities in Texas as well.
This wasn't directed at me, but I actually don't see the characters that way. Or more accurately I see the characters as more than this and if you watch the show I think it becomes clear there's a good deal of sympathy with these people.
Luanne is a dumb trailer park girl, but she's also a woman who has overcome terrible parents to have a loving husband and child while avoiding ending up in a trailer home. She has tried to educate herself as best she could through beauty school and an attempt at community college. She is comically stupid, but she mostly tries to be a better person than her parents and has avoided the addictions or prison life of them. Knowing kids who came from her kind of background I think she's a fictional "American success story" in a small way.
Hank is obsessed with a boring job and is emotionally rigid, but he's a very loyal person who helps people out. He can't relate to his son, but in many episodes he tries to as best he can.
For all her faults Peggy is a devoted wife and mother who took Luanne in after her own family collapsed. In her own weird way she tried to nurture Luanne's dreams and protect her. She also has helped Hank relate better to Bobby in some episodes.
Granted there's Dale Gribble and Cotton, although they also have sympathetic moments, who are so strange and over-the-top I really doubt anyone anywhere is much like them.
I think they're all surprisingly likable characters. That being said this poll seems to be more "which do you like best" rather than "which is most representative." I think The Simpsons, in its first 8 seasons, is better than King of the Hill.
I have mixed feelings about his persona. It's not that I think he hates it, but that he tries to show he hates it. Notice he tries to show himself as superior, but in reality he has really come to care about his neighbors and settings. Which is evident in many episodes. He cares for Hank- but will never admit too it.
He even likes living there- but won't ever admit to it for the sake of his own ego.
Exactly, good point. He secretly see's Hank as a friend.
Yeah, it's not necessarily how Suburban Texans act, it is more stereotypical than anything, but the settings, and SOME of the demographics and accents are on point. Kahn, being the intelligent, Hard wroking, transplant from Southern California(people forget he lived in Orange County CA when they 1st moved to the US before he lived in Texas) Asian that has a job in the BOOMING Texas IT industry in a post-World War 2 suburban Texas community, and hank being a blue-collar, Average Joe, All-American, former High School Football Star, Honest, Propane Salesman. The show has all the locations, sports rivalry's, Texas regional mannerism(Some of the North Texans are Sooner fans), regional cities(One episode they mention a German found town in Central Texas called New Heimeshcmeiser, named after the REAL German found- Central Texas town New Braunfles in-between Austin and San Antonio) demographics, and even the US migration patterns (Kahn being a typical transplanted Californian living in Texas just like in the real life migration paterns of Californians to Texas ), down to a tee. I think the show is serious and satirical at the same time.
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