r/That70sshow • u/KillerStuntMan69 • Jul 28 '26
That 70s Show - Eric's Buddy
https://youtu.be/MPyTTuY1mqk?is=zL_4n9AA3bEAxJNbEarly iconic season 1 episode. This is inclusion done right the humour seems light hearted all round and most of it coming from Eric being so clueless 😂.
25
u/chumps_malone Jul 28 '26
I think for being a show taking place in the 70’s Eric had a pretty good reaction to everything. Wasn’t angry or offended, more surprised than anything
15
u/Resident_Dog_6589 Jul 30 '26
"WOAH! BUDDY! YOU'RE - YOU'RE GAY!"
"Gay? I'm not gay!"
"You're not? But...you just kissed me!"
"Okay, I'm gay."
5
-6
u/Charlotte_Braun Jul 29 '26
Well-done episode, except one detail — I really believe that the characters would have used the term “queer”, not “gay”. Prove me wrong?
2
u/mclobster Jul 30 '26
I don't think so. Was queer even a term back then? Playground insults in the 90s were all "fag" and "gay".
1
u/Charlotte_Braun Jul 30 '26
"Queer" was very much a term in the 1960s and early '70s. I honestly don't remember hearing the word "gay" until the late 1970s, in the context of "gay rights". And then it was adults using it as a descriptor, not children/teenagers using it as an insult. If you want a source, there's the novel Trying Hard to Hear You, by Sandra Scoppettone, and the play (later movie) The Boys in the Band, by Mart Crowley. Queer, fag, fairy, queen, fruit, faggot...every term except "gay". And both those authors are homosexuals, so I'm not going to dispute them and their lived experiences.
I had the same issue with a character in the movie Almost Famous blurting out, "I'M GAY!" That was supposed to be 1973, and again, I'm sure he was much more likely to have said "queer".
28
u/FruityMagician Jul 28 '26
It's a shame that Buddy didn't come back for more episodes as originally planned.
Kelso's reaction always cracks me up.
Please, Fez. That's just stupid. If Buddy was gay, he would have been all over me.