Parents' Guide to Anchorman

Diverse Representations

The film pokes fun at sexist and racist people, but it also avoids any meaningful inclusion. The main female lead, Veronica, starts out ambitious and critiques stereotypes of women in the workplace. Yet she succumbs to all of them (sleeping with her boss, lashing out at people, and being vengeful). She also becomes a damsel in distress who needs to be saved by her male co-workers. Other women in minor roles pine after men. Jokes are centered on exacting pain on women, and a man tries to fondle a co-worker's breasts in the workplace. A character calls someone "mentally retarded." The cast is entirely White except for an unnamed bassist and a cameo by Danny Trejo as a bartender. Even the Spanish-language news channel is anchored by a non-Latino White man, played by Ben Stiller. Frequent jokes about Mexican culture and people, including a Mexican restaurant's name that translates into "We spit on your food," and White characters speaking Spanish during sex just to excite themselves. Behind the camera, the director and writers are all White men.