Jess Merriweather and Feminine Tomboyism

Judith Halberstam writes that the tomboy figure reflects a female desire to have the same access and freedoms as boys and men. As children, young girls can run and play with the boys with little pressure to give up their boyish, masculine ways. The tomboy has often been portrayed in media representation as a motherless figure who doesn't know any better than to want to be a boy because she has not been taught how to be a girl. Tomboys can dream of being whatever they want, but with the arrival of puberty "the tomboy instincts of millions of girls are remodeled into compliant forms of femininity" (Halberstam, p. 156). For the tomboy, this has meant conforming to the dreams and aspirations of women: marrying the perfect man and becoming a mother. To allow for the continuation of a female's tomboyish ways, the feminine tomboy has become a figure of compromise and acceptance. The feminine tomboy counteracts culture's active denial of masculinity "to people with female bodies," but she can perform masculinity only if she also emphasizes her femininity (Halberstam, p. 269).

Season 4 introduces Friday Night Lights viewers to Jess Merriweather -- a teenager who's mother passed away as a girl, who takes care of her younger brothers, and who gained a love of football from her father (a former star quarterback). She is bright, independent, and strong willed. For Jess Merriweather, the expectations of being a young woman in Texas collides with her love of football and encourages her to become the compromising figure of the feminine tomboy.

The show highlights Jess' femininity in many ways. She takes on the role of mother to her younger brothers, thus symbolizing her ability to fulfill a traditional female role. She wears her hair down, wears form fitting clothing, and dates the star quarterback. These representations signify for the viewer her femininity and, most importantly, her heterosexuality. In portraying Jess in this way, her masculine interests of being a football coach are tamed. She may have aspirations, but they do not override or eliminate her compulsion to follow traditional gender norms in regards to motherhood or sexuality.

Even with these limitations, the Jess character is liberating and progressive in its portrayal of a young woman who wants to break down barriers and become a part of a long-protected male-only sphere. In season 5, Jess becomes a more prominent part of the show as she becomes equipment manager and gains the opportunity of shadowing Coach Taylor. During the episode entitled, "On the Outside Looking In," the contrarian life that Jess leads is highlighted by her refusal to be Vince's "rally girl," which in the series are females who lavish players with gifts, accolades, and personal favors. These girls also function as sexual temptresses for the players and are framed within the show as the benefits of being a big time football player. In contrast, Jess helps Vince study plays and decision making while his rally girl, Marah, leaves panties in Vince's locker. Jess later confronts Marah in the girls bathroom and asks if she has any self-respect. The two fight, but their duel is not finished. At a party later in the episode, Jess succombs to jealousy and challenges Marah to a beer bong contest. Jess gets sick and tells Vince, "I know I am pitiful. I am girl and I love football." Jess admits that she is different and that her dreams are non-traditional, but she can't help what she loves even if it does seem so unattainable to her. The interaction also functions as a critique of the rally girl and masculine culture of the game. The confrontation with Marah, though, puts into motion her becoming the equipment manager for the football team.

While Coach Taylor initially resists Tami's support for Jess to become a part of the team, Coach Taylor gives in and invites her to be a part of the team. In being a part of the team, Jess dishes out similar locker room talk to the players as much as she receives it from them. Initially, the arrangement becomes problematic for her relationship with Vince, who sees it as his "obligation" to defend her in the locker room from his teammates. Over time, though, Vince realizes the importance of the team and the position to Jess and becomes supportive, including a shot of him smiling broadly after Jess gains a spot in the coaches meeting. In the episode entitled, "The March," Jess' dream of being a football coach is a key storyline. During a practice, Jess notifies Coach Taylor of the first female high school football coach and her desire to learn under his tutelage. In response, Taylor calls Jess "a pest." But his equality sensibilities shine through later in the episode. After Jess has done some advance scouting of a potential opponent, Coach Crowley tells Jess: "You'll never be a football coach." Jess responds to Crowley, "Why because I am a girl or something?" Crowley's response: "That isn't what I said." Crowley's response is overheard by Coach Taylor and he watches as Jess walks away dejected. The insanity of the proposal is furthered by assistants, but Taylor's response shows that he might not be so resistant to a female football coach. Later in the episode, Coach Taylor discusses the odds with Jess and after she indicates her dedication, he agrees to allow her to shadow him.

As we learn in the series finale ("Always"), the realization of Jess' dream is shortlived as she learns that her father is moving the family to Dallas and won't get the opportunity to stay on and learn from Coach Taylor (who ends up leaving Dillon as well). After telling Coach Taylor about her impending departure, Eric responds, "You'll be missed. I mean that sincerely; you'll be missed." The lasting interaction with Coach Taylor is fitting and reflects the importance of being a part of the team is to Jess. With tears welling in her eyes, Jess responds, "I can't tell you how much this season has meant to me. Being a part of the Lions has been the greatest experience of my life.” Eric responds, "I think it's been mine too.” As Jess is walking out the door, Coach Taylor tells her, “I happen to know the coach down there at Dallas Walker if you have any interest in me giving him a call and putting in a word for you.” Jess responds, “Thanks, Coach.” And, with that exchange, Jess' dream of being a football coach continues with her shadowing a new coach in Dallas.

With large obstacles and public opinion against her, Jess found a path in football. The show may frame her as attractive, sexually available, and a motherly figure, all of which to varying degree tame her masculine performances. In adhering to femininity, Jess becomes less threatening with these enactments. She is portrayed as not overthrowing or revolutionizing the game of football or culture's norms of gender and sexuality. Jess, though, is portrayed as an individual with the talent, desire, and intelligence to be accepted within a male-only sphere. With these abilities, it becomes harder to actively deny her participation. While there are limitations with this individualistic framing, Jess is accepted for her love of the game and her aspirations to be a part of it. By being a feminine tomboy, Jess challenges the male-only aspect of the sport and gains access to her dream of coaching. This access is progressive in changing perceptions of what females can and cannot do, even if it doesn't totally revolutionize norms regarding gender and sexuality.

From Criminal to Citizen: East Dillon Football Saves Vince Howard

 In the opening scene of the fourth season of Friday Night Lights, radio commentator Slammin' Sammy Mead proclaims, "The sky is dry, the fields are brown, the drought is long and it has happened. This town has been divided." Once again, there will be two high schools and two football teams in Dillon, Texas. After much gerrymandering to preserve the Dillon Panthers, Coach Taylor must succeed with a rag tag bunch of outcasts making up his football team. One of the key players will be Vince Howard and the viewers first glimpse of Vince is only a few minutes into the first episode of season four as he is running shirtless away from a police car and multiple officers. Coach Taylor is introduced to Vince Howard (who arrives in a sherrif's car) after a disappointing first practice with the East Dillon Lions. One of the deputies steps out and chats with Coach Taylor about the deputy's brother (a former player for Taylor) and the deputy asks Taylor if he knows about the Cops and Jocks program, which Taylor recognizes as a second chance program. The deputy explains that Vince's next stop is juvie if he doesn't succeed in the program. After introducing himself to Coach Taylor, Vince promises to be at practice at 6 sharp, which for Coach Taylor means a quarter to 6. With that conversation, Vince is on the team and a path to redemption. And, the town is on its way to healing racial and economic divisions through the East Dillon Lions and Vince's right arm.

For an individual to be a citizen, they must be a part of the public sphere, which "implies participation in a broader public culture and the nurturing of a sense of cohesiveness, common identity and belonging. The political functions of the public sphere, it is argued, could not be fulfilled unless people feel that they have a stake in society and their engagement is worthwhile." (Hodkinson, p. 176-177) In the United States, sports is seen as an arena where any individual can find their place within society. In reality and in mediated form, sports has been viewed as bringing together communities and in shaping a common identity built on perseverance, determination, and overcoming obstacles; sports offer a space where the American dream can be realized. During the show's many seasons, there are multiple characters who gain a sense of identity and belonging through sports. Vince Howard, though, gains the most because of football.

Vince Howard's rise from criminal to citizen through football is not seamless. Instead, the show outlines the hardships Vince faces and the difficult choices that a young teenager with a drug addicted mother goes through. During season four, Vince accepts money from a local drug dealer to pay for his mother's drug rehab. Vince is sucked back into crime, but cannot stand the violence and refuses to follow through. Through football, Vince becomes a better man and leader. During one interaction with Coach Taylor, Vince's growth as a person is highlighted and the coach lauds him for his ability to work hard and persevere to become a better person. Before kickoff of the state championship game (and the final episode of the series), Coach Taylor kneels down in front of Vince and states, "You may never know how proud I am of you." Vince's response: "You changed my life, Coach." And, with that, everything has been said. Together they have realized the dream of success and saved one another.

Friday Night Lights offers viewers an opportunity to see the American dream come true and thus unites individuals around a common identity and narrative. Through sports (and football in particular), any individual who works hard, perseveres, and takes advantage of opportunities can belong within society as a citizen. The story goes within FNL that football can teach an individual the discipline, responsibility, and leadership to become a productive member of a team and of society. For Vince, he goes from on the road to juvie to star football player on his way to college. Because of his participation and by learning many critical public values, Vince now has opportunities that economics once prevented him from having. And, for Dillon, the East Dillon Lions' success reunites a town divided by racial and economic divisions. They once again love the Lions and economics and race cannot hold any one back.

 

Tami Taylor: Helpmate and Feminist

In the opening episode of Friday Night Lights, the viewer learns a little bit about Tami Taylor when she declares, "His and her closets, baby" during the Taylor's house shopping. Tami may seem to easily fit the helpmate norms of a coach's wife within the show. The helpmate character has historically provided private support for the "man of the house" and raises the children; it most often has been a wife who aids and helps the husband so that he can execute his job. In planning and executing team parties at the Taylor home, being sounding board for Eric and their daughter, Julie, and being the guidance counselor at Dillon High School, Tami exemplifies the helpmate character. In this regard, Tami provides emotional and rational guidance to Eric and the students of Dillon High. She takes care of the private sphere of the home, even when Eric temporarily leaves in Season 2 for a college job in Austin. In being an aide or helper to a male, the character of Tami Taylor continues a limited role for women in the public sphere. Tami does not get the same glory that Coach Taylor receives in winning a game when she helps a student stay academically eligible or deal with emotional troubles. Instead, she becomes embroiled in controversy when she counsels a teen about adoption and abortion options during Season 4. As an aide, Tami fits within feminine stereotypes and limits women's decisions to the emotional rather than rational. In this way, the Tami character on FNL continues a gender dichotomy where the woman's job is deemed less important than the man's. But this ideology of a coach's wife blindly following the coach is challenged in Season 5.

During Season 5, the family's decision to move from town to town to advance Eric's career becomes a divisive issue. Coach Taylor is once again recruited by a college and the town again tries to convince him to stay. While Eric decides his heart is in Dillon and with his team during the "Don't Go" episode, Eric's job is not assured because of budget cuts and the potential of there being only one football team in Dillon next year. In "The March" episode, though, Tami blossoms. She interviews for an admissions position at a Philadelphia university. During the episode, Tami is offered the Director of Admissions position, which Eric does not respond positively too because he coaches football in Texas. Tami's response to the unsettling and lack of congratulations: "I don't see why we can't just look at something beyond football." The viewers finally learn of Tami's own discontent and career aspirations in the last few episodes of the show. Tami's own desires, though, are stressful and tension filled for the couple. While Eric is offered the job to remain Dillon's football coach, the family must decide whose job offer should come first. In the series finale, "Always," Tami has a few choice words for her husband: "It's my turn babe. I have loved you and you have loved me and we have compromised, both of us...for your job. And now it's time to talk about doing that for my job." The viewer realizes the compromise has always been for Eric, not Tami. Her interests were secondary in relation to his rise to head coach. The dagger for Eric, though, was when Tami stated: "Don't forget that the people who are offering you this job are the same people who fired you for no reason 2 years ago." As the voice of reason, not emotion which Eric is displaying, Tami fires the last salvo in their fight over jobs. Tami does become the Director of Admissions at Braemor College and the Taylors move to Philly. Tami's job offer came first and she leads the family into a new direction. In this regard, the helpmate character becomes refined and more liberating for women. Tami still is the motherly figure, but she comes first rather than football. In this way, the ending of the show and Tami challenge who's job is more important and the role of wife as more than just helper.

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose!

In nearly every episode of Friday Night Lights, one of the Panthers or Lions players or Coach Eric Taylor belts out the team's rallying cry of "clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose." The meaning and purpose of the phrase adapts to the trials and tribulations of the players and their seasons. The phrase is used throughout the show in victory and defeat, thus it is more than a pep rally phrase for the players; instead, it encapsulates their growth as players and men.

The viewer first encounters the phrase during the show's first episode as Coach Taylor is about to lead his team out on to the field for their first game. Surrounding the slogan, Coach Taylor discusses the lofty expectations fans and media personnel have heaped onto the team. In the context of his speech, Taylor imparts the slogan to mean accountability, focus on one's self, and humbleness. If the players approach the game without the hype or expectations, but rather play within their own abilities (and presumably the game plan), then the team will succeed. Their coaches have taught them the proper techniques and are focused on the W. They must do what they have been coached to do--no more, no less--and they will be victorious. This makes it seem that the slogan is merely a rallying cry for winners.

Over the course of the show, though, the slogan means more than simply winning the game, but also imparts the importance of football to the lives of the players. In a montage of its use throughout the seasons, we see that the slogan is inspirational to the players not only to win on the field, but to win in life. By approaching life with honesty, heart, and accountability, the "loss" is not really a loss. Instead, the slogan imparts the value of doing one's best and accepting that it doesn't always mean a W. The important element, though, is that it does not mean that the non-winner is a loser, but rather that by upholding values of perseverance, humility, and dedication, the individual is a winner regardless of what the "scoreboard" says as time expires.

In this regard, the slogan encapsulates American culture's desire to win because it is a rallying call of the Panthers and Lions who win often during the show's five seasons, including two state championships for Coach Taylor at two Dillon high schools. The slogan also demonstrates sport's influence in teaching critical social values like winning, dedication, preparation, and others. Moreover, the slogan also critiques American culture's lament of the loss and rejection of losers. In this sense, the slogan is much more complex than viewers' first encounter with its usage in the first episode. Over time, viewers learn that winning isn't everything and that we need to appreciate the effort and dedication because everyone can't get the W every time. But winning is also fun.

Fan Protests and the Internet Save FNL

The television show, Friday Night Lights, offers an example of McLuhan's notion of a cool medium because it encourages high elements of audience participation. With the show on the chopping block for cancellation, the fans demonstrated how much they were invested in the show. Fans rallied on Facebook by setting up a "Save Friday Night Lights" page. Rather than allowing NBC to dictate the future of the show, the page aimed to rally support from fans to show NBC that it had the needed audience base for the show's continuation: "After reading an article in Radar Magazine, fans of the beloved show have become a little itchy. The fate of this fantastic show is in the balance. YOU can help! We here at Save FNL will be doing anything and everything to make sure that this show stays on television. Please make sure to join the group so you can be aware of all the new ways to keep Friday Night Lights afloat. We will have petitions, postcards to print out and send and hopefully footballs to be mailed to NBC Studios. We need YOUR help. We are just getting started here." These kinds of statements and efforts are not unique for fans trying to stop the cancellation of a show, but the page organized efforts for fans rather than fans having to act individually. Interestingly, the page also framed fans as having a great amount of influence over the show. The page's creator stated, "This is OUR show. If you are a fan of compelling and emotional storytelling, this is your show. . . . Don't let quality television die." Through digital media, audiences expressed their support and influence over the show, which framed them as an active part of the show rather than as merely passive watchers or recipients of the show.

In this way, the internet allowed the show's viewers to break the mold for how television is received. By sending NBC executives mini footballs and light bulbs with a message to "keep the lights on," fan protests over Friday Night Lights potential cancellations illustrates the interactivity that is made possible by digital media between producers and consumers of television shows. Because of threats to cancel, fans communicated the social impact of the show on them, but also the impact they could have as consumers. The internet offered a medium by which fans across the country could band together and produce a larger effect for executives. As a medium, the internet is diverse in its technical and communication possibilities. For FNL fans, it offered a way to organize petitions, consume show products, keep people updated, and organize protests. The fan protests, then, show a convergence of technology to provide multiple ways for fans to interact with one another, with executives, and to organize protests.

The fan protests surrounding FNL show that audience participation in the digital age has not prevented political engagement or stifled critical discussion. Instead, the internet provided a medium by which fans had the ability to be a part of decision making process.