Let's be honest: Jackie Burkhart was never anyone's favorite character on That '70s Show. Compared to the goofy, clever, and laid back attitudes of all the other characters in the cast, Jackie was sort of just there to mooch off of and burn her friends in a bratty way.
To make matters worse, much of Jackie's key characteristics have not aged well. Whether fans are basing this off of That '70s Show's diegetic decade or its more contemporary time on the air, lots of Jackie's traits would simply not fit well in modern society. Here are 10 things about Jackie that would certainly not fly now.
Degrading Women
Maybe in the '70s it was not considered misogynist or offensive for a woman to put down others of her own sex, but things have changed a lot since then. Now, the way Jackie put herself and other woman down, minimizing them to their looks and household duties, would not be considered very politically correct or polite, for that matter.
Jackie might've been a girl, but she ran in the opposite direction of progress during the sexual revolution, defying feminist ideals and falling back on traditional, outdated roles that often oppressed or hurt women just like her.
Abusing Men
Women were not the only people who fell victim to Jackie's sexist ways. On the show, she constantly objectified and abused the men around her too. She pressured every boyfriend she ever had into buying her things and serving her like a princess while she generally treated them like crap.
She even used Kelso as her physical plaything, applying makeup to him even after he said it made him feel uncomfortable. Essentially, she treated all the men in her life like walking wallets or giant dolls. Today, these would definitely not be considered healthy or fair relationships.
Excessive Consumerism
On top of having men constantly buy her things, Jackie loved to shop on That '70s Show. She equated buying new clothes, diamonds, and goodies to something deeply romantic. In the Christmas special, she even called shopping a central part of the holiday spirit.
Not only did she over indulge, but she also frequently criticized the clothes and purchases of everyone around her. Today, there is nothing wrong with shopping, but putting so much importance on consumer culture (especially in the modern age of efficiency) reflects a very mindless and materialistic outlook.
Living Off Of Her Dad
Staying with one's parents as a young adult is fine. However, when one's parents are filthy rich, as Jackie's father was, living off of them one-hundred percent of the time without a shred of humility becomes an egregious abuse of privilege. Jackie not only lived with her dad throughout the show, but was entirely dependent on him and never expressed an ounce of modesty about it.
Millennials are known to live off their folks for a bit after college, but there's a lot of 21st century economic baggage attached to that modern trend that makes it sadly understandable. In the '70s with her business tycoon of a father, Jackie seemingly had every opportunity at her fingertips but never acknowledged her systemic advantages.
Solely Relying On Her Looks
Perhaps the reason that Jackie lacked so much ambition stems from the fact that she openly relied so much on her good looks. This circles back to her anti-feminist agenda, believing she could do whatever she wanted and accomplish anything in life without trying because men would always find her attractive.
Played by Mila Kunis, Jackie was certainly cute, but this was hardly a good way to live life and it definitely wouldn't work today. As anyone with a functioning brain knows, looks don't last forever, and acting on them alone hardly ever creates genuine, lasting love or happiness.
Insulting Intelligence
Not only did Jackie refuse to work hard in life or try in school, but she mocked and degraded those who did. She found intelligence painfully boring and showed disdain towards people on the show who expressed interests in anything other than bland gossip.
Maybe back in the '70s, having a passion for learning was considered nerdy or pedantic but today, being smart is seen as an attractive trait. Now, it seems like only dumb people put down smart people, as having a wide breadth of academic interests and knowledge is actually considered pretty cool.
Trash Talking Her Friends
The characters on That '70s Show all liked to bust each other's balls but at the end of the day, they remained loyal to one another. Jackie, however, deviated from this norm and offered up far more disparaging comments than moments of genuine friendship. Whether it was to their faces or behind their backs, Jackie frequently disrespected and verbally affronted members of the gang.
She even did it to Donna amidst moments of otherwise deep connection, halting introspective conversations to make backhanded comments about her clothes and/or boyfriend. While it may be difficult to accurately gauge the state of the youth of 40 years ago, this is definitely not how friends should treat each in any decade.
Revealing Secrets
Jackie's slanderous ways did not stop with her from badmouthing her friends. She also could not keep a secret for her life. In those heart-to-hearts with Donna, she would often relay whatever was said in confidence to Kelso, who in turn would tell Eric, Fez, and Hyde.
Nowadays, especially with the ubiquity of social media, privacy is essential and breaking the sacred bond of a secret told among friends is borderline unforgivable. Thus, Jackie would probably lose people's trust very easily and swiftly find herself out of the loop in the modern age.
Always Complaining
For all of the strife Jackie created on the show, she also managed to play the victim card a lot over the series' 200 episodes. Never mind the fact that she made life pretty hard for everyone else; whenever the most minor inconvenience got in Jackie's way, she monopolized conversations and in her typical hedonistic way, rendered it everyone's problem.
She had to be the constant center of attention, especially when something (no matter how small) went amiss in her perfect little life. Today, she would probably be told to take her petty first world problems somewhere else.
Never Listening
Maybe Jackie's constant complaining would be somewhat digestible if it wasn't riddled with so much hypocrisy. For how much she insisted that other people listen to her insignificant problems, she ironically never paid attention to others' issues, writing them off as uninteresting or unnecessary.
During those same conversations where Donna leaked her secrets, for example, Jackie would sometimes get caught not even listening, completely oblivious in the middle of her friend's emotional rant. In 2020, this would be considered very rude and quite frankly, it's hard to imagine a time when it was ever really acceptable.