15/01/2023
Archibald "Archie" Bunker
The patriarch of the Bunker household, Archie is a blue collar factory worker who was born and raised in New York. He blusters about his conservative, and often bigoted, viewpoints to anyone listening (or anyone nearby), much to the consternation of his liberal daughter and son-in-law. Regardless, underneath all of it is an ultimately good man who is willing to accept others with enough convincing and is happily married to his wife, Edith, who he adores.
Abusive Parents: His father was not a nice guy to say the least. Being locked in a closet barely touches the surface of his childhood. Archie himself, for all his disagreements with his daughter, certainly never took a swing at her.
Affectionate Nickname: He calls Gloria "Little Girl," even when she's well into adulthood. Loathe though he'd be to admit it, his calling Mike a meathead also becomes a form of endearment.
Arch-Enemy (no pun intended): To George Jefferson. Going into Jefferson's house would be the day hell froze over for Archie.
Book Dumb: His education is fairly substandard because he was forced to drop out of school, and he's known to misuse and mispronouce words, but he's not an idiot; at worst, he's ignorant.
Catchphrase: Archie had quite a few.
"You're a pip, Edith."
"Stifle yourself, Edith."
"Dummy up, you".
"Whoop-de-do, whoop-de-doo, whoop-de-doo!"
"Aw, geez."
And Blowing a Raspberry.
Character Development: In his early TV appearances, he tried to stop Puerto Ricans from moving next door. By Archie Bunker's Place, he had lost most of his bigotry. And if 704 Hauser is considered canon, he apparently sold his home to a black family in the early 1990s.
Characterization Marches On: His initial characterization was prudish in the extreme, but this was softened later into a mere disdain for "free love" s*xuality. It's repeatedly made very clear in later episodes that he and Edith have an active and mutually satisfying relationship in the bedroom.
Dad the Veteran: He served in Italy as part of the Army Air Corps during WW2 and he's very proud of it.
Embarrassing First Name: "Archibald"
Embarrassing Nickname: "Shoebooty", what the other kids called him when he was little because his parents could only afford to give him a shoe and a boot to wear as a pair of footwear, according to the Bottle Episode where he and Michael are locked in the cellar.
Archie: They used to holler, "Tooty fruity, here comes Shoebooty." And they kept calling me that until they found out my name was Archibald, and they thought that was funnier. And then I wished they'd go back to "Shoebooty".
Emotionally Tongue-Tied: Archie has difficulty with expressing affection. In the episode "Gloria Has a Belly Full", he visits Gloria after she had a miscarriage.
Gloria: You wanna say something?
Archie: Well, no, no, nothin', I... no, nothin'.
Gloria: You love me. (Archie nods silently)
Everyone Has Standards: You wouldn't know it from his temper, but he actually has lines he won't cross.
Besides being a Noble Bigot, he objects to one of his friends calling Mike a "Communist". He may disagree with Mike, but he won't call him a "red".
He was also thoroughly repulsed when he found out that what he thought was a social club turned out to be the local K*K chapter, and promptly tells them off and quits, after warning them to stay away from Mike and Gloria's house (Mike had written a controversial letter to the editor and the Klan intended to burn a cross on his lawn) or he would come back with some of his "black blood brothers" and "bust their ho**ey heinies."
He also eventually refrains from using more offensive racial slurs like "ni**er" or "w*p", since he realizes these are genuinely malicious terms, as opposed to his other Innocent Bigot ways of describing other ethnicities. When George Jefferson uses the N-word at Lionel's engagement party, Archie is surprised and declares he hasn't uttered that word in three years.
For all that irritates if not frustrates him about Edith, he has never been known to physically harm or threaten her — and does truly mutually love her, despite his griping. The worst he's gotten is "stifle yourself", the "Dingbat" nickname, and periodically insulting her intelligence further.
The episode "Edith's Crisis of Faith" also proves that, while he gripes about virtually every minority group under the sun, he doesn't want to see them physically harmed. Edith's friend Beverly LaSalle, an openly gay man and drag queen, is killed while defending Mike from some teenage vandals. Archie is genuinely saddened by this and makes it clear that, while he wasn't entirely comfortable around Beverly, he did like him and wouldn't wish what he suffered on anyone.
Lastly, though not that surprising considering he's a World War II veteran, he absolutely hates N***s.
Freudian Excuse: His father was a mean old racist himself. It's implied he was in fact far worse than Archie, freely using the word "ni**er" and abusing Archie and (presumably) his brother Fred. Archie, for all his faults, never called a black person anything worse than "colored" or "spade", and was a genuinely loving father.
Good Parents: Absolutely, given that Gloria was a well-adjusted and smart girl. Archie may have his many flaws, but he adores his daughter (and later, his grandchild). He also never abused Gloria, physically or emotionally, which is notable since it's mentioned that's how he was raised.
Happily Married: To Edith. Though he may poke fun at her, he thinks the world of her and is broken when she dies.
Hypocrite: Often bemoans his own son-in-law for being an atheist, but he hardly ever goes to church, and sometimes tries to cheat others as well.
Innocent Bigot: His prejudices are mostly depicted as a product of his ignorance and upbringing rather than any actual malice. He seemed genuinely fond of Lionel and upon finding out his longtime friend and coworker Stretch Cunningham was Jewish (after Stretch had died), he delivered a heartfelt eulogy, including a sincere "shalom". He also was accepting and supportive of Beverly's lifestyle, and was saddened when she was killed.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he was most famous for being an outspoken bigot, his bigotry was actually more of a product of his background than out of hatred and malice. Once you take that aspect of his character, he surprisingly could be a pretty decent guy. Despite his opinions and somewhat harsh nicknames, there was no doubt that he loved his wife, daughter, grandson and, despite how much he would hate to admit it, his son-in-law, Michael.
Jerkass Has a Point: Whenever his daughter or son-in-law come at him with some cherry-picked statistic to bolster their emotion-driven "feel-good" liberalism, he comes right back at them with some logical counter-argument that shuts them down, cold.
Gloria: "Did you know [X] number of people are killed every day with a gun?! DID YOU?!"
Archie: "Would it make you feel any better, little girl, if they were thrown out of windows?"
Mike and Gloria say as much in "Mike's Hippie Friends Come to Visit" when Archie agrees to a compromise and Mike's friends still won't budge.
Laser-Guided Karma: When his selfishness and bigotry become too much, it almost always comes back to bite him. In one episode, he willingly accepted a bribe to not to press charges against the son of a local politician, and by the end of the episode, he lost money on the deal.
Lower-Class Lout: A crass, blue-collar worker with bigoted viewpoints.
Malaproper: Big time. If he uses a big word, chances are he'll use it incorrectly, or at the very least mispronounce it. He calls the book of Ecclesiastes "Ecclesiasticles" and once refers to "carnival (i.e. carnal) knowledge".
Mirror Character: Though neither of them would ever admit it, he and Mike actually have quite a few personality traits in common despite their opposing political views. Both are stubborn, loud-mouthed, and prone to thinking they know more than they actually do.
The Nicknamer: When he isn't malaproping someone's name, he'll be referring to them by a deliberate nickname. He refers to all three members of his immediate family by a "pet" nickname more often than their real name:
His wife, Edith, is "Dingbat", though this fades as their affection for each other grows. When he's annoyed with or angry at her, he'll still say she is a dingbat rather than actually call her dingbat.
His daughter Gloria is almost always "little girl", in all situations.
His son-in-law Michael is "Meathead", even when he's not arguing with him. When he calls him "Mike", it's a Big Deal.
Noble Bigot: In spite of his prejudices, he is not a truly hateful man, as evidenced by his sort-of-friendship with Lionel, his acceptance of his niece Stephanie's Jewish heritage (to the point of buying her a Star of David necklace), and the way he stands up to a local Klan chapter to prevent them from burning a cross on Mike's lawn.
Papa Wolf: He gets incredibly angry if anyone threatens Mike, Gloria, Stephanie, or his grandchild, and will go out of his way to make the offender regret it.
Parental Substitute: Loathe as he'd be to admit it, he loves Mike like a son, and the feeling is mutual.
Real Men Hate Affection: Archie hates showing affection, and is disgusted by Mike and Gloria for doing so. He occasionally shows genuine affection for Edith, but believes such things to be private.
Sour Prudes: Early on, Archie was a male example: genuinely s*xless (multiple characters including his wife wonder how he ever could have fathered Gloria) and completely terrified of s*xuality in general. This was quietly retconned later: it's clear that although Archie doesn't approve of newfangled concepts like "free love", he and Edith have a healthy and active s*x life.
Straw Character: According to This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.Word of God, his character was created for the express purpose of showing Republicans, Conservatives, or worse Conservative Republicans are racist, s*xist, homophobic bigots so we could laugh at them. Whether intended from the beginning or not, this quickly became a subversion as Archie was ultimately depicted as a rather flawed yet decent man, whose heart was usually in the right place. Most sources indicate this was primarily the doing of his portrayer, Carroll O'Connor, who (as an old-school socialist) saw the white working classes as victims of their exploitative society, and their backward views as being born of ignorance, not malice.
Strawman Has a Point: In-universe. Whenever he gets antagonized by leftist, big-government activists and politicians, he ultimately winds up showing them that they're just as bigoted as he is, if not more so, yet they remain completely oblivious to it, many of them insisting that "people of color" are so pathetic that they can't possibly improve their lives unless the government takes over control of their lives for them and the "Social Welfare" programs they advocate couldn't possibly hold water if it wasn't for the fact that the government can simply dump more money into them. Money that was taken at the point of a gun from hard-working blue-collar workers like himself.
Tragic Dropout: Part of the reason why he's annoyed with Mike's academic background is because he had to drop out of high school to support his family during the Great Depression.
Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Sometimes. Aside from his bigoted opinions, he can be quite selfish and he constantly puts down everyone around him.
Working-Class People Are Morons: Not entirely Archie's fault, given that he had to drop out of high school during the Depression to join the work force. For what he lacks in book smarts, he makes up for in street smarts, and he's generally more accepting of different walks of life than he would let on at first.
