Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Click here to watch this clip.

This film is about the television news industry in the early days of female anchors – the 1970s! Stations were diversifying their broadcast teams and beginning to add women and minorities to previously all white, male lineups. Veronica Corningstone is trying to make it as a news anchor. The added competition for air time does not sit well with Ron Burgundy and his male colleagues.  

The movie and this hilarious clip point to the difficulties in breaking into new labor markets in which entrenched interests stand in the way. Veronica Corningstone felt that she had to be the “best,” a not so subtle reference to the discrimination she was facing. She had to be better than the existing male anchors to get the job. Ron and his friends viewed Veronica as a threat because she, and others like her, increased the pool of qualified applicants, thereby loweingr the wages throughout the industry and also making it harder for male anchors to find positions.