Seinfeld: Critical Analysis “YOU’RE A RABID ANTI-DENTITE!” exclaims Kramer in the episode of “Seinfeld” I chose for critical analysis. This episode begins with George, George’s girlfriend, and Jerry in the familiar restaurant setting when after George’s girlfriend leaves, the neighborhood dentist, Tim Whatley, enters. After greetings and introductions are made Whatley confesses to the two of them that he had just recently converted from Catholicism to Judaism, and then proceeds to make a joke about doing a “Jewish workout” in the sauna at the gym that day and casually walks away. Meanwhile, George and Jerry, both taken aback by the joke, exchange confused and uncomfortable glances. Jerry is angered by this more so than George because he is
The quote I added in the beginning of this analysis is the perfect example of how ridiculous people can be when it comes to racism. This scene opens with Jerry walking into his apartment to find Kramer unsurprisingly already in his home. Jerry explains to Kramer how frustrated he is with Whatley because Whatley had caught wind of his anti-dentist joke, and Jerry goes so far as to say “Those people… They can be so touchy.” At this point Kramer begins to lecture Jerry about how he needs to be more considerate towards the dentist population and proceeds to call him racist against dentists. However, if you were to count how many midget jokes Kramer makes in the episode, then you would understand how irrelevant Kramer’s comments to Jerry are. People in real life ate the midget jokes right up, but when a black or Jewish joke was made, they were more aware of how offensive those jokes could be to people. If you’ve ever seen this episode then you certainly know how many terrible black and Jewish jokes are shared amongst the characters. If you were to go through and count how many jokes were about blacks, Jews, or Catholics there would be around 5, and these certainly stood out. But now if you went through and looked at how many midget jokes are made, there were the same amount of midget jokes made as black, Jewish, or Catholic jokes. Kramer being too offended by Jerry’s jokes, and calling Jerry a racist against dentists but not seeing his own offensive jokes about midgets is imitating real life people, showing that everybody is too thin skinned and everybody needs to know what really is offensive and not to see racism where it doesn’t exist. This being said if “anti-dentism” really existed. How would people know when jokes were being made, or when people were seriously racist against dentists and secretly wanting them to be thrown in concentration camps? That is the point the “Seinfeld” writers are trying to make with
In the novel ‘Deadly Unna?’ various discourses about racism are portrayed, exemplifying the individual’s belief, attitudes and the values of the characters. The reader is positioned to view Blacky as having no knowledge of how racist his friends are through the racist comments that are made amongst them and Blacky's going along with it. At the start Blacky may not have been aware of the racism around him as he previously laughed and even told racist jokes. The statement “And the priest says I got the black bastard with the door. And they all laughed all the regulars. Especially Slogsy. But I didn’t. I don’t know why, I’d laughed at the joke bef...
Don’t Just Stand There is an essay written by Diane Cole. It was first published in 1989 in a New York Times publication. She advises her audience about how to react to prejudice comments and jokes. However, her argument is not credible because she fails to mention vital information that would help to support her argument, and there are too many logical fallacies.
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is a sitcom portraying actor Will Smith in the title role which aired on television from 1990 to 1996 (IMDB). The Fresh Prince is a comedy that showcases the efforts of a young under-privileged black teen trying to adapt to the lavish lifestyle of his wealthy relatives, whom he is sent to live with. The sitcom is actually based on the real life struggles of the producer Benny Medina. The character “Will” was sent by his mother to Bel Air to live with his aunt “Vivian Banks,” played by actresses Janet Hubert and Daphne Reid, and uncle “Philip ‘Uncle Phil’ Banks,” played by actor James Avery, to escape the inner city confines of Philadelphia.
“I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group,” Peggy McIntosh wrote in her article White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Too often this country lets ignorance be a substitute for racism. Many believe that if it is not blatant racism, then what they are doing is okay. Both the video and the article show that by reversing the terms, there is proof that racism is still very existent in this world. By looking into A Class Divided and White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack along with their ability to broaden the cultural competence, once can see how race is still very prominent in our culture.
The episode of Everybody Hates Chris that was shown in class is an excellent example of the negative representations of black, lower class people in the media. Specifically, the episode addresses the common black stereotypes of having poor home lives, absent parents, and the overall belief that black people are more violent and aggressive than white people. The episode addresses the everyday stereotyping that comes in a day of the life of a lower-class black, male student at an otherwise all white middle-class school.
The YouTube clip titled “Native Americans” on Seinfeld depicts how Jerry, the Chinese man, Winona and other characters simply become victims of social errors and biases either by their choice of words or culture. The clip began with Jerry Seinfeld coming over to Elaine’s place. As she is hangs out with friends, Jerry’s
The television show, George Lopez, is a series in which Latinos make up the entire cast of the family. It takes place in the present day Los Angeles and focuses on a family and their daily lifestyle. This is one of two television shows that are directed to the English speaking population that has the Latino minority as the main ethnicity of the cast.
minorities when he talks with Adam Cayhall in death row. " ‘ You Jew boys never
You may not know any bigots, you think “I don’t hate black people, so I’m not racist”, but you benefit from racism. There are certain privileges and opportunities you have that you do not even realize because you have not been deprived in certain ways. Racism, institutional and otherwise, does not always manifest itself in a way that makes it readily identifiable to onlookers, victims, or perpetrators; it is not always the outward aggression typically associated with being a hate crime. Racial microaggressions are a type of perceived racism. They are more subtle and ambiguous than the more hostile or overt expressions of racism, such as racial discrimination (CITE). Microaggressions are everyday verbal, visual, or environmental hostilities, slights, insults, and invalidations or mistreatment that occurs due to an individual’s race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation etc. (CITE). The concept of racial microaggressions has been around since the 1970s, but much of the current research is rooted in the work of two professors, Jack Dovidio, Ph.D. (Yale University) and Samuel Gaertner, Ph.D. (University of Delaware), and their explanations of aversive racism. Their research has its foundation in the idea that many well-intentioned Whites consciously believe in and profess equality, but unconsciously act in a racist manner, particularly in ambiguous situations (CITE).
As Dunwitty also stated in the movie, Bamboozled, “I want a show that will make headlines, that will have millions and millions of households tuned in, glued to their televisions every week. I want advertisers dying to buy on this show.” So if the viewers are not appealing to the over exaggeration of racial stereotypes being given to them the media would have to change their techniques towards reaching their audience, which could lead to the end of the emphasize on racial stereotypes in the Media. Spike Lee’s movie Bamboozled was created as a satirical movie to emphasis how the media uses anything they can to attract an audience. It also gives viewers a first hand experience on how many viewers would get caught up in the humor of the movie they would overlook the emphasis on the racial stereotypes being used. The movie being created as a satirical movie makes it clearer for people to see how the media really works and what lengths they are willing to go to in order to get as many people interested in their industry as possible. In which was the same with Pierre Delacroix’s goals in creating “ Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show” which was a show that was suppose
Since television came into existence, it has evolved into a useful tool to spread ideas, both social and political, and has had a great effect on the generations growing up with these heavily influential shows. To these younger generations, television has taken the role of a teacher, with the task of creating a social construction by which many of us base our personal beliefs and judgments on. This power allows television shows take the opportunity to address problems in a manner that many audiences can take to heart. Many television shows present controversial topics in a comical matter, in some ways to soften the blow of hard-hitting reality at the same time bringing attention to the issue being addressed. In the television show, Everybody Hates Chris, season one, episode four entitled “Everybody Hates Sausage”, the stereotypes that continue to fuel racism are examined in a satirical motif, and class is presented in a comical way, but carries serious undertones which present a somewhat realistic view of the different social strata within the United States.
During the 2004 NAACP awards ceremony at Washington, D.C., in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the landmark case Brown vs. Board of Education , Bill Cosby delivers a speech, which would be subsequently referred to as “The Pound Cake Speech, criticizing the lifestyle and lack of parenting in the African–American community. The speech has been severely criticized for it is delivery and topics expressed within it. Author Jerome Corsi notes, "Cosby was attacked both for his flippant tone and because his argument appeared to 'blame the victim' for the racial inequality and racial injustice suffered." The purpose of this essay is to examine why the use of comedy, partitioning of listeners, and scapegoating of African-American parents, as the sole cause of African-American social problems, lead to the poor reception of Cosby's speech.
Adam Sandler is a well-known comedian, musician, actor, screenwriter, and singer. He is known throughout the nation for his accomplishments in the entertainment business.
Racism has been occurring for as many years I can think of and it's always been either overt, subtle discrimination or obvious bigotry. I have noticed this type of discrimination in the short story we read in class called “So What Are You Anyway by Lawrence Hill”. The old white couple known as the Norton’s have showed racism throughout the story. For example when they were criticizing the black doll, judging Carole for being a mixed race child, and referring Carole, her father, and they doll with discriminating names. Firstly, Mr. Norton had been judging Carole’s doll because of the uncommon skin color it had. When he saw the doll for the first time, he said “a black doll! I never saw such a thing” (pg.1) and that dialogue were presented as
Later, he went on to justify his use of the racial slur in his presentation because he sent the idea for approval to his friend Kanye West, who is a black Hip-Hop megastar. He basically used the “It’s ok. My black friend gave me a pass” excuse. This is problematic because Kanye West does not represent the whole African American