If Welcome Back, Kotter was reproduced to have a more serious tone—lets say, minus the live audience, minus the plethora of jokes, and minus the energetic, easygoing attitudes of the featured characters, the urban space the cast occupies would not be appealing at all. The small apartment in inner city Brooklyn, the unkempt, formulaic copy of a public school classroom, and the marginal, ethnic misfits that occupy the aforementioned classroom all represent an urban space that is far from appealing. Even the opening theme song for the television show, if taken out of context, has depressing undertones. Lyrics include “Welcome back,
your dreams were your ticket out. Welcome back, to that same old place that you laughed about.” They describe a closed society, devoid of vertical social mobility, where dreams represent the only method of escape. They most likely describe the school setting, in which Kotter returns to—once a rebel, he ends up teaching them.
Principle “Woodhead” asserts that nothing ever changes, certainly a serious theme of such a marginalized community that the show masks with humor. For example, Kotter refuses to pass Washington just because it’s tradition to pass the star athlete, valuing his education over his athletic career, an important moment in the student-teacher relationship that develops over the course of the show. It’s certainly apparent that the students in Kotter’s class represent a dense ethnic community that require much work on Kotter’s part in order for them to accept him.
The show covers serious topics, including ethnicity in the face of the establishment (students vs. teacher), and the inner city lifestyle—however, these subjects aren’t bluntly presented to us; the show uses humor and colorful, lighthearted scene presentation to cover the unappealing nature of the show’s setting. Bright, noticeable colors such as purple, red, beige, white, and green adorn the scene, adding a friendly attitude to the setting. The tight framing of many shots center the attention on the humorous facial expressions of many of the characters, often on the laughing face of Kotter himself. The continuous array of jokes function to lighten the situation as well, while simultaneously attacking some of the more serious issues through parody. Ethnic background is often parodied; the ethnic backgrounds of characters are usually poked at through comedy. Epstein’s family history is turned into a humorous tale, while Washington’s obsession with basketball likewise serves as material for laughs.
The series is heavily ethnic in its representation. Both Brooklyn and the classroom are indicative of the marginal lifestyles many ethnic families face in New York City. The characters, themselves, each represent a different culture, and come together in a melting pot indicative of the city itself, the classroom. Interracial relation, and the ideal interaction between the teacher and his students, and student and student, are simply another way in which the series using humor, parody and a lighthearted approach to soften the serious issues which the show addresses.
