Welcome, my fellow peers! I can say without hesitation that the show Welcome Back, Kotter (1975-1979) was entertaining. With all the witty comebacks and amusing characters, such as Arnold Horshack (Ron Palillo), I definitely had a good laugh. I felt that comedy played a crucial role in this show because it enabled controversial topics, such as racism, to be portrayed with levity. For instance, Freddie Washington (Lawrence Hilton- Jacobs) was the typical “African-American” basketball player who disrupted the classroom environment with his “boom-boom” jokes. Furthermore, Vinnie Barbarino (John Travolta) had dominance over Arnold Horshack and told him when he should speak (this reminded me of the Italian-mafia in Goodfellas and how they exerted control over other individuals). Even though Gabriel Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) was lampooned by his own students, he did not become livid but insulted them back in a similar, jocular manner. Essentially, the comedy in the show allowed serious insults to be taken lightly. For example, when Gabe Kotter asks his Hispanic-American student Juan Epstein (Robert Hegyes), “What’s his favorite subject?” he replies, “Assault.” The humor displayed here shows that Juan is basically insulting himself because it relates to the Hispanic-Americans stereotype of how Hispanics were part of gangs and committed many crimes and acts of violence. Rather than this matter being taken solemnly, the entire class just laughs along with Juan.
Also, in Bahktin, Polyphony, and Ethnic/Racial Representation, Robert Stam asserts “ethnicity is relational, an inscription of communicative processes within history, between subjects existing in relations of power.” I feel that in this quote Stam attempts to say that people of different ethnic backgrounds are connected to one another in some way and that events that have occurred in the past (such as apartheid, white supremacism) led to marginalization of different ethnic groups (Hispanics, Africans, etc). This notion can be applied to Welcome Back, Kotter because Gabe tries to establish a connection with the apparently diverse ethnic groups in his classroom, but this also becomes difficult due to the barrier created by the racist remarks between student and teacher. An example to illustrate this idea is when Freddie thinks that he can “pass” school as long as he’s on the basketball team. Gabe explains to Freddie the importance of education over athletics and how being on the basketball team does not guarantee success in the future. Eventually, Gabe reluctantly agrees to pass Freddie if he beats him at basketball. Here we see that Gabe wants to build a connection with the students and does not want to be a target of their jokes. Later on in the episode we witness Freddie’s newfound respect for Gabe and Freddie even agrees to take a make-up exam. Gabe has now formed some kind of bond with Freddie and both Gabe and Freddie take each other’s jokes with lightheartedness.
We also observe the relationship between humor and ethnicity when Gabe pokes fun at Joe Franklin and how he was similar to Freddie because he wanted the easy way out. Gabe jokingly says, “Franklin took simple classes, such as Hair Combing 101 and Advanced Toenail Clipping,” to point out that Freddie lacks the ability to do work. Even when Freddie says, “Can I pretend to write the paper?” shows that he does not take Gabe’s comments seriously. Vinnie, who is the group leader also formulates insults via rhyming and is unwilling to cooperate with the teacher. In the show, everyone makes disparaging remarks about one another, some with racial connotations. Each and every ethnic group in the classroom makes a fool out of themselves. In other words, the show satirizes the students of different ethnic groups through the actions they perform. For example, Vinnie writing the test answers on his hands and legs, Arnold listening to the commands of Vinnie, and Freddie thinking basketball is the only thing that will bring him fame reveal the unsophisticated ways of these ‘minorities’. None of these remedial students are willing to make the effort to improve their success in school. Rather, they squander away time until the bell rings. With the ineptness of the principal and the disorganized environment these students are in, success is limited.
Overall, through the various jokes made by the students and teacher himself we see the negative stereotypes of each ethnicity (African-American, Hispanic, Italian, Whites, etc). In my opinion, I feel that the actions of the characters in this show embody the stereotypes that were developed about them and their ethnic backgrounds. When Gabe attempts to make a joke about Vinnie’s mother, Vinnie says, “Don’t you dare say anything about my mother.” The jokes between the students and teacher have become direct verbal attacks, as we can see. Even though the jokes are being taken lightly, these jokes undermine the ethnicity of each group. Finally, I just felt that Welcome Back, Kotter utilized comedy to indirectly tell us the various racial stereotypes that exist amongst different ethnic groups.
