According to the article, people may have greater feeling on their ethnicity in the film. For example, an African American may have stronger feelings on African Americans depicted in the films than other people of different ethnicity. They would be more sensitive to the stereotypes and falsity regarding their race. Therefore, people may know better about the characters in the film if they are from similar cultural backgrounds.
In Radio Days, Woody Allen depicted a Jewish family that wasn’t familiar with their Judaism traditions. Because I came from a totally different cultural background, so I don’t know whether the family in this film was a typical American-Jewish family or not. However, from the discussion in class, I realized that Allen somehow twisted the truth of the life of the typical American-Jewish families. The film is not a realistic reflection of the American-Jewish families. In my opinion, viewers of similar cultural backgrounds may have “more rights” in commenting this film. They knew about the culture and tradition, and they are more sensitive to the characters’ actions. From Radio Days, I realized why Woody Allen has earned a reputation of self-hatred. Although I didn’t come from the Jewish culture, I could understand that Allen had twisted the images of American-Jewish family, while Allen himself was an American-Jewish director.
In Welcome Back, Kotter, a similar situation may raise. In the episode of Basket Case, Washington, who was Mr. Kotter’s student, thought he would pass because he was in the basketball team. From an “outsider’s” point of view, I felt silly for Washington as well as his classmates, because academic is independent from sports. I don’t understand why Mr. Kotter’s students would even ask their teacher to pass Washington simply because he was in the basketball team. Moreover, the principal and P.E. teacher would even tell Mr. Kotter to pass Washington because “the team cannot win without Washington.” The principal’s comment on Mr. Kotter’s test question “When was the Declaration of Independence signed” as a tricky question was laughable but also stereotypical. Washington, who was an African American, was being portrayed as the underprivileged students in the education system. I don’t know what opinions African American viewers would have about this scene. Yet, I believed they wouldn’t agree with Washington’s actions, and they would treat it as a stereotype against African American students. In addition to the students’ plea, I don’t understand why the principal and the P.E. teacher would persuade Mr. Kotter’s to pass Washington. I would rather believe that the director has twisted the fact than to believe my point of view is totally deviated from the Americans’ point of view. I understand that Americans emphasize on the balance between extracurricular activities and academics, but I don’t believe they would prefer sports over education. Therefore, I would conclude that the director has twisted the facts in order to make the show “funny.”
Radio Days and Welcome Back, Kotter have depicted a rather stereotypical aspect of the ethnicities. While I don’t know how the people of the same ethnicity feel in these two films, I believe they wouldn’t think the characters’ actions are justifiable in terms of the culture. Yet, I would like to know how African Americans feel for Washington in Welcome Back, Kotter.
