Peopling of New York City, Spring 2012

Welcome Back, Kotter is a seventies’ television sitcom with a hackneyed concept. A man, Kotter, reluctantly becomes a teacher at his old high school. He becomes a mentor to a group of misfit kids and along with teaching them he attempts to instill some of the values he almost missed out on.

“The gangs here don’t use guns, they insert the bullets manually.” Underneath the colorful upbeat tone of the series there is a slight gloom. Kotter is forced to teach a group of degenerate remedial social studies and though he is constantly cracking jokes and making light of his situation, it is evident that he would rather not be back in Brooklyn teaching at his Alma matter. Brooklyn is not actually the beautiful, homey community the theme song “Welcome Back” makes it out to be. As the credits roll we see overcrowded city streets and trains covered in graffiti.

Kotter has not come back to his old high school by choice. After graduating with a teaching with a teaching degree he couldn’t find a place to work. Kotter needed a job so he could support both his wife and himself. And their lifestyle is by no means luxurious. Kotter and his wife live in a tiny one-room apartment. They sleep on their pullout couch and have dinner in their kitchen/living space. They probably don’t live in the worst neighborhood, but the area Kotter works is probably much worse than where he sleeps.

The manners of an individual are a reflection of the environment of which they’ve grown up. In the first episode, “Welcome Back” we see that Kotter’s students are practical jokesters who lack ambition or respect for authority. The neighborhood of is full of much the same if not worse. The moral compasses of those out of school are not as malleable as the students Kotter teaches. Welcome Back, Kotter points out the faults and problems of those in their the society through comedy. And then presents methods of tackling these problems through Mr. Kotter’s interaction with his students.

In reality, the problems of troubled, poverty stricken teens are not so easy to fix. See, the bright overhead lights of the studio aren’t really shining down in the classrooms of the Brooklyn based institution the school is based on. Honestly, Kotter’s hip and happenin’ act is not as appealing as Welcome Back makes it out to be, and neither is the backdrop.

Ethnicity is a key component in the humor that makes Welcome Back, Kotter (1975-79) come alive. Even though I didn’t find the show to be hilarious (that may be because the humor was from a different time period), I did find the humor in the stereotypes that were played. The most noticeable stereotype and probably the most significant stereotype that was exuded was the one of the Black athlete in “Basket Case.”

Freddie Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) is represented as the potential star athlete that feels that his athleticism will get him where he wants to go without worrying about actually doing well in his academics. Obviously, I didn’t really like how his character is portrayed; I feel that he is the epitome of the stereotypical Black student. What really struck me was how racist comments were constantly being thrown into the dialogue that was casual enough to be funny (I have to admit, I cracked up a few times).

In one scene, Vinnie Barbarino (John Travolta) compares Mr. Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) to Freddie. He talks about the obvious differences in the body types of Mr. Kotter and Freddie and how Freddie’s body is the type for physical activity and athletic success, while Mr. Kotter’s body is for sitting and getting fat. It was obviously supposed to be really funny joke, and it was, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable. Maybe it’s because I’m an Anthropology major and in one of my classes we had just finished discussing the misconceptions about “race” and the traits and, physical and mental abilities that come with them. One of them was about the “Black race” that has been widely accepted to be the athletically superior race, but not the most intellectually superior. It was just a bit difficult to see in the sitcom.

The time period this show takes place in also has an affect on the humor. Coming out of the psychedelic and counter-culture 60s, racial integration is a newly accepted national norm for schools. So, it is interesting to see how stereotypes are played to relieve the newly “diverse” school system.

Although I thought the humor in Radio Days (1987) was superior to that of Welcome Back Kotter, I found some striking similarities between Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) and a few of the characters in Radio Days. However, I felt like the whiteness in the t.v show and the film was a little different. By that, I mean there was a different whiteness to live up to in each.

There is a similar situation that Kotter and Joe’s family are both put in that I’d like to point out. Joe’s family attempts to stay true to their Jewish traditions, and the scene that’s relevant to my point is the one where they are resting on the holy day, but the neighbors are playing music. When the uncle goes next door to “tell them off”, he comes back and is considering the newly proposed, white lifestyle that these neighbors suggested. He is easily influenced here, and that’s the quality that’s transferred over to Kotter in “Basket Case.”

Kotter is in a little bit of a different situation here.  When the basketball player needs to pass in order to play, Kotter is pressured by an overwhelming majority, including adults, to pass him regardless of his class performance. However, what surprises me here with Kotter’s character is that I didn’t see him as one to give in to pressure. I thought for sure that he would stand up for what he thought was morally right. This is where I became confused when analyzing the whiteness in both, because I don’t understand how the whiteness he’s surrounded by here is supposed to come off as. In a way, it’s a whiteness that wants to strip him of his morals?

In a way, I kind of wanted to combine all three questions, because it seems like this whiteness comes out through the humor that pressures him in this urban environment to change his identity! But that would take up more than a blog post, so I’ll end on this statement: whiteness seems to appear in the films and shows that we watch almost as an epidemic. As of now, it doesn’t seem that Kotter is immune to it!

Welcome Back, Kotter and Woody Allen don’t have much in common, other than the outdated humor that I’m personally not a fan of.  On one hand, Woody Allen makes a point of projecting his disillusionment with many aspects of his Jewish heritage.  As for Kotter, he doesn’t seem to be terribly bothered by his.  In fact, I wouldn’t have known he was Jewish if I hadn’t come across it on Welcome Back, Kotter’s Wikipedia page and seen Ebrahim mention it in his blog.  He definitely seems to identify himself more as a Sweathog than as a Jewish man.

First I’ll deal with my dear old friend Woody Allen.  I honestly don’t have a problem with his representation of his Jewish heritage.  I know there are definitely people who don’t like it, but even though I’m not Jewish myself, I think that if he were a Catholic talking about his Catholicism I would at least understand where he was coming from, if not agree with some of his points.  I respect his creative license to portray his culture in Radio Days as he remembers it and not necessarily as people would like him to remember it.  Of course, that’s not to say that I’m a Woody Allen fan by any means.  I find his quirkiness to be a lot more irritating than funny.

Which brings me to Welcome Back, Kotter.  Oh dear, what a comedic mess.  I think I was so underwhelmed because by this point I’ve already seen most of the jokes done better on The Simpsons and other more modern comedies—which actually isn’t the show’s fault, to be fair.  But anyway, back to Kotter’s ethnic identity.  I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Kotter’s Jewish heritage doesn’t seem to be as much of a part of his daily life as his status as a Sweathog is.  Kotter and his students all bond over the fact that they are Sweathogs, which is what ties all of their varying ethnicities together.  Being Sweathogs is kind of like the radio for Joe’s family in Radio Days; it’s a significant unifying force.

I think, in Welcome Back, Kotter(1975-1979), Gabe Kaplan’s choice of setting the show in school is very interesting and proper because school is a most likely place where people from different ethnicities gather and interact with each other. Class is not as serious as the work place, so it will not create much tension when micro-jokings(which is not severely offensive) of ethnicity is brought up.  What’s more, students in high school are usually not mature, and they like joking of anything without taking it seriously, so their joke of ethnicity would be taken as lighthearted. Who would care what children say?

When the carefree high school students meet the comical teacher Gabe Kotter (Gabe Kaplan), a series of amusing stories happen spontaneously.

I would not say the school in this show is inviting because it is pretty corrupted. First, the students, no matter which ethnicities they are from, do not care about education. Freddie ‘Boom Boom’ Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) is the one who does not care about education that much, but dreams of becoming a basketball super star. Freddie is the only African American in the class; portraying him as careless about formal education but obsessive with basketball dream suggests the society’s typical stereotype against African-Americans as not paying attention to education. Another student, Vinnie Barbarino (John Travolta), an Italian American, who seems like a leader of the class, cheats on test, and tries to bribe the teacher. He behaves like a gang leader in Goodfellas who gives command to the other “gangsters” in the class. He leads the silent rebellion against Kotter when Kotter does not agree to pass Freddie, and decides that the introduction should start with him.  The principal Mr. Woodman (John Sylvester White)is corrupted too. He even comes to persuade Kotter to pass Freddie because he wants to see the basketball team win. Kotter himself is too amusing to monitor the students. Facing the undisciplined students, he cannot do anything. Overall, this is a very bad school based on what we watched so far.

However, I have to agree that this show is really funny. I do not see many offensive jokes about ethnicity, or maybe I do not realize it because I am not familiar with the stereotype the New York society has on different ethnicity. I am more familiar with people’s stereotype toward African American, perceiving them as not caring about education. However, even though it is bad to stereotype people, the minority should also make effort to improve themselves to get rid of people’s negative stereotype against them.

Comedy can serve as a disguise for many issues being portrayed by the media. Racial tensions and stereotypes are just one of these issues that ignite less controversy once wrapped up in comedy. Welcome Back, Kotter (1975-1975) is a sitcom that revolves around the concept of diversity and ethnic stereotypes. The show’s audience does not walk out in offense towards its racial jokes, but rather laughs along with its hilarious racism (as cruel as it sounds). Somehow cracking jokes and taking away the seriousness of ethnic conflicts gives birth to comfort and laughter.

Every character in Welcome Back, Kotter is a distinct personality that provides humor by playing on ethnic stereotypes. Mr. Kotter’s (Gabe Kaplan) students are an interesting bunch to introduce and demonstrate how ethnicities and their stereotypes were thrown into characters consciously. Freddie Washington (Lauren Hilton-Jacobs) is the African American of the group. He’s one of the over-confident hip students who disregards schoolwork because he just knows he’s going to be a basket player. Mr. Kotter struggles to emphasize the importance of school over Freddie’s unguaranteed shot as a basketball career. He gives Joe Franklin’s unsuccessful example of neither becoming a basketball player nor graduating college. Of course all this stereotypical jumble of an African-American not considering college and aspiring to be a basketball player is concealed under jokes of taking Advanced Toe-Nail Clipping classes and Hair Combing 101(which had me dying of laughter, by the way!).

Vincent “Vinnie” Barbarino (John Travolta) is the cocky Italian-American of the group. His name itself shouts out his Italian roots, and I must say his personality does not fall short of representing Italian-ness either. Vinnie is the classroom leader. He has authority over other students and stands up and speaks for everyone. Mr. Kotter asks the students to introduce themselves, and the very confident Mr. Barbarino not only introduces himself but his class as well. He even controls when Arnold Horshack (Ron Pallilo) can speak and goes so far to participate in an insult competiton with Mr. Kotter. The boy is a little mastermind as he comes up with various tactics to cheat on the test and even tries to bribe Mr. Kotter into passing Freddie. Stretching his personality perhaps a bit too far, he almost reminded me of the mafia in Goodfellas (1990). The need to be a leader, the obsession of having authority, and the criminal mind are common stereotypes associated with Italians. The director has obviously made a conscious choice in incorporating such characteristic into Vinnie, only of course, he made it funny.

Juan Epstein (Robert Hegyes) is the proud Puerto-Rican Jew, whose ethnic relationship to humor comes quite close to being offensive, in my opinion. He was considered the tough one amongst the group and even voted “Most Likely to Take a Life”. Offense and controversy were nowhere to be seen however, as Epstein was proud of his threatening persona. He outright stated his favorite subject to be assault as well. Although such jokes allow the audience to make the connection between the character’s personality to his ethnicity, they allow force the audience to laugh it off.

Lastly, we have the foreigner of the group, Arnold Horshack. His laugh, accent, and just odd nature are so hilarious that the audience is forced to forget the underlying racism against immigrants. Rather than spewing out negative emotions, the audience in fact, makes a positive relationship with Arnold and they love his humorous stupidity. My favorite part was when Mr. Kotter asked Arnold to distribute the test papers, and the kid literally walked towards the door to distribute the test papers elsewhere. Moreover, he had it in him to ironically ask the teacher to use English properly as it is a very “precise tool”.

Hence we see humor’s dual nature here. Not only is it being used to highlight one’s ethnic differences from another, it is blindfolding the masses and steering them away from any possible racism that might be felt as well. Although the show is funny and I did enjoy it, I’m not too sure if ethnic/race humor is the best. The humor kind of makes fun of each ethnicity. Bringing ethnic stereotypes to the media only reinforces the notions held against every ethnicity. This show reminded me of a show called Asunción that I went to see with my Arts in New York City Seminar. The show was definitely amusing and had the audience cracking up to tears, but is it disturbing if I tell you that it was about an extremely innocent guy who mistook a Pilipino girl to be a sex slave just because she was Pilipino? Of course it is, and that’s exactly my point. I’d still love to go watch that show again because the characters were just hilarious, but the underlying concept of unintentional racism and negative preconceived notions against ethnicities even by the most innocent of people shows how perhaps this issue needs much more (for the lack of a better word) broad-mindedness.

I think it would be very interesting to juxtapose and compare the characters of Kotter and Woody Allen. So far I’ve seen two Woody Allen films, Manhattan and Radio Days, as well as clips from Annie Hall. Although the characters Allen creates have different names they’re all the same. They all display Allen’s neuroses, his quirks, his fascination with romance, his ability to sexualize everything, and of course his Jewishness. He not only makes it lucidly clear that he is Jewish but as we discussed last Friday, he presents it in an almost self-hate manner, insulting the traditions, etc.

Now for Mr. Kotter, honestly I didn’t even know he was Jewish, my family had to point it out! Unlike Woody Allen’s characters he doesn’t poke fun at Jewishness I don’t think he even acknowledges the fact that he’s Jewish. Instead he clings to the fact that he was one of the Sweathogs. I think the group itself is revealed as its own unique ethnic identity. Although the group is made up of people of different ethnicities and backgrounds, they all cling to the fact that they’re a Sweathog not that they’re blank ethnicity. Moreover, the Sweathogs as a group are given stereotypes the way an ethnicity would. For instance, the Sweathogs are known to steal, be a menace to society, sleep on a pull over mattress, have their kitchen in the living room, etc.

In terms of whiteness in Welcome Back Kotter I found that John Travolta’s character embodied whiteness the most. He represented all the perks of being white: the popular guy, the womanizer, everyone listens to him, the leader, etc. I think you can argue that Kotter also meets the definition of whiteness set by Dyer, where whiteness represents the norm. He’s what Henry from Goodfellas would call a schnook. He lives an average life, average job, worries about bills and taking care of his wife/the house, etc.

Kotter’s remedial class of Sweathogs is an interesting one, full of wiseguys. The four main guys are ethnically different and have different personalities. The fact that the Sweathogs take pride in Epstein’s favorite subject, assault and being voted as ‘most likely to take a life’ reveals that he is the tough guy. Barbarino takes pride in being the best ranker in all of Brooklyn. Freddy Washington is the athletic one who plays basketball and believes he will become an NBA player. Horshack is the innocent, odd one and my favorite. According to Kotter, these four aren’t students but rather “hit-men in waiting.”

The urban space Kotter occupies throughout Welcome Back, Kotter is one that is dangerous, ghetto yet diverse. It’s a neighborhood that Kotter doesn’t want to go back to because he had it rough in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. He remembers that the gangs don’t use guns because they insert the bullets manually. The neighborhood of Bensonhurst is a part of Kotter because he grew up in it and though he refuses to accept it, it’s made him who he is today. The urban space he resides in is one that either forces people to accept their status or challenge it. Kotter chooses the latter as he used to be a Sweathog but made it out of Buchanan without handcuffs.

In the beginning, the class ignores Kotter and doesn’t want to have anything to do with him. However, once they find out that he used to be a Sweathog himself, they come to his apartment because he had some sort of an effect of them. They have some sort of respect for their teacher and can relate to him somewhat. Kotter used to be in their position and knows what it’s like to have people think you’re good for nothing. The Sweathogs look up to Kotter and are somewhat inspired by him. He made a difference in his life and became a teacher even though he was a founding member of the Sweathogs and grew up in the same neighborhood as Barbarino, Epstein, Washington and Horshack. Each of them want to make a difference in their life despite the negative connotations associated with growing up in Bensonhurst. Similar to Kotter, they want to become something more than a Sweathog.

Even though the setting is Bensonhurst, a dangerous neighborhood in Brooklyn, the characters make it an inviting space. The students and Kotter share a relationship that people would want to be a part of. There’s a sense of the students having each other’s backs and supporting one another. For example, Barbarino is willing to bribe Kotter to get him to pass Freddy so he can stay on the basketball team. The relationship they share is a genuine one as they truly care about each other.

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.

This week’s viewing, the 1970’s sitcom Welcome Back Kotter (1975-1979), featured several different ethnicities cooperating and interacting in a Brooklyn High School. Gabe Kaplan was featured as the main character, Kotter, a high school teacher. His students consisted of a mixed bag of races, from an Italian-American, to African-American, to a Puerto Rican-Jew. The tough neighborhood and reputation of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn contrasts with the idealized, practically problem free high school classroom. The urban space occupied by Kotter definitely seems inviting, not posing as a danger.

The urban space in the sitcom is ideal, a place where different races came together and coexisted. While the characters in the film are introduced in a very stereotypical manner, the actual interaction was not racially hostile or discriminatory. For example, in “Basket Case,” the same grade and sports situation could have applied to any of the other characters just as easily. The stereotypes that were introduced in the first episode seemed like they were brought on by the characters themselves, not by others. I feel that in a nonideal urban space, there definitely would be racial conflict and hostility.

The Bensonhurst neighborhood itself helps add to the feeling of an idealized urban space. The title sequence shows the New York City neighborhood, looking unideal (especially the graffiti-tagged subway line.) However, the classroom and Kotter’s apartment are not busy or squalid. Money or struggle was barely mentioned in both episodes, showing that the characters did not have any extracurricular worries. The characters themselves come from a bad environment, talking about the danger of Bensonhurst in the pilot episode. But these dangers did not exist in the urban space portrayed in the show. For example, Epstein and Vinnie come off as tough guys in the beginning, but they both work with Kotter and the rest of the class. Situations that would definitely lead to an ugly situation in real life were more comedic than angry.

The character of Kotter himself further emphasized the positive, idealized urban space in Welcome Back. He was portrayed as an ideal. He sat “in the same seats” as the other characters. He was successful, and wanted to help people that were in the position he once was. The student-teacher relationship was one of respect. The students worked with the teacher to become “better.” This was definitely seen in the “Basket Case” episode.

The urban space imagined in Welcome Back, Kotter is one that I feel many would enjoy. An urban space with no financial problems and only matters of school and age is extremely inviting. A teacher helping his struggling, slacker students improve themselves is what many teachers idealize. A seemingly struggling Brooklyn neighborhood, where races can coexist seems too out of the ordinary. The urban space portrayed in this snapshot of life is what we all want, right? It’s like Macaulay, right? (insert sarcastic smiley here.) No struggle, awesome teachers, no money, race, or hostility to worry about. Imagine.

John Travolta’s flow was ridiculous.