Minorities on Television (week #7)

We all have our favorite television sitcoms, you know those shows you watch for half an hour at a time, that have all the same places and all the same characters each time you watch? For me it’s Scrubs a sitcom show which aired from 2001 until 2010 showcasing life as either a doctor, surgeon or nurse working at Sacred Heart Hospital. For those of you out there who have never seen an episode of this show, I highly recommend you do, it’s full of hilarious jokes, great friendships and sometimes even some great lessons. I mean what more could you ask for in a 30 minute sitcom?

The main reason I’m taking this week to write about Scrubs because it has characters who are not just White in it. Minorities such as Blacks and Latinos are represented in a non-stereotypical way. One of the main characters, Turk is a Black man who is working at Sacred heart as a surgeon (SPOILER ALERT: he ends up marrying Carla who is Dominican).

Here’s how minorities were represented on television leading up to the Cosby era (when the Cosby show came out). They were either underrepresented or when they were represented, they were mocked or the laughable character on the television show. When the Cosby era came, minorities were represented, but still their characters were one dimensional. Then once the Cosby era was established, minorities began to be treated like White characters (Clark, 1969).

Since the Cosby show, who let’s face it set the precedent for the representation of minorities on television,  minorities are shown as upper class, being the comedic relief, being single (no family), and shown as the sidekick.

Scrubs Turk is best friends with J.D., who’s White. They are inseparable. And contrary to the typical stereotypes of Blacks, (SPOILER ALERT) Turk is the one who has his act together. He becomes a surgeon, has the same apartment for the whole series, marries Carla, and has children. Which is normally how we see Whites portrayed in television. J.D. on the other hand, becomes a doctor, jumps from apartment to apartment and couch to couch even ending up being ‘homeless’ for a while due to hard times, loses his license for a while (SPOILER ALERT) due to a D.U.I.,  does not have a steady girlfriend, does not end up getting married until the second to last season. So if anything, J.D. is the sidekick to Turk, because Turk has his life together more than J.D.

Showing all of Turks qualities in the show seems to explain how he has ‘made it’ in his life, he’s basically done everything by the book, despite the fact of him being Black. Enlightened Racism relieves viewers of the responsibility of inequalities and obscures the connection between race and class. Scrubs shows Turk with the qualities that most Whites have, which gives the viewer a break of seeing the minority character being shown as lesser than the majority characters. This may be a false sense of reality because the idea of enlightened racism and showing success of black characters in a television sitcom, infers to other blacks that they have failed because they may not be as successful (Jhally). It is a slippery slope, one where you are glad to finally see a black man who has a better life than his white best friend, but yet it still is sending the message of, 'if you do not have what Turk has, then you are not as successful as him'.

So here's my question to you, my readers: Will it ever be a positive thing for society to see a minority race 'make it' in a sitcom?