#8; The Name Game

In our society, racial stereotyping is dominant and SEINFELD illustrates its correlation with names in the episode “The Chinese Woman.”

In this episode, Jerry accidentally contacts a woman by the name of Donna Chang while trying to get in touch with George over the phone. Because of her last name, he assumes she is Chinese; Jerry has never dated a Chinese woman and so he proceeds to take her out. It turns out that Donna Chang is a blonde haired, blue eyed girl from Long Island; Jerry is extremely disappointed. Names are very important in our society, and we tend to rely on names as a “racial indicator.” As a society, we expect a last name to correlate with the race of a person and therefore we make assumptions about the person. This episode clearly illustrates this phenomenon.

Also in the episode, George’s mother, Estelle, comes into contact with Chang over the phone. Estelle takes advice from Chang simply because she thinks she is Chinese. When Estelle finds out Chang is not of Chinese descent she completely ignores the given advice. Here, SEINFELD illustrates how names can lead to racial stereotyping. Estelle takes Chang’s advice because the Chinese are stereotypically known for their wisdom.

In conclusion, SEINFELD illustrates the importance of names and its correlation with racial stereotyping and how in certain situations there can be no correlation between the two.