Seinfeld deals with race in a unique humorous manner. The writers of Seinfeld incorporate it into some of the episodes with a bit of humor. They emphasize the fact that many people really do stereotype different races, even if they mean no harm. In “The Wizard," Elaine thinks that the African masks hanging on her new boyfriend’s wall must mean that he is from an African American culture. She believes that he is partially black for most of the episode because he says that he is from South Africa. He also mentions that they are an interracial couple. Ironically, he thinks that Elaine is Hispanic because of her curly dark hair and the restaurants that she has been taking him to. Both of these assumptions they make about each other are based upon stereotypes.
Seinfeld seems to be pulling out the typical stereotypes that people associate with certain cultures. I don’t think there is anything wrong with the humor they are making. After all, the writers are making viewers aware of how it is very easy to stereotype certain cultures when a lot of the time the stereotypes are not even true. Both stereotypes that Elaine and her boyfriend made about each other were false. The underlying message of this episode is don’t judge someone or assume something about a person just because of their race. We are all unique and different and we should never judge anyone or assume anything about a person just because of stereotypes.
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