#8 A Trace Of Race

Seinfeld in the episode “The Wizard” uses several ways to highlight racial issues that affect American societies but with unexpected twists.

In one of the subplots, Jerry and George are trying to figure out if Elaine’s boy friend is “black” and the show is dominated by stereotypes that are synonymous with our perception of African Americans. For instance when Elaine goes to visit her boy friend the ubiquitous hip hop music associated with African Americans turns out to be neighbor’s music but amusingly when the boy friend bangs on the neighbors door he says “Yo yo turn down the music” expectedly in an African American style. Elaine’s suspicions are further proven when she notices African artifacts and masks adorning her boyfriends’ apartment walls.

The episode suggests people tend to assume traits and characteristics once they become associated with “other groups”. Elaine addresses the African American waitress as ‘sister’ and justifies herself by saying she has a black boy friend. This is when she finds out that her boy friend is not black and that he thought she was Hispanic because of her curly black hair and her last name “Benes”.

The episode brings out the stereotypical images of racism and the underlying knowledge that society believes it is wrong to indulge in any kind of ‘racism’ but cannot help itself.