i just realised that in Seinfeld, there are no big parts given to African American and only a very small amount of small parts given to them too. Does anyone know how many African American characters there has been on the show?
I am from France and what you hear about America is that Political Correctness is going on quite a lot, so that is why I found this very surprising. Has there been any complaints about this? (same question applies regarding the presence of only nice looking women)
All i can think of is: Morgan (The sugar-Ray look-alike) Carl (Jerry's exterminator) Joe Temple and family (family that George watched Breakfast at Tiffany's with) ...that's all i can think of..anyone else?
How about the man that's eating a black and white cookie in the bakery and he and Jerry acknowledge each other from across the room(I can't remember episode names, but it's the one where all four of our heroes are going to a party, but first Kramer and George have to buy wine and Jerry and Elaine have to buy bread (????I think????))
No wait, I think I'm getting the name Reggie from the other diner. Isn't it called Reggie's? Also, wasn't there an episode where Kramer was going out with a black lady, and right before meeting her family fell asleep in a tanning bed?
I know the producers of "Seinfeld" took some flack over this for several years. The fact alone that a near-complete list could probably be composed from memory by several alt.tv.seinfeld posters (myself included) is indicative of this apparent under-representation.
But before crying foul, I feel it should be taken into account that since the four main characters are white that it would be expected that their parents and relatives would be also, as well as the majority of the people that they date (although I think everybody dated a minority at one point, Kramer being the only one who dated an African-American). Outside of these (numerous) character roles, it may very well be that the remainder were observed with the same racial balance as truly exists in the U.S.
I think the most significant [recurring] roles given to African-Americans were those of George's Yankees co-worker Mr. Morgan, and Kramer's lawyer Jackie Chiles. Each appeared in about 5-6 episodes.
Yep, definitely suspicious - especially considering Jerry himself in one episode claimed that only a small fraction (5%?) of the population is attractive (contrary to Elaine's 25% estimate). I think most people will agree that the "Seinfeld" world is definitely oriented toward male-fantasy. Nevertheless, we love it anyway!
And yet Tucker Smallwood was the guy who drove the Mercedes George wanted to spit on in "The Parking Garage", he played one of the Tony award winners in "The Summer of George", and he was the photographer at the roast in "The Pen".
African Americans didn't get many big parts, but they got lots of small parts. It's funny how the show that seems to get slammed for not including many African American characters was also responsible for plenty of paychecks that were cashed by African American actors.
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I also forgot Jerry's real life friend, comedian Mario Joyner. I forget the episode.
Of course the show is based on Jerry's life and the fact is that he probably just didn't come in contact with as many African-Americans as other people might have (at least ones that did something stupid to have caused him to write about them.)
We were talking about this the other evening while watching some old tapes. Great minds think alike... :) What we said is it's odd that George has to struggle to find himself a black friend when he wants to prove to Mr. Morgan that he has one, when in the episode where Jerry's dad goes into business with Kramer (The Executive?) George obviously knows the guy who runs the big brother programme ("wouldn't you want to be a big brother to someone like me..." a truly under-rated ep) - ergo, he has a black friend already.
It's odd, Woody Allen has been criticised for this as well. My partner is black and he loves both. Great comedy doesn't recognise these 'barriers'
On A&E's Biography, they commented on this saying that real-life Jerry did have a lot of African-American friends, as opposed to TV Jerry. One of them that he used to hang around with a lot was fellow comedian George Witherspoon, who claims to be the inspiration for George Costanza.
Hey you folks forgot about the marathon runner that tried to get some
sleep at Jerry's cause Kramer's hot tub rig was too loud! Jerry was
supposed to wake him up but Kramer's hot tube rig caused a power failure
in the bulding! He was Nigerian or from Trinidad en Tebago I believe ,
maybe not African American but to the point! Just before winning the race
he accidently takes a cup of scorching HOT COFFEE from Kramer ....it
ended there I believe! same episode as the flaky wakeup service guy
right? I honestly think this thread proves that under-representation
about blacks WRONG! The Jackie Chiles character was one of the most
memorable in my book and one of the funniest! As far as political
correctness your question should also apply to Asians, Hispanics, Whites,
Jews, Catholics Native Americans, Muslims, people of all shapes and sizes
and colors right? Seinfeld represented all and to what extent. ? It
shouldn't matter! If you think about it there was atleast one character
that was a descendent of every major Asian country.... China, India,
Japan, Korea, Philippines(let's post em)....even a reference to a Hawaiin
guy..... Geuss which epispode ........probably easy for most of you but
my favorite episode was this one!!!
I don't know about that. What about the frequent appearances of lawyer
Jackie Chiles (played by actor Phil Morris)? He was a key figure in a number of
episodes including the finale. He is also the one and only character from the
show who is going to be given his own half-hour sitcom produced by Castle Rock
with Jerry's cooperation, probably for the fall 2000 season on NBC.
I'd say being a key secondary character and getting your own spinoff show
constitutes a pretty big part. I'm sure Phil Morris thinks so, anyway...