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Not Typical American Family

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Submitted By hckystar1317
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Brendan Lutz
Dr. Jakubiak
English 110
25 February 2011
Unit #2 Final Draft
Not the Typical American Family
Many of us love to just sit back and relax on weeknights, and just watch some TV. Popular shows of choice among families were sitcoms. These shows would portray different, unique types of families, and create their day to day lives into comedies. The types and class of families shown on sitcoms throughout the time of television has been widespread. Two shows in particular that I will discuss are “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, and “The George Lopez Show”.
Each show is based around one famous celebrity. “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” was centered around Will Smith, a famous rapper turned actor. “The George Lopez Show” was centered around George Lopez, a famous comedian. Each show was based around a specific ethnic group. “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” was solely around African Americans, and “The George Lopez Show” around Hispanic Americans. These sitcoms challenged the many sitcoms prior to its time, being about a family that was non-white. Skeptics felt these shows would not be popular due to the fact they do not appeal directly to the average American family. Skeptics were proven wrong, as each show ran for 6 seasons. “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “The George Lopez Show” both changed the perception of class and challenged the typical stereotypes that are normally associated with their respective race.
The idea for a new show that would premiere on NBC in 1990 would be based on the new rap sensation Will Smith. Producers loved Smith’s electric personality and comical demeanor. The show would have Will Smith playing as himself, a kid born and raised in West Philadelphia. Smith will be forced to move across the country into his wealthy Aunt and Uncle’s house. Mr. Banks is a judge, and Mrs. Banks is a college professor. The oldest daughter, Hillary, is portrayed as a spoiled brat, being able to get whatever she wants. Carlton is the nerd, being on the debate team, and getting excellent grades. What is different about this upper class family is they are all black. This show, however, was not the first of its kind. “The Cosby Show” of the 1980s was also a show about a wealthy African American family; however the families are portrayed differently. “The Cosby Show” family lived in a normal house and a normal neighborhood. The family never flaunted their wealth and gave their kids a normal lifestyle. However, the Banks family lived in a mansion and in a wealthy neighborhood in Bel-Air, often boasting of celebrity neighbors. Their children were put into private schools, and even had a butler for the family. What both these shows did was show a unique and different way to portray a black family. What many people do not realize, is there are more and more of these types of families. Since 1940, the amount of African Americans in high-end professions such as doctors, lawyers, and college professors has increased (Corrizzato). This means the number of wealthy African American families is only getting larger. To many people “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” may have been a show that changed their idea of what a rich family could be; not just a white family, but possibly a black family as well.
From the beginning of the show Will shows his roots and portrays the typical black stereotypes (Corrizzato). The interaction between Will and the rest of the Banks family is entertaining. All of the main characters on the show, excluding Will, do not mesh with the typical black stereotype, but with the rich, white upper class stereotype. Carlton and Will, who are similar in age, have been raised differently and is apparent early on. Throughout the show Will makes fun of Carlton for various reasons, one being the way he acts. Carlton’s interests include golf, doing well in school, tennis, and other activities that blacks are not known to be a part of. A general stereotype is that “African Americans and white people act in two distinctive social spheres” (Corrizzato). Carlton being from a rich family and going to private school is what sparked his interest in such “white” activities. In one episode, Will makes fun of Carlton by saying, “Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, me and Jazz are black, and but Carlton, what are you?” (Corrizzato). The family though understands their race and their roots. One episode Will tells Mr. Banks that he doesn’t know how life was growing up on the streets and be black, but he quickly reminds him that that is where he came from too. Another episode Carlton and Will are asked to drive one of the family friends’ Mercedes Benz home, and on the way they get pulled over and accused of robbery. After the police let them go, Will convinces Carlton that they were only arrested because they were black. This is the first moment Carlton fully understands that he is black, and no matter how he acts, that’s how he’ll always be.
The next show I will talk about is the “The George Lopez Show”. The show premiered in 2002 and about a middle class Hispanic family. The show is named for its star George Lopez. He is a famous stand-up comedian and one of the first of his kind, being Latino. He always jokes about his life growing and how difficult it was. Lopez wanted to create a sitcom about a Latino family. The only similar type of show ever to air was Freddie Prinze’s “Chico and the Man” (Markert). With celebrity Sandra Bullock as executive producer, the show was set for success. George Lopez plays as a factory manager for an airplane parts factory. He started working there out of high school, and eventually was promoted to manager. The show features many lower class Latinos that work at the factory with George. In many episodes, he sympathizes with them, knowing how their life is having worked the front line before. Many Hispanic youth do not strive for higher education and are willing to settle for low paying, low class jobs (Holley). This family, however, is portrayed as middle class, setting restrictions on what is being spent, but also live in a big house and drive an expensive car. Never before has a television show presented Latinos as middle class. When the cast had its reunion on “Lopez Tonight” Constance Marie (who stars as Angie on the show) said “There were no shows with brown people in them at all.” She later went on to say “Our show was the show that I wish when I was little I saw, and thought brown people are cool too!” (Lopez Tonight). What the show did was show that Latinos aren’t poor, unintelligent people that blend into the lower class, but can be a normal successful American family.
One of the things that made “The George Lopez Show” successful was the different type of humor used in the sitcom. Lopez was able to mesh his Latino comedy into the family setting. What makes him uniquely humorous are the many phrases and gestures he uses. He also uses “Mexican jokes (that) rely on the stereotype of unsophisticated immigrants who are basically lazy, reinforcing widely held stereotypes in the popular arena” (Markert). Along with his accent and many other Hispanic characters that occur along the time of the show, Lopez creates a Hispanic comedy that people of every race would find funny. The relationship on the show that is the most humorous would be the relationship between George and his mother. Their relationship on the show is the definition of a love-hate relationship. He will bash her about how terrible a mother she was, and she just insults George back in any way possible. However during the show when she gets in trouble, George is there to help her out. She represents the stereotypical Latino American, being loud, lazy, getting pregnant before graduating, etc. “The George Lopez Show” does show many Latinos as being successful, but also pokes fun at the stereotypes surrounding them.
Both “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “The George Lopez Show” brought a different spin to the typical American sitcom. “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” being about an upper class African American family, and “The George Lopez Show” being about a middle class Latino family. Both shows changed the perception of class that is normally associated with their race. The humor in both these shows allowed for Americans of all races to sit back and enjoy a show about one particular race. After watching each show, these same people forget the stereotypes that surround each different race, but enjoy it for being an entertaining show about an American family.

Works Cited
Corrizzato, Sara. "Undermining Traditional Black Stereotypes in “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” at Iperstoria." Iperstoria. 17 Dec. 2010. Web. 20 Feb. 2011. <http://www.iperstoria.it/?p=237>.
Holley, Lynn et al. "Youths of Mexican descent of the Southwest: exploring differences in ethnic labels."Children & Schools 31.1 (2009): 15-26. CINAHL with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 20 Feb. 2011.
Lopez Tonight. TBS. Los Angeles, California, 15 Dec. 2009. Television. Transcript.
Markert, John. ""The George Lopez Show": The Same Old Hispano?" ERIC – World’s Largest
Digital Library of Education Literature. May 2004. Web. 20 Feb. 2011. <http://www.eric.ed.gov/>.

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