Larry David and "The Blacks"

In Larry David's sitcom, Curb Your Enthusiasm, his grumpy and pessimistic character deals with the nuances of modern social interactions. In one story line of the television show, a family who lost their home to hurricane Katrina comes to live with Larry in his California mansion. This charitable situation leads to many conversations about race and culture in the David home. Larry David wittingly constructs race as an indicator of certain innocuous traits, but unconsciously associates the black characters on his show with several prevalent stereotypes.

Larry David construes race as a generally superficial element of modern social interactions. When Larry comes home and notices the thermostat's reading is above eighty degrees, for example, the black man living with him remarks, "Us black people like it hot!" This assertion, although innocuous, generalizes people based solely on the color of their skin. In another comedic instance involving race, Larry marries the young African American woman who had been living with him. Besides the obvious stereotypes associated with rich white men taking advantage of young women, the marriage leads to many remarks about Larry's integration into the African American community. This concept of distinct communities based on skin color perpetuates the social construct of race.

In less innocuous ways, Curb Your Enthusiasm associates several black characters with harmful stereotypes. The young black man who comes to live with Larry, for example, embodies many of the characteristics of the "Jim Crow" stereotype. Happy and carefree, the young man fails to get a job and seems to be content with living in a state of childlike dependence on Larry David. The older woman who comes to live with Larry also seems to embody the "Mammy" stereotype. Beyond her physical resemblance to the stereotypical depiction of "Mammy," the character is seen as a happy and grateful dependent. She cares for the younger children while expressing no independent ambitions or personality.

Despite these dangerous stereotypical associations, one might conclude that Larry David ultimately does more to undo the social construct of race than to reinforce it. His portrayal of racial stereotypes is exaggerated and conscious, and there exists no underlying sentiment of racial inferiority. In fact, like in much of the show, the supporting roles of the African American characters prove far more virtuous than Larry David himself. Perhaps most important of all, however, is Larry David's consistency in social ineptitude. His character does not change in interacting with people of color and his actions towards them reflect his general lack of compassion and sympathy. Larry David's apathy is colorblind, and he thereby shows that in his eyes we are all the same.