Schmidt Walks the Line

New Girl is a comedic television show that has gained much popularity since it aired in 2011. I myself am a huge fan of the upbeat and witty show. However, my amusement often ends with one of the main character Schmidt’s frequent stereotypical and offensive comments about race. Schmidt acts as the the egotistical, yet deep, deep down, loveable character on the show. However, his comments can be so ridiculously offensive that they are overlooked or even laughed at by viewers and dismissed as obviously derogatory and wrong. One example of this is in an episode called “Cabin.” Schmidt decides that because Winston, an African American character on the show, lives with three white people, that he isn’t able to be his “true self.” He proceeds to encourage Winston to engage in the behaviors of quote “members of his own kind.” He displays a multitude of stereotypes that he accepts about African Americans, all while appearing to viewers as humble and earnest.

Winston sarcastically tells Schmidt that the one thing he misses from his childhood is using crack cocaine around a “flaming trash can” with his mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and his cousin “Peanut,” while harmonizing “shoo-op.” Schmidt, not picking up on the intended sarcasm, doesn’t even stop to question this, and immediately asks how he can help Winston access cocaine so that he can feel himself again. For his own amusement, Winston plays it out to see how far Schmidt will go to get the cocaine, and is seen throughout laughing to himself at Schmidt’s extreme ignorance.




The other characters’ reactions to Schmidt’s comments seldom go further than rolling their eyes or shaking their heads, further normalizing his outrageous statements. This is hardly the only example of Schmidt’s comments. He also commonly expresses his beliefs on a main character Cece’s Indian ethnicity, referring to her as “brown skinned Cece” and frequently titling her family members and friends “Patel.”

The show’s satirical way of denouncing racial stereotypes may be interpreted as a progressive approach, but it is simultaneously perpetuating derogatory racial stereotypes. The racial implications are often justified by fans and in reviews of the show, as seen in Ross Bonaime’s review of the “Cabin” in Paste Magazine: “Schmidt walks an incredibly fine line between hilarious and borderline racist here, but at his core, Schmidt is just trying to do what is best for his friend.” This review falls back on the “harmless and ignorant” defense, arguing that Schmidt is only trying to help Winston. However, on a more serious note, Schmidt embodies a very real mindset that, unfortunately, still exists to some extent in the minds of people in America.