Media Culture: Curb Your Enthusiasm Is a Jewish Sitcom, Isn’t It?
Seinfeld, the popular television series, which aired on HBO in 1990s, depicted the life of Jewish people in America. In his book, “Coming Out Jewish”, Jon Stratton described the structure of the plot of a Jewish sitcom and pointed out the underlining context, on which the humor of a Jewish show is built. He used Seinfeld, a popular show from the 1990s as an example of the Jewish sitcom. However, the described model can be applied for researching the cultural aspects of other series as well. For instance, according to Stratton, Curb Your Enthusiasm, a succeeding show form the creators of Seinfeld, bears all the signs of a Jewish sitcom.
While the Jewish part of the American population represents a minor, but prominent part of the population, the representation of this ethnic group on television is not overwhelming, yet noticeable (Biale 112-132). Although it is still not clear, whether to classify Jewish people to belong to a separate race or an ethnicity, and how is the culture connected to religion, the Jewish population comprises a highly noticeable part of the American population (Stratton). According to Stratton, the ambiguity of the perception of the Jewish people in the society is reflected in the genre of a Jewish sitcom (Stratton).
For instance, Stratton implies that Jewish comedies tend to ridicule the struggle of the Jewish part of the society with the gentile people (Biale 112-132). In this case, the humor is based on introducing a character, which is called a schlemiel, who is depicted as clearly Jewish, who experiences difficulties integrating into the society due to some specific traits of behavior. In Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry’s character is clearly a schlemiel. Larry is portrayed as a person, who often becomes involved in embarrassing situations as a result of improper behavior or simply bad luck. The humor of Larry’s character is reflected in his communication style, which is closely connected to his Jewish origin. For example, Larry becomes confused when he does not know how much money he owes for the dinner, so he keeps putting money on the table, yet he complains about his share later on, after leaving the restaurant. As it is known, Jewish people are generally considered to be economical, if not scanty, which is ridiculed in the scene.
Another trait of Larry’s character, which is considered generally Jewish, is his impulsiveness. Larry’s character is constantly neurotic, which is thought to be stereotypical for Jewish people (Biale 112-132). Larry’s explosive behavior results in the negative reaction form the gentile society., such as in case with his wife, Cheryl, when she claims that she likes it better when Larry is calm, and not overly dramatic. This may be an implication of the negative perception of Jewish people by the society, which contributes to the ridicule of a Jewish sitcom.
As opposed to Larry’s character, another part of a Jewish sitcom (according to Stratton) is the presence of another character, a schlimazl (Stratton). …
