Ambivalence in America

One of the nineties most popular shows, as well as one of its most provocative, was “Will and Grace.” Most people are generally familiar with the show, especially with one character, Jack McFarland. Jack is a gay man who all but defines superficiality. Most episodes consist of him waking up one day and deciding he wants to change his career or find a new boyfriend or start a new adventure. While he does end up with deeper character development, he generally can be found throughout the series creating grand schemes and becoming overly dramatic about particular issues that no one else shows any real interest in.

In one episode in season three entitled “My Uncle the Car,” Jack continues his search for his father. He gets a letter from his mother telling him “"Jack, I know this may come as a shock to you, but your father is a black boy. Gotta run. It's coconut shrimp night. Kisses, Mommy." After hearing this, Jack is instantly shocked. He immediately decides that he must “go out and find out what it means to be black like [him].”

The fact that Jack can say this sentence, shows that there is racial differences conveyed in America. Whether or not this is biologically true, it is clear that the general perception seems to be that there is some sort of difference between Whites and Blacks. In Entman and Rojecki’s discussion of race from their book “The Black Image in the White Mind” and Stuart Hall’s “The Whites of their Eyes,” it is clear that Americans tend to see differences between Blacks and Whites as a result of several influences, one of which is media.

Entman and Rojecki argue that there are several ways that people feel about race: comity, ambivalence, animosity, and racism; the majority of white Americans being ambivalent. The ambivalent perspective, according to Entman and Rokecki, means that “whies bring complicated combinations of assumptions, misinformation, emotional needs, experiences, and personality traits to their thinking about race” (21). In doing this, it creates confusion and dissonance in their perceptions of race in real life in relation to media. When asked about specific incidents and race, many of the whites interviewed had trouble stating bold generalizations because of conflicting viewpoints that were affecting their beliefs.

I found this section to be very interesting. I began thinking about the way I view race. Initially I immediately wanted to jump into the comity category where “a White person… believes it is not possible to generalize about African American individuals any more than Whites” (17). While the description goes on to explain that the comity end of the spectrum does not really see any difference between races in society, I feel like to be on the comity end of the spectrum is to deny that racism still does exist in this country. I think on an individual level, yes, it is very possible to not see a difference between the quality of a black person and a white person, but I think it is too much of a stretch to say that this can translate across the country. Then I began to look at the ambivalent perspective more. I feel like this perspective more closely relates to the status of American society. For every stereotype that someone can give me about a black person, I can find an example that breaks it. For every stereotypical white person someone can find, I can break it. I think that because of this, our society is at a loss for where to stand on race issues. While the media may be behind in portraying a broad range of roles for minority roles, society is advancing, slowly, to see that there are more roles than primetime sitcoms provide. While the media is pouring out stereotypes, our life experiences are pushing back with exceptions to the media’s powerful rule.


However, because the media has such power in our lives, the identities they show do have a surprising rule over our thoughts. Jack McFarland is a prime example of this. Jack’s character, throughout the episode, deals with his new identity. Throughout the episode he shows examples of what he thinks the black man must go through. Although nothing physically has changed, he believes that he now exudes blackness and his entire life has changed. Meant as a joke, Jack’s character uncovers what the media has been putting into society for years as to what a black man must go through. Because he is such a superficial character, he can show how much he does not really contemplate or reflect about what he really believes is his role as a black man. Instead, he, in my opinion, lives the life he thinks he’s supposed to lead “now that he’s black.” Considering there are no steady or consistent black actors on the show, it is obvious that he is not getting these ideas from real life examples. Instead, he is showing how the media can portray an image so strongly that it affects the perceptions and beliefs of the people who watch it.