“White trash aesthetics” devoid of racism?
CVK
Brownstone Magazine, which bills itself as “NYU’s source for marginalized and minoritarian issues” has an interesting analysis of the show My Name is Earl. The sitcom simultaneously celebrates what writer Matt Buchanan calls “white trash aesthetics” while discarding the more offensive aspects of “white trash aesthetics,” namely, racism and homophobia. Is the show just trying to gloss over the issues? Or are they simply showcasing a realistic, 2006 version?
Earl is without a doubt white and trashy, though his ex-wife Joy — seemingly uprooted directly from an episode of Jerry Springer — one-ups his own lowbrow behavior… and Crab Man, who is the biological father of two demonic kids Earl has unquestioningly raised as his own. Earl has pledged paternal responsibility despite the fact that both he and Joy are white and the kids are obviously half black.
The show could take the easy way out and mercilessly mock its subjects and their worldview. Instead, it takes a non-judgmental point of view and avoids the most obviously negative view of white trash culture: its unflinching racism and homophobia. Earl is neither racist — though because his wife cheated on him for years with a black man the show ostensibly gives him the opportunity to be — nor virulently homophobic. While the main character is, admittedly, “perplexed” by homosexuality, the show’s humor does not harp on his inability to understand.
While some say that “My Name Is Earl” is merely copping out and avoiding thorny issues, the episode “White Lie Christmas” finally “wrassles” with the conundrum of interracial relationships by examining the jungle fever between two members of “Earl’s” supporting cast. Basically, Joy never told her parents she married Crab Man, fearful of her parents’ racial history, so Earl and Crab Man enact an exercise of classic sitcom switch-ups and barely avoided detections. And, in classic sitcom style, the gig is up at the end and the secret revealed. It turns out the apple does land close to the tree: Joy’s father also repeatedly cheated on his wife with a black woman, and the affair also produced a love child.
The commentary present here is somewhat complicated, but I think the ending — in which Earl’s illegitimate children open their Christmas presents in front of a unified, but oddly extended family — more or less sums up the show’s stance.
I’ve never actually watched this show (shocking, I know, considering how much TV I do watch 
) so if anyone has seen the show, and this episode in particular, I’d love to know what you all think of it.
Johnna wrote:
I really enjoy My Name Name is Earl. I think the reason for the lack of racism and homophobia is Earl’s general happy-go-lucky nature. The character takes things as they come, accepts people as they are, and doesn’t ever really get angry at anything or anybody. The entire premise of the show is that he is trying to atone for all the bad things that he’s done, so it would be out of character for him to display hatred toward anyone.
In the episode that featured a gay character, Earl is clearly uncomfortable with homosexuality. However, he has to deal with his discomfort in order to make up for a past wrong he committed against the gay man. Again, his desire to atone is the most important thing.
I like the way that the show handles race: it acknowledges race without making it a big deal. Some of the jokes are related to race, but the jokes aren’t insulting. For example, in the Christmas episode, the funniest part was a series of clips showing Joy’s dad kissing different black women, accompanied by the voice-over line “Joy’s father didn’t hate black people. The problem was that he loved them too much.”
Just one minor correction to the article: only one of Joy’s kids is fathered by Crab Man. The other one is by a white boyfriend she dated before she married Earl.
Posted 08 Mar 2006 at 7:02 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
I’ve seen about 1/2 of first season, and I have to say…
I like it. No one in the show is someone you’d want your kids to emulate. But Earl (and his brother and Latina girlfriend) is well-meaning even when he goes about things the wrong way.
The show plays w/ stereotypes without relying on them too heavily (the Latina girlfriend, yes, works at a motel… she’s also the smartest person on the show).
It’s also very Jason Lee (Clerks, Dogma, Chasing Amy) - you either love him or you hate him.
Posted 08 Mar 2006 at 7:26 pm ¶
mtevc wrote:
i love the show! it makes earl out to be basically good natured and makes fun of the stereotypes…white trash…gay…etc…in the end, earl ends up being very human…such as when he had to deal with the gay guy…he was weirding out about the homosexual thing…like the guy had cooties…it was so funny…but funny at earl, not the gay guy…the way it was written, you were made to understand that earl was being really weird…yet, he didn’t hate the guy…earl just couldn’t get his mind around it!…interesting and understated…but important nuance
the ex-wife loves the black guy, crab man (now her new husband), but nothing is really said about that…which is nice…but her other ignorant attributes always inevitably land her in trouble, which is fair
Posted 14 Mar 2006 at 8:51 am ¶