Arrested Development and Philosophy_ They've Made a Huge Mistake - Kristopher G. Phillips [45]
Lucille is the worst of the group in this, as in other matters. She searches Lupe’s purse before Lupe can leave the house, asking, “Is this your onion?” Lucille also finds a ball of foil, and suspiciously questions Lupe as to its contents. When Lupe responds, “Nothing, it’s a ball of foil for my son,” Lucille allows her to go on her way. When Lucille goes to the Daytime Desi awards, she continuously asks the Hispanic guests/actors to get her a drink. Apparently, Lucille believes that Hispanics are naturally part of the service industry—that to be Hispanic is just to be someone who waits on whitey. She even says as much: “A room full of waiters, and nobody will take an order” (“Key Decisions”). We see this also as Lucille drives around the O.C. trying to find someone to unload her groceries for her, after finding out that Rosa is not “still alive” (“The One Where they Build a House”).
I wish things were better for Michael, but he doesn’t even recognize that the woman he inadvertently kidnaps is not Lupe. He sees a Mexican woman in what looks to be a service uniform, and simply assumes it’s Lupe. Is he so oblivious to Lupe that he’s never bothered to notice what she looks like? Does he think all Hispanics look the same? Even the best-intentioned of the Bluths, our hero Michael, falls into the trap of insisting on certain identities for those he meets.
Gob is the very definition of culturally insensitive. His notorious chicken impression (which gets him attacked in Mexico, first by the natives and later by Gene Parmesan), his repeated failure to understand the meaning of the word hermano, despite having taken four years of Spanish, and his insensitivity to Marta all display colossal misunderstandings of race and ethnicity.
What’s philosophically and ethically interesting, however, is not simply that the Bluths operate with stereotypes. It’s that the stereotypes are taken to be models for how people must behave. The Bluths want others to be their stereotypes, and they continuously attempt to make this happen. The Bluths seem hell-bent on making people live out their social identities, no matter how pure their intentions. The danger in this, of course, is that it can be stifling. We can be made to meet social expectations that we have no interest in meeting, or that make us deeply unhappy. The way others expect us to be, in other words, can actually prevent us from living a life that we regard as fulfilling. This is at the heart of the ethics of identity: because identity is a social phenomenon, it is something that can be forced on us by the world we live in. Identity, rather than expressing our values and commitments, can become another means of limiting freedom.
Stuff Whitey Isn’t Ready to Hear; African-Americany Might Not Be Ready, Either . . .
No discussion of identity in Arrested Development would be complete without consideration of Franklin, the two-time black puppet that Gob eagerly offends others with. (Franklin is “twice black” because of a laundry accident, followed by a re-dye.)
Franklin is both a stuffed stereotype and a surprisingly edifying puppet. There’s no better place to start than with the classic tune from Franklin Comes Alive:
Gob: It ain’t easy bein’ white.
Franklin: It ain’t easy bein’ brown.
Gob: All this pressure to be bright.
Franklin: I got children all over town.
This lovely song, a duet with Gob and Franklin, is full of error. The error is clear enough: Franklin’s very voice, provided by Gob, embodies this. On one hand, Franklin is ghettoized; on the other hand, Gob sings about how it’s difficult to live life as white. Surprisingly, besides the error of enforcing stereotypes, there’s also some understanding: identities exert pressure on us, particularly when