Abstract
This chapter analyzes the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, running from 1996 to 2005, and highlights the TV genre’s uncomfortable relationship with ethnicity. Despite focusing on an Italian-American family, the sitcom trivializes ethnicity as entertainment, and fails to interrogate crucial aspects of Italian-American history and culture. Only twice in the eight-year run of the show do the characters engage with their Italian heritage, and in both instances the ethnic portrayal lacks accuracy and is reduced to the exploitation of stereotypes and hackneyed images. As a result, the chapter concludes, meaningful engagement with issues pertinent to assimilation and adjustment to US society is not encouraged.
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Zangari, S.M. (2016). Everybody Loves Raymond and Sitcom’s Erasure of Difference. In: Arapoglou, E., Kalogeras, Y., Nyman, J. (eds) Racial and Ethnic Identities in the Media. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56834-2_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56834-2_11
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