Core Post #3: Why was The Real O'Neals even a Television show?

While reading the article by Esposito, there was a passage that I found intriguing with her analysis of Ugly Betty.  She states that “discursive constructions of race are always structured within particular historical, political and economic moments” (Esposito 525).  Granted her analysis is specifically Latinx representation, but I found it to be quite relevant to the specific episodes that we watched last week.  In addition, I couldn’t help while after viewing Black-ish and Fresh off the Boat the article by Lipstiz to be quite relevant.  This is because I found relevance of the characters dealing with negotiating their backgrounds in contemporary American society similar to the ethnic sitcoms that Lipsitz addresses during the 50’s and 60’s negotiating the transition of ethnic immigrant to consumerist American identity.  I view that the episodes that we watched last week were a combination of both articles, because they illustrated a specific epoch of racial discourse within American society.  Not only are Black and Asian-Americans still considered ‘other’ within the politics of racial difference rooted still in historical moments of present day, but the fact that within the narratives, they each negotiate their racial ‘otherness’ within the context of an American society is quite telling.  

I couldn’t help but think of another television series that I’ve still been confused as to why it was even created: The Real O’Neals.  The show is about an Irish catholic family where the parents are getting a divorce, the oldest son is an athlete who tells the family that he is anorexic, and the middle child, the other son, comes out to the family as gay (there are three children, the third one being a daughter).  Esposito discusses how the creation of ‘the other’ has been in comparison to whiteness.  This makes sense relating to the two episodes we viewed and what Lipstiz discusses with specific ethnic sitcoms.  However, when it comes to The Real O’Neals, I’m confused.  My confusion comes from the fact of what Diane Negra states as “Irishness is reliably, invariably, a form of whiteness” (Negra 1).  Being Irish is part of the norm.  One is not ‘other’ within the specific context of racial dynamics if Irishness is the dominant factor.  It’s not an anomaly anymore for Irish families to get divorced or to have a child come out as gay.  The show didn’t make any sense to me because, within the context of the historical moment, Irish people have nothing to negotiate.  As speaking from my own experience as someone with Irish ancestry, I’m specifically part of that whiteness dynamic.  I don’t need to negotiate anything when it comes to my ethnic background because I’m a White European American.  I couldn’t help but fin the show baffling and bizarre at the same time.  

Work Cited

Esposito, Jennifer. "What Does Race Have to Do with Ugly Betty?: An Analysis of Privilege and Postracial(?) Representations on a Television Sitcom." Television & New Media, vol. 10, no. 6, 2009, pp. 521-535.

Negra, Diane.  The Irish in Us: Irishness, Performativity, and Popular Culture.  Duke University Press, 2006.