Love Thy Neighbour

Love Thy Neighbour- Race and Ethnicity




Race is presented to the audience in many different ways in Love Thy Neighbour. From the start the behavioural of the white characters is that they see themselves as a high status and highly educated. One way this is portrayed is through the clothing they are wearing as he is wearing a well fitted suit, and the woman is in a matching two piece and is seen knitting.

Furthermore, racial discrimination is portrayed in this episode when the white man has returned from shaking the hand of a potential prime minister and the black man shakes his hand. The reaction of the the black man's actions from the white man is "you have contaminated my hand" this suggests that the white man see's the black man as dirty, almost like a germ. The thoughtful and welcoming actions from the black man were criticised by the white man, this shows racial prejudice. Racial comments are repeated during this episode, for example, when the white man says to his wife, "you may need to buy monkey nuts" and "descended from the jungle" when talking about the evolution of "black" people. This presents the white race as people who feel they are more superior and special than black people. Additionally, this idea is portrayed also through the comments from the white man when he questions how the black man feels wearing a suit. This suggests that white people thought that they were only at a high class and therefore only they could wear suits and be presented smartly.

However, the black man does not challenge the racial comments. He confronts the white man and explains how he is not surprised by the white mans opinions on black people because he is "conditioned by society" to support the discrimination of black people. This allows the audience to understand that black people during 1970's were seen by outcasts by white people.

Overall, the ideology from this programme is that white people were the "norm" of society, whereas the black people were discriminated against, and were not treated the same way white people were during this time. This is presented also when the black man tries to emphasise to the white man the discrimination of black people when he challenges him to a bet that they will not serve him at a pub due to his skin colour. This programme allows the audience to become aware of the differences of treatment between black and white people during the 1970's. This episode makes us sympathise with the black character as he was only trying to be nice from the start, however, because of his skin colour he is not accepted in everyday society.