*Unfortunately, I cannot find either an online copy of the episode or a transcript, so forgive me if my retelling of the story is at all inaccurate.*
The twentieth episode of the fifth season of House, titled Simple Explanation, is centered around the death of Dr. Lawrence Kutner of Dr. House's diagnostic team. Though the death is ruled a suicide, and this explanation is accepted by most, it does not sit well with House. The episode continues with House trying to determine what caused Kutner's death, or why he committed suicide.
Eventually, House ends up at the home of Kutner's parents, along with Dr. Hadley (Thirteen) and Dr. Foreman. As Thirteen and Foreman try to express their sympathies, House is still in investigative mode, and as blunt and insensitive as ever. Here, we learn of Kutner's past, including how he came to be adopted by his parents. We learn that Kutner was born Lawrence Choudray and was adopted, by his white parents, at the age of six. He does not begin to refer to them as his parents until he is nine, and eventually decides to take on the name of his parents. The scene gets interesting as House suddenly begins to state that Kutner's suicide must have been due to some internal conflict regarding his race. House essentially implies that Kutner, being raised by white parents but recognizing his difference, felt a pain that he never allowed himself to express, until he ultimately took his own life.
House's sudden deduction brings about questions of interracial adoption and whether it could ever truly work. The idea that because Kutner was not of the same race as his parents he could not experience a proper family environment and a full life is clearly a troubling one. In a society in which ideas of family are so prevalent, especially ideas of the conventional family, this critique of Kutner's family is problematic. It is interesting to see how the episode handles this issue throughout.
House's racial deduction is immediately considered grossly inaccurate and unreasonable. House too seems to come to the conclusion that this deduction was incorrect, as, through pictures, he sees that Kutner was open about his difference and close to his parents. Yet, the reason for the suicide remains undetermined, and the thought still lingers: why did Kutner commit suicide? For the viewer, the questions move from the plot to the producers and writers of the show.
The producers seem to attempt to take the idea of racial struggle within interracial adoptive families and condemn it. Yet, why was suicide the chosen method for writing Kutner out of the show? Though it was necessary that he leave the cast, the producers chose a dramatic ending. In addition, they not only saw the issues that may come about with a suicide ending for Kutner, they gave the issue of race a significant amount of attention in the episode. It was not an idea that was quickly addressed and heavily dismissed. It was brought up by the most intelligent character of the show as a viable and logical conclusion for Kutner's suicide. And even though it was shown that, in Kutner's case, the conclusion did not fit, the episode did not fully communicate that such an idea was highly presumptuous and baseless in general. By making it a seemingly strong possibility, the producers essentially portrayed it as a strong possibility for interracial adoptive families in general. It the end, the way that the show addresses this issue is sloppy and incomplete, and does nothing but perpetuate the idea that interracial adoption has possibilities of devastating endings.
This episode definitely took on a difficult topic. Is interracial adoption a viable way to place adoptable children? Because most of the adoptions are by white families, does that mean that African, Hispanic, Asian children, etc., are being brought up in households that do not really understand their backgrounds?
ReplyDeleteI know a young woman who was adopted by a white family as a 2 year old. She is African-American and her biological family was not able to care for her at all. She is a happy person, though she has spent time tracing her roots for her own knowledge. Her adoptive parents supported her search, and she was able to turn up some distant cousins that she can now keep in touch with.
If she had not been adopted she probably would have been a foster child, and she breathes a sigh of relief every time she thinks about what could have been if her adoptive parents had not been willing to call her their daughter.
Adoptions of children of other races has been a factor in American life for many years, and in recent times the focus has been on Americans adopting children from China and the states of the former USSR. The fact that people who want children and can't have their own have to go to other countries to adopt is a sad comment on all the children in foster care who just need a stable home.
A really nuanced look at this very complicated episode. It is also interesting to think about media portrayals of suicide. I certainly do not have the answer as to why people do it, and it certainly is probably unique for every person. I do have a sense that people who are depressed map different issues onto their depression, and those issues might related to things in the culture (ie I don't meet the ideal standard of beauty/success, etc). Yet, when we speak about them, we act as if the issue itself always causes the depression.
ReplyDeleteI don't have the answer, but I would be interested in looking at media representations of suicide and comparing them with what work has been done in psychology.