Posted on 06/27/2005 7:58:15 AM PDT by Kitten Festival
Seinfeld was a television marvel. Perhaps the most successful situation comedy series of all time, it ran from 1989 to 1998, and has become an omnipresent aspect of our lives as it continually runs in syndication and lives on in best-selling DVD box sets, making fortunes in the hundred millions for both of its co-creators.
But there is yet another facet of Seinfeld at which we can marvel: the cast of characters on the show weirdly foreshadowed the rise to prominence of a large component of the dominant urban liberal wing of the Democratic Party. With a nod to Brian Anderson’s South Park Conservatives and a quick glance backward at yesterday’s Matt Bai New York Times Magazine article King of the Hill Democrats, let us join the craze for television series politics, and call them Seinfeld Liberals.
Their emergence has not been beneficial for our nation.
Hollywood has long provided role models and templates for Americans – just as books and stories always have (Washington and the Cherry tree, Abe Lincoln studying by candle, the always-inventive Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison, the heroic obstinacy of U.S. Grant and George Patton).
In recent decades, a certain cynicism about the character of Americans seems to have taken hold, at least in the filmed and televised entertainment we see.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
My dogs are named George and Kramer.
Uh, no. Jerry qualified because he was "tall, single, and neat." But don't say that George or Kramer were "metrosexuals." They were New Yorkers. They were slobs. They had trouble growing up. They were also imaginary characters. It looks like the guy who wrote this wants to hang way way too much on a TV sitcom.
If you're upset by cultural stereotyping based on where people live, it cuts both ways. It's not just a matter of "them" making fun of "us." It also includes journalists scoring points against large parts of the country based on situation comedies. Love the show or hate it, it wasn't just fodder for journalistic hacks.
Kramer the character is in fact based on a real person named Kenny Kramer. He's not living in a cardboard box. Here's a link to the biography on his website:
You are so right. I still enjoy catching Jerry Stiller in "King of Queens", but his playing opposite Kramer will never be equaled.
KRAMER: Alright, come on Frank. It's your shot.
FRANK: (Complaining) I can't make anything..
KRAMER: (Like a professional) Well, that's because you don't know how to follow through correctly.
FRANK: Follow through? What do you mean?
KRAMER: Right here, come on, I'll show you.. (Gets behind Frank, holding the pool stick with him) Take hold of your stick.. alright, bring it back slowly..
(Estelle walks in with a tray of beverages and popcorn. Kramer and Frank continue the lesson in their underwear as she stares in disbelief)
FRANK: It's a little unnatural, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.
ESTELLE: Oh, my God!
"You MUST wear the ribbon if you are going to be in the AIDS walk."
"You know what you are? You're a ribbon bully!!!"
...the series featured a core cast of 4 characters: Elaine, George, Kramer and the eponymous Jerry Seinfeld. All were single New Yorkers with checkered job histories, who seemed incapable of developing lasting and caring relationships with others, either in their careers or their romantic lives. While different on the margins, they all shared certain attributes around which much of the humor of the show pivoted.They were, to use the term now in vogue, Metrosexuals.
This article is goofy for reasons other than your assumption that he was saying that Seinfeld viewers were liberals.
The Seinfeld characters were not only ammoral, they were immoral. The show reveled in it. That is the whole point of the final episode where there are thrown in jail for filming and laughing at a fat guy getting robbed instead of trying to help.
You'd have to be crazy (and maybe a liberal) to WANT to be like the Seinfeld characters.
That said, they weren't metrosexuals. That name is reserved for the friends on Friends. A show that all too many liberals DID want to live lives like.
I always thought Seinfeld was much tougher on libs than conservatives.
Post-moern cynicism died on 9/11 which is why some people returned to living in a 9/10 world. Dan Rather and David Letterman wanted to know if it was "okay" to laugh again.
> Character development has become even more shallow...
I tell ya, when I come home after a 12 hour day, all I want to do is drink 3 beers, watch 2 episodes of Hogan's Heroes and fall into bed.
The episode of Elaine's boyfriend who was a communicst was pretty good too, 'specially when she got him blacklisted at "Hop Sing's."
This thesis is poorly researched:
"Jerry was the only character who ever disclosed his religion: Jewish, revealed obliquely and late in the series."
George was also Jewish (although he tried to convert to an Orthadox faith for a woman).
Elaine's faith was disclosed, wasn't she brought up Catholic? Later her boyfriend (who was born again Christian) told her she was going to Hell because she didn't believe in God. He listened to a Christian music station and had a fish on the back of his car.
George's parents were also Jewish (and they threw a fit when they heard he was converting). Jerry's parents were also Jewish (although there were two actors who played his dad during the series). They got upset when they learned that Jerry made out with a girl during Schindler's List.
The cast even went to a circumcision.
He would have done better to write about Metrosexual Daily Show Democrats. They are smug, hypocrites, and they know it. "Love me, I'm a Liberal".
Its a TV show.
nothing more, nothing less
I'm a Conservative, and I love Seinfeld.
Jerry and the gang managed to offend every single group, cause and movement.
They were so self involved and narcissistic, they mocked everyone.
When they got their comeuppance in the last episode, most fans were not happy. I thought it was perfect.
Elaine loathed pro-lifers except when they are good looking.
"Not that there 's anything wrong with that"
"you are an anti-dentite"
"YADA YADA YADA"
Are all mockeries of political correctness.
Most of all, we loved the show because it made us laugh.
"Glad I read down a ways, that is EXACTLY what I was going to post. The marvel about the NY Mayor episode is that it aired like the day after the election. They must have made two episodes, one with Dinkins winning and another with G."
There were two different endings filmed. One with a Dinkins winner, the other with a Rudy winner. Thank God that one turned out right!
The author should have saved his disagreements for Festivus.
Funny, I read a book on the same subject by Art Vandalay.
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