It would be crazy to publish a blog about sitcoms with no mention of Seinfeld, the sitcom that changed the landscape of television comedy. You may like it or not, but Seinfeld and its characters became iconic in american pop culture. What makes Seinfeld so particular ?
There are many factors that brought Seinfeld to be one of the most popular shows on television. Jerry Seinfeld's stand-up was already very popular by the time the show premiered in 1989, but the approximately 23 minute episodes that aired every week made him one of the most beloved comedians of his time. He still is very popular.
The premise of the show is quite simplealthough maybe a little more complicated than most sitcoms. Jerry Seinfeld is an up-and-coming comedian in New York and he spends his time having chaotic conversations with his friend George, his ex-girlfriend Elaine and his neighbor Kramer. The storyline of each episode is written in a very traditional Sitcom way but is embellished by the characters surrounding Jerry.
No Touchy-Feely
Probably the first sitcom to take place in New York, Seinfeld is best described as "A show about nothing". What makes it "revolutionary" is the fact that there are absolutely no emotional touchy-feely moments that usually appear in Sitcoms. There are other shows that do the same but not that many ; the first one that comes to mind is It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (IASIP).
I believe that people who didn't watch or like sitcoms were attracted nonetheless to Seinfeld because it really broke the ordinary movement of trying to teach and represent outdated morals.
So no touchy-feely enabling the show to be completely free and focus on the jokes.
Enter Absurdity
I don't see any other show that operated the same absurd continuum, although many have since pushed the limits of reality to new extremes (Family Guy, 30 Rock,....).
By repeating certain words or word sequences several times, destroying any semantic value, George and Jerry manage to keep discussing chaos with empty words. This makes us continue watching for we are witnesses to the destruction of our own language. This is what I mean when I say absurd.
There other absurd elements. Jerry lacks any kind of feeling. He doesn't really care when a girl leaves him, and doesn't worry about hurting anybody. He actually just cares about his stand-up and being left alone. That is why, along the path of Jewish stereotypes that are a big part of the show, he is always bothered by his family and is very preoccupied when any member strolls in an episode.
Obviously, a whole part of the crazy absurd side of the sitcom is garantied by Cosmo Kramer, the neighbor, who is the only character to get any applause when entering for the first time in any episode. Odd person, always finding himself in the middle of some sort of uncontrollable mess, he is the comic-relief element of the show. He falls, moves very nervously, bumps himself on every wall, door,...
George is also a quite absurd character since he doesn't ever seem to get a break. His tantrums and rants are memorable but he is often the one that makes us laugh because of his suffering.
Elaine on the other hand is a little more "normal", actually quite close to Jerry in that way. She manages to give an image of women more in sync with the times than most sitcoms which have most of the time dated perceptions of women.
Special Case : Elaine BENES
Elaine depicts a closer image of what women in the 90's were moving towards. Topics such as birth-control ("Sponge-worthy") and masturbation ("I am King of my domain !") were finally making their way in everyday conversations and women were discussing them openly.
That is also a very important part of Seinfeld because the show wanted to be modern. Apartment life in New York, free and meaningless sex, and the ideal that we can laugh about anything. Although Jerry is just looking to sleep with the women he meets, degrading a bit the whole gender, Elaine is a counterweight character being a women with a strong personality and as many sexual conquests as Jerry. Also, both characters are evenly shallow.
The Disappearing Stand-Up
As the episodes go by, notice how each episode doesn't start with Jerry doing a bit on any everyday life phenomenon. Things have shifted :
Stand-up brought Jerry Seinfeld to television and as time went by, television took over the stand-up part of Jerry's life. When he went back to stand-up, people went to see him because they knew him but also because he had that show on TV.
So the show has really become about nothing since the stand-up career part has slowly disappeared. There had to be something to replace it and that was the Sitcom offer. Yet, the show is not autobiographical even though it does seem to reflect Jerry Seinfeld's career.
I still have so much to add on Seinfeld and will probably post other articles in the future. But for today, I shall stop here, awaiting your comments.
Thank you,
Comment, Share, Subscribe
TRJ
No comments:
Post a Comment