Fans defend Seinfeld against criticism that Jerry can't act, the characters are stupid losers, and the show is unwatchable, arguing the humor resonates because it reflects real petty behavior.
I know why I watch Seinfeld:
It makes me feel good. I watch it and realize, "Hey, there really are people that stupid and petty out there." This does wonders for my self-image when I'm feeling down.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I would tax Racquel Welch... and I have a feeling she'd tax me." -Monty Python's Flying Circus
I think that analyzing a sitcom is pretty pointless. It's a TV show for Christ's sake...
<<on 28 Apr 1994 07:24:53 GMT, Jerry Blanton wrote...>>
Analyzing almost anything is (1) an exercise for the mind, and (2) an exploration of ones attitudes and viewpoints, since most things in life can act as mirrors into our own perceptions and worldviews.
Of course, if you're not interested in exercising your mind or exploring yourself, then, yes, it would be pointless..
Very incisive Chris. You are absolutely right, I should spend more time analyzing TV sitcoms, infomercials and cartoons; truly an exercise for the mind and a true exploration of my attitudes and viewpoints!
Sorry Chris if I don't share your passion for dissecting mindless TV. This thread is very similar to one that I followed in alt.society.gen-x for a little while. Everyone analyzing TV shows and commercials - and then complaining that television has ruined their childhoods, blah, blah blah. Turn the damned thing off!
I like the tv show Seinfeld enough to have video tapes sent to me here in Japan. That is as far as it goes. Are these people real? Do they have bearing on my life? Does it change my perceptions of myself or give me valuable insights? I don't think it does... I'm all for self-exploration, I just believe that they call it the *idiot box* for good reason.
Cheers!
Jerry B.
<<on 2 May 1994 23:55:41 GMT, Jerry Blanton wrote...>>
Please don't put words in my mouth. There's a large gap between the willingness to view //all// of life critically and thoughtfully, and having a "passion for dissecting mindless TV." I don't waste my time on "mindless TV." (And SEINFELD, whatever my criticisms of it may be, is not mindless; it is generally quite clever.)
I agree; I never claimed it did. What I //did// claim was that the use of your mind can only improve it. Further, that anyones opinions about this, or anything, reveal more about the perceiver than the perceived.
In article [email] (Jerry
Now, let me see if I have this straight: you think that "dissecting . . . TV" is a waste of time, yet a) you read alt.TV.mad-about-you and/or alt.TV.seinfeld: groups whose sole purpose is the discussion of, not TV in general, but two specific TV shows; and b) you find it worth your while to enter into a meta-discussion on the merits of "dissecting . . . TV," even though you as much as admit, above, that it is a matter of taste whether one enjoys (read: believes to be worthwhile to oneself) it.
Now, if I have all this correct, well, then I just don't understand your motivations. Seems to me that your actions are a bit self-contradictory. Not that I'd ever consider telling you that your proclivities on such a harmless matter were somehow wrong; I just don't understand them.
-Gary
You kinda have me on this one...
I guess I am dissecting this thing which is mindless (I am doing it passion-lessly however so I score a consistency point there!) ;-)
However, my reasons for reading alt.tv.seifeld (I don't read a.tv.mad- about-you) are 1) I like reading the homebrew Seinfeld scripts, 2) like being able to ask questions about a line in a show that I missed or didn't hear properly, and 3) to be able to hang out with a swell group of folks. So really, discussions on whether George may or not be a homo-phobe or whether the characters are dysfunctional have never been of interest to me.
Of course, now I am analyzing why I read alt.tv.seinfeld which is throwing me ever closer to that spiral to infinity.
I'll stop now thank you.
Jerry B.
I'll join the chorous of those who point out how very narrow-minded this particular attitude is. The analysis of characters on television is no different from the analysis of characters in literature. While you may deem this equally pointless, there are scores of scholars who would disagree. Literary or television characters tell us a great deal about ourselves. If you identify with the character, the experience is all the richer.
Just because YOU don't understand something, Jerry B., doesn't make it necessarily "mindless."
Tracy
Who deemed analysis of characters in literature as pointless?? I was discussing analyzing sit-com characters and situations. I guess by your argument though, I can assume that you would include Harlequinn romances as literature and thus deemed worthy of analysis? I hear this is all the rage in scholarly circles.
huh?
Cheers!
Jerry B.
I would tend to agree with Chris's implied desire for self-exploration.
I have to add though, that when people are through, that they remember to wash their hands.
;-)
I think we covered this all before (and by the way, if you don't like the show, why subscribe to the newsgroup?) (1) Jerry can't act at all...can't keep a straight face... --> We always know when the good bits are coming then (2) Jerry is a moron... --> Ah, a personal attack on the man from someone who has met him. Thank you (3) They are all losers... --> Think about it, you do a lot of things that happen on that show. Does that make you a loser, Chris?
Nathan, I couldn't have said it better myself. Seinfeld makes me feel much better than watching a real "loser" show like Roseanne where everyone is depressed because they are middle class. Slightly more realistic plots than Family Matters, plus, Seinfeld contains no apoligies anywhere, I don't remember one of the Seinfeld gang "hurting the feelings of another" to the point they has to say they were sorry, each week on Seinfeld, I learn no lesson, learn no moral values, and don't learn that other people have feelings, I just laugh.
My grandmother says she doesn't understand what's so funny with "that Seinfeld guy", but she laughes at it when she watches it...
Andy
<snip>
But didn't someone just mention you can say something nice about a show without slamming another one?
If he plays himself, how can you say that he can't act?
<<on 2 May 1994 16:59:08 GMT, Thomas Skogestad wrote...>>
More or less the same reason actors require make to look "normal" in front of the camera: the camera changes things. People change when they get in front of the camera. It requires skill to appear "normal".
<<on Sat, 30 Apr 1994 08:05:46 GMT, ThwartedEfforts wrote...>>
I was rather startled by the rabid responses my //opinion// created! It never ceases to amaze the the number of people who just can't deal with someone else's opinion when that opinion doesn't agree with theirs.
My end of this is taking place in alt.tv.mad-about-you. Don't know quite how the thread got cross-posted. My original post was comparing the two shows, and I was pointing out the things that bother me about SEINFELD:
You're saying you need the funny bits telegraphed to you?
No. An opinion and evaluation of a //TV// character based on having watched him since the show started. And I stand by it.
I can assure you that I do not. That's part of my problem with the show; I //don't// indentify with the characters. I'd never dream of doing some of the things they do.
JB>It's a TV show for Christ's sake...
I dare you to say this is the Star Trek conference. :^) But I get your point. It's fun to critique, but not something to be taken dead seriously.
No, no, no!! I was NOT "Slamming" Seinfeld. I like it. I stated the reasons why I like it.
I watch it and see every week:
Jerry (or George or Elaine) involved in some dispute (over nothing, right?) over dry cleaning, or new glasses, etc. or a relationship. The entire dispute is blown out of proportion or the relationship goes down the drain because they are all so petty and shallow as to allow it to over an insignificant point. (The Pick? The Exclamation point? The Sniff? The Drake?)
Every time these idiots (That IS what they are!) get something good, they throw it away. And the funniest part is that the character who appears on the surface to be weird and awkward (Kramer) is really the most normal and well-adjusted of them all!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I would tax Racquel Welch... and I have a feeling she'd tax me." -Monty Python's Flying Circus