Wednesday, March 21, 2007

The Seinfeld Community

I know that the content of Seinfeld is morally bankrupt. There are very few values that can be gleaned from the famous 1990's sitcom. Episodes routinely deal with pornography, phone sex, fornication, masturbation and the like. Surely there is nothing of worth here.
But let me begin by extolling the virtues of the writing on this program. Yes the content is disturbing, but the dialogue is unparalleled in television comedy. In fact, it was the writing that led Seinfeld to the cultural phenomen that it became, and remains. We have adopted so many 'seinfeldisms' into our everday speech that it boggles the mind; 'master of his domain,' 'yada, yada, yada,' 'not that there's anything wrong with that,' 'no soup for you,' 'close talker,' 'low talker,' and 'look to the cookie,' are just a few.
However, I believe that there are great lessons in Seinfeld Universe.
  • Love your neighbor. As much as Jerry is irritated by Kramer, he consistently goes to bat for him. Whenever there is a problem, Jerry can be counted on to help out. In fact, when pressed, Jerry would even help the dreaded (hated) Newman.
  • Build each other up. Although much of the idea behind Seinfeld is sarcastic and hateful, the four primary characters encourage, care for and advocate for one another.
  • Be creative. We usually see creativity at its best as Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer compete to come up with the biggest lie. But note that Kramer always has a great idea in the works. Jerry is constantly on the search for new material. And George invents ways to avoid work.
  • Community is powerful. Seinfeld is definitely set in Manhattan. It is a world away from what many of us think of as community. But Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer are a community. Together they survive relationship failures, moving, job losses and even a fiancee's death. They learned that together they can accomplish a lot.

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