One of the most popular tv sitcoms ever broadcast, Seinfeld (1990-1998) was ostensibly a show "about nothing," with its creator Larry David decreeing that it should contain "no hugging, no learning." Nicholas Mirzoeff’s insightful and engaging study of the series argues that Seinfeld was very much about something, as Jerry Seinfeld and his friends Elaine, George and Kramer constantly seek to establish a set of rules for everyday life. In a series of thematic chapters, Mirzoeff explores Seinfeld’s obsession with "the rules" in the key areas of comedy itself, dating and relationships, Jewishness and how to be a New Yorker, wherever you happen to live.
Mirzoeff situates Seinfeld as an expression of Clinton-era America, from its consistently ironic take on social life and its fixation on how to describe it, to the changing culture of sexuality and ethnicity. In the spirit of Seinfeld itself, this is a reflective, funny and occasionally digressive account of what it is to watch television.
This is a reflective, funny account of one of the most popular TV sitcoms ever made: Seinfeld (1990-1998). Ostensibly a show "about nothing," its creator Larry David decreed that it should contain "no hugging, no learning." Nicholas Mirzoeff explores Seinfeld’s obsession with the rules of everyday life in the key areas of comedy itself: dating , relationships, Jewishness and how to be a New Yorker, wherever you happen to live. Mirzoeff situates Seinfeld as an expression of Clinton-era America, from its consistently ironic take on social life, to the changing culture of sexuality and ethnicity. This is a reflective, funny and occasionally digressive account of what it is to watch television.
