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Seinfeld
This is a reflective, funny account of one of the most popular TV sitcoms ever 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 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.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 22, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 26, 2026
Neat short study, especially good on the gender politics and implicitly, on why it is so much better than Curb your Enthusiasm.
February 21, 2012
What Flaubert and Jerry Seinfeld have in common, why the show has become a TV classic and what makes its jokes funny: the book tries to come up with answers to these questions and asks many more.
Not providing too much pop trivia, the author aims to analyse the show from the point of view of a British immigrant and a Cultural Studies Professor in the post-9/11 world. Of course, there's still place for lines that will never leave everyday conversations (not that there's anything wrong with that...).
Not providing too much pop trivia, the author aims to analyse the show from the point of view of a British immigrant and a Cultural Studies Professor in the post-9/11 world. Of course, there's still place for lines that will never leave everyday conversations (not that there's anything wrong with that...).
April 12, 2025
Not what I expected. Unfunny.
May 15, 2014
Quite thorough. I could have done without the once-per-chapter discussion of Freud (have we not disposed of his erroneous thinking yet?) but that's my only major complaint. I would have liked a touch more discussion of formal elements just because it is so lacking in critical discussions of TV, but that isn't really a negative point since this author's expertise seems to lie more in cultural depictions.
Its tone is amusingly British at times, in contrast to its very American subject matter. This is often a refreshingly different take on the subject, but also is a limitation as the author occasionally seems to lack a broad understanding of both the current and past landscape of American TV programming and the modern critical discussion of American TV.
Its tone is amusingly British at times, in contrast to its very American subject matter. This is often a refreshingly different take on the subject, but also is a limitation as the author occasionally seems to lack a broad understanding of both the current and past landscape of American TV programming and the modern critical discussion of American TV.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews