Personal Narrative- A Seinfeld Addict's Dream Come True
My heart ached. As constant as the waves of the sea slap the rocks, so the emptiness lurked. The icy hand of desperation wrapped me up and constricted. I was suffocating in that dismal abyss of loathsome sitcoms. I lamented but nobody heard, my pain had no companions.
"No! Why? Why? Why?" I cried. I dropped down on my knees and flailed my arms wildly. My lamentation sliced through the air like a blade through butter. "Worry not Michael, there is counseling available." my mom replied. "This is way beyond counseling mother!" I retorted. "Don't you realize that Seinfeld is going of the air? Seinfeld isn't coming back, and there's nothing anyone can do."
Mom tried to soothe me. "There's always other shows, maybe Veronica's Closet would appeal to you."
"Veronica's Closet! Veronica's Closet! I would rather be crushed in the gears of a combine than spend thirty minutes of my life viewing that sorry sitcom." I huffed. "There will never be another show like Seinfeld." I stomped off to wallow in my own self pity like a pig in warm mud.
There was no sleep in store for me that night. I was tormented by my own demons. I was agonized by the thought of blank Thursdays. Discomfort held hands with the black of night, and the black of night greeted me with a sour embrace.
The next morning, it was such a strenuous struggle to rise from my bed, I could have sworn I had been lying in quicksand all night. Walking in school was like swimming in a thick marsh. I had nothing to look forward to. Thursdays used to be the greatest day of the week, but now, all Thursdays held was gloom. That day, all I knew was despair, and it smothered me. This went on until I met up with a friend o...
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...h each sinister laugh. As quickly as Jerry had appeared, he had vanished. He was gone. He left us locked in here for the rest of our lives.
"That was odd." Jesse stated firmly.
"Well, at least we still hold the uncut and unedited Seinfeld episodes." Ben pointed out.
"Boy am I glad at least for that." I told them. "Though most would consider this situation rather bleak and dismal, I see it as a blessing."
"On what grounds do you say that?" inquired Jesse. "It seems Mr. Seinfeld neglected to take his VCR along with him. Throw in a video Ben!" I proclaimed excitedly. "As long as the VCR is functional, and we can watch these episodes, we'll be okay." With that, our quest had concluded. Jesse, Ben, and I lived happily ever after in Jerry Seinfeld's apartment on the arcane island of Duergar. Gloomy Thursdays are nevermore. May the Seinfeld dream live forever.
Roseanne was a hit sitcom that debuted in the late 80s and continued into the late 90s. It was one of the most watched shows of its time despite the controversy that surrounded it. The series still airs on popular television networks today but, because it functionally paved the way, it is not considered questionable in today’s society. Although the show had its share of controversial issues and what was then thought to be “inappropriate” dialogue, the America population continued to tune-in to Roseanne and empathized with the weekly problems the Conner’s would face. The show depicted life much like people actually experienced it (and still do) and therefore captured the hearts of America, which translated to a better acceptance of the material folks found inappropriate or unacceptable. Over time, as people were more often exposed to the matters that Roseanne felt were pertinent, the disputes became fewer and the issues surrounding them became irrelevant. Dealing with issues such as sex, homosexuality, and a not so functional family, Roseanne proved to be very functional to society as a whole.
Theodore Roosevelt may be one of the more notable personalities which have graced the oval office since 1789. Roosevelt’s disposition has been characterized as daring, brash, and ambitious. This image has been molded by stories and events throughout his life, which range from expeditions through the Amazon to giving a speech soon after being shot in the torso. (Andrews)
Teddy Roosevelt was Vice President of the United States when President McKinley was assassinated in 1901, leaving Roosevelt as the youngest U.S. President ever. Politically it was a time of progressivism and change, but like all past affairs, things can get lost or interpreted differently by different people. It’s not just about Roosevelt, it 's about the people responsible for shaping America during the time of his presidency. This is evident in the two excerpts, “Prosperity” by Nell Irvin Painter in her political history Standing at Armageddon and Kolko’s “Roosevelt as Reformer”, from his political history Triumph of Conservatism. Although they are both political histories of the time during Roosevelt’s presidency, they have sharply contrasting components, such as a use of
The Paul Reiser Show was a degraded version of a famous comedy show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, aired from 2000 to 2011 (“Curb”). A writer of this sitcom, Larry David, was successful to create unique characters and scenario which convinced and entertained audiences. Also, audiences felt sympathy with his story. Even though “Curb” is a comedy show, he still kept in his mind awkward circumstances of America due to the Great Depression in 2011. Unlike David, Reiser's scenario was callousness about an environment of America at that time. Reiser was a rich man, and he already retired his job. He just would like his son to be proud of him, so Reiser begun to make The Paul Reiser Show. Audiences could not feel sympathy with his happy and insensitive jokes (Tucker). In this research, I felt that Reiser created this show with his narrow view of the world. There are not many people who are wealthy successful like him, so his act and scenario in The Paul Reiser Show especially aroused audience’s antipathy. This is a most convincing reason why Reiser's show failed to survive on a
Seinfeld’s catch was that it was “a show about nothing.” But the only real truth in that statement was that it was a show about nothing in particular; it was a situation comedy without a specific situation. What made the show unique and revolutionary was that it focused on the lives of four adults who were anything but what television and society itself had taught us to expect adults to be. Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer resembled more closely four children who never grew up, or never learned what it meant to be an adult. By the age of 40, none of them had spouses, children, or serious careers (I say ‘serious’ because Jerry did have a career, but it was very non-traditional—he was a standup comedian). Yet it can’t be said that they were unfulfilled or less happy in their situations.
When Hades kidnaps Persephone, Demeter goes down to the Earth, disguised as an old woman. She is taken in by a woman named Metaneira. She decides to make Metaneira’s son immortal, in exchange for the construction of a temple. Demeter sits in a temple as the Earth freezes, threatening mankind’s extinction. Zeus sends Hermes to the Underworld and orders Hades to send Persephone back. However, Hades gives Persephone a pomegranate seed, which forces Persephone to return to Hades for four months of every year. During these four months, Demeter grieves and the Earth goes through winter.
For a large part of the history of TV sitcoms women have been portrayed as mothers or as having to fulfill the woman's role in the private sphere. Family based sitcoms were one of the forms of sitcom that keep women in these roles, but what is interesting is that even in other forms of sitcoms women do not truly escape these roles. Sitcoms, like Sex and the City and Murphy Brown showcase women whom have seemingly escaped these roles, by showing liberated women, but that does not mean that both do not fall into the gender role showcased in family sitcoms. It draws the similarities between ensemble sitcoms and family sitcoms when it comes down to the role of women. The starring women in both Sex and the City and Murphy Brown, and even the Mary
Willa Paskin quickly makes it apparent that she doesn’t see the show as funny. Paskin puts it very well, “It could not be more current, except for one thing – and this is some weapon’s grade sitcom sacrilege – it’s not that funny” (Paskin). She goes on to explain how Mary Tyler Moore and her character Mary Richards is a kind of woman that you rarely see on sitcoms anymore. Women and men in today’s sitcoms rely more and more on over exaggerated and profound flaws (Paskin).
Popular culture is the artistic and creative expression in entertainment and style that appeals to society as whole. It includes music, film, sports, painting, sculpture, and even photography. It can be diffused in many ways, but one of the most powerful and effective ways to address society is through film and television. Broadcasting, radio and television are the primary means by which information and entertainment are delivered to the public in virtually every nation around the world, and they have become a crucial instrument of modern social and political organization. Most of today’s television programming genres are derived from earlier media such as stage, cinema and radio. In the area of comedy, sitcoms have proven the most durable and popular of American broadcasting genres. The sitcom’s success depends on the audience’s familiarity with the habitual characters and the situations
In the myth “Demeter and Persephone”, Zeus decided that Persephone would spend half months with her husband in Hades and half months with her mother on Olympus. This alternative pleased none of the two opponents, nevertheless that had no other option but accept it. The lovely Persephone turned into the legitimate wife of Hades and Queen of the Underworld. Amid the six months that Persephone spent in the Underworld, her mom was sad and not in the state of mind to manage harvest. In this manner she would leave the Earth to decline. As indicated by the ancient Greeks, these were the months of Autumn and Winter, when the land is not fruitful and does not give crops. At whatever point Persephone went to Olympus to live with her mom, Demeter would
Since television came into existence, it has evolved into a useful tool to spread ideas, both social and political, and has had a great effect on the generations growing up with these heavily influential shows. To these younger generations, television has taken the role of a teacher, with the task of creating a social construction by which many of us base our personal beliefs and judgments on. This power allows television shows take the opportunity to address problems in a manner that many audiences can take to heart. Many television shows present controversial topics in a comical matter, in some ways to soften the blow of hard-hitting reality at the same time bringing attention to the issue being addressed. In the television show, Everybody Hates Chris, season one, episode four entitled “Everybody Hates Sausage”, the stereotypes that continue to fuel racism are examined in a satirical motif, and class is presented in a comical way, but carries serious undertones which present a somewhat realistic view of the different social strata within the United States.
This essay will examine my thoughts and those of David Sterrit on the critically acclaimed television show The Honeymooners. First, I will talk about the Honeymooners and it’s setting in postwar America. Secondly, the social and cultural issues the series portrayed. Next, would be the psychological perspective and the aesthetics of the show. Finally, the essay would conclude with my thoughts on how the Honeymooners were impacted by these aspects, but also how the show managed to leave a legacy in television today.
The average America watches more than 150 hours of television every month, or about five hours each day (“Americans,” 2009). Of the 25 top-rated shows for the week of February 8-14, 2010, six were sitcoms, averaging 5.84 million live viewers each (Seidman, 2010), to say nothing for the millions more who watched later on the Internet or their Digital Video Recorders. The modern sitcom is an undeniable force in America, and its influence extends beyond giving viewers new jokes to repeat at the water cooler the next day: whether Americans realize it or not, the media continues to socialize them, even as adults. It may appear at first glance that sitcoms are a relatively benign force in entertainment. However, the modern sitcom is more than just a compilation of one-liners and running gags. It is an agent of gender socialization, reinforcing age-old stereotypes and sending concrete messages about how, and who, to be. While in reality, people of both sexes have myriad personality traits that do not fall neatly along gender lines, the sitcom spurns this diversity in favor of representing the same characters again and again: sex-crazed, domestically incompetent single men enjoying their lives as wild bachelors, and neurotic, lonely, and insecure single women pining desperately to settle down with Prince Charming and have babies. Sitcoms reinforce our ideas about what it is “normal” to be, and perhaps more importantly feed us inaccurate ideas about the opposite sex: that women are marriage-crazed, high-maintenance, and obsessed with the ticking of their biological clocks, while men are hapless sex addicts whose motives can’t be trusted. The way that singles are portrayed in sitcoms is harmful to viewers’ understanding of themselves...
It was a gloomy Tuesday despite the fact that it was late August. I had missed the first day of school because I always hated the idea of introductions and forced social situations during those times. I hated my particular school ever since I started as a freshman the