Seinfeld's Democratic Vistas |
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| Authors: | Stephen Gencarella Olbrys |
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| Institution: | 1. solbrys@comm.umass.edu |
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| Abstract: | Academic appraisals of Seinfeld frequently criticize the series as apolitical or as advancing a nihilism that threatens contemporary American society. I counter that the show is better understood as a political satire that advances a robust democratic discourse predicated on inefficiency, leisure, and excessive talk. I argue that Seinfeld's discourse provides a vision of hope for democratic interaction predicated on the commonality of vices rather than a collapse into fascism or the disciplining of rhetoric by presumably higher moral standards. |
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| Keywords: | Seinfeld Democracy Rhetoric Political Cultures Political Styles Satire |
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