Seinfeld

Can I say sigh of relief. I can honestly say I was nervous going into this project. I had very little time for extra projects and I had never seen Seinfeld before. Fortunately the other members of the group did a fantastic job communicating via email making sure everyone was informed as to what was going on. I have never been in a group project where all the members communicated so well online (since that was the easiest way to send out information). We had started communicating weeks before the project was due, setting up times to meet to have a group watch of the show. Sadly, I was unable to meet because my work schedule was right in the middle of everyone’s free time. So I watched as much as I could find online (which was no easy task, its as if they don’t want to let you watch the show). We all spent time researching into the deeper meaning of the episodes as well as dig deeper into the theory of the Barker book. We split the topics amongst the group to better lead our discussion in class. Sandy, Jackie and Patriccia did an outstanding job typing up our information and organizing it for everyone. Like I said earlier, this group did a wonderful job communicating and staying on task. I think the presentation went beautifully.

In class we discussed several episodes and their relevance to radical romance. Honestly, all the episodes in all the seasons were oozing with radical romance. It was difficult narrowing it down to just a few. I feel the episode “The Deal” was a great one to present because it dealt with two individuals who created a deal so they could have friendship and sex without effects. In no way does that depict ‘normal’ romance. And then we discussed whether Seinfeld was the “norm” or the “other”. I feel like they are both. At the time when the show aired, I think it would have been perceived as the “other”. The topics of the episodes were so radical that it was the first time sex was brought up in a television series. Seinfeld paved the way for other shows to discuss these new topics. That is why I feel that now the show would be perceived as the “norm”. Our society has become so numb to these topics that we think of it as normal everyday life. It is so interesting how television and mass media has influenced our way of thinking. Just a few years ago, talking about gay people on television was unheard of let along same gender kissing. Now its hard to find a show that doesn’t have individuals portraying themselves as being homosexual.