Seinfeld Continues to Influence American Culture

Seinfeld, the 'show about nothing' was and still is one of the most important and influential shows on our culture. Although it has been off the air for seven years, reruns of the show continue to reaffirm Seinfeld's influence on the American way of life.

One of the reasons this sitcom has had such a vast effect on American culture, is that it uses the mundane real life as a basis for far out comedy. It is a show that simply makes you think while gasping for air.

The genius of Seinfeld is how much of real life it incorporates into the theme of the show. Everything as complicated as the good samaritain laws to simple things such as accepting a pen as a gift. The show presents issues and social commentary through out the show but as a part of the character's lives.

For example in the episode "The Subway" Elaine is going to a lesbian wedding. This highly controversial and ahead of it's time (1993) episode does not attempt to water down the idea of the lesbian wedding, nor does it throw it in your face. It's just there, as if it was an everyday part of life.

Their is a terrific moment, when a woman who speaks to Elaine say that she's never talked to anyone on the subway for 35 years and "when I finally do it's the best man in a Lesbian wedding." The woman's shock and disgust at the concept versus Elaine's nonchalant attitude about being part of this wedding, truly presents both sides of the way people feel on this issue.

Another example of this is the episode "The Note" which brings up the paranoia of parents as an issue. Jerry tells his physical therapist about a kidnapping in Pennsylvania during small talk and she gets the impression that he might kidnap her son.

Later after getting a doctor to write out false notes for Jerry, George and Elaine the doctor is under investigation and has to try and convince the same physical therapist to go along with their story in order to keep the doctor out of trouble. This episode really captured the essence of how over protective parents can misinterpret people and perceive them as a threat.

Seinfeld also added phrases, words, and ideas to the american way of life. Often people will use terminology such as "re-gifted" (meaning to re-give a gift you have received) or "yada, yada, yada" (which is a nonsensical phrase that takes the place of the major details of a story so that the story is shorter and to the point) which are both directly from Seinfeld.

A great example of Seinfeld influencing american culture is its effect on the rebirth of the PEZ candy and candy dispenser after the episode "The Pez" aired. Pez sales soared after a tweety bird Pez dispenser was prominently featured in the episode.

Today it is still a widely watched program in syndication. Several currently air reruns on weeknights, while the first few seasons are being distributed on DVD. The reruns on T.V. have been on the air for most of the past seven years, much like The Simpsons before it and no Sex in the City after it. This only adds to the fact that Seinfeld is still one of the major influences on American culture.