Seinfeld and Nietzsche (Not that There's Anything Wrong with That)

Philosophy and comedy are irrevocably intertwined. The work of Woody Allen parallels philosophers from Plato to Sartre, and emerges with its own unique take on Allen's existential angst. Steve Martin began his stand-up career studying philosophy, deliberately manipulating logic and non sequitur to build a joke as a philosopher might craft an argument. Comedy is riddled with philosophic undertones, whether they come in the form of Homer Simpson or Bill Hicks, Monty Python or South Park. The message: philosophy holds a key to humor.

It is no surprise, then, that perhaps the most successful comedy of modern time operates in line with a major and influential philosophy. The self-professed "show about nothing," Seinfeld was both critically and commercially revered. Running for nine seasons, it towered over its comedic peers in ratings, introduced numerous catchphrases and running jokes into the popular lexicon, and continues to be seen through syndication even a decade after its cancellation. Seinfeld has become a cultural landmark, introducing key aspects of the postmodern nihilist man to millions of viewers.

The whole reason you watch a TV show is because it ends. If I wanted a long, boring story with no point to it, I've got my life. - Jerry Seinfeld

Friedrich Nietzsche, the nineteenth-century German philosopher most often associated with nihilism, described the belief in "life with no point" as an inevitable crisis of humanity. For Nietzsche, the nihilist is one who views the world and its values as how it "ought not to be," yet judges the world "as it ought to be" as one that cannot truly exist. In Nietzsche's argument for the coming nihilist transformation, humanity determines that only the absolute values of a higher power hold legitimacy-an idea religion has worked to ingrain in society for millennia. Yet, as the skeptical man ultimately rejects the idea of a higher authority (as represented in Nietzsche's famous statement "God is dead"), our traditional understanding of the source of values is not similarly rejected. Though society rejects the teachings of the church as artificial and illegitimate, they simultaneously conclude that no system of values can be resolved through human reason alone; a valueless "void" is formed.

This void is the seed of nihilism: all values are discovered to be baseless; questions of ultimate meaning are discarded as futile frustrations; sense of purpose and worth is lost; and society will lurch "restlessly, violently, headlong" towards chaos and destruction. Nietzsche described one possible outcome of this crisis as the creation of the "Last Man," a weak-spirited and apathetic creature who holds an unquestioning worldview, whose core passions run low, and whose primary interest in life is the dull comfort and security brought about through the price of complete mediocrity. It is within this context that Seinfeld takes place.

"Do you have any conceivable reason for even getting up in the morning?"

"I like to get the Daily News." - Cosmo Kramer and George Costanza

The "show about nothing" operates in a world of nothingness. Seinfeld's characters have long given up the search for ultimate meaning-assuming they had ever begun it in the first place. Each character at one point or another demonstrates a lack of deep-seated value, meaning, and purpose in their lives, both through their actions and through their tacit approval of the actions occurring around them. In the vacuum created by this lack of core conviction and moral curiosity, the comedy of Seinfeld begins to bloom.

The nihilist sandbox offers ample opportunity for humor and absurdity to emerge. The characters of Seinfeld exist in an unquestioning state of perpetual adolescence, interested in maintaining the carefree comfort of childhood and pure individuality while indulging in the privileges of adulthood: Jerry's love life is complicated by the "unfortunate position of having to consider other people's feelings," and George's idea of holding a job involves doing as little work as possible while trying to manipulate his way into good fortune. While these qualities make for good comedy, they are also indicative of a world in which self-reflection and ethical considerations are held at a minimum. As predicted by Nietzsche, the characters find traditional foundations of society increasingly irrelevant: in "The Kiss Hello," one of Jerry's greatest anxieties surfaces when Kramer posts his name and picture in the lobby of their apartment-Jerry finds the resulting friendliness and familiarity from the other tenants extremely disturbing. The characters of Seinfeld are uninterested in confronting questions of right and wrong: when the gang parks in a handicapped spot and causes injury to a disabled woman ("The Handicap Spot"), their primary concern is avoiding responsibility. At no point do they express regret at their choice, use the opportunity to engage in didactic exposition, or even discuss their original decision to park in the spot. What in real life might be considered tragic is in the world of Seinfeld just one of many events, with no intrinsic meaning or value to be gleaned from its occurrence. Tragedy is comedy and, in the end, viewed through a lens that reduces such an event to a level of pointlessness equal to all others. Why spend time questioning that which is pointless? "The aim is lacking, and 'why' finds no answer."

What is love? What is creation? What is longing? What is a star?' thus asks the last man, and blinks. - Friedrich Nietzsche

"Ought" is never a matter of earnest discussion in Seinfeld: there are no major arguments, no major conflicts, and no enduring differences of opinion. In fact, there is hardly discussion of opinion at all. The characters in Seinfeld embody key aspects of Nietzsche's Last Man: they are superficial, unquestioning, petty, shallow and content. Instead of being guided by the question of values or through the meaningful self-reflection of their actions, the only factor restricting the cast of Seinfeld is an interest in adhering to social trappings, presumably as part of their enduring attempt to lead a comfortable life. This utter lack of sentiment and reflection is deliberate: "no hugs, no learning" was the edict given for all

Seinfeld writers to follow. The Last Man does not question and the Last Man does not learn-he is simply content to continue living in comfort as he always has.

"You're wasting your life."

" I am not. What you call wasting, I call living. I'm living my life."

- Cosmo Kramer and George Costanza

Existential nihilism assumes a world without meaning. In the world of Seinfeld, this vacant sense of meaning is filled by a never-ending list of fads and obsessions. Where purpose cannot be found, the cast of Seinfeld is eager to involve themselves in almost every bizarre obsession that comes their way. George fixates on, among other things, sex: fugitive sex ("The Little Jerry"), sex with food ("The Blood"), the lack of sex ("The Abstinence"), and sex with really tall women ("The Boyfriend") are just a few. Kramer's life, in particular, consists of one craze after another. A partial list of his occupations reads like the result of a harebrained get rich quick schemer: he's run a rickshaw business (powered by the homeless), formed Kramerica Industries ("to "solve the world's energy problems"), developed a brassiere for men, moved to Hollywood to become an actor, collected soda pop caps to redeem in Michigan, etc. All four principal characters are invariably infatuated with Monk's Café coffee shop, "fat-free" yogurt ("The Non-Fat Yogurt"), and the "soup place" ("The Soup Nazi").

Though these pursuits barely scratch the surface of Seinfeld's canon, they serve to illustrate the lengths to which the cast of Seinfeld is willing to go in search of purpose in their purposeless existence. Nearly every one of Seinfeld's 180 episodes is connected in some way connected to the latest obsession; that these obsessions are as frivolously discarded as they were zealously picked up is just another reminder of how "nothing" the purpose found in these characters' lives truly is.

My father was a quitter, my grandfather was a quitter, I was raised to give up. It's one of the few things I do well. - George Costanza

Nearly every episode of Seinfeld portrays life as a medley of actions and events that ultimately end in chaos. Much of the show's appeal comes from the way in which individual stories are tied together and plots resolved, often at the expense of the protagonists. Despite their best attempts to manipulate the situation and to control the final outcome, we often find their efforts as impotent to change the inevitable result: George's boss still discovers that George was in that beach photograph and Jerry's girlfriend still discovers that he doesn't know her name. This comic coincidence exposes the efforts of Seinfeld's characters to be just as meaningless as their lifestyle-a form of comic nihilism, the comic consequences of a life lived in a world without any ultimate meaning or fundamental value.

The unquestioning lifestyle of Seinfeld's characters provides for great flexibility in writing and storytelling: when you take "values" out of consideration, the unbelievable and absurd actions that make George Costanza George Costanza suddenly become possible. It is entertaining, and the purpose of Seinfeld is to entertain, not to provide a moral philosophy. As one can easily see, the end result of George Costanza's personal philosophy provides little reason for us to emulate his behavior.

Perhaps this message is an intentional one: despite the characters' best attempts to manipulate the world and those around them, without subjecting themselves to the burden of self-reflection and doubt, their efforts continue to fail. This could be interpreted as a repudiation of the characters' unquestioning worldview, a karmic "kickback" designed to show this form of Seinfeldian indifference as less a model to base your behavior upon than it is one to avoid.

Perhaps the clearest signal is sent by the series finale. In the final scene before the credits begin to roll, Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer can be seen sitting in a jail cell. As George begins to speak to Jerry about the importance of the second button to the operation of the shirt, he begins to feel as if they have had this conversation before. They have, in fact-in the very first episode of the series. Their inability to learn has manifested itself through George and Jerry's conversation. Their indifference, their lack of moral questioning, has landed them in jail. The writers are reaching through the screen and telling us: the result of this lifestyle may be criminal.