#3: Whine anyone?

George Costanza is one of the biggest whiners on any sitcom, past or present. In “The Bubble Boy”, George first starts his whining spree by arguing with Jerry over his decision to play a personal message in front of his girlfriend of the week, Naomi. He then whines about him not having a date for the weekend since they’ve already made plans.

A few scenes later, George is whining at Susan to stop her attempts at affection while he’s driving since he’s more worried about making good time. When they can no longer see Jerry’s car, he starts whining about it being Jerry’s fault for not being able to drive fast enough to keep up.

When George and Susan arrive at the house without Jerry and Elaine, Susan again tries to show her affection for George and is shunned away by his worrying about someone seeing them. Susan makes toward the door and George begins to complain about not being able to go in there due to an unfortunate visit he paid his grandmother in the hospital.

In the final scene at the cabin, George sheepishly whines to Susan about not receiving change for the tolls even though her grandfather’s cabin is burning down in front of them.

Robert is a classic whiner in the sitcom, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND. It doesn’t matter if things start going well for Robert because he is constantly overshadowed by his more successful brother, Raymond.

#3: George is Belovedly Bumbling

In Why Is George So Funny? Morris refers to George Costanza as "as ingenious, inventive, opportunistic, neurotic, bumbling, confused employee." He does whatever he can to stay afloat in a sea of corporate sharks without really knowing much about business. He lied and cheated his way into his job by composing an almost entirely false resume. In "The Fatigues" he does anything possible to avoid reading a book on risk management. Arguably it was a large book but he could not bring himself to even scan the pages. You would think that knowing as little as he did about his job he would do anything possible to seem knowledgeable. Most people would, but not George. Another popular character similar to George is Chandler Bing from Friends. He also had a job that he knew little to nothing about. In one episode he even gets a job for his actor friend Joey and tells him that all he has to do to make it is act like he knows what he is talking about. Chandler constantly complains about how much he hates his job and how boring and pointless it is. Finally, he gives up and quits to go on a search for a job he really cares about. Both George and Chandler shared equally negative characteristics but somehow kept their audiences tuning in every week and loving them more and more.

#3: George Costanza-The Misfit Man

In SEINFELD, George Costanza's misfit qualities can be demonstrated by his appearance and his dialgogue with other characters. Going on looks alone, George's short, pudgy appearance doesn't seem to reflect the slim frames of his close friends. With his squatty frame and glasses, George Costanza seems to have an air of "geekiness" about him. Although no one comes out and says "George you're a nerd," one can tell that his friends are thinking this by their gestures and comments. This silent acknowledgment of George's geekiness is frequently shown by Jerry Seinfeld, by his smirks and witty replies to George's complaints. A prime example of Jerry's acknowledgment that George is a misfit is shown in "The Pitch." While waiting to pitch their sitcom idea to NBC, George is trying to boost his ego by attempting to convince Jerry (and maybe even reassure himself) that he is a better writer than screen writer Joe Davola. He keeps on saying "But what about me," and Jerry, while rolling his eyes, assures George that he is just as good a writer as Davola.

Dwight from THE OFFICE is a misfit like George. Although he is continually kept up on office news and associates with others, he does not really fit in among his coworkers. His coworkers do not hate him, for the most part, but it seems that they only tolerate him because they have to and it is somewhat of a "job" to be around him.

#2: SpongeFeld

SpongeBob SquarePants is a TV show that is also self reflexive. In Seinfeld an example of self reflexivity is in the showed in "The Pitch" when Jerry and George are talking about producing a television show about nothing. In the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants, is about his daily life. In the episode "Frankendoodle" SpongeBob finds a real life pencil at the bottom of the ocean from a Frenchman who dropped it. When SpongeBob found the actual pencil in his cartoon world he began to use it to draw and erase things in his cartoonish surroundings. This example reflects on the fact that cartoon characters are obviously drawn with pencils. SpongeBob takes advantage of the fact that this is a real pencil and he and that he and his entire world are drawings and that he can mold his own drawings to how he pleases. For example he draws another version of himself who turns evil and steals the pencil from the real SpongeBob and tries to erase him, because he is nothing but a drawing. The cleverness behind this whole episode is that SpongeBob takes note of the fact that he is just a drawing.

http://spongepedia.bimserver.com/images/thumb/2/2e/Gekritzel.jpg/180px-Gekritzel.jpg

#3: Narcissistic George

George Costanza is narcissistic; he only thinks about himself and himself only. In the episode “The Invitations,” George is informed that the toxic glue from the cheap wedding invitations is what killed his fiancée Susan. His response to the devastating news is a simple, “huh.” Immediately following, George decides to grab a cup of coffee with Elaine, Kramer, and Jerry. He never stops to think for a second that the death of Susan is in fact his fault, he doesn’t shed a tear, and he doesn’t even try to contact Susan’s parents to break the news. He simply, in pure George Costanza fashion, thinks about the coffee He is currently craving, and thinks about how lucky He is to not have to marry Susan after all.

In the sitcom WILL & GRACE, Karen is very similar to narcissistic George. She is married to a millionaire and flaunts her money to anyone and anything. She is oblivious to other people who struggle with their finances, for instance Grace, and in response makes them feel like failures.

#3: Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire.

George Costanza. He's narcissistic, greedy, selfish, and vain. He is, in some way, the epitome of the our innermost thoughts, feelings, and desires. George is the perfect example of, "I just said what you all were thinking." He's blunt. He's politically incorrect. He's imcompetent. But among all these traits that are shunned in our "perfect" eyes, among all of these terribly despicable qualities, one stood out in my mind. George Costanza is just a huge liar.

After watching "The Pitch" and "The Catch" that George Costanza is really an enormously deceitful character. The entire incident with the gig at NBC explained to me that he is a man who is in dire need of approval, attention and success. The way he latched onto Jerry and took complete control over the meeting with his insane rants was maddening. He takes what could be a great opportunity for Jerry and nearly burns it to a crisp. He went on lying about his broadway plays and his impressive career without even considering his friend's feelings. Another example was in "The Fatigues". Here, George had already lied his way to a front office job with the New York Yankees. But in addition to that he goes and worsens his situation by putting on his reseme that he is an expert in risk management. After faking an eye exam, he steals an audio version of his risk management text book so that his perpetual lying spree may be maintained a little easier. After this ridiculous attempt fails, he then coaxes a woman to do the job for him by persuading her that he's a good mentor. This sly ruse nearly ends his tenure with the Yankees when he has to give a presentation about his knowledge on risk management when his folder gets swapped with a comedy sketch on Ovaltine.

George's constant, and habitual lying nearly bites him in the butt a couple of times but he always (so far) has been able to get away with it. As far as comparing Jason Alexander's character to another current character on TV, I don't think you can. I don't watch enough TV to know but I don't think there's anyone close to the constant lying and manipulative man that is George Costanza.

#3: It's All About George

A true narcissist doesn’t simply seek their own gratification but they want desperately to control the way that others look at them. Like George they have a very noticeable need to feel superior to their peers in life’s small details (the basis of the show). This uncontrollable self centeredness in the end renders him and others like him incapable of having any kind of emotional connection (no hugging, no learning) making it that much easier to be deviant and manipulative. After watching only a few episodes in class recognizing George Costanza as a narcissist does not take any stretch of the imagination. Take for example how far he went in the partial episode of THE ENGAGMENT simply to rebuttal a comment made to him about eating large amounts of shrimp. Even subtle things like how he disregards the fact that Jerry is trying to follow him in BUBBLE BOY simply to make ‘good time’ or as he stands next to his fiancé watching her grandfathers cabin burn to the ground but the only thing he can think of is that he had not gotten his change back from the toll booth.
Though he may be the godfather of the narcissistic character he is certainly not the only one. Characters like him can be found in most shows but the two that come to my mind are Michael Scott in THE OFFICE an George Michael sr. in ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. For Mr. Scott his world consists of being the center of attention and George placing his business above his very screwed up family.

#3: Curb Your Seinfeldiesm

While a direct correlation can be made between Seinfeld's George Costanza and Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David on multiple levels regarding whining, lying, cheating, laziness, being devious, neurotic, narcissistic and outright mean, the trait I would like to compare the two on is deviousness. Much like George Costanza, Larry David is always thinking for himself and not worrying about the welfare of his friends. When George drives so fast so he can "make good time" and completely neglects the fact that he loses Jerry, this reminds me of an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm when Larry David's friend Richard Louis needs a kidney transplant, and Larry is the only friend of his with a match, and Larry goes to every length (even looking up Richard's family members) to find a match so that he does not have to do it.

While being devious, especially regarding our close friends is not a trait most people value, it works so well in a sitcom because it is hysterical on many levels because it is unexpected and something we do not take part in or witness in our everyday lives, and it addresses many social issues, such as.. should we really feel obligated to give up one of our organs for a friend to live? though many people would say yes, almost anyone would end up having second thoughts at the last minute.

#2: "The One Where No One's Ready"

Another popular American television show that has a self-referential nature is the sitcom FRIENDS. Similar to SEINFELD, FRIENDS is a comedy about a group of friends living in New York City dealing with the trials and tribulations of everyday life. Each episode focuses on a common aspect of life and builds a 30 minute episode around that event while adding humorous interactions between the group of friends.

During the third season, the episode "The One Where No One's Ready," is about the group attempting to leave for Ross' banquet. The whole episode takes place in Monica and Rachel's apartment where the individual story lines pick up. For example, Joey and Chandler dispute about the rules of taking someone’s seat when a person leaves the room. When someone leaves their seat and then comes back do they still have the right to that seat? Also, Rachel can't decide on what outfit to wear which makes Ross furious out of the fear of being late to the banquet. Ross spends the entire time hassling everyone about being ready to catch a cab on time. Finally, Monica received a message from her ex-boyfriend on her answering machine but can't decide if it is a new or old message. The dilemma for Monica is if she should call him back or still hold true to her word that she wouldn't talk to him again. All of these events are combined and result in no one being ready for the banquet, which proves FRIENDS was a self-referential sitcom because it is the exact title of the episode.

#3: The Shortcuts to the Top

George Costanza is the most self centered character on Seinfeld. He constantly thinks of himself and cheats for the easy way out of everything. What is so intriguing is the fact that he ends up on top in each situation. Using "The Pitch" as a giant example, Jerry gets an invitation from NBC to create his own TV show. Several conversations are centered around how much money the show will rake in. George proceeds to involve himself in the show simply because he must partake in the success of his friend. We see George lie to NBC about writing a Broadway play and in "The Ticket" when the representatives ask to read a copy, he concocts a bogus lie about its lack of existence. His concerns after the disastrous first meeting aren't that he might have ruined an opportunity for his friend, but that he ruined the chance to make some money. In the end, George's idea is a hit with NBC despite his lack of experience.


Another TV character that parallels that of George Costanza is Michael Scott of the hit sitcom, "The Office". Michael repeatedly lies to his employees and his boss to get out of uncomfortable situations and procrastinates on work issues pushing the responsibility to his subordinates. On his birthday, he was upset that no one payed enough attention to him but rather to Kevin, who was awaiting the results of his skin cancer test. Throughout the seasons and his tricks, Michael continues to hold his position at Dunder Mifflin. Michael and George are first on their priority lists and they always manage to come out on top.

#3: Deceitful George

In many of the episodes we have seen thus far, George is very deceitful when trying to get his way. For instance in “The Pitch” while George and Jerry are trying to “pitch” the ideal of a sitcom to NBC, George says that he wrote a Broadway show. This lie was said to make NBC feel a bit more comfortable with his writing skills, but it was false. Later in the collaborating episode “The Ticket”, after being asked about the play he lies’ again saying that many of his files were lost after he moved, which was definitely a lie. Although those deceitful ways may seem to be minor, George has taken some of his shenanigans even further in “The Fatigues” which he lies to his employer, his Doctor and lastly Jerry’s girlfriend.

I am not one to watch many television shows, but the one character that comes to mind that is very deceitful is Karen from WILL AND GRACE. Whenever Karen was around there would be a lie to accompany her. From the beginning she lied about her age, her sexuality, and it is said that Karen might not be her real name, because she is hiding from the feds! The one thing that she was mostly deceitful about was her wealth. To impress others around her she lived up to her reputation by living the fabulous life, which she could not afford. Although many of these fabrications are wrong both characters win, which is why we will see more of this trait throughout the semester from George.

#3: George, you are an ingenious person!

In Babbra S. Morris essay, Why is George so funny, she brought out about George’s character as ingenious person who was described as postmodern hero. Even though he was one of characters who were lazy and bumbling person, sometimes he showed his ingenious idea which could help his friends. For example, on THE PITCH, Jerry was considering about what ideas he should have for the show. And he discussed about the show with George and he gave Jerry one idea “The show about nothing… and everything” which dealt with happening about everyday life. It sounds really weird and dull for the show but it was inventive and creative idea which others could not think but only George could. Other people could think only the show should have some particular story but George think differently than others and that could make Jerry successful on the show. Although this characteristic didn’t help him to be successful, he could help others who were around him as well.

Joey Tribbiani from FRIENDS showed ingenious characteristic just like George. I watched the season 3 and he was actor who had show by himself with robot. He made it by himself and he satisfied with his show. Even thought the show was not successful, I could tell he thought differently than others just like George.

#3: George the Unfortunate

Bad things always happen to George. In "The Pitch" Kramer throws up on his girlfriend. In "Bubble Boy" he fights with the disabled 'child' and ends up deflating his bubble, causing fright and chaos in the whole town. It seems bad things always happen to George, no matter what he does to avoid them.

George's unfortunes remind me of another character of the popular sitcom EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND. Ray Barone's older brother, Robert, is always suffering from mishaps and problems brought on by his parents and younger brother's family. Throughout the 9 season run of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, most jokes poked at his lack of finding success, his rather enormous stature (a whopping 6' 8 1/2"), and his lack of a lovelife. He also has several random quirks, as he always touches his chin with food before he eats it.

Although Robert is the most despaired character on the show, he is also the moral consience of all the Barones. He is the voice of reason when his family members are doing questionable things, but of course, is never taken seriously.

Robert Barone is a source of entertainment, just like George Costanza. Although both of these men suffer, it always is midly comforting to know that the situations don't occur in our lives.

#3: Outright Meany

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

#3: Yep, You're Quite a Character

One of the personality traits that George has is that he is outright mean. With all of his personality traits that I could think of, this seemed to sum all of them up very simply. He is solely consumed with himself. He doesn't seem to care about anyone else as long as he is content. He lies, cheats and whines constantly. This is definitely something that I have realized as we've been watching the shows in class. I honestly never noticed that he was such a mean character before. I never watched the show religiously or anything, but I have seen it a few times.

This characteristic is played out in "The Bubble Boy" especially as he is focused on making good time to the cabin when he knew that Kramer was following him. He could care less about his friends he only wanted to get there fast. He also doesn't give much attention to Susan and treats her with little respect and disregards her affection. He is also very rude and disrespectful to the "Bubble Boy." As they play trivial pursuit together, George gets angry because he isn't winning and they argue about whether or not there is a typo on the game card and he ends up fighting with the "Bubble Boy" even though he is disabled. After they begin to fight, the "Bubble Boy" deflates and George just waves, showing his greediness and bad temper.

#3: Mr. Insensitive

George Costanza exhibits a number of negative character traits- neurotic, self-loathing, dishonest. He is incredibly insensitive and stingy to boot. In the episode ‘Bubble Boy’ while Jerry, Elaine and Susan, George’s fiancée, are shocked and upset when Susan’s father’s cabin burns down, insensitive George demands Susan return the change from the toll gate charges. He shows no compassion for bubble boy and gets into a fight over a game of trivia. In “The engagement”, his choice of the cheapest envelops for his wedding invitations- ultimately leads to the death his fiancée from the toxic glue on the envelops. His insensitivity prevails once again, when instead of remorse for his dead wife to be, he is relieved for the chance to get out of the commitment.

Karen Walker, the alcoholic wife of the wealthy (but never seen) Stan Walker "works" as Grace's assistant in the sitcom WILL & GRACE. She does more harm than good and takes great pleasure in pointing out how awful Grace looks. Karen is insensitive to other peoples problems and is selfish and greedy.
She comments on others with complete lack of emotion or regard for their feelings. A recurring victim for her cruelty and inconsiderateness is a bartender named Smitty, who tells her tragic events in his life, only to have her laugh and thank him for cheering her up!

#3: George the Manipulator

In the SEINFELD episode "The Fatigues", George Castanza is portrayed as being a mentor to Jerry's girlfriend -- but really he's not being much of a mentor and just asked her to write a speech he has to give for work.


George is very manipulative in this episode. He uses the misfortune of others (Jerry's girlfriend just "dumped" her other mentor earlier in the episode. She also believe in having a mentor which leads her to find George and accept him as her new mentor) to help him finish his tasks so that he can do as little work as possible.


This manipulation that George is so good a doing reminds me of another character from my favorite TV show, HOUSE M.D. Dr. Gregory House is full of manipulation. Every episode deals with Dr. House using his "apprentices" to his advantage. He bounces ideas off them, gets them to break into patients houses, and even uses them to do his chores at home.


George and House both know how to use people to their advantage and it makes for humorous situations and dialogue in every episode.

#3: George's Lies

In her essay Barbara Morris described the selfish personality of George Costanza on the sitcom "SEINFELD" how he misfit in the "Show of Nothing" by showing meaness laziness and a lot of lies, as it was shown on "The Pitch" and "The Ticket" when we fought with a bubble boy for example. This sitcom is very watched because some people live in the same way of the characters of the show and they can identify themselves with the characres. But I really do not belive that some people can identify his personality with George's personality but the writers of the sitcom created this personality to show how the people have to react or behave if they know or meet someone like George. And one of thinks that I could see on SEINFELD was that they are using a lot of satire and sarcasm which I also could compare with some cartoons FAMILY GUY, etc. They also make fun of a real issues in the world like Petter Griffin in FAMILY GUY does and George Costanza has some stupid solutions for his problems and the same also happen with Petter Griffin

#3: If there's nothing to say, talk about YOURSELF!

Seinfeld has proven to be an excellent example of a self-referential TV sitcom. We witnessed the proposal of "the show about nothing" while watching "The Pitch" as well as "The Ticket". In both of these episodes of Seinfeld the writers demonstrate a clever way to relate back to the audience in order to make them laugh. Another interesting TV show where self reference is evident is Fox's The Simpsons- the cartoon which features a family of yellow characters who live their everyday lives. This show refers back to its audience by using the simple act of watching TV in nearly every episode aired. A more specific example is the episode "Bart's Girlfriend", where Bart questions why a girl doesn't feel an attraction to him. He goes on to ask himself if it is his hair, his teeth, or maybe the fact that he wears the same clothes everyday. This is a great example of self-referential humor because, indeed, the Simpsons family is illustrated with the same clothes in every episode. Another episode where The Simpsons features self-reference is "Bart Gets Famous", in which Bart becomes famous for creating a catchphrase on television. The episode ties in several humorous references to the show's own success with creating catchphrases.

#3: The Lazy Way To Success

In Barbara S. Morris' essay, Why Is George So Funny?, one of the words used to describe George Costanza is lazy. This is displayed as George does as little as possible to get by, not only at work but in his personal life as well. For example, in the episode "The Fatigues," George is asked to give a presentation on risk management, a subject he knows nothing about. He finds a textbook about risk management, but instead of actually reading the book he fakes being blind so that he can get the book on tape. When he discovers that he cannot tolerate to listen to the book on tape because the voice sounds exactly like his own, he makes Jerry's girlfriend into his protégée and tells her to read the book and write a report that defines risk management. In the end, the actual report on risk management was switched with a comedy bit on Ovaltine and although the presentation was a bunch of nonsense, George's boss thought he was a genius. What makes George lazy is that he takes credit for work he has never actually done. Another example of this is in "The Pitch" when George says he wrote a Broadway play called "La Cocina." I think this shows George's laziness because he says he has done all these noteworthy things without actually doing them, and the worst part is he never gets caught.

Another character that could be described as lazy is Frank Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond. All he ever does is sit in his chair and yell at his wife Marie to make him a sandwich! These two characters both do as little as possible to get by in life, after all that's what being lazy is all about.

#3: King Cheap

One the many different adjectives that I could use to describe George Costanza is cheap. For example, in the episode “The Invitations”, George and Susan set out to go buy invitations for their wedding. George asks the manager to see a book of different invitations and she proceeds to tell him that they are ordered by price. George, disregarding Susan’s input completely, immediately flips to the back of the book and points to the cheapest type of invitation. George and Susan leave the invitation store, return home, and Susan begins to work on the invitations for their wedding. Susan is alone and begins to feel faint from licking the adhesive on the letters of the invitations and eventually passes out. She is rushed to the hospital where George, Jerry, Elaine and Kramer meet a doctor who informs them she has passed away because the invitations were poisonous due to the fact that they were old and cheap. Although the audience knows George is crushed, he does not display any extreme emotion toward the situation. So, in a sense, George’s cheapness had to do with his fiancés death. There are no characters that come to mind that share this characteristic with George. I believe that this characteristic is unique to George compared to characters in 1980s sitcoms and up to the most recent ones.

#3: The Manipulative Duo

In Barbara S. Morris’ essay, Why George is so Funny, she describes how George is very manipulative. This is shown in his efforts to survive in the work world, as well as in his everyday life. A prime example of George’s manipulative nature is shown in “The Ticket”. George manipulates all of his friends to pay for Susan’s dry cleaning bill even though technically she was his date and he should be responsible for paying for it. He says Kramer should have to pay because he threw up on her, and Jerry should have to pay because it was his milk. When George sees Susan again, he tries to avoid giving her the money that she rightfully deserves. However, she asks for it and he gives her the money. In the same episode, George feels like he and Jerry should manipulate NBC into paying them at least fifty or sixty thousand for the television show when clearly it was not worth that much at all, and they had not even written any of the script yet.
Another manipulative character that comes to mind is Joey from Friends. Joey is the stereotypical young single man who manipulates women into having sex with his witty pick-up lines such as, “How you doin’?”, and his attractive appearance. Although Joey and George are very different characters with different roles, they still share this manipulative nature that is portrayed through their interactions with the other characters.

Here is a good video on Joey's classic pick-up line: http://youtube.com/watch?v=afzH-38sJ1A&feature=related

#3: Bald Determination

George, the often self-destructing character, does what he considers his best to move forward in the competitive world of corporate America. While his efforts to reach his goals are routinely deemed unethical, determination to become an employee never seems to dwindle, despite of his many failures. This is seen in "The Pitch" when George creates an elaborate story about an "off Broadway" play he wrote attempting to impress NBC. He continued his charade when the NBC executives asked for a copy of his play, quickly George put together another lie by saying, in a clearly distressed way, that it had fallen off a moving truck. Regardless of his moral wrongdoings, George still demonstrated his determination as a result of his strong need to become a part of the working force.

Michael, a regional manager at the Scranton branch of Dunder-Mifflin, on the show The Office displays a similar sense of determination at work. No matter the situation Michael constantly wants to have things his way, regardless of the effect on his employees. For instance, in one episode corporate sent professionals to create a commercial for the Scranton branch; but when Michael didn't like it, he decided to take a day of work to create his own and include his employees. Sadly in the end Michael could not show off his creative side. However it shows that he was determined enough to waste a day of work, as an attempt to have his commercial on the air.

#3: GENIUS GEORGE

One of George's many canny traits that Barbra Morris reveals as what attributed to his "heroism" is his undying manipulative characteristic. Throughout the journal we discover that this becomes George's main quality as he struggles to survive in a world where honest business/ work ethics are almost non existent, hence portraying George as your modern, funny, yet not so attractive hero. Lying, cheating becomes a natural quality and yet the main reason why Jason Alexander's role is much loved by the audience is not only because of the clumsy, uninmaginable cock-ups he winds himself in, but "who" George represents in society that he is much adored amongst the television audience. The "who" are the very same people that work their hardest trying to put in their best into the work making an honest living, unfortunately in George's world this isn't the case as he is surrounded by pompous, power hungry business men, so whatever it takes to climb up the chain of command George will try and accomplish it- for his benefit.

This is particularly evident in "THE PITCH" where upon confronting the panel of producers of NBC in contrast to Seinfelds cautious, strategic approach to "pitching" their idea about a "show about nothing" George's bold, over-dramatic tactic to convince the panel that their idea is guranteed a success is a good indicator of how manipulative yet at the same time a heroic trickster comic.

Similar characters that comes into mind would be the twin sisters in "DOUBLE TROUBLE" where even though they were alike they differed greatly in personality, which added to the humour as deceit and mischief would be the main ammo the sisters used.

#3: Yep, You're Quite a Character

In her essay "Why Is George Funny? Television Comedy, Trickster Heroism, and Cultural Studies," Barbara S. Morris and her students list several characteristics of Seinfeld's George Costanza (Jason Alexander). For this blog,

1. Select ONE personality trait of George that the author mentions. If possible, find one that your classmates have not yet written about. Dig deep; there are several in there!


2. Show how this characteristic is played out in any episode of Seinfeld that we've screened in-class thus far. NOTE: If you use "The Fatigues," be sure you're not repeating what Morris says.


3. Finally, locate this trait in another, more recent sitcom character. Are there others out there?

Remember, postings should fall between 200 and 250 words. Practice writing tightly!

Follow these instructions for the new way to post:

1. If you haven't already, "Sign In" (at the top of this page).
2. Then, click "New Post," also located at the top of this page or on your Dashboard (a green plus sign). By creating a New Post (rather than "Posting a Comment" as you did with Blog #1), you'll get your own page; you may include--if you want to--colorful fonts, images, links, and video clips to support your points; and finally, others may respond to your postings. It's not really a "discussion" if others, including me, cannot respond, is it?
3. Please create a catchy title for your posting with the appropriate number in front (e.g., #3: Curious George).
4. Finally, don't forget those "Rules for the Road": http://seinclass.blogspot.com/2008/01/rules-for-road.html.

If you don't like this blog, try "This Statement Is Short."

#2: This Statement Is Short.

Last week, we talked briefly about Seinfeld's self-referential nature, which we saw explicitly in "The Pitch" and in "The Ticket" when Jerry and George created and then pitched their "show about nothing" to NBC.

You can also see this notion at work in the title of this blog, "This statement is short," as the sentence is referring to itself as well as its length. Some of M.C. Escher's art (above) is also self-referential.

What other visual media, television shows or films, is self-referential or self-reflexive in nature? As always, be sure to provide examples to support your answer. Follow these instructions for the new way to post:

1. If you haven't already, "Sign In" (at the top of this page).
2. Then, click "New Post," also located at the top of this page or on your Dashboard (a green plus sign). By creating a New Post (rather than "Posting a Comment" as you did with Blog #1), you'll get your own page; you may include--if you want to--colorful fonts, images, links, and video clips to support your points; and finally, others may respond to your postings. It's not really a "discussion" if others, including me, cannot respond, is it?
3. Please create a catchy title for your posting with the appropriate number in front (e.g., #3: Curious George).
4. Finally, don't forget those "Rules for the Road": http://seinclass.blogspot.com/2008/01/rules-for-road.html!

NOTE: If you don't like this blog, try "Yep, You're Quite a Character," and create a New Post there.