’90s sitcom Seinfeld set the precedent for the current surrealist “we live in a society” meme and its culture of irony and unapologetic absurdity which only makes sense from the inside looking outwards.
’90s sitcom Seinfeld set the precedent for the current surrealist “we live in a society” meme and its culture of irony and unapologetic absurdity which only makes sense from the inside looking outwards.
On May 23, 1991, the NBC first aired The Chinese Restaurant, the eleventh episode of a failing second season of Seinfeld. The episode sees the three characters – Jerry Seinfeld, Elaine Benes, and George Costanza – waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant. That’s it. That’s the entire plot of the 23-minute episode. The audience watches in real-time as the characters simply wait.
The episode eventually ends with the characters leaving before getting a table because they no longer want to stand around. Today, it’s remembered as one of the greatest and most exemplary episodes of the radical, revolutionary ’90s sitcom.
Outside mainstream popular culture, Seinfeld remains prophet to the surrealist memescape of 4chan and Reddit, having predicted the trends of recontextualising quips and subversion of genre, as well as a distinct departure from elitist forms of media and traditional storytelling. The show about nothing would go on to set the precedent for everything.
Read the rest over at Happy Mag.
Clocked: Happy Media’s gaming channel, one year on
In just over a year, Clocked has grown from a new channel into a significant traffic source for Happy Media.
How to grow your YouTube viewership from existing editorial channels
So you've got a website that's getting hits – here's how to build a YouTube channel from what you already have.
The Wonders Of Alternate Guitar Tunings
Favourite Guitar Tunings And Their Application
