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The Contest" draws attention to the level of humor that pervades the lives of television show characters, especially characters on sitcoms. While many people do enjoy hearty laughter and excitement with their friends on a regular basis, few in real life do so to the extent of the Seinfeld characters. It is possible that people who watch the show are attempting to discover ways to enliven their real-life friendships, to infuse more humor and outrageousness in them. Whether through devising masturbation contests or not, individuals use ideas from shows like Seinfeld to add color and lightness to their often troubled lives. When our relationships fall short of being as lighthearted as the relationships depicted on Seinfeld, we may be disappointed. Sitcoms are in fact more "real" than real life in that they have the power to bring people together over a common and safe ground. Talking about "The Contest" ensures laughter and avoids the discomforts that come with getting involved with a coworker's personal life.
In the spirit of "The Contest," when we claim that we are "master of our domain," we are relying on Seinfeld to provide us with euphemisms related to sex. Seinfeld was full of euphemisms and neologisms. Viewers who gather around the water cooler to discuss "The Contest" do so partly to divert attention away from their own personal lives. Talking about "The Contest" is far easier than talking about our own sex lives. Moreover, our personal lives seem so boring in comparison to that of George, Elaine, Jerry, and Kramer that talking about their antics seems more interesting than talking about where we ate for dinner last night. Seinfeld brings out many of our personal insecurities: about sensitive topics like masturbation but also about our discomfort with our relationships and our social lives.
When people talk about "The Contest" at the water cooler, they are better able to initiate friendships than by asking a coworker about the
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Interestingly, Seinfeld is unique among sitcoms in that in being a "show about nothing" it closely mimics the mundane nature of daily life. Episodes like "The Contest" show how average people often engage their friends in senseless, childish games for diversion and entertainment. Contests and challenges are a main way friends interact: we make bets and challenge each other to overcome our inhibitions. Therefore, while viewers lose themselves in the lighthearted humor of episodes like "The Contest" we may not be that far off from the truth; it's just that when it comes from the mouths of Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer it seems more real somehow, and funnier.
Works Cited
Common Culture."
Crawley, Mark. "Favorite Seinfeld Episodes." Movieprop.com. Retrieved July 21, 2005 online at http://www.movieprop.com/tvandmovie/Seinfeld/favorite.htm
David, Larry. "The Contest." Dir. Tom Cherones. Starring: Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Richards, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Estelle Harris (as Mrs. Costanza), and Jane Leeves (as Marla). Broadcasted November 18, 1992. Script retrieved online July 21, 2005 at http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheContest.htm
Works Cited
Common Culture."
Crawley, Mark. "Favorite Seinfeld Episodes." Movieprop.com. Retrieved July 21, 2005 online at http://www.movieprop.com/tvandmovie/Seinfeld/favorite.htm
David, Larry. "The Contest." Dir. Tom Cherones. Starring: Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Richards, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Estelle Harris (as Mrs. Costanza), and Jane Leeves (as Marla). Broadcasted November 18, 1992. Script retrieved online July 21, 2005 at http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheContest.htm
American Religious History Defining fundamentalism and liberalism in Christianity is hardly an exact science, especially because prior to about 1920 there was not even a term for fundamentalism as it exists today. While present-day fundamentalists often claim descent from the Puritans and Calvinists of the 17th and 18th Centuries, Puritans were not really fundamentalists in the modern sense. They were not in conflict with 20th Century-style liberals and supporters of evolution
Sleep deprivation is frequently a direct result of the need for intensive care, constant surveillance and monitoring that combine to limit the opportunities for uninterrupted sleep in the intensive care unit (ICU). The problem is multifactorial, with patients' chronic underlying illness, pain, pharmacological interventions used for the treatment of the primary illness, as well as the ICU environment itself have all been shown to be contributing factors to the process
However, class-based differences in party identification remained prominent and actually grew stronger in the 1970s and 1980s, with upper-class and middle-class individuals identifying more strongly with the Republican Party" (309). Likewise, Pomerantz (1999) notes that, "While people change their party identity only rarely, the significance of that affiliation waxes and wanes over time" (37). Citing the research conducted by Wattenberg based on data collected in the National Election Studies
In this area, meanings with their endless referrals evolve. These include meanings form discourses, as well as cultural systems of knowledge which structure beliefs, feelings, and values, i.e., ideologies. Language, in turn, produces these temporal "products." During the next section of this thesis, the researcher relates a number of products (terminology) the film/TV industry produced, in answer to the question: What components contribute to the linguistic aspect of a sublanguage
(Hill 83; Javors 35) We are not alone in this. In China, often accused of attempting to mimic Western culture, the producers of an RTV show "Ying Zai Zhongguo," or translated somehow as "Win" in English draw a similar conclusion: their hope that the program would encourage more people in China to start their own businesses. Song Wenming...hoped the show would introduce the "positive power" of entrepreneurship. Ms. Zhou said she
Malcolm X's contributions to the civil rights movement cannot be viewed in isolation, without taking into account his influences and contextual variables. By the time Malcolm X wrote his Autobiography, he had already developed a well-articulated and logical political philosophy. His influences as stated in his autobiography include Marcus Garvey, from where Malcolm X's father learned the ideas he passed onto his son. It was Elijah Muhammad and the Nation