{"id":222,"date":"2006-03-22T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-03-22T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2006\/03\/seinfeld-heaven-or-hell.html"},"modified":"2006-03-22T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-03-22T12:00:00","slug":"seinfeld-heaven-or-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2006\/03\/seinfeld-heaven-or-hell.html","title":{"rendered":"Seinfeld: Heaven or Hell?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

A critic for Canada\u2019s National Post examines the new field of Seinfeld Studies, as it is represented in \u201cSeinfeld, Master of Its Domain<\/a>,\u201d a recently published collection of academic writings on the cultural significance of the long-running sitcom. Among the theses included: \u201cSeinfeld, Situation Comedy, and the Encounter with Nothingness,\u201d \u201cSeinfeld is a Jewish Sitcom, Isn’t It: Ethnicity and Assimilation on 1990s American Television,\u201d and, inevitably, \u201cJane Austen, Meet Jerry Seinfeld.\u201d Another essay, \u201cMale Anxiety and the Buddy System in Seinfeld\u201d might as well be titled \u201cJerry Seinfeld, Meet Jerry Falwell,\u201d as it exposes the latent homosexuality in Seinfeld and George Costanza\u2019s relationship: a nonsexual crush that the author, Joanna L. Di Mattia, Monash University, identifies as \u201chomosociality.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the National Post\u2019s writer, Richard Fulford, who comes up with the question relating Seinfeld and religion: Are the Seinfeld Four in heaven or hell<\/a>? The case for heaven: \u201cWorld crises never intrude, politics is barely mentioned, no one worries about food or lodging, sex is available (if sometimes complicated), and money seldom arises as a serious problem.\u201d On the other hand: \u201cIn the Seinfeldian world a great deal happens but almost none of it much matters. In all these ways it closely resembles high school. That answers the theological question. They’re living in hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A critic for Canada\u2019s National Post examines the new field of Seinfeld Studies, as it is represented in \u201cSeinfeld, Master of Its Domain,\u201d a recently published collection of academic writings on the cultural significance of the long-running sitcom. Among the theses included: \u201cSeinfeld, Situation Comedy, and the Encounter with Nothingness,\u201d \u201cSeinfeld is a Jewish Sitcom,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":275,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nSeinfeld: Heaven or Hell?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2006\/03\/seinfeld-heaven-or-hell.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seinfeld: Heaven or Hell?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A critic for Canada\u2019s National Post examines the new field of Seinfeld Studies, as it is represented in \u201cSeinfeld, Master of Its Domain,\u201d a recently published collection of academic writings on the cultural significance of the long-running sitcom. 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