Jerry Seinfeld: Movie executives have no idea that the movie business is over and that films today are not culturally significant. [OMG Blog]
Millie Bobby Brown gets the ick from men holding umbrellas?? [Buzzfeed]
I love the name “Valentin Humbroich.” [Socialite Life]
Emma Stone is campaigning for an Emmy for The Curse. [LaineyGossip]
Oh, The Jerrod Carmichael Show is bad? [Pajiba]
Kate Mara has been wearing things. [Go Fug Yourself]
Taylor Swift thinking her very obvious lyrics are super-deep & mysterious will always be one of my favorite things. [Just Jared]
Kendall Jenner wore a bad pantsuit. [RCFA]
Jensen Ackles was in Sweet Valley High? [Seriously OMG]
A friendship based on “appearing in Bravo shows.” [Starcasm]
Jerry Seinfeld has no idea that the he is over and that he is not culturally significant.
He’s very influential in the comedy world. He’s legacy. His influence is massive. Just because Seinfeld isn’t on anymore doesn’t make him any less of a powerhouse in the industry.
Yeah. I remember when he got mad at HIS PAYING AUDIENCE because they didn’t like his jokes. Like sir you are charging thousands and made a bunch of bathroom jokes, they have a right to complain because you advertised different.
He is mad because he has to work now.
I look back on my 90s pre-teen/ teen years and remember how no one really batted an eye at Seinfeld’s very grown self strutting around town with a 17-year-old high school student girlfriend like it was no big deal. The things these dudes were getting away with right in front of everyone’s faces.
Yeah, that was pretty weird — how everyone thought that could pass for normal.
I read that Howard Stern made fun of him a lot for that on his very popular radio show at the time, so they didn’t speak to each other for years after that. But, some people didn’t just ignore, but defended him, like Julia Louis-Dreyfus unfortunately.
I also lived through the 90s and remember people being scandalized and icked out by him predating on a teenager. I guess recollections really do vary.
I think People magazine covered him and the 17 year old. Not sure if there was a critique of the relationship involved, but the mainstream media seemed to cover it like a celebrity relationship. Didn’t the 17 year old become famous and start her own business afterwards?
Forums like this didn’t exist back then which is probably where you’d be more likely to see a critical reaction.
If as a pre-teen/teen you can remember Seinfeld’s dating history but not the negative reactions he received, it’s probably best not to comment.
Everybody I knew living in NYC at the time including me was grossed out by this so yeah, I don’t know who found it cool but it was not my 20 something crowd.
Ditto on the way he started dating his current wife about two weeks after she got back from her honeymoon.
No one thought it was normal, his personal life was extremely suss.
It’s not that Movies are over, it’s over as we know or knew it. Most people now are more into reality than fantasy that movie provides, most people are busy watching YouTube, Theatre and live performances than movies. So, Jerry is right.
Didn’t Jerry just release a movie about Poptarts? lol.
No, there are a ton of LGBTQ and minority films made in the last 10 years that are hugely culturally significant. Maybe not to HIS culture, but he’s pretty arrogant for this statement, among other things.
Yeah, I love how some old white guy says something like this every few months and we’re supposed to get all worried.
Just googled, yes, the movie about Poptarts is produced by Seinfeld for Netflix. And FYI, another old-time comedian, Paula Poundstone, was known for her Poptart bit. That can be googled, too.
He did start ripping off Paula. A lot of people have stolen her whole sets. She was a comedians comedians. She is still funny.
I’m an old GenXer who works to learn and understand younger generations (who, as a whole, are pretty great!) but I don’t understand the “ick” thing. All of the “icks” I’ve seen people talk about are stupidest mindsets and the majority of the “icks” are just normal things that humans do. A man holding an umbrella is an “ick”? Really?
Am I missing something? Is the “ick” thing actually satire and I’m not getting it? I understand some things gross people out and it varies person to person (one of mine is anything snakeskin) but some young people seem to think basic things are “ick”.
An “ick’ is more about what turns you off romantically about a person, rather than something that grosses you out or gives you the creeps (blue cheese, needles). I imagine Millie is turned off by men who don’t want to get wet. I wonder what she’d think about Gene Kelly in “Singin’ in the Rain.”
What’s up, Jensen. Swoon from across the room.
That’s my original lyric inspired by Tay Tay and no Tay Tay u can’t use it.
I actually think Seinfeld nailed something there about how the Internet radically changed media culture. Movies, television, and radio used to be your big three for creative cultural influence. Now they’re competing with streaming sites like YouTube, streaming services like Max/Netflix/etc., and a ton of other things that are inherently more accessible and remove the veneer of power and relevance those original media used to have. It’s not about creating a cultural impact for the long term, anymore. It’s about creating a viral moment to make a quick buck and move on.
It also ties in to what I think Neil Tennant was trying to get at when he was talking about Taylor Swift’s music. The idea of cultural hit classics is disappearing. It’s the ultimate form of capitalist consumerist packaging of creativity and art. Instead of being something that moves people, makes us stop and sing along or provokes us to think about something seriously and discuss it, is dissipating. What the songs that are going to play on classic radio in twenty years? Can you think of any that you think will be things you’re humming along to then? Or will it just be a new series of songs, packaged to be ear worms, that you consume and move on? I feel like you’re starting to see that in fandom culture, where instead of shows and movies being something that drives conventions, art, and fanfiction for years, it’s starting to just fade out of the cultural conscience immediately.
I agree. It’s part of the same change in the entertainment industry. People can find more diverse music, TV, movies etc in more places, which takes away the monoculture aspect of those huge hit songs and movies.
I wouldn’t say streaming services are affordable, especially not as affordable as Youtube, which is literally free. Unless we’re talking about free w/ ads streaming like Pluto TV or Tubi, which are not as bad as people make them out to be and I would love to see more of. Streaming is filled with subpar products for outlandish prices, bad UI, etc.
I agree with everything else, though. Late stage capitalism is coming for us all.
Even YouTube isn’t ‘free’. You’ve got to pay for that phone or computer you’re watching it on, and to have paid for the internet/wifi service. You can go to the public library, of course, that last bastion of all knowledge & learning, although a lot of communities are no longer supporting their local library (‘who reads books any more?’ idiots say).
It’s affordable in the sense of barrier to entry – Isa Rae launched a show on YouTube and built a career. No studio exec had to grant her access or a budget etc. Creators can by pass the (generally) old white conservative execs to get their stories told.
I agree that’s what I thought as well.
Great comment, Veronica S. Well said!
Seinfeld’s brand is passive aggressive cruelty.
And it’s not always that passive.
“the movie business is over and that films today are not culturally significant.”
Hard disagree. It is changing, evolving. Not dying. And if Hollywood cares so much about art and cinemas dying, maybe they should start hiring people from diverse backgrounds, because people are missing the point of nepo baby discourse. The ruling classes have taken over the arts and that’s why mainstream (and lbr, indie too, there are plenty of nepo babies and rich folk taking over indie too) art feels ao stagnant.
It feels like people have been crying about the end of movies and cinemas for so long. I don’t see it happening, and imo the solution for the cinema problem is rather obvious. Make it more affordable. People want to go to the movies. I’m a huge introvert with social anxiety to boot, and I would love to afford going to the movies.
Agree. How many billions were made just last summer alone with just those two movies? (we know which two….). And BOTH those movies had loads of cultural significance.
Below Deck is a guilty pleasure. I’ll be watching, Joe Bradley. The constant oversharing of celebrities in podcasts and tv reality shows are an annoying trend, hard pass on Jerrod and please stop Kate and Oliver Hudson, I don’t even want to glance at the headlines of the latest thing you’ve said. A lot of great directors and films still being made and seems like it was acknowledged Jerry S was kinda joking.
Actually there is really interesting research that shows Hollywood makes most of its $ oversees, esp Chinese markets, who don’t like diversity or lbgqt
I don’t think movies are dead. But movie stars might be.
People care about the movie, not necessarily that Jacob Elordi might be starring in it.
Taylor only “explained” that song because…someone asked her. God, she’s hideous.
None of you saying Seinfeld is wrong have any contact with people under the age of 25. I teach at a traditional residential college in the US and have two teens at home: they rarely or never watch movies or TV. Gen Z does social and livestreams. Seriously, just Google “Gen Z and movies” to see the data. I’m not saying movies and TV will go away, but the audience for them is shrinking and will never return to what it was.
He’s right though. Movies were the thing when I was growing up. Some arthouse films really sparked conversations.
Now we have endless volumes of streaming stuff and there are few “megahits” even among streaming shows. Even then, it’s hard to prove that pop culture is or ever was “culture” in any important sense.
Natalie Portman said the same thing in VF (Feb ’24):
QUOTE: “The striking thing has been the decline of film as a primary form of entertainment,” she said. “It feels much more niche now. If you ask someone my kids’ age about movie stars, they don’t know anyone compared to YouTube stars or whatever.” (END QUOTE)
“…in an interview with Amazon.” Sounds like someone asked Taylor an obvious question and she answered it with grace. How should she have answered? “What a ridiculous question; it’s obvious what the lyrics mean”?
Grumpy old man CLEARLY didn’t follow the smashing success of Top Gun 2, or the Dune movies, or,…🤣🤣🤣