Seinfeld's Elaine Benes, Explained: Comedy’s Unconventional Feminist Heroine
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- Опубликовано: 5 июн 2024
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Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes is one of the most iconic and hilarious characters of the 90s - played by the comedy legend, Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She stood out for being the only woman of the friend group, but also because she was (at least at first) also less cynical than her friends. Her confidence and unapologetic attitude were refreshing and radical, and her character opened the door for so many of our faves that followed after. So let’s turn back the clock and analyze what made Elaine so different, why she became such an iconic and beloved character, and how, even if she wasn’t always a great person, she still managed to be a new kind of role model.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:37 Equally flawed and fabulous
02:27 Choosing herself no matter what
05:10 Thanks to Zoc Doc!
06:56 Changing the on screen convo about relationships
10:06 Working her way to the top
15:29 The queen of enough is enough
16:51 Why Elaine was a trail blazer
The Take was created by Debra Minoff & Susannah McCullough
This video was written by Stevie Lazarus, narrated by Charly Bivona, produced by Jessica Babineaux, and edited by Travis Martin 
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While Elaine is morally flawed, she’s one of my favorite characters BECAUSE she treats men and women equally. She did put George in his place, for example, when he didn’t want to date a bald girl and he was bald. I’d rather root for a woman who is morally flawed when it comes to all of society, than a pick me who just treats men well.
I guess on Seinfeld's standards, Elaine is pretty virtuous.
I love that Elaine liked to think that she was the voice of reason out of the group, when really she was just as petty and self absorbed as the guy. They made a great call of casting Julia Louis Dreyfus, as she gelled in well, despite not being in the original pilot.
Jerry is the mom friend but he's also a kid at heart. He eats sugary kids cereal and wants the toy prize inside, watches WB cartoons, and reads DC comics. There's nowhere near an 'adult' or a voice of reason between the four of them.
Nothing brought that fact home more than the episode with her and bizarro Jerry, where at the end she does her get out shove, only to be kicked out of bizarro Jerry's group 😂
@@jamiefrontiera1671 Elaine thinks she's more competent than she is (ex. when she ran the J. Peterman company). Jerry thinks he's a better person than he is. Kramer thinks he's cooler than he is. And George thinks he's more successful than he is.
@@MaliceInCandyland wasn't disagreeing with your first point
@@jamiefrontiera1671 I know I'm just saying they all have inflated egos.
It’s funny because Julia did grow up extremely privileged. Her father was a billionaire and her lineage goes back to Alfred Dreyfus. So playing snobby, wealthy Elaine was right up her street. It does seem that she worked hard in her career though, and that is admirable.
Oh yeah, I definitely think she works hard and really cares about her craft. I think I knew she came from money but dang, I didn't know how much money!
It makes me wonder if Elaine’s backstory was inspired by her own? I know Larry David based a lot of characters and situations on real life.
I still laugh just thinking about how Elaine pushed the guys, her throwing George’s toupee out the window, and her saying, “The dingo ate your baby!”
I love that when the network mandated they had a female character in the show and then they thought "what kind of woman would hang out with Jerry and George?" and thus Elaine was born
Best commentary lol
I always loved Elaine. She was okay the first two seasons, then the writers finally realized the absolute ICON that is Julia and gave her some seriously excellent dialogue, which made her the best of the bunch for the next seven seasons. I still randomly think about the fight that Elaine has with George's father, and I nearly pass out laughing!!! And don't get me started on my ultimate favorite episode *The Backward Episode* when Sue Ellen Mischke got married in India. 🤣😂😅🤣😅🤣😆😅😄🤣😂
The Elaine Benes to Dee Reynolds (Always Sunny) pipeline is fascinating and worthy of analysis.
Absolutely!!!
Yeah!!!!! Do it, Take team!
I always loved Elaine. She's my spirit animal.
Elaine Benes is one of the funniest female characters ever. Played by one of the most talanted comediennes ever.
If she would have been an actual person, she would have scared the bejeesus out of me.
Elaine was right up there with Buffy for me as important female characters when I was growing up. She was so real and unabashed. Didn't take shit from anyone. Really helped pave the way for my feminism.
Julia is great comediene! She is great in this role, no one could play Elaine better than she did.
Exactly! Society teaches women to endure with what bugs us. Elaine reacted the way we all want to when we’ve reached our limits and it’s almost like Elaine was acting for us, in ways we wished 90s society would let us and even nowadays
Not a huge fan of Seinfeld, I don't hate it either. But Julia Louis Dreyfus is a fantastic comedic actress. She was also excellent in "the New Adventures of Old Christine" and "Veep".
Great video! However you guys did spell politic wrong (polotic) and it’s Mr. Pitt not Mr. Lip and J Peterman not Peterson. Someone needed to look over this one more time before posting!
Yes. There's Mr. Pitt and Mr. Lipman, but no Mr. Lip. Some fact-checking is in order.
People do that now in order to get that type of engagement that you just did right there… you making that comment is gonna push it through the algorithm.
Didn't got the message, huh?
So many factual errors in this. Kramer was the first one out of the contest, not Elaine. Top Of The Muffin was started by Mr. Lippman and Elaine partnered with him, not Kramer. Also when Elaine was fired as CEO of Peterman, she went back to her previous job as catalog writer, she didn't go back to editing at a publishing company.
Also, it's "Mr. Pitt" not "Mr. Lip".... The basics for this are so important too.
Minor error: It's PeterMan not PeterSON.
Yeah it's also Mr Pitt not Lip
Elaine was not the first to lose the contest. Kramer was. Elaine would give an eye roll for the shoddy research conducted for this video.
don't know about the shade, but yeah true. Kramer loses it quick.
I love Elaine. As a kid I wanted her confidence and ambition, I'm much more laid back as an adult though. And I'm with Puddy, "feels like an Arby's night."
This is the first time I've ever noticed errors in your videos. Whoa. Didn't think that'd ever happen.
So weird how so many Elaine analysis videos are coming up. I love it!
Love her character
I'm on the floor. That show was pure brilliance. Elaine was top tier. Top TIER! I'm here saying every line right back at the screen. "look, i'd don't want to say grace!"
Elaine was the Babs bunny of sitcom characters.
There's actually an episode where Jerry is watching Tiny Toons and singing along lmao.
Bugs?
@emilyburton4095 Babs -- little girl bunny in Tiny Toons.
@@lindawilson8154 Oops, my bad.
Ooohh I'd love to see a video on Fran Fine! Her and Elaine are similar in so many ways! Flaws and all! I adore them both. ❤
who revised this? got names wrong and she partnered with mr. lippman not kramer for “top of the muffin to you!”
This makes me want to rewatch Seinfeld
I mostly watch episodes from S3 and later and didn’t even pick up on the fact that her and Jerry dated in the past. I also love how she had many relationships and wasn’t judged for it. She was almost like another guy in the group.
*Politics, not polotics. At 11:40... You kept saying "Mr. Lipp." No such person. Her boss in publishing was Mr. Lippman. The eccentric boss was Mr. Pitt. She didn't partner with Kramer on any business venture. She partnered with Mr. Lippman.
Still one of my faves to this day!
I was in my late thirties when this show premiered and I found Julia to be the hottest woman in show business by season three. This is some good thinking. Thank you!
She is comedic queen no doubt, loved her in Veep too . Enough said movie with James gandolfini was good too
Kramer was the first to lose the bet not Elaine
Elaine is a great example of a funny character that happens to be female, not a "funny female character".
Quick correction: Elaine was the SECOND person to cave in "The Contest." Kramer succumbed first after watching the woman in the next building walking around naked.
Elaine was my absolute favorite of the 4 friends. Your description of her was spot on. I give huge credit to JLD’s acting abilities. Are you Sponge Worthy. Fake, Fake, Fake. Pretty good. (Sex with Jerry). I Yada Yada Yadaed Sex
I didn't realize how much influence this character had on me growing up!
I was too young to understand half of what was happening on Seinfeld (The Bet episode?? Haha I was perplexed for years 😂), but looking back, Elaine is SUCH a refreshing character. I almost took it for granted that she is the way she is... And I'm kinda like that too 😅
Great to see focus on Elaine! I appreciate this video. One small, picky thing - Elaine wasn't the first out of The Contest , that was Kramer. But point well taken.
You must of sensed that I just completed my biennial rewatch of Seinfeld recently by posting this
Elaine is one of my all time favorite heroes.
Seinfeld was such a good show!
11:44 I think you conflated Mr. Lippman (the Pendant boss) and Mr. Pitt.
That was really well done and he’s giving me a newfound respect for the Elaine character
7:35 - 7-43
That's not correct. Kramer caved first.
I love Elaine, I'm glad you include the Queen Victoria's Cake moment 🤭
Lol @ "empowering women to be...(all the bad traits that they dislike about men)" 🤣🤣🤣🤣
4:39 I share Elaine's passion about punctuation 😂
So many women in entertainment like shows, movies even in in music are portrayed as love obsessed and Elaine just doesn't give a fuck. I really appreciate it because I'm like that in a way too 😊 she keeps it real like what her priorities are and doesn't fuck around
7:34 No, Kramer was the first to lose the bet when he saw the naked woman across the street.
Thank you for ending that with my favorite quote 😅
I love Elaine.
Spongy Worthy and Nip are my fave episodes.
We are from the same town so have always felt so connected :)
I assume the people at The Take also got recommended that video of Elaine's dancing being edited into Never Gonna Give You Up
great episode
Love love love her wacky, strong character; her bending of gender norms and stereotypes; her comedic brilliance!
Elaine may not be a great person, but she's a great character. As a female character in particular, I feel like she humanizes us. And Julia is a comedic genius, too.
Things were indeed different with women in the workplace, I remember the first Sexual Harassment in the Workplace case I heard of was because of the infamous "Mulva" joke.
I love her character so much!
I freaking love Elaine! Best girl!
Was there Sims 4 theme music playing throughout this?? It was sort of distracting. 😅
Love Elaine though!
I saw a video the other day about Elaine and it made the case that Elaine was in love with Jerry and that's why she hung around with him so much and Jerry wasn't in love with her at all but he liked that she loved him. There was plenty of evidence to support the theory.
Mr. Lipman.
All hail Elaine!
15:13 No. Elaine returns to the Peterman catalog. Some simple proofreading would have gone a long way.
What about a take on Susie Green of Curb Your Enthusiasm 😊
Elaine is my astral animal
"Are youi the master of your own domain?"
What I really like is that the show could have made her the token female character but they made her just as bad as the guys and it made her tough and able to catch up with them
Elaine Marie Benes 😍
A channel with this many subscribers and frequently gets a lot of views on their videos should have better fact checking, or at least have someone watch the video before it gets posted. Does the editor’s computer really not have automatic spellcheck?
I love that both of the ego-centric bosses’ names were butchered 😂 Not sure if that was intentional or not but I’m sure Mr Pitt and J Peterman wouldn’t approve lol
I believe Kramer what's the first out of the contest, not Elaine. Great video nonetheless.
💜💜💜
Peterman, not Peterson.
You probably shouldn't let AI write your scripts.
She's like Dee from Always Sunny. She too started off as the presumed voice of reason before she eventually went off the rails cause she was just as self serving as the other guys.
I mean it’s inspired by seinfield
It was Mr. Pitt, not Mr. Lip
Elaine is an example of the ex girlfriend becoming one of your guy friends. I mean not all break ups end in a "f" you because sometimes plutonic friendships can happen between exes.
❤
Mr. Pitt.
16:05 that line was funny because Julia was pregnant in that episode
Girl Failure, Girl Boss, or Femcel? Call it.
Taking of George’s headpiece was a shit move, a lot of men go through balding due the stresses of life, and for a guy like George hairpiece really was one of the two choices
*_that shove tho_*
Mr. Lipp? thought it was Mr. Pitt
It _is_ Mr. Pitt. And it's J. Peterman, not Peterson like they said in the video. I guess they don't have editors or people who can read the script before they do the video.
the *_dingo_* ate your baby
One of the early great Elaine moments. Too bad that NBC messed up and aired that episode in season 3.
I love how as the show goes on tho she becomes less n less the "voice of reason" and her storylines become just as unhinge as george's
You got the name of major characters wrong
Sorry it's Mr. Pitt
“Polotics”? I think this is supposed to be “Politics”.
Polotics?
Meuh.
It's J PETERMAN
I used to look at her as just a funny, fresh, original character handily portrayed by a talented comedic actor. Picking her apart like this kinda ruins it for me, retroactively applying an agenda to her. I doubt that much thought was put into it. I think the writers and actors just did what they thought was funny.
Elaine was so far from pick me it’s not even funny. Wtf is this video talking about ?!
the video literally said that.... just concentrate before complaining
I didn't think Elaine was particularly funny. There were multitudes of characters on _Seinfeld_ who were funnier than Elaine: Newman, Frank Costanza, Puddy, Bania, Uncle Leo, "George Steinbrenner," etc. Same with _Veep_ - Mike, Gary, Ben Cafferty, and Roger Furlong were funnier than Julia Louis-Dreyfus' title character.
J. PETERMAN.
This is FULL of mistakes. Who wrote this? Usually you guys aren't this sloppy.
She was the least realistic of the main cast though because Jerry Seinfeld would never have sex with a woman his own age.
Hate Seinfeld, but love Elaine ❤
This channel really fell off