Why Comedy is the Romantic's Future

In the year 1989, Jerry Seinfeld saved Romanticism. In my opinion, of the key factors that we learned to determine whether or not something followed Romantic ideology, the focus on the individual self and experience was the most striking. While it may be only one of many determining factors, I feel like it was the only part of the movement that was truly completely unique to any specifically western social and artistic movement.

The way in which Jerry Seinfeld saved Romanticism was through portraying the importance of everyday life. It was one of the first times in recent history that a show about nothing outside of regular peoples lives had a major audience. Unlike any sort of family values show, Seinfeld was truly a show depicting how bizarre life is, and how we should appreciate it for its quirks and errors. More importantly though, Seinfeld taught us to revel in our individual lives and appreciate the importance of something as stupid as ordering soup, or even changing barbers. 

However, this new wave of comedy has not died down. The most specific example of this would be the show, Big Mouth.  The show follows two boys through puberty, a natural and universal experience that is still somehow so completely individual. The show focuses on the most basic things that every adult has gone through, but that's the beauty of it. It is a return to this depiction of normal life, and finding the beauty and the hilarity in the fact that life is not something to just take for granted. The ability to have these experiences, and now depict them to a wide audience who can laugh about them, and relate in their own very personal individual way is amazing. I think that society is incredibly Romantic. It might be in a nuanced way that relies on laughs and electricity, but the Romanticism is all around.