Has Comedy Really Changed That Much?
Progress occurs as we grow and move forward. It’s easy to look back at anything that occurred with 20/20 hindsight and see exactly where things went wrong. Ever critical, not only does Jerry manage to find fault with all of his girlfriends, but he makes fun of them too. It’s all in the name of comedy but in retrospect, sometimes, it’s just not that funny.
Social norms and values have changed over the past three decades, and if an episode like “The Chinese Woman” would’ve aired today, well, it wouldn’t have aired. You remember the one where Jerry thinks he’s going out with a Chinese woman because her name is Donna Chang, and he’s disappointed to learn she’s not Chinese, and her full name is Changstein. Yeah, right.