Seinfeld's Elaine Benes, Explained: Comedy’s Unconventional Feminist Heroine

Рет қаралды 41,236

Күн бұрын

Go to zocdoc.com/THETAKE to download the Zocdoc app for free and book a top-rated doctor today.
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.
Join our Patreon to unlock the members-only series “Total Take," vote on what we cover next, and more: / thetake
Read articles on film, TV and culture: www.the-take.com
Follow our socials: linktr.ee/thisisthetake
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

Пікірлер: 141

@thetake 3 ай бұрын

Go to zocdoc.com/THETAKE to download the Zocdoc app for free and book a top-rated doctor today.

@deborahelizabeth3788 3 ай бұрын

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.

@felipenachmanowicz9393 2 ай бұрын

I guess on Seinfeld's standards, Elaine is pretty virtuous.

@trinaq 3 ай бұрын

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.

@MaliceInCandyland 3 ай бұрын

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.

@jamiefrontiera1671 3 ай бұрын

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 😂

@MaliceInCandyland 3 ай бұрын

@@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.

@jamiefrontiera1671 3 ай бұрын

@@MaliceInCandyland wasn't disagreeing with your first point

@MaliceInCandyland 3 ай бұрын

@@jamiefrontiera1671 I know I'm just saying they all have inflated egos.

@dr.braxygilkeycruises1460 3 ай бұрын

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. 🤣😂😅🤣😅🤣😆😅😄🤣😂

@ALittlePriest101 3 ай бұрын

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

@jenlindley7780 3 ай бұрын

Best commentary lol

@PhoebeFayRuthLouise 3 ай бұрын

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!”

@PassiveAgressive319 3 ай бұрын

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.

@aliciamiro9529 3 ай бұрын

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!

@cheesecake134 3 ай бұрын

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.

@ahunt1054 3 ай бұрын

I always loved Elaine. She's my spirit animal.

@roadrollerdio565 3 ай бұрын

The Elaine Benes to Dee Reynolds (Always Sunny) pipeline is fascinating and worthy of analysis.

@Laura_Consonants 3 ай бұрын

Absolutely!!!

@meiji_apollo 2 ай бұрын

Yeah!!!!! Do it, Take team!

@Jonteponte71 3 ай бұрын

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.

@dplunk13 3 ай бұрын

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.

@biljam972 3 ай бұрын

Julia is great comediene! She is great in this role, no one could play Elaine better than she did.

@michellecrocker2485 3 ай бұрын

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

@plasticjesus444 3 ай бұрын

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!

@emilyburton4095 3 ай бұрын

Yes. There's Mr. Pitt and Mr. Lipman, but no Mr. Lip. Some fact-checking is in order.

@TheCoolCookieKitchen 3 ай бұрын

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.

@sesaarinen 3 ай бұрын

Didn't got the message, huh?

@annejohnson5875 3 ай бұрын

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".

@MR-hu3ht 3 ай бұрын

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.

@nicoleclark5271 2 ай бұрын

Also, it's "Mr. Pitt" not "Mr. Lip".... The basics for this are so important too.

@joeconcepts5552 Күн бұрын

Another “video essay” based on half remembered things from the show, hastily made. There’s definitely a worth topic here, but this was obviously rushed through.

@gregoryseewald5066 3 ай бұрын

Minor error: It's PeterMan not PeterSON.

@Jurnee87 2 ай бұрын

Yeah it's also Mr Pitt not Lip

@emilycurtis4398 3 ай бұрын

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."

@ponderingsfromthemothercit8347 3 ай бұрын

So weird how so many Elaine analysis videos are coming up. I love it!

@mlsaulnier 3 ай бұрын

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.

@derred723 3 ай бұрын

don't know about the shade, but yeah true. Kramer loses it quick.

@BigMacCoyle 3 ай бұрын

This is the first time I've ever noticed errors in your videos. Whoa. Didn't think that'd ever happen.

@anaabroken 3 ай бұрын

who revised this? got names wrong and she partnered with mr. lippman not kramer for “top of the muffin to you!”

@tylerhackner9731 3 ай бұрын

Love her character

@chanmarr8118 3 ай бұрын

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.

@derred723 3 ай бұрын

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!"

@hannrkelley 3 ай бұрын

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. ❤

@rtothec1234 3 ай бұрын

Elaine was the Babs bunny of sitcom characters.

@MaliceInCandyland 3 ай бұрын

There's actually an episode where Jerry is watching Tiny Toons and singing along lmao.

@emilyburton4095 3 ай бұрын

Bugs?

@lindawilson8154 3 ай бұрын

@emilyburton4095 Babs -- little girl bunny in Tiny Toons.

@emilyburton4095 3 ай бұрын

@@lindawilson8154 Oops, my bad.

@DhooomKetu 3 ай бұрын

She is comedic queen no doubt, loved her in Veep too . Enough said movie with James gandolfini was good too

@bossfan49 3 ай бұрын

*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.

@djbennett900 3 ай бұрын

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!

@rahshidawalker1350 2 ай бұрын

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.

@mulesalumina7220 3 ай бұрын

Still one of my faves to this day!

@JanellFrazier 3 ай бұрын

This makes me want to rewatch Seinfeld

@DaddyOfTheSugarVariety 3 ай бұрын

Seinfeld was such a good show!

@batgurrl 3 ай бұрын

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

@wvu05 2 ай бұрын

11:44 I think you conflated Mr. Lippman (the Pendant boss) and Mr. Pitt.

@KaritKtana 3 ай бұрын

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 😅

@mooncrowsong 3 ай бұрын

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.

@derrickbrossard1966 3 ай бұрын

Kramer was the first to lose the bet not Elaine

@TheCoolCookieKitchen 3 ай бұрын

That was really well done and he’s giving me a newfound respect for the Elaine character

@ameliat8981 3 ай бұрын

Thank you for ending that with my favorite quote 😅

@mintisthenewblack 3 ай бұрын

I love Elaine, I'm glad you include the Queen Victoria's Cake moment 🤭

@starbrite526 3 ай бұрын

You must of sensed that I just completed my biennial rewatch of Seinfeld recently by posting this

@nicolehuff8455 2 ай бұрын

4:39 I share Elaine's passion about punctuation 😂

@ZZealot 2 ай бұрын

Elaine is one of my all time favorite heroes.

@magpie9223 2 ай бұрын

I love Elaine. Spongy Worthy and Nip are my fave episodes. We are from the same town so have always felt so connected :)

@kathleenandrews8171 2 ай бұрын

great episode

@eml3077 3 ай бұрын

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

@wvu05 2 ай бұрын

7:34 No, Kramer was the first to lose the bet when he saw the naked woman across the street.

@dirgewordsmithe 3 ай бұрын

Lol @ "empowering women to be...(all the bad traits that they dislike about men)" 🤣🤣🤣🤣

@morbidsearch 3 ай бұрын

I assume the people at The Take also got recommended that video of Elaine's dancing being edited into Never Gonna Give You Up

@afterdinnercreations936 3 ай бұрын

7:35 - 7-43 That's not correct. Kramer caved first.

@mbanerjee5889 3 ай бұрын

Elaine is a great example of a funny character that happens to be female, not a "funny female character".

@fderfegtgtrrt949 3 ай бұрын

I freaking love Elaine! Best girl!

@sharyebethancourt3660 3 ай бұрын

I love her character so much!

@frankinsaneandmyrrh1202 2 ай бұрын

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.

@lyrialzander 3 ай бұрын

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.

@jeank8061 3 ай бұрын

Love love love her wacky, strong character; her bending of gender norms and stereotypes; her comedic brilliance!

@derangedone13 3 ай бұрын

Was there Sims 4 theme music playing throughout this?? It was sort of distracting. 😅 Love Elaine though!

@supaspydamn 3 ай бұрын

All hail Elaine!

@mechagirl1986 2 ай бұрын

Elaine is my astral animal

@aduckofsomesort 3 ай бұрын

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?

@HarryBuddhaPalm 2 ай бұрын

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.

@steve_santiago 3 ай бұрын

Elaine Marie Benes 😍

@susanmurphy958 3 ай бұрын

Mr. Lipman.

@wvu05 2 ай бұрын

15:13 No. Elaine returns to the Peterman catalog. Some simple proofreading would have gone a long way.

@derred723 3 ай бұрын

"Are youi the master of your own domain?"

2 ай бұрын

What about a take on Susie Green of Curb Your Enthusiasm 😊

@isabelfernandes778 3 ай бұрын

💜💜💜

@WayTooClose 2 ай бұрын

I believe Kramer what's the first out of the contest, not Elaine. Great video nonetheless.

@Amish_Trivedi 3 ай бұрын

Mr. Pitt.

@saking91kingsley43 3 ай бұрын

Peterman, not Peterson.

@TimCarter 2 ай бұрын

You probably shouldn't let AI write your scripts.

@mwittner63 2 ай бұрын

It was Mr. Pitt, not Mr. Lip

@Sane-wq8ug 4 күн бұрын

Hee 🤠 has, I had a date that took it Out 😮😂😂😂

@michellecrocker2485 3 ай бұрын

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

@splitfries69 3 ай бұрын

*_that shove tho_*

@ButterflyBandit88 3 ай бұрын

❤

@LeahWalentosky 3 ай бұрын

16:05 that line was funny because Julia was pregnant in that episode

@MillennialMcGuyver 3 ай бұрын

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

@michaelcamp4990 3 ай бұрын

Mr. Lipp? thought it was Mr. Pitt

@dr.braxygilkeycruises1460 3 ай бұрын

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.

@splitfries69 3 ай бұрын

the *_dingo_* ate your baby

@fromthehaven94 3 ай бұрын

One of the early great Elaine moments. Too bad that NBC messed up and aired that episode in season 3.

@isidorakovic988 Ай бұрын

Mr Pitt not Mr Lipp

@MackeyDeez 3 ай бұрын

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.

@itsjanolli Ай бұрын

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

@eileenrivera6142 2 ай бұрын

Sorry it's Mr. Pitt

@beniverson3777 Ай бұрын

You got the name of major characters wrong

@realkingofantarctica 3 ай бұрын

Girl Failure, Girl Boss, or Femcel? Call it.

@parhambahrami8622 3 ай бұрын

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

@ilikeditbetterbefore 2 ай бұрын

It's J PETERMAN

@georgemason4921 3 ай бұрын

Meuh.

@emilyburton4095 3 ай бұрын

Polotics?

@strells 2 ай бұрын

“Polotics”? I think this is supposed to be “Politics”.

@emilyburton4095 3 ай бұрын

J. PETERMAN.

@renshiwu305 2 ай бұрын

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.

@pistachiosandpopcorn7146 3 ай бұрын

Elaine was so far from pick me it’s not even funny. Wtf is this video talking about ?!

@garfieldkater5469 3 ай бұрын

the video literally said that.... just concentrate before complaining

@nomemories130 2 ай бұрын

She was the least realistic of the main cast though because Jerry Seinfeld would never have sex with a woman his own age.

@doubledown0411 2 ай бұрын

This is FULL of mistakes. Who wrote this? Usually you guys aren't this sloppy.

@aricuap 3 ай бұрын

Hate Seinfeld, but love Elaine ❤

@bossfan49 3 ай бұрын

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.