originally published 7/1/2000

In this Archive Feature from Volume 44 (2000) of the Journal, philosopher and professor at Boston College Thomas Hibbs discusses the nihilism that runs through films and television shows in contemporary American popular culture. Hibbs, author of Shows about Nothing: Nihilism in Popular Culture (1999), argues that a cultural narrative of hope, providence, and the American Dream has unraveled and is now being reversed in shows and films such as Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and Silence of the Lambs. In particular, each episode of Seinfeld seems to upend the American pursuit of happiness through traditional means (love, marriage, etc), instead allowing meaningless or trivial things to thwart each character’s pursuits. This common thread of destructive nihilism is evidence of a denial of meaning and morality in modern culture.

9 minutes

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