Jerry Seinfeld expressed nostalgia for the cultural norms of the 1960s, during the Tuesday episode of the “Honestly With Bari Weiss” podcast.
Seinfeld praised the dominant masculinity in the earlier eras, tying it to his new Netflix film, “Unfrosted,” during an appearance on the podcast. The film, which presents a fictional origin story of the Pop-Tart, takes place in Michigan during the 1960s. He noted that the era’s cultural hierarchy has faded, leading to modern societal issues like aggressive driving.
During the podcast, Weiss and Seinfeld discussed the film and looked back to a time when a common culture prevailed. “There’s another element there that I think is the key element and that is an agreed-upon hierarchy, which I think is absolutely vaporized in today’s moment. That is why people lean on the horn and drive in the crazy way that they drive. Because we have no sense of hierarchy. And as humans, we don’t really feel comfortable like that,” he said.
“That’s part of what makes that moment attractive looking back. I always wanted to be a real man. I never made it, [but] in that era, it was JFK. It was Mohammed Ali. It was Sean Connery, Howard Cosell … that’s a real man.”
Further elaborating on his views, Seinfeld admitted he misses the era’s style of masculinity, despite acknowledging contemporary concerns about its potential toxicity.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 30: Jerry Seinfeld attends SiriusXM’s ‘Unfrosted’ Town Hall at SiriusXM Studios on April 30, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
“I miss a dominant masculinity. Yeah, I get the toxic thing, but I still like a real man,” he continued. Seinfeld also praised the stylish demeanor of figures like Hugh Grant, who appears in “Unfrosted” playing Thurl Ravenscroft, a Shakespearean actor who performed as cereal mascots. (RELATED: Hugh Grant’s Awkward Interview Suggests He Couldn’t Care Less About The Oscars)
“He knows how to dress. He knows how to talk. He’s charming. He has stories, he’s comfortable at dinner parties, he knows how to get a drink,” Seinfeld explained.
