Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

George Costanza

Encyclopedia : G : GE : GEO : George Costanza


Jason Alexander as George Costanza
Enlarge
Jason Alexander as George Costanza

George Louis Costanza (born April 1959) is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld (19891998), played by Jason Alexander.

George is Jerry Seinfeld's neurotic best friend. He sometimes lives with his parents, Estelle and Frank Costanza, a bitter couple who are as neurotic as their son. George mentions he has a brother ("The Parking Space"), although his name is never mentioned, and he never appears on screen. As a teenager, he was tormented by his gym teacher, who intentionally mispronounced George's last name as "Can't Stand Ya" ("The Library"). George and Jerry attended Kennedy High together, setting the dynamic for their later relationship. George claims that he and Jerry met in gym class when George, climbing rope, fell on Jerry ("The Outing").

George has numerous psychological problems, including: narcissism, habitual lying, low self-esteem, sudden fits of anger, impulsive acts of ill-considered generosity, cheapness, selfishness, and sometimes living in a fantasy world. Like Kramer, he would often concoct elaborate plots to weasel out of relational, financial, or legal obligations, always with unexpected and negative consequences. George's lying, however, is often seen as a gift in the eyes of himself and his friends. It is noted in some episodes that he can even beat a lie-detector test and quotes to Jerry, "It's not a lie, if you believe it" ("The Beard").

The character of George is based on the alter ego of the show's co-creator, Larry David. In the first couple of seasons, George was restrained by the standards of his later actions. But as the series went on, his schemes and personality became more outlandish. Alexander related in an interview that, early in the creation of the show, he once expressed having problems acting out a scene in the script, because he felt no one would ever behave in "such a way". David replied to him that the exact situation had actually happened to him, and he had reacted in exactly "that way". Alexander said that this was a breakthrough for him in portraying the character, giving him valuable insight into both David and George.

Family

George is the son of Frank and Estelle Costanza, described as "psychopath[s]" by Jerry ("The Puffy Shirt"), "loud" and "always fighting" by Helen Seinfeld ("The Raincoats, Part 1") and "sick" by the father of Susan Ross ("The Rye"). The constant bickering and bizarre behavior of his parents is often cited as a reason for George's adult neurosis and eccentricity: Jerry comments that George "could have been normal" had the Costanzas divorced thirty years earlier ("The Chinese Woman"), and George describes himself as "the result of my parents having stayed together" ("The Shoes").

In "The Suicide," George makes reference to a brother that "once impregnated a woman named Pauline," and in "The Parking Space," but the brother is never referenced elsewhere, nor does he make an appearance in the series. George's cousin, Rhisa, appears in "The Junk Mail," referred to by George as Frank's "brother's daughter," although this uncle does not appear, either; however, it is mentioned at another time that George has an uncle Moe, who "died a young man" ("The Money"). George also had an aunt, "Aunt Baby," who died at the age of 7 of internal problems ("The Money").

In "The Doll," it is revealed that Frank Costanza has a cousin, Carlo, who lives in Tuscany.

Life

In "The Strike", it is revealed that George's father Frank invented the December holiday Festivus to counter the commercialism of Christmas. When George was a child, he was forced to celebrate the holiday, and as a result George hates Festivus. George shows his feelings for the holiday when he refuses to take down Frank in the Feats of Strength (but Frank provokes him into doing it anyway).

George attended Queens College, along with Jerry ("The Marine Biologist").

George becomes engaged to Susan Biddle Ross, a wealthy executive at NBC who approved Jerry and George's show-within-the-show sitcom pilot. George and Susan date for a year, during which time the commitment-phobic George is constantly trying to find ways to end their relationship without actually having to initiate the breakup with her. In "The Engagement," he proposes to her in a short-lived bout of midlife crisis, after he and Jerry had made a "pact" to move forward with their lives. When Jerry breaks up with his girlfriend and declares the deal over, George panics and again tries repeatedly to weasel out of his engagement. He gets his wish days before the wedding in "The Invitations", when he inadvertently causes her death by selecting the cheapest envelopes for their wedding invitations, not knowing they contained toxic glue. Susan's parents, never knowing the specifics behind her poisoning but suspecting George was somehow involved, never forgive him for this, and they appoint him to the Board of Directors of the Susan Biddle Ross Foundation to keep him trapped under their influence and to ensure that he would never get any of it.

Professional life

George's professional life is unstable. He is unable to remain in any job for any great length of time before making an embarrassing blunder and getting fired. Over the course of the series, he works for a real estate transaction services firm (Rick Bahr Properties), Elaine's company (Pendant Publishing), the New York Yankees (his longest running job), a playground equipment company (Play Now), an industrial smoothing company (Kruger Industrial Smoothing), and other places. He is fired from his job at Pendant Publishing for having sex with the cleaning woman on his desk in "The Red Dot" (he professes he's always been attracted to cleaning women). His original job when the series starts is as a real estate agent; he ends up quitting, only to slip his boss a mickey in "The Revenge". His dream job is to be an architect, a job he would often pretend to have; he claims in "The Race" that he had designed "the new addition to the Guggenheim." In "The Van Buren Boys," he denies his young protégé a scholarship from the Susan Ross Foundation when the young man decides he no longer wants to be an architect, and wants to become a city planner instead. In "The Marine Biologist," Jerry tells a girl George wanted to impress that George is a marine biologist. The plan backfires when George is called upon to save a beached whale, with a golf ball in its blowhole; he saves the whale, but the woman tells him off when he confesses that he is not, in fact, a marine biologist.

During the fourth season of the series, George gains experience as a sitcom writer as he helps Jerry to write the pilot for the fictitious show Jerry. While pitching the concept of a "show about nothing" to NBC executives, George claims to have written an off-off-Broadway play entitled La Cocina, about a Mexican chef named Pepe. George claims Pepe mimed the preparation of tamales, and it was the mime aspect that made the play so funny.

Pseudonyms

Independent George

George views himself as being made up of two distinct psyches: "Independent George" and "Relationship George." The latter is the tedious personality he felt compelled to adopt within the context of his personal relationship with Susan Biddle Ross in order to maintain that relationship. George does not care for the dull persona of Relationship George, viewing it as a sort of prison. In contrast, Independent George is a reflection of George's true nature and the George he could be within the sanctuary of his life away from Susan. Independent George is made up of several important subpersonas: Movie George, Coffee Shop George, Liar George, and Bawdy George. The persona of Independent George is the George Jerry knew and grew up with.

Independent George is nearly killed in the episode, "The Pool Guy." Elaine seeks a female friend to accompany her to a historical clothing exhibit, only to realize she doesn't have any. Jerry unwittingly suggests that she ask Susan, who is happy to oblige. Kramer immediately realizes the disastrous implications of Jerry's suggestion and informs him of the "worlds theory": George has two separate worlds--his world with Susan and his world with Jerry and the gang, which is his sanctuary--and it is necessary for George to keep them apart. If Relationship George is allowed to come into contact with Independent George, George's sanctuary will blow up. While Susan and Elaine fast become friends, George flips out and offers a greater explication of the "worlds theory" for Jerry: A George divided against itself cannot stand; if Relationship George is allowed to infiltrate George's sanctuary, he will kill Independent George. With Elaine integrating Susan into the group's activities, George is forced to take evasive measures and is relegated to eating at Reggie's Diner while the rest of his friends, along with Susan, lunch at Monk's. The crisis reaches its crescendo when George comes home to find a message informing him that Susan, Elaine, and Jerry all went to the movies to see Chunnel and that he should meet them at the theater. George, knowing that they probably went to the Lowes Paragon, shows up at the theater, and makes a big ruckus in front of the screen when he is unable to locate the trio in the audience. George is forcibly removed from the theater by two ushers as he loudly accuses Susan, Elaine, and Jerry of sitting up in the audience, out of his view, "laughing and lying" as they conspire to kill Independent George. Unbeknownst to George, the movie is showing on two screens and his friends are at the other showing. Ultimately, the crisis is abated when Susan "breaks up" with Elaine because she finds the trivialness of the group's interactions unappealing.

Characteristics

George possesses many negative character traits, most of which usually do him harm, as illustrated by the following events initiated by him, and the manner in which they backfire.

General Eccentricity

Cheapness

Cheating

Lack of respect for the privacy of others

Habitual lying

George comments on one occasion that "my whole life is a sham." Some of the incidents below would support his claim. His lies rarely turn situations to his advantage, however. (After using the name Art Vandelay until the show's final episode, a judge by that name presides over the trial of the "New York Four," in which the defendants are charged with breaking the Good Samaritan Law in the fictional town of Latham, Massachusetts. Jerry and George take it as a sign that they will be acquitted, but after a swarm of previous guest characters (from Marla the Virgin to the parents of Susan Ross) testify against the four friends, Judge Vandelay sentences George, Jerry, Kramer, and Elaine to a year removed from society. ("The Finale"))

Insecurity

Insincerity

Lack of morals

Misplaced optimism

Possible Mental Instability

Unusual interests

Misplaced nostalgia

Lack of empathy

Lack of common sense

Overindulgence

Sexual Incompetence

Misplaced sense of justice

Jobs held by George Costanza

The dates of each job indicate the air date of the episodes in which George worked those particular jobs.

Jobs George Costanza falsely claimed to hold

Pop culture

External links


Seinfeld
Characters
Main Characters: Jerry Seinfeld (character)>Jerry Seinfeld | George Costanza | Elaine Benes | Cosmo Kramer
Related to Jerry: Helen Seinfeld > Morty Seinfeld | Uncle Leo | Kenny Bania | Sally Weaver | Dr. Tim Whatley
Related to George: Estelle Costanza > Frank Costanza | Susan Ross | Mr. Wilhelm | Mr. Kruger | Lloyd Braun
Related to Elaine: Jacopo Peterman>J. Peterman | David Puddy | Mr. Lippman | Justin Pitt | Sue Ellen Mischke
Related to Kramer: Newman (Seinfeld)>Newman | Mickey Abbott | Jackie Chiles | Bob Sacamano | Babs Kramer | Lomez
Other: Soup Nazi > "Crazy" Joe Davola | Minor characters in Seinfeld
Culture of the Seinfeld Universe
Festivus > Master of Your Domain | Regifting
List of fictional films in Seinfeld | Coffee Table Book About Coffee Tables
Episodes
List of Seinfeld episodes > The Seinfeld Chronicles
Other
List of Seinfeld references to actual people > Running gags in Seinfeld

 


From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: