Besides the funny, I loved Louis-Dreyfus's intelligence and fearlessness about the character's flaws. I also loved the look - one of the first women with thick, curly, non-dominant-culture straight hair - and her clothes too.
In fact, I based at least three quarters of my wardrobe on Elaine's fashion choices (for good or ill) and probably still do. Maybe it's the idea that Jewish women have curves? But longer skirts, peplum jackets and boots work for me in ways a lot of other stuff does not.
I also liked how Elaine and Jerry had a "thing" for a while and then break up, because the show would never have worked so well if they continued as a couple. Being friends allowed the characters to show us who they were and bounce off each other without romance gunking up our perceptions of them.
And, whether you liked her or not, Elaine was more like "us" than most TV heroines. She wasn't a Marvel hero or a doctor/lawyer or a CEO/ she didn't look like a model; and was so much more interesting than all of those fake characters we're spoon fed every day. Instead she was complicated, confused, anxious, intense, striving, failing and picking herself up again--like we do.
The fact that she was (or at least seemed to be) Jewish helped me identify with her a little more than other TV women too. But what I mostly learned from Elaine was what I try to tell myself when I'm depressed:
- I don't need to look like women I don't look like
- I look fine in the clothes I choose
- I don't have to be a doctor, lawyer or CEO
- Being a writer and playwright makes me happier than anything else would or could
And last but not least... role models don't need to be heroes. In fact, they're a lot more interesting when they're the opposite.
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