I have gone through both swings of that pendulum. I'm on the "All people have the inherent ability to do good, but need a push and a few small reminders now and then" part of my life now. I bring this up because your comment is interesting. If you assume all people are good, how do you explain people who are not? Maybe not evil as that word has a lot of loaded baggage associated with it, so maybe more malevolent? That may be the better word. I have never seen Seinfeld. Is it worth looking up a show or two?It took me years, but I figured out that some art is created from the worldview that people are evil. My worldview is that people are good.
You might as well check out a few Seinfeld's, I'm sure there are ten greatest episodes of all times lists. It leaves me cold. The joke is that the characters lives are shitty because they are so petty and stupid. They never realize this and are content to go on being exactly who they are over and over again for many seasons. Lots of people love it. Watch the soup Nazi episode, seems to be one that people still quote and laugh their ass off over.
Elaborating: I think that most people, when presented with a choice to do good that requires little energy or a choice to do evil that requires little energy, will choose to do good. I think that a choice to do good that requires a lot of energy and a choice to do evil that requires a little is a grayer subject, but my study of society, civilization and psychology lead me to believe and predict that if it costs nothing extra to be kind to your fellow man, people will be kind to their fellow man. It gets dicey when you re-shape what "fellow man" is and all sorts of evil are committed in the name of country or tribe, but if I recognize you as human and I recognize you as in trouble, my first instinct as a human is to help you out. Without that instinct, there's no cooperative hunting or gathering and we end up wolves in caves. It's that "fellow man" fallacy that I suspect is the root of most evil in the world. Nobody casts themselves as the bad guy - it's all framing. And while moral compasses can be wrong, and while justifications can be faulty, I think that "normal" human beings have morality and judge themselves to be good. If they judge others as evil it only serves to illustrate their lack of empathy, which - from my perspective - makes them failures as storytellers. Thus, I hate Chris Nolan.