I also think they made us "forget" how awful Howard was with the later episodes because i remember rewatching and being extremely uncomfortable with H and i questioned myself about why i thought Howard wasn't bad. I know it could've been a character development moment but still it really didn't feel like that. Because Howard didn't stop harassing after that talk with Penny. Idk if it made sense tbh
@@missjackson5725 they definitely tried to use Bernadette to “show his growth” without him having any actual growth, he’s a terrible husband but they desperately tried to show him as a good one
You forget that she then punches Howard after he tries to get physical (cause he badly misreads the situation) & afterward ceases to be as big a pig around Penny. Doesn't redeem things that much but she did stand up for herself & not just apologize for upsetting him.
Even Amy and Bernadette are treated as lesser for being biologists and neuroscientists! I think it's more of an effort to push women OUT of stem, which is ironic considering that one plot line.
Even with Penny I feel like they portrayed her as too dim or uninterested for science. Like the but of the joke was her disinterest and they didn’t even make her intelligent or interested in other things. She’s just there to show how “smart” they are when they tell pretty entry level science jokes and they go over her head. It’s like, she’s not in science but she can’t even understand it for fun either. Ew.
It is a person in science thing a bit. Saying as a female in science. Always depending on what you are referring. In our uni social science students always bragged about their grades and how hard their life is. But almost everyone always got an A or a B in their classes. So I do was annoyed by their crying how hard their studies are, when 80% in your class fails. But this doesn't mean that it is less important. I am always amazed by my friends what they are doing (they studied social sience).
so true, though more so with biology. Although, if you get a group of hard sciences in a room together ("hard" meaning more accurate and predictable with math for non-STEMers in the comments. It's not a term denoting difficulty), they start fighting amongst each other. Physicists rag on engineers... and I suspect it's because engineers don't need a PhD and make a lot more money than physicists LMAO
@@harleen222 I didn't talk social science bad at all. I even said I am amazed by my friends. I also didn't say they got good grades and I got bad. I said all students there got As and Bs and 80% of all engineers failed. And I just said that it is not nice to complain about hardships and bragging if the other one just hope to pass. It is more of view from the other side why some people start bashing against it. Not that I did. You also are under the misconception that you can compare the studies. You cannot. They are suited to do social studies, which I couldn't. Don't have the patient for example. And they couldn't do engineering, because they lack the passion. Nothing to do with smarter or not.
The one where Howard and Raj install a camera and spy on the Victoria Secret models house was gross too. Plus the one where Penny calls Howard out for harassing her only to be forced to apologise to him then immediately after he tries to kiss her. She punches him and and he remarks...."totally worth it"🤮🤮🤮
It's so incredibly stupid it's like the writers have never even been inside a comic shop lmao since when are women like a rare sight in them I don't think I've ever entered one and been the only woman there they really pulled that stereotype out of their ass
All kinds of groups of people get a very limited portrayal in sitcoms. And it's not because a sitcom has a limited runtime and therefore no time to waste. I am so often in real-life situations that would never be shown in a sitcom because they would undermine the "men/women/lesbians/old people/insert demographic have only three characteristics" stance the sitcom constantly takes. A real-life man with a beer belly, a conventionally unattractive face, and a sunburn generally isn't super surprised when a conventionally super-attractive woman at a public pool asks him where he found the deck chair he's sitting on. He's used to being like a normal person, after all.
As a girl who walks into the comic shop a few times a month to pick issues up, I also disliked it, like everyone there is behaving like people in any other store, looking for what they want and minding their own business
The trope made me really anxious to go into a comic shop for the first time as a nerdy teen girl because I was very socially awkward and didn't want to draw attention.
What a weird show. It was so blatantly hostile to geeks and nerds but then would regularly have these super deep cut jokes that only geeks and nerds would get. Guess they wanted their cake and to eat it, too.
@@ferrisbueller9991 It's really less about making fun of everyone as much as pretending to appeal to the "normie" audience and the nerd audience at the same time. Most of the time the butt of the joke will be them, like, "HAHA NERDS IMR" but there will be random moments once in a while in which specific references will be quoted, and that's it.
A lot of the nerdy jokes were also just incorrect, like throwing a bunch of game specific terms together and pretending it's a thing. So it's more of a "ha ha, this is what nerds would laugh at" or "oh he said world of warcraft!! I know that too! Ha so funny!" bcos anyone who played the game would notice that it's a bunch of bullshit
@@pookabunny2051 really? i didnt think it was annoying, i kind of like how there's this running joke and speculation over what her last name could be, i think it was an intended gag or something. I vomit sometimes when i get headaches though, it happens occasionally
i think the sexism in this show is contributed from chuck lorre, one of the creators of the show. i watch his other show, two and a half men and it's pretty similar the way they portray women- they are either cool pretty girls (which are usually the girlfriends), hot crazy girls (made for laughs) , horrible narcissist older woman, unconventionally beautiful women (also made for laughs in different ways), and so on- women are just painted as one thing and never the other and it's sad for me, because i do love sitcoms, and most of them are like this
I remember really enjoying one of his first shows: Dharma and Greg, but I don't know how well it's aged. Also, no one talks about it, probably because of how few people had seen it.
I absolutely hated that they made Bernadette have a child, apparently two actually, I'm told. I haven't watched the later seasons. Bernadette didn't want kids. Penny doesn't want kids. Why could we not leave it at that?
@@Las645 sure they do. But so much of the time childfree people are told they will change their minds or pressured into having kids. It would just be nice to see a child free character who doesn't change her mind.
raj's character could have been great if better written. with him they could have sent a message that feminine men aren't a bad thing, but obviously, they blew it.
He was also just the puppet of the writers who made racist jokes about India, but it's okay because he is Indian. Honestly, if they made it right, a spin off for Raj could have been great and show how he dealt with his experience as an immigrant in the USA
Always making fun of him for being well groomed, liking having an organized and pretty place, having a dog and babying it, wanting a girlfriend that will be considerate and let him gush about science and the sky, having low self esteem when he puts a little weight. Honestly, better writing and he would be like the perfect character arc of getting over social anxiety and great husband material The moment he finally stops ironing his hair yo fit in when he first immigrated? Could have been a lot sooner.
I stopped watching when the show made it clear they weren't interested in developing Penny outside of Leonard. They were just so interested in Sheldon and I got sick of episodes centred around Sheldon
@@CheyenneLin Damn, I watched until i wanna say season 3-4, I loved Sheldon but they barely did anything with the girls or really even Sheldon in my opinion. Him getting a life coach gf isnt character building imo.
I agree, also I hate all the times Penny do or say something and she is blamed and bothered by Leonard until she apologize for that, I mean wtf let the woman BE, I watch TBBT just bcs Penny, Bernadette and Amy tbh
@@edenorsomething7630 Curly hair also seems to be a "girl/child" thing and straight hair a "woman/adult" thing, apparently. It's so weird. Absurdly arbitrary.
As a guy I've got a big problem with the pregnancy issue were women who express not wanting children are dismissed with the "You'll want them eventually" line and made to feel guilty, I was incredible disappointed when Bernadette and then Penny fell in line with this tactic, this isn't progressive or helpful and I feel is damaging, I loved Bernadette's attitude to children at the start, it was great to see, her then having two was a huge let down to her character, men should respect their partners choices.
@Alan James That is true within the story of BBT but women coming around to having a baby is a narrative that has been told thousands of times, it would be progressive if we had a story were womens feelings aren't a fad and that men can't subtly bully them untill they come around to giving their lives away for something that they didn't want.
It's an American TV show and as someone from the UK the US is scarily and overtly forces religious ideals into everything they do. They couldn't do a pro choice story because the network would have crazy amount of complaints
I'd like to thank my high school Physical Science teacher for showing us enough episodes of this show to make me realize being an incel didn't make me smart.
I never understood how these people are supposed to be friends/lovers and they treat each other like absolute crap. In the first season, Penny was actually sweet and she and Leonard were nice to each other and over the years it morphed into “yeah, he wore me down!”
Totally agree. I personaly has quite hard time open up to others lots of my interactions with friends are sarcastic bounters but in TBBT this performative layer covering affection just is not present.
The irony of Raj not getting a long term partner is that Kunal Nayyar is by far the hottest of the guy actors in the show. He's literally married to a model in real life!!!!
Plus, he is sensitive and romantic. Once they cut the no talking gimmick and gave him a real character, I felt like he didn’t have the same low opinion of women as Howard or Sheldon. He liked shopping, self-care treatments, romantic movies. All this was played for jokes, but are all great date ideas and things to do while you get to know someone on a deeper level. Plus he didn’t live at home with his mother who still treated him like a 14 year old, like Howard. And actually wanted a girlfriend, unlike Sheldon. Plus, I know it’s not meant to matter, but his family is loaded and desperate for him to marry. There are some women, particularly in LA, that would snap him up for that alone. And others that it wouldn’t matter as much to, but is nice to know.
@@ginao6810 fr a lot of women like guys who are into self care and romantic movies. Just like guys like women who are into sports and video games (which BBT treats like diametrically opposite interests for some confusing reason?)
I had such a crush on Raj and found it so sad he didnt get a girlfriend, because honestly he was the nicest of them ? If someone like Howard who I honestly just got creeped out by could have a girlfriend, why not Raj???
@@strenghsGirl Though I agree with you that that is a positive message to be spreading, with The Big Bang Theory's track record I can't believe that that was their intention. It's pretty obvious to me that they were implying that the reason none of his girlfriends stuck around was his fault because he wasn't masculine enough. Even though "masculinity" as exemplified by the other male characters basically involved treating women like shit.
@@messinalyle4030 I never felt that way. I also never felt that the other treated them as shit. I think they are pretty supportive to one another. Ofc they had some plots for the show. Ratsh character was meant to be more feminine. But this is why everyone liked him a lot. And he did get multiple girlfriends. Didn't work out for him. That is normal lifes. The rest was just lucky. Howard never had a girlfriend until Bernadette. I see it as a show. And Ratsh has not been the main cast. That developed over the seasons. Another character added would have been to much.
It's honestly how annoying how they "fixed" Howard got him a wife and kids. But yet Raj literally couldn't get a girlfriend. The creepy guy and the guy who doesn't even show emotions get girlfriends but the better guy doesn't
@@messinalyle4030 I'm 100% convinced it was a race thing. They acted like he cared about fashion but yet they give him such ugly clothes. He was never really given a chance to have a girlfriend
So, fun story... I was a physics undergrad when this show was big and was invited to a large conference down in Florida. One of the speakers was the science consultant for the Big Bang Theory. The women in the audience were FURIOUS. I mean, they grabbed the mic and mouthed out at this guy (who literally only double-checked the math for sound effects of falling objects, lol). And like, they weren't yelling at the right guy, but they absolutely hated this show. And so do I! lol, but I did feel bad for the guy. Public speaking is hard enough, working for a crap sit-com is harder
also, the comment about how this show stereotypes nerds as sharing unwanted facts and acting superior... it's 100% true. It's just not framed as a negative trait, but yes, it's a huge problem. Seriously, try going to a party with someone like this and dare them to not talk about their research once. That's a light-hearted example, but it can get pretty abusive and it's why I left academia
I feel bad for the guy too tbh, but i also understand their frustration. I mean he’s not a writer or probably has any power over the show at all! But glad I guess they were able to speak their minds to a degree. I think a lot of people justify the show as good or funny bc of the viewership numbers - which were through the roof - but that doesn’t mean it’s not a hurtful show. Sigh thanks for your input into the academic world! It’s really interesting!
@@CheyenneLin I totally agree. The guy was like, "ill pass this along to the writers." And really couldn't say more on the topic. But I wish I had it on tape when later, another keynote speaker, mentioned he was friends with Crick "who discovered DNA." OH LORD... thats the last thing you say to a group of aspiring female scientists. I won't make assumptions, but to anyone reading this comment, a lot of women view Rosalind Franklin as the true discoverer of DNA's structure since she designed and conducted the experiment. She died before she could continue interpreting the data, which Crick and Watson did and got a Noble prize for. Franklin was swept under the rug, partially because the Noble prize isn't awarded posthumously. Yeah, feel free to ask me about toxic STEM environments. I love to complain because i'm a bitter old lady now haha
@@AnnaKin I'm a female computer science student. at least for me college is definitely worlds better than high school. I can definitely remember clearly getting bullied in computer science class for being the only girl there. The teacher was on my side and praised me a lot cause apparently I was better at the subject than most of the boys. They were not able to cope with that cause how does a girl dare to be good at a male dominated subject like computer science, right? They tried to get into EVERY conversation I had with the one single person there that wasn't a total jerk and make fun of me. Example: I've talked with the one guy about alternative smartphone OS apart from android and ios, linux on smartphones. what did ALL of those boys do? literally scream at me "linux on smartphones will never become as successful as android and ios!!!!" when all I wanted to talk about with ONE person and NOT the whole classroom was privacy friendly alternatives. It was SUCH a toxic atmosphere. You could literally SENSE how they were lurking for you to say ANYTHING so they could try to scream at you or make fun of you. Oh also these people liked to walk to the art class and say to them how they'd all end up as taxi drivers, like wtf. These guys all went to study physics, mechanical engineering and similiar subjects after school.
@@prisle i love coding and learned some for my research and job, but I've heard so messed up things from women in the field and how they are treated. It sounds super toxic
"...it's for people who hate nerds and want their bias confirmed." that's nicely put. It's essentially the entire 90s white-sitcom formula. They defend tropes/status quo not by building up their case, but rather by tearing down everything different. The creators don't want you to learn anything or challenge your opinions, but rather reward you for settling for status quo. Great vid, keep it up
Ofcus schools are meant for learning,where american kids are not geting education and u want sitcoms tp educate and make ppl think? Cmon tel your schools to give ppl knowledge. Morals are to be thought by parnts not a funy tv show
@@amandalopes3048 I think they're just talking about in a women's prospective, also just because a woman directs a show doesn't mean that the show is going to follow the women a lot, and if they it'd be better
@@jassbunny4653 i love the idea of the female characters on the show but theyre never fleshed out beyond serving the protagonists. and i feel like they tried too, because the seeds are there: penny, the emotionally distant "bruh" girl to opening up to and creating/navigating geniune friendships (her dynamic w sheldon!) and relationship; bernadette, the girly girl with a superiority complex and anger issues is great basis for exploring how childhood trauma can be breeding ground for endless toxic relationship cycles (even if youre attractive, smart, respectable) and ofc. amy, who at first appears to be a semi-feminine sheldon clone, learning to navigate and explore her own femininty and sexuality and how it relates to other women (i actually love the example mentioned in the video w the magazine cover - even though the writers didnt actually understand why that idea is interesting and pushed the "wrong" character to apologize). theyre all such wildly different female archetypes and i just love that they can be a friend group and learn together. OFC THE ACTUAL SHOW INSTEAD IS LIKE: "blonde girl short skirt come in hA she is dumb and pretty. she doesnt understand anything 🤭🤣. we promise shes complicated and traumatized but hey hey look over here. tall autistic man has a special interest AND specific seating preference 🤣 he doesnt social cues thats so embarassing neurodivergent people do NOT belong in society 🤣🤣 oh shit his shady friend come in and say rape joke!! 🤭"
Amy counts as an "older woman"? Nevermind, I really hate this idea that asexual people are just people who haven't had the right kind of sex and Big Bang Theory also perpetuates that. Just wanted to mention it.
@@nessyness5447 I can definitely see it with Sheldon. He showd no interest in sex until they did it and all of a sudden it's "wow I guess I didn't know what I'm missing"
@@nessyness5447 yeah, Sheldon is a demiromantic asexual and no one can change my mind on that one. But I hate how they write it as if Amy "cured" him or something like that.
well look at it from amy’s perspective, her mom was very strict and didn’t allow her to explore her sexuality, so when she moved out she felt free, all that suppression could get out it’s a normal response that when someone suppresses something for too long it releases in unhealthy ways
@@jordanwljable a person doesn’t have to be lesbian, gay or bi in order to want to explore with the same gender being open and figuring your sexuality out is valid too
Yeah, but you shouldn't flirt with a friend you know isn't interested in your gender. That's creepy. I'm bisexual, and I don't expect all women to be bi, or lesbian.
@@FruityHachi So I'm a lesbian and grew up in a homophobic town, plus had self esteem issues which caused me to suppress my sexuality for a long while but that didn't make me into a predatory lesbian who doesn't get boundaries and makes other women uncomfortable. That's actually a very harmful stereotype which a lot of lesbians who grew up that way have to deal with and we're always scares that we come off as predatory to the point that we still hide our sexuality even when we are grown up.
Honestly Anu was my favorite. She was smart, witty, beautiful. She brought out the best in Raj, accepted his deficits and balanced his hopeless romantic attitude. The makers of the show just hated Raj.
I loved Anu too...she was also clear and explicit in stating what she needed from Raj, and that is so refreshing. Nice to see someone not conventionally Hollywood-style attractive too...she was a wonderful character that I would have loved to have seen more of.
I liked her character but I felt that she was wrong for Raj, I think he needs someone more affectionate and who is more feminine interests that mirror his.
i remember watching BBT as a child and just despairing at the wasteland of gender relations that i assumed they were representing from real life. that episode where they make Penny apologise to Howard for him sexually harassing HER every day for YEARS was the moment i knew this wasn't just a poorly written sitcom, but a sitcom written by men who truly hated women.
Putting aside the problem with making fun of nerds, I hate that when they “elevated” the fact that the some characters were smart and knowledgeable, it was always 1) because they’re geniuses 2) in highly sophisticated sciences. Why the heck is that NO ONE ever reads or celebrates effort, nor the interest in history, philosophy or art in sitcoms.
yeah, I hate the effortless genius trope (I think TV tropes calls it the Wesley, lol). It leads to the imposter syndrome when you struggle in your field
Oviously those geniuses read and studied and thatsy they are knowledgeable duh??? Wat about the part where bernie was doin waiter stuuf and learned and got her phd. U ppl are so blind by your own agenda
@@spicychicken9163 its a show, shows are meant to entertain. Its anywys ovious ppl portrayed in the show are not real ppl nor there ever be real ppl like them. Its all fiction. Its meant to be laughed at, why do u want them to compromise their story line just to be inclusive for wat? How wuld that nake the show better? Ppl can make shows based on art and philosophy. U cant expect a show based on musicians to show scientific ppl rgt?
I'll give the Big Bang this: the way they framed Amy's little makeover and wedding look was really positive. She doesn't look like every woman in Hollywood, but the show frequently acknowledged she's cute, and framed Sheldon's inability to notice the effort she put in or compliment her looks as uncool of him. They also gave her wedding dress reveal the "awe-ful" sound effect, like, she looks great. I don't know, it made me feel better about myself vicariously.
The show has a lot of sexism and stereotypes, but it does have it’s moments. Like when Penny proposed to Leonard, and Amy actively wanting to have sex with a guy (Sheldon) and pursuing him rather than the other way around.
Another thing that annoyed me about Priya (that I didn't realise until I looked back on the show) is that she doesn't have any storyline outside of Leonard.
@@sagunrai8689 Perhaps, but contrast with some male side characters; for example, Stuart generally managed to interact with multiple characters, as did Penny's ex-boyfriend (I don't remember his name, the one she married in Vegas), making them feel more nuanced. Contrastingly, Priya only really interacts with Leonard, Raj and Penny (and Sheldon a bit).
@@jasminewadsworth1983 I thought we were talking about character's storyline and not their relationship with the main 6. What we about Priya is she is from India and we know about her family too. She did her LLB from Cambridge. She worked in one of the biggest car company in India. She is smart. This is her story outside Leonard plot. Zach (Penny's ex) dad owned cheese cake factory which he later sold. He is portrayed as dense. He and his wife wanted Leonard as a donor. Both of them had enough storyline as side characters.
It was the pro-life narrative for me. I don't have a problem with people not wanting to abort their babies. But it doesn't sit right with me how both Bernadette and Penny (who have both explicitly stated that they didn't want children) were not only written to get pregnant accidentally but also that they suddenly felt like keeping the babies. Just a 180° on their personalities. No room for debates at all. Like, Penny and Leonard didn't even get a scene where they find out she's pregnant, have a discussion over whether or not they'll keep the baby, and we don't even see Penny change her mind about wanting children. They couldn't even give her that. The writers just thought "Well, she's a married woman. Of course she wants kids now!" And I really didn't appreciate Bernadette's holier-than-thou attitude when talking to Penny about having kids. The "miracle of childbirth" and "the beauty of motherhood" is not 👏 for 👏 everyone. 👏
@Luke Jameson right? And when they told Sheldon, Leonard got mad that Sheldon wouldn't congratulate them. Sheldon was very right to say "Are congratulations even in order? I didn't think Penny wanted children"
It's like the narrative of the show doesn't let its female characters have their own decisions and individuality when they contradict their partners'. Leonard and Howard wanted children, they didn't, and instead of setting up a complex, interesting situation about how couples should discuss things like this previously before getting so serious to the point of marriage. Penny and Bernadette suddenly are all over the baby fever, it's kinda uncomfortable to watch their pregnant scene, specially the one when Bernadette tries to convince Penny to have kids, it's supposed to be a scene where Bernadette has a postivie view of being a parent, but the actress made it look like she was trying to convince herself she made the right call in a decision she regrets. Also the 'everyone wants children!! The best thing you can do!!' it's just frustrating. And the 'well they change their mind things like that happen' yeah but not in the span of a day when you find out you are accidentally pregnant
Can women not change their minds tho or do they have to think one way? I’m not understanding how this is prolife because women chose to keep their babies my sisters said they didn’t want kids but when they got pregnant they kept them no second thought...like y’all think because women get pregnant in a show it’s anti feminist 🙄
@@Las645 did u read my whole comment? Or did you just not understand my point? Penny and Leonard never discussed children before getting married. It turns out Penny doesn't want kids. In the episode where we find out she's pregnant, it was written as a surprise. The writers couldn't even give us a single scene where Penny changes her mind about wanting kids. We couldn't even be given a scene where she finds out she's pregnant and the panic she must've felt. Even Sheldon pointed out that Penny didn't want kids so why should her being pregnant be celebrated? I'm fully aware women can change their minds but it seems like the writers don't think that women should be allowed their own autonomy if both Penny and Bernadette (who have both said they didn't want kids) are forced to have kids. All their pregnancies were accidental and not once did anyone bring up abortion or adoption. It's almost as if they can't fathom the idea that a woman would choose not to be a mother so she has to be forced into it. Edit: And Amy is obviously the only one who actually wanted to be a mother from the get-go, so her eventually getting pregnant isn't a problem for me.
@@spectre9340 well unless you’ve been in that position you have no idea what you’re talking about. Being and learning you’re pregnant can switch everything in your world. Each woman handles it differently so please do not blanket all of our experiences with finding out we’re pregnant it’s not okay. Lol and the fact that you brought up Sheldon to validate your argument is hilarious, who cares what he pointed out?? Nothing matters except what the mother and father want so why bring a man into the conversation who has nothing to do with the conception of this child? It seems that you’re using this as a way to say women don’t have a choice. But Leonard, Amy and Bernadette tried to convince penny she needs to have kids but she held her ground. Penny gets pregnant and changes her mind. She didn’t change her mind because of other people but because of what she wanted, which is what you should’ve paid attention to.
As an immunologist, I can't stand the Big Bang Theory. Unfortunately, we see those attitudes from men in STEM though. People who deviate from cis white men standard are constantly being questioned on their place and apptitude in STEM. Also, I want to see a bunch of white cis het physicists men come to my field. Immunology is no joke!
Thanks for sharing Olivia!! As someone not in the STEM field it's interesting to hear your side and also sad to know that it's not very different from this show -,- thanks again for commenting and supporting the channel!
As a fellow immunologist I agree! Have you also noticed that even within stem there is a negative attitude towards biology as not being as pure as physics or mathematics
@@strenghsGirl I'm guessing something to do with the immune system? researching how the immune system works and learning to improve it. sounds useful in the current situation
@@TokioTE I don't know if you are being ironic. In the show nearly everybody hates their dad too (Howard's abandoned him, Penny's wanted a son, Sheldon's dad was abusive)
God, that Disney episode infuriated me so much with everyone wanting to be Cinderella iirc. Like. What woman in academia in her 30ies in the 2010s who is into Disney DIDN'T have Belle as her favorite Princess growing up? But hey, why would any writers on this show even know anything about female nerd culture, I guess.
@@strenghsGirl Oh dear. So, best case scenario is you have genuinely no idea about the racial dynamics related to this issue, in which case I'd advise you to find some creators of color who created content on the topic, as I am most definitely not the right person to explain it to you. In fact, this very channel seems like an excellent place to start! Worst case, and given your question about black women as Elsa or Cinderella more likely, you're looking to provoke or troll, so engaging any further is also not in my interest. Goodbye!
i honestly kinda hate how they also make the male characters out to be huge nerds who NO ONE would ever date, like..... sure being socially awkward is one thing, but leonard is a conventionally attractive guy with a successful career and a wide set of interests, being a "nerd" doesn't make you an outcast anymore. and this also counts for the nerdy women like....... i'm sorry but amy, leslie and bernadette are all very pretty so what's the problem??? bc amy's awkward? or because leslie is more blunt? literally, they all look fine but the show is so dramatic for no reason ugh.
Exactly!!! At this point 'nerds' are one of the most attractive groups of men and women because they can hold a job, are intelligent, have hobbies that nurture the mind and in almost all cases have long-standing and close friendships (oftentimes with other 'nerds'). Plus they don't care as much about keeping up appearances and what other people think about them. They do what makes them happy, a trait that is rare in our social media infested society.
I think the perception of 'nerds' changed a lot. My boyfriend's professor didn't tell his girlfriend that he was a professor in physics until their engagement for fear she might reject him. He actually told her he was an underground train driver. That was just 15 years ago.
Raj as well. If you look at photos of him outside of BBT, he's definitely conventionally attractive. But we can't have POC be considered desirable in Chuck Lorre's fragile world.
@Hawkeye Pierce It’s an internet term “nice guys” aren’t actual nice people who are men. They are re men who are sexist and feel entitled to women’s attention or sex because they do something simple like hold a door for a stranger or ask how your day is. They also tend to stereotype women in many ways, view themselves as better than other men because they stereotype other men as pigs, and react very aggressively when you politely turn them down. There are many other aspects to it but if you want to know more you can watch an r/niceguys video on TH-cam.
@Customer Engineer I am fully aware that good people exist. I’m talking about an internet term. The term “nice guy” or r/niceguys is a term used to describe self proclaimed nice guys who are actually rude, misogynistic, entitled, and borderline dangerous.
@Customer Engineer it’s not cynicism, it’s just the term used because of the common occurrence of bad people telling others people they deserve a chance because they are “nice” when not only are they not nice but even if they were it doesn’t make them entitled to other peoples bodies.
@Customer Engineer People who pretend to be kind but have ulterior motives is pretty much the definition of the term. Just look up redit nice guys or nice girls and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Don’t confuse nice guys with r/niceguys or “nice guys”. They mean different things.
@Customer Engineer the terms nice guys and nice girl come from redit. If you want the names to change you’d have to go on redit, come up with a short easy name, change the sudredit titles, and hope they catch on. I don’t even know if it’s possible to do that so I don’t think it’s ever going to change. Most people who frequent the internet know that nice guy doesn’t actually refer to nice people. If a person is a nice person just say that instead of specifying gender. It still works. Most people don’t get offended since they understand why it’s called that and if they do get offended they probably don’t understand what it means. A quick google search will fix that. There’s really nothing to be offended about.
This was super well written. As a female scientist who grew up watching this show, I've come to realise how much it missed the mark. You've just succinctly and eloquently summarised many feeling I have about the show. Thanks.
The things that annoyed me were a) when Emily watches horror films with Raj and then they make her out to be a psycho just because she's a horror fan, and b) making people whose intelligence lies in more creative pursuits like music, art and performance look stupid.
For A, Emily was (at least a tiny bit) morbid when it came to horror stuff and everything. When she and raj double dates with Howard and Bernadette, she said she’s a dermatologist because she “likes cutting people with knives, and most places that do that for a job are illegal.” Plus, she wanted to have s3x with raj ON SOMEONES GRAVE! And for B, that was mostly just Sheldon, cause he’s, ya know, Sheldon.
Its funny that they marketed themselves to nerds, whereas like it actually continues that "making fun of nerds" trend that mostly had left the rest of the society at the time. It had moved on to being mean to autistic people more out right, but its not like. "We hate comic books and the people that like them" which the show is kind of doing WHILE still hating autistic people.
I'm autistic and this show was all my family watched growing up... it's harmful as hell for the viewers to watch this show. It was portraying me to be all of these different things I'm not, my family would take what they saw on TV and use it as ammunition to gaslight me and mentally abuse me. I don't think the writers realise they're doing real harm to real people, and giving ableist and sexist people what they want.
@@mikau1585 I used to watch the show with my dad (I wasn't diagnosed with ASD until a few years later) and he made me stop because apparently I was acting too much like Sheldon. I think I had acted that way before, but my dad found a way to explain it away as being that I was copying what I saw on TV. He stopped letting me watch the show because I guess he thought my autistic traits would go away? Idk i can't blame him too much because to be fair I wasn't diagnosed, but it really made me sad
Sheldon is one of the worst characters that I’ve ever seen on TV. One time I saw something like “Sheldon loves Spock but Spock would hate Sheldon for his prejudices”
@@saintunicorn8409 not really, at least to me he’s the stereotype of us (autistic people) media has, there are some autistics that act like Sheldon, but media tends to put us all in a box and we are a spectrum so we all have different personalities and mannerisms. To me the Big Bang theory is a mid serie.
@@yazminlares6000 from that point of view, he is stereotypical. But he has no diagnosis, so it's not really representation for people with autism. I always thought he might has Asperger's syndrome, which is a little different.
Raj was undoubtedly the most dateable guy on the show. I feel like it’s just an indicator of how little influence women had on the writing that he ended up single. It’s like all the men writing this show were like ‘haha Raj is romantic and kinda feminine and does things that are stereotypically womanly, there’s no way a guy like that could get married’ when in fact that’s what a LOT of women want. I sure HOPE that was a contributing factor, and he wasn’t left single in the year 2019 *solely* because he’s brown.
Raj being the only single one from the main cast is the most unrealistic thing in this entire show. Out of all of them he is easily the best boyfriend material, none of them deserved what they got😭
I just came to the conclusion that no show will EVER have a child free by choice woman. The moment Penny uttered she doesn't want children, it's like the fates of the show goes "lol, watch this!"
That happens with Bernadette as well and she was arguably more against having children. Basically the only main female character who shows any interest in having children doesn’t have children. Fine if some female characters want children, lots of people do want children, but not everyone. Especially if they say they don’t want children.
and the best part ist. Would one of the man had choosen to stay child free, that would be no problem and the guy would stay childfree and happy, but woman must have to have kids, because no woman can life without them.
I found it so hard to watch them emasculate raj as often as they did - they were insensitive with all the dudes on the show but it was a different flavour of uncomfortable when it came to him bc it's really playing into the whole emasculation of asian men -.- as the only poc on the main cast, it's unlikely to be a coincidence :/
They didn't even have the decency to let him end up with a girlfriend. And with all the gay jokes they made towards Raj, I don't think it's a coincidence either.
They didn't even have the decency to let him end up with a girlfriend. And with all the gay jokes they made towards Raj, I don't think it's a coincidence either.
I am definitely one of those women. People have told me in the past to stop apologizing so much for I’ve done nothing wrong, and my automatic response is to apologize for apologizing so much. It’s a never-ending loop…
One of the things about this show that bugged me the most was that I found the most dedicated fans of it seemed to be immigrant families, at least from what I had seen through past relationships. I'm the Canadian son of Brazilian Immigrants and have dated pretty much exclusively immigrants or the children of immigrants, and often I've found that the show would get left on in those households where people were learning English or only knew very little, because the visuals of the show are so exaggerated the jokes would still work for them. They never understood why the show drove me up the wall. I was always an in-shape, athletic nerd who hated team sports mainly because of the toxic atmosphere rather than because of the games themselves. I've had prior partners who fetishized my nerdy side or tried to suppress it, even had a girlfriend who wanted me to wear fake glasses and button-ups for no reason other than "it would suit me better" because she just saw me as "pretty-boy nerd". It honestly feels like an early 90s or late 80s sitcom just transplanted into the modern day. The laugh track just plays over them...playing Dungeons and Dragons. Not them playing and trying to seduce the dragon, not them playing and having fake drinking contests, just them saying "I will cast Melkor's Flaming Ass of Power" or whatever and then laugh track plays because "haha, silly spell word is dorky and therefore funny". So weak.
Oh yeah they play the laugh track over EVERYTHING. It’s so frikkin obnoxious and also inconsistent. They just play it whenever something “weird” I said. Like Leonard says he’s reading manga or watching anime and then the laugh track is played like, what’s the joke?
@@CheyenneLin One of the funnier things on TH-cam is the edits where they remove the laugh track and it just sounds like a bunch of awkward, abusive jerks that are stuck together.
For me, someone who's first language isn't English, the laugh track was helpful for me because it helps me know which part is supposed to be funny. (Because humour is very different in every culture) Some aspect of the show's offensiveness is definitely not detectable for me at the time. I only realized how misogynistic tbbt is after watching pop-culture detective's video. It is so popular in my country that the fanbase is already strong and not many realize how problematic the show is. Also maybe it's because of how the show portrays a life so different than ours that many jokes and offensive comments are so out of touch that people don't pick up on them.
Absolutely this. My mother got really attached to the show while learning English and I’m 90% it’s what helped form her views when moving to America. It’s why she constantly belittles me for my interests (largely nerdy stuff like this. I’m really into Magic: The Gathering and she makes fun of me for it constantly) and really drove home a lot of insecurity for me. She’d constantly compare me to Sheldon whenever I was particular about something. It got on my nerves. And whenever I felt smart or felt knowledgeable in a field, she’d tear me down and say I wasn’t as smart as the characters on the show. So yeah, I finally watched the show and now realize she got lost of her insults and conclusions about my interests from the show. TLDR; I’m fairly certain that Tbbt caused my shit upbringing.
As a woman of science who has met men like this in my career, this is one of the crappy tv shows that fuel their ideas that this type of behaviour is ok. If you want to vet a man, ask him if he liked this show, and even if he says "it was ok", run cause it is a red flag. The show sucks and the writes suck worse for writing it
As a woman of science I enjoyed this show. It is not education. If you judge someone by their series taste I would run away from you tbh. Seems very extreme.
@@run4508 Yes it is. Just het advice is questionable for me. It shows a very extreme sight to judge someone by the taste of a show. And that is my opinion. Calling this a red flag also talks real red flags (controlling behaviors, agessiviness) small.
@@run4508 How is my comment any different? You say she can choose according to her preferences. Never said she can't. I just said I would run, if someone is that extreme to call liking a show being a red flag. And that is my preferences.
I really hated Howard, loved Amy, Raj and Sheldon though. And Penny deserved a storyline outside Leonard, she had literally no development after about four seasons.
She basically went from "pop culture obsessed hot party girl" to "married woman whose only personality trait is wine". Plus I couldn't believe she and Leonard would've ever worked in real life. They have nothing in common and Penny spends a lot of time complaining about him and making fun of his job and interests, whereas Leonard basically just has her as a "prize". It was obvious they only ended up together to fulfill the "nerd gets the hot girl" fantasy.
Leslie is not Ugly. I. fact Leslies is always portraited as a strong independent woman, who lives for her career and chooses her sexual partners. Also when to start a relationship and when is better to end it.
Yep. I think this video is definitely focussing on small jokes made to drive home a point when the overall themes and character arcs are very positive and good natured.
The show is definitely super flawed, but i honestly really like it still! there are stupid moments, but i don't see it as misogynist. just some dumb fun though i wish some parts could have been better like having the nerds have more varied and niche interests. im a biology major and woman as well.
@@emilyleaf9857 yes I have. Personally I disagree with it even as a very progressive person. The jokes are mostly just small jabs based on stereotypes and they make fun of almost every kind of person. As a nerdy person I think it’s good to laugh at yourself sometimes and don’t feel offended at all by the jokes. Nothing in it is mean spirited. All the characters have great arcs and grow as people. Especially Penny, who grows into a very intelligent and successful person while also vastly changing the lives of Leonard and Sheldon. I honestly think she is the best and most impactful character in the show.
@@inspectorspinda yes exactly. Most of the jokes are based off of societal stereotypes. There aren’t mean spirited. Sometimes you have to laugh at yourself a little. Each characters arc also does them justice immensely whether it’s penny, Howard, or Amy most notably.
At the very beginning of BBT, I thought "Oh, I get it -- it's a theoretical physicist and an experimental physicist as roommates! That makes total sense as a nerdy sitcom premise!" Unfortunately, it went in the directions you talk about instead.
Haha no worries. I think it’s still ok if you find it funny or find yourself laughing at some of the gags. It is made to be funny after all. But after you start looking really into it you see that the jokes are based on such bad and untrue things. The show just frustrates me nowadays 😑 but glad it’s finally off the air!
Anna Gr i dont want to come off rude at all but the plot is not smart or creative... as she mentions, the actual way the show could have been, so not the plot but the nebulous concept of what the show was, definitely could have been really interesting and something unlike other tv shows or movies. but instead it takes the same dull “revenge of the nerds” type attitude to nerdy men and never goes past a surface level look into their lives, feelings, or ideologies. I totally agree that fleshed out however, the show could have been very interesting
there's literally a whole story about this.. he eventually stops straightening his hair embracing his looks and his type of masculinity and refuses to take shit from howard until he learns to treat him better, through that gained confidence and cutting the most toxic person in his life he actually gets laid indicating that there was nothing wrong with him and his self depricating demeanour influenced by howard's jokes made him that miserable after that he's happy with his life and decides happiness isn't achieved through relationships for the sake of relationships so basically this show isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be
Can you imagine how much better this show could have been with like 30% more self awareness... i would LOVE to see a show where a bunch of nerdy guys have to confront their own sexism and elitism and mature as people.
That would require more creativity and writing skills on part of screenwriters than just find new ways to point at character while screaming "nerd!" or "woman!"
The most disgusting and disturbing part in TBBT was when Penny had to apologize for Howard although the total fault was with Howard.The character "Howard" was a harasser ,literally the victim had to apologize the harasser.Shame on BBT producers
@@spectre9340 no, i think its like a running joke, or else they didnt have to give anyone else a last name either lol, even a lazy writer could come up with a last name so idk but i dont think thats the reason
One thing I remember clearly about Lucy is one of the biggest fights she had with Raj. There was a whole episode where Raj was attempting multiple times to get Lucy to come out of her shell more and stand up for herself, despite her protests and clear discomfort. At the end of the episode she blows up at him for disrespecting her boundaries and belittling the progress she's already made with her social anxiety just through dating him. I think she even broke up with him in that episode, though I'm not sure if it was the penultimate breakup or not. Big "Good For Her" moment that I appreciated as a neurodivergent woman who also has a degree of social anxiety.
@@annagr1018 But they reinforce very hurtful stereotypes of some of the most vulnerable people in society. It feels like the showrunner is punching down against geeks who already have it rough being socially bullied. And the jokes aimed at women don't reflect well on the writers. You can have a comedy without it being mean-spirited. But BBT is built on reinforcing toxic stereotypes that encourage geeks to be picked on and women to be degraded. I'm not an SJW but the humour on BBT is very problematic and has not aged well. It's like how alot of 'gay' humour from the 90's comes across as homophobic today.
@nessy ness stereotypes are supposed to be bad. The ones that are built on certain ideas or certain traits and aren’t just lazy characters that are disrespectful to certain people are archetypes. On the Simpsons they are their own characters but based on archetypes. They have been made different and not copied (like stereotypes) which is why they are so popular as characters.
It's not just that, the show is based on stereotypes and does NOTHING with it. Their could make fun of those stereotypes and show them as something wrong while at the same time being funny but they didn't, this show is basically a generic sitcom with nothing new except for annoying and stupid nerds/geeks stereotypes
I think one of the most awkward things of the show is how the Leonard character is written to be the sensible one who gets the girls bc of his nerdy charms. But really hes just as bad as the others and his whole character is built on critisising the other main cast. He doesnt have a personality and is, when you think about it, really boring. I think hes just a self insert of the writers/himself since he is a writer on the show!!!! It gives me the icks to think about lol
@Kira D tru. I think the writing in later seasons was much better and Leonard never grew u know. At least Sheldon appreciated penny as a human whereas Leonard never seemed to actually relate to her or support her, he was almost better with penny than his own gf loooool. Idk the people's ages but I always thought given Sheldon was a child genius he was like 20 when the show started and there why he was so awful and then he grew.
I used to like this show when I was younger, but that was when I was just real ignorant about feminism and the world in general. Knowing what I know as an adult I find it insufferable and I’m weirded out how many adults in my family enjoy it
It is because they see it as it is. A show. They make fun of everyone. They make fun of all the stereotypes. And your family sees it as a show and what is suppose to be. I don't see much problems in the show tbh. It also doesn't reflect the real life. At least not in Europe. Don't know about US, they seem way more extreme in all ways.
I used to watch this show with my mom in middle school, and I thought some parts were funny but recognized some of the problematic aspects pretty early on. Now looking back I notice a lot more issues that I have with the show, but I will always have a soft spot for Amy. She was the inspiration for me starting to look into neuroscience, and now at 22 I’m finishing my last semester as a college student majoring in neuroscience on a pre med track. Now that I’m older I also realize that I’ve always related to her social awkwardness, romantic and sexual desires and fantasies but having to remain somewhat sexually repressed, always pining after guys even though I was always scared to seek out actual relationships. I was also somewhat ostracized in school because I didn’t interact well with my classmates, but I was always nice to them so I never had anyone bullying me for no reason. Sure there are things that could be different about Amy, but I do really appreciate her character and how she shaped my life, sometimes without my awareness until just a few months ago while watching clips from the show
And also how she ruined bernadette being in a magazine for being pretty and smart, bc they "sexualize" females... something bernadette (a beauty pageant winner girl) was enjoying and was looking foward. Amy is an amazing female character and i love how she writes fics... but her ruining the fun of others bc she doesn't agree really bothers me sometimes. Some girls like the attention of being "sexualize", we work hard to look good and is nice when people notices that too. Different opinions and different personalities, and we should respect them all as much as we want ours to be respected.
I hated that they had not just one, but two child free women turn around and have kids. Why is it so hard to see that CF people exist and can be happy without kids. Why is it so hard to remember that no one owe their spouse a child.
@@Tontoquienloleation Those are fictional women specifically written to be child free and then specifically written to change their minds. This happens way too often in fiction and helps drive the narrative that CF women don´t know their own minds and will change to fit the norm. It´s an AH move from the writers.
Something that bothers me and I have noticed in several sitcoms is how usually the foreign characters or the one coloured characters are usually written as weird, quirky, one dimensional and are atacked with stereotypical offensive jokes from the rest of the cast. To the point that the writers don't even bother on giving them depth or to even develop their storyline like what happened to Raj or Fez from That 70s show. They just exist to be mocked
I stopped watching after season 5 or so, and I always wondered why Raj never got a girlfriend, he was such a cutie and the most handsome of them all. Maybe if he wasn't just written as the "exotic" character it woulda been nice, maybe if he ended up as gay that would have been totally awesome.
Raj, there's a chapter early on where he gets the hability to talk to woman when using an experimental med that some scientists were testing, in that moment raj acts like a second Howard when talking to Missy (Sheldon's sister) if I remember correctly.
I was always fascinated by how many boomer-age people loved this show. I think that's why it worked with such cartoonish and old-timey stereotypes of nerds and women that older generations could relate to, the show felt like it was made for people who didn't know anything about nerds to laugh at them and how they're so awkward and can't get laid.
The show lost me when they started just bullying sheldon for no reason all the time because of his disabled coded personality. It was kind of just there at the beginning, but eventually it became a crutch.
I feel like this show was written because Chuck Lore got rejected by an actual intellectual woman after not staying in his own lane or something like that. I just eventually came to see it as an "old jock's" stereotyping view of two different types of nerds. Leonard and the guys in the beginning along with the other smart-looking women are usually looked at as "classical nerds" while Penny and a few of her exes are probably those nerds that got good at hiding in pop culture obscurity and all that other stuff. Penny did give herself away by actually playing "Star Trek Chess" with Sheldon.
My dad loves this show, so I'm subjected to it pretty often. I know the whole "woman teaches man to be responsible and less shitty" schtick sucks, but that still would have been preferable to watching them continue to be shit heads to the women in their lives
The show really drop the ball when they had Penny abbandon his ambitions of being an actress instead of making her work regularly on low-budget B movies. It would give her and Leonard a common interest, it would make the cameos of Star Trek actors more natural and she and the boys could go to ComiCon together (it would be an interesting dynamic, because for them is leissure but for her is part of his job)... but I suppose aknowledging the contradiction of being passionate for both hard science and cheesy stories of rubber-forehead aliens would be asking too much from the people that modeled a character after men in the autistic spectrum but never confirmed his atuism because that would make all the jokes at his expense cruel
Ughhh i absolutely hate that episode where Penny was forced to apologise to Howard for HIS disgusting behaviour. And i hate how they framed his creepy behaviour as a thing that can be fixed by the 'right woman' as soon as he starts dating Bernadette.
I have a few physical features in common with Mayim Bialik, and especially in high school, when I worse Amy-style glasses and Big Bang Theory was highly popular I used to get a lot "Have you ever seen the big bang theory, you look just like Sheldon's girlfriend!!". It always made me feel really self-conscious. Since this show actively goes out of it's way to make Bialik look frumpy and as you beautifully put it - relentlessly mock her.
As a geeky girl, it was annoyed me that they never had any geeky girls until maybe Lucy. There’s were nerdy girls but not any that were into geek culture like comic books and gaming. I thought that maybe one of the girls like Amy or Bernadette were going to be but instead they made them also bully the guys and understanding why they would ever be interested in those geeky things. This goes into staring at Penny when she walked into the comic shop because of course girls wouldn’t be interested in going in.
Every time I see even a little of this show I’m disappointed. I caught a scene once where they made fun of girls who were into stereotypically girly things - a girl who wanted to be a beautician.
The only good thing about the Big Bang theory is that every time I see Mayim Bialik I get to play the blossom theme in my head again, and it makes me happy and also helps me chase away the horror of this show, which ran for 12 SEASONS. As always, loved your analysis.
When i was younger. I liked the show. But after awhile i started to realize that racism, sexism, homophobia, fatphobia, and antisemitism were just too much. It was so disgusting, and the way they treated women showed it.
@@gwen_st107 They just had to throw that in there because that’s the trend now. If something is one type of “phobia”, it automatically becomes every other phobia, “ism”, etc.
Totally agree. She looks so interesting and unique in the best possible way. Just how angular and pointy her face is, its such a rare trait and it looks so good. (Oh man, I am not good as describing my attraction, but as a bi woman, totally agree with you)
Bbt is like pop music. Made to just appeal to as large of a group as possible. The nerdy things are just surface level stuff with often completely incorrect details for the sake of the story. But to even analyze a readymeal sitcom to this level is a bit pointless in my opinion. It seems weird to me though that you critize men so badly about being attracted to visuals while simultaniously dissing the looks of other women. Penny is definitely not the only hot girl the guys end up with. Raj dates a ton of more attractive women and Howard manages to marry a way more attractive woman than Penny aka Bernadette. Also Leslie is by no means an ugly woman just less focused on superficial things like makeup instead of her work. I think it would have been good to keep Leslie as part of the main characters and not have the show follow the generic path of only couples can be happy by getting a girlfriend for all the main guys. Bbt was a show about "nerds" made by someone who doesn't get nerds. But it's light entertainment anyways, like lady Gaga or backstreet boys. Not a masterpiece.
@@cmxpiipl agree with some of what you say. The show is very shallow and problematic but It does pull some laughs. At least at the beginning it did. Whist this video may be pointless I enjoy video essay such as this one because it shows an unpopular opinion in a compelling manner.
@@stargirl6659 To be honest, I never laughed or smiled even a little tiny bit with this show, is not for their problematic content. All was because for me, this was so painfully unfunny that even have de TV off was more funny and interesting than this, I never understood why people was so obssesed about this and I have so much curiosity for hear a person who actually likes and find funny this, I think it would be fun hear somebody with a sense of humor so much different than mine 😅
I liked this show because I hung out with the nerds in high school and now it makes me sad because I realize how shitty the boys I hung out with really were.
I really really love how you took your time to look at every character in detail, and not only how they behave in the group. Keep up the good videos!! :) I used to like this show but some characters gave me weird vibes or just made me cringe until total mental exhaustion (*cough" Howard). I'm glad I now understand why this show sometimes made me feel the way it did. The first video I watched about the topic is "The Adorkable Misogyny of The Big Bang Theory" by Pop Culture Detective, which eventually led me here.
I LOVED the big bang theory as a teenager, i remember watching the episode where Penny plays WOW and i was hooked. But after watching it pretty consistently for a while, i remember there being a point where... you know, they had introduced all these smart, beautiful, and nerdy women, but then there was a joke about comic con or videogames, and unanimously the three main women were like, "that's dumb". It opened my eyes that, even though the show tried to claim that women can be smart and beautiful, nerd culture was still a Boys Only territory that women would never understand, and I'm still bitter about that.
This was really well-done. I've watched other TH-cam vids on the misogyny of Big Bang, but you presented some truths I've neither heard nor considered before. Nice job!
After the time skip (when penny had short hair) all the women were just really mean to each other and constantly bashed their men. It was really sad to see the change in that show. The only change in a female character I liked was when Amy began to realise that Penny isn’t this perfect women she always thought she was. She still liked Penny but stopped idolising her and began liking herself more for what she is.
As a autistic, bisexual woman who is super awkward, super horny, always the nerdy one and the odd one out and was bullied, I honestly saw so much of myself in Amy and the show ended up being a comfort show. But I definitely like it for the potential and what I can make in my head out of it, not for what it actually is.
I'm with you. I'm autistic and into geek culture and really relate to Sheldon and find the show comforting for that reason, and there are moments where they did good educating people about autism, but the show is also full of problems with how it portrays autism, feminism, women, feminine men, transgender people, Indian people, and more. I wish the show had done better with those things so that I didn't have to feel guilty about loving the parts that are good.
I feel you, I am also autistic and maybe bi? (I really don't know yet) and it was/is my comfort show. I love the shown knowledge, I love the characters (not howard) and yeah, there are a lot of problems, and I think it's not as many as in hImym, in that show everything is just so much worse, all women are just bland love interests for Ted and Barney. (And Ted is just an asshole)
Hey same! But I struggled with the lack of characterisation or nuance of the female characters. It broke my heart to see how it was handled, especially with Amy's interest for Penny played as comedic and/or creepy. Neurodivergent and disabled women are also even more likely to end up with toxic partners and experience abuse, so the fact that the show only played it for laughs was upsetting. I hope the series ended on a better note, at least.
I once put on the Big Bang Theory 'cause I thought it was well liked, but my mama was like "turn that crap off...something about it rubs me the wrong way."
I also hate how the show’s writing looks down on some sciences and STEM fields, especially social sciences. I’m a zoologist which in reality is very ‘typically scientific’ however it would absolutely be one of the fields mocked in shows like this. I haven’t seen later seasons of the show so it may well have been, but I can absolutely see them treating it as ‘girly’ and not a proper ‘hard’ science. Like Raj I believe liked animals and that alone was seen as some effeminate to be joked about. I can just imagine the jokes they would write about a Zoologist character in the show, whether they were male or female.
The vibe of this show was always vaguely insulting to me as a person with nerd/geek type interests. I never even really gave it a chance because it felt like typical mainstream "punching down" humor at the expense of nerds. I preferred Community for the reason that it was nerdy reference humor made with love from a place of experience.
Honestly, I'm glad we're mostly out of the hard 'laugh-track overlayed over bigotry' age in sitcoms... There''s way better stuff out there nowadays and I'm all for it!
I absolutely despise this the show. I've only seen a handful of episodes and I think the only full episodes I've seen are from the first season (when I gave it a try after it was recommended to me, and I was quickly turned off), so I haven't seen much of the women in the show aside from Penny. It's just so incredibly clear that the writers hate the characters - often the "jokes" are just a reference to nerd culture followed by a laugh track, and most of the rest of the time they are just blatantly being made at the expense of their characters, particularly Sheldon.
Can you imagine the amount of money, time, blood, sweat, and tears that you have to go through to receive a DOCTORATE in NEUROSCIENCE, and then end up as a character on the Big Bang Theory. Holy shit. This is sadder than successful people who get hooked on drugs and shit
I think you need to read up on Mayim Bialik a bit; 'cause she was an actress long before she became a scientist, and started acting when she was 12. I remember watching her in _Blossom_ back in the early '90s.
Yeah i don’t get this comment. I actually think she’s badass for being both a neuroscientist and an actress. I like her for pursuing her passions, and i look up to her a lot for it. And… she chose to be on this show? Meaning she read scripts and knew what she was getting into? So i don’t get why that would be a sad thing lmao
The whole "hot women get free stuff waa waaaaaa" thing drives me mental. I've seen it become particularly pervasive in the gaming community where a lot of young guys think that women have life "easy" because they can get money by being cam girls and therefor everything is easier for women. Boo hoo woes me life is hard so women don't deserve my empathy. They seem oblivious to the myriad of problems this presents for women, what it says about us as a society, how degrading that can be for women who don't actually *want* to be cam girls, or how they as men willing to throw money at women are the ones who create the very situation they despise women for taking part in. There is a serious disconnect between understanding that you can put someone on a pedestal and still treat them like shit because they're not a real person to you, they're decoration. I've also been in the position of being with a guy who went around boasting about his "hot girlfriend" to my friends and telling the guys in or friend group "you know you want her" even the married men who were married to some of my best friends! It was mortifying when I found out! I was so embarrassed and disgusted I broke up with his ass. It's one thing to be physically attracted to your partner and be happy about that, it's something else to use it as bragging material to make yourself feel good at the expense of your partner. The way the show brings up the "how did you bag a hot girlfriend" trope all the time is so gross.
That reminds me roommates stories about man basicly loosing their mind over hot girl. All she gets from it was staring at best and borderline harrasment at worst.
No one has put into words why the whole "bragging about your hot girlfriend" bothered me so much. I always thought I was just being overly sensitive but you put into words why it always feels icky.
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When Penny was manipulated to apologise for standing up for herself and not letting H*ward continue to sexually harass her, I was FURIOUS!
Grow up you absolute petulant child
@@prageruwu69LMFAO deserves it tho
I also think they made us "forget" how awful Howard was with the later episodes because i remember rewatching and being extremely uncomfortable with H and i questioned myself about why i thought Howard wasn't bad. I know it could've been a character development moment but still it really didn't feel like that. Because Howard didn't stop harassing after that talk with Penny. Idk if it made sense tbh
@@missjackson5725 they definitely tried to use Bernadette to “show his growth” without him having any actual growth, he’s a terrible husband but they desperately tried to show him as a good one
You forget that she then punches Howard after he tries to get physical (cause he badly misreads the situation) & afterward ceases to be as big a pig around Penny. Doesn't redeem things that much but she did stand up for herself & not just apologize for upsetting him.
I honestly could never tell if the show writers saw themselves in the main characters, or hated the main characters.
Probably both.
The answer is “YES”
Saw themselves
saw themselves and hated it
@@rowanvandeneynden1008 So the writers have internalized anti-intellectuality and ableism?
I really hate the passive aggressive digs at the social sciences in the show. It's such a men in science thing to do
Even Amy and Bernadette are treated as lesser for being biologists and neuroscientists! I think it's more of an effort to push women OUT of stem, which is ironic considering that one plot line.
Even with Penny I feel like they portrayed her as too dim or uninterested for science. Like the but of the joke was her disinterest and they didn’t even make her intelligent or interested in other things. She’s just there to show how “smart” they are when they tell pretty entry level science jokes and they go over her head. It’s like, she’s not in science but she can’t even understand it for fun either. Ew.
It is a person in science thing a bit. Saying as a female in science. Always depending on what you are referring. In our uni social science students always bragged about their grades and how hard their life is. But almost everyone always got an A or a B in their classes. So I do was annoyed by their crying how hard their studies are, when 80% in your class fails. But this doesn't mean that it is less important. I am always amazed by my friends what they are doing (they studied social sience).
so true, though more so with biology. Although, if you get a group of hard sciences in a room together ("hard" meaning more accurate and predictable with math for non-STEMers in the comments. It's not a term denoting difficulty), they start fighting amongst each other. Physicists rag on engineers... and I suspect it's because engineers don't need a PhD and make a lot more money than physicists LMAO
@@harleen222 I didn't talk social science bad at all. I even said I am amazed by my friends. I also didn't say they got good grades and I got bad. I said all students there got As and Bs and 80% of all engineers failed. And I just said that it is not nice to complain about hardships and bragging if the other one just hope to pass. It is more of view from the other side why some people start bashing against it. Not that I did. You also are under the misconception that you can compare the studies. You cannot. They are suited to do social studies, which I couldn't. Don't have the patient for example. And they couldn't do engineering, because they lack the passion. Nothing to do with smarter or not.
The joke about giving Penny a teddy with a hidden cam did it for me, Howard was a scary creep.
Them driving a camera attached to a remote-controlled toy car to see under Penny's underwear was sickening. Ugh.
Hated howard. Put him down.
Hes the worst, hate him 🤮🤮🤮🤮
The one where Howard and Raj install a camera and spy on the Victoria Secret models house was gross too.
Plus the one where Penny calls Howard out for harassing her only to be forced to apologise to him then immediately after he tries to kiss her. She punches him and and he remarks...."totally worth it"🤮🤮🤮
Yeah it's pretty gross of what he does
“I made it through all of big bang theory”
👁👄👁
“Twice”
🔥👄🔥
@Kira D "How tough am I? I had a bowl of nails for breakfast this morning."
@@mollymelon2262 yea so?
@@internetdrifter3856 "Without any milk."
@@mollymelon2262 uh, right this way sorry to keep you waiting.
She is too powerful x.x
As a nerdy guy, I disliked every instance of the "woman enters the comic shop" gag.
It's so incredibly stupid it's like the writers have never even been inside a comic shop lmao since when are women like a rare sight in them I don't think I've ever entered one and been the only woman there they really pulled that stereotype out of their ass
Its always been a very normal experience for me- its like an outdated 80s gag at this point
All kinds of groups of people get a very limited portrayal in sitcoms. And it's not because a sitcom has a limited runtime and therefore no time to waste. I am so often in real-life situations that would never be shown in a sitcom because they would undermine the "men/women/lesbians/old people/insert demographic have only three characteristics" stance the sitcom constantly takes. A real-life man with a beer belly, a conventionally unattractive face, and a sunburn generally isn't super surprised when a conventionally super-attractive woman at a public pool asks him where he found the deck chair he's sitting on. He's used to being like a normal person, after all.
As a girl who walks into the comic shop a few times a month to pick issues up, I also disliked it, like everyone there is behaving like people in any other store, looking for what they want and minding their own business
The trope made me really anxious to go into a comic shop for the first time as a nerdy teen girl because I was very socially awkward and didn't want to draw attention.
What a weird show. It was so blatantly hostile to geeks and nerds but then would regularly have these super deep cut jokes that only geeks and nerds would get. Guess they wanted their cake and to eat it, too.
👏 exactly! It’s weird bc they laugh at the nerds and also with them. So strange
Not to mention the Feminist Icons making appearances as well
It's as if they make fun of everyone
@@ferrisbueller9991 It's really less about making fun of everyone as much as pretending to appeal to the "normie" audience and the nerd audience at the same time.
Most of the time the butt of the joke will be them, like, "HAHA NERDS IMR" but there will be random moments once in a while in which specific references will be quoted, and that's it.
A lot of the nerdy jokes were also just incorrect, like throwing a bunch of game specific terms together and pretending it's a thing.
So it's more of a "ha ha, this is what nerds would laugh at" or "oh he said world of warcraft!! I know that too! Ha so funny!" bcos anyone who played the game would notice that it's a bunch of bullshit
The writers didn't even give Penny a last name!!!!
well fuck. how did i never notice this until now. mind blown, the bad way.
@ryan jones Pen and Teller....
@@duddledeedo pen and teller?
I found this so annoying and reductive. She didnt even get a last name til she married Lenard. Make me vomit.
@@pookabunny2051 really? i didnt think it was annoying, i kind of like how there's this running joke and speculation over what her last name could be, i think it was an intended gag or something. I vomit sometimes when i get headaches though, it happens occasionally
i think the sexism in this show is contributed from chuck lorre, one of the creators of the show. i watch his other show, two and a half men and it's pretty similar the way they portray women- they are either cool pretty girls (which are usually the girlfriends), hot crazy girls (made for laughs) , horrible narcissist older woman, unconventionally beautiful women (also made for laughs in different ways), and so on- women are just painted as one thing and never the other and it's sad for me, because i do love sitcoms, and most of them are like this
Such Boomer tropes while the BBT characters are late Xers and Millennials
God i hate two and half men soo much,imo it's the worst sitcome ever
I remember really enjoying one of his first shows: Dharma and Greg, but I don't know how well it's aged. Also, no one talks about it, probably because of how few people had seen it.
@@od3910 Poor girlfriend, a lot of emotional labor there
@@normalgamergal I heard it was good: opposites attract.
Bernadette has no interests or personality other than being small and angry.
To be fair, that's pretty relatable
She has the best harley quinn voice... wich ockwordly sounds quite like howards mom.
And she emasculates Howard on purpose. Although to be fair he contributed a lot to it.
I just watched a random BBT episode today and she showed interest in physics, which is not her field.
She likes guns?
I absolutely hated that they made Bernadette have a child, apparently two actually, I'm told. I haven't watched the later seasons. Bernadette didn't want kids. Penny doesn't want kids. Why could we not leave it at that?
👏👏👏
Wasn’t she pregnant irl when her character was pregnant with her second child.?
@@Anna24529w yes she got pregnant in real life after they had her have her first child on the show
People change their minds lol like why is everyone pressed over pregnancy on a show
@@Las645 sure they do. But so much of the time childfree people are told they will change their minds or pressured into having kids. It would just be nice to see a child free character who doesn't change her mind.
raj's character could have been great if better written. with him they could have sent a message that feminine men aren't a bad thing, but obviously, they blew it.
Ikr. All of the show could have been good. But they decided to write it like it is now.
He was also just the puppet of the writers who made racist jokes about India, but it's okay because he is Indian.
Honestly, if they made it right, a spin off for Raj could have been great and show how he dealt with his experience as an immigrant in the USA
tbf they had a lot of decent characters with a lot of potential but they just fucking kicked a bird or some shit
Always making fun of him for being well groomed, liking having an organized and pretty place, having a dog and babying it, wanting a girlfriend that will be considerate and let him gush about science and the sky, having low self esteem when he puts a little weight. Honestly, better writing and he would be like the perfect character arc of getting over social anxiety and great husband material
The moment he finally stops ironing his hair yo fit in when he first immigrated? Could have been a lot sooner.
Well it's kind of new to have a more feminine absurdly toxic incel I guess.
I stopped watching when the show made it clear they weren't interested in developing Penny outside of Leonard. They were just so interested in Sheldon and I got sick of episodes centred around Sheldon
Yeah I was actually excited to see penny develop but it becomes the Sheldon show after season 7 or so 😬
yes, me too!
And Penny was my homegirl
@@CheyenneLin Damn, I watched until i wanna say season 3-4, I loved Sheldon but they barely did anything with the girls or really even Sheldon in my opinion. Him getting a life coach gf isnt character building imo.
I agree, also I hate all the times Penny do or say something and she is blamed and bothered by Leonard until she apologize for that, I mean wtf let the woman BE, I watch TBBT just bcs Penny, Bernadette and Amy tbh
i hated how they "tried" to portray leslie as "unattractive", maybe it's just me but i always found her beautiful, with that hair ugh
But don't you know! She wears *gasp* GLASSES!
Amd she has curly hair, which apparently is ugly?
She's ""unattractive"" because she's independant and doesn"t take shit
she's supposed to be unattractive?
@@edenorsomething7630 Curly hair also seems to be a "girl/child" thing and straight hair a "woman/adult" thing, apparently. It's so weird. Absurdly arbitrary.
As a guy I've got a big problem with the pregnancy issue were women who express not wanting children are dismissed with the "You'll want them eventually" line and made to feel guilty, I was incredible disappointed when Bernadette and then Penny fell in line with this tactic, this isn't progressive or helpful and I feel is damaging, I loved Bernadette's attitude to children at the start, it was great to see, her then having two was a huge let down to her character, men should respect their partners choices.
Thank you for being a decent human being. ❤
@Alan James That is true within the story of BBT but women coming around to having a baby is a narrative that has been told thousands of times, it would be progressive if we had a story were womens feelings aren't a fad and that men can't subtly bully them untill they come around to giving their lives away for something that they didn't want.
@Alan James That's true. US and world abortion laws in general are ridiculous to be honest but that's a black hole I don't want to fall into.
It's an American TV show and as someone from the UK the US is scarily and overtly forces religious ideals into everything they do. They couldn't do a pro choice story because the network would have crazy amount of complaints
OMG EXACTLYY
I'd like to thank my high school Physical Science teacher for showing us enough episodes of this show to make me realize being an incel didn't make me smart.
@@tinniesealjiji no physics
Highschool teachers show THIS in class!? I'm glad my teachers went with mythbusters lmao
I don't know you at all, but you, i like you.
now I want to know the full story
Well, I guess Big Bang Theory did SOME good after all
I never understood how these people are supposed to be friends/lovers and they treat each other like absolute crap. In the first season, Penny was actually sweet and she and Leonard were nice to each other and over the years it morphed into “yeah, he wore me down!”
Totally agree. I personaly has quite hard time open up to others lots of my interactions with friends are sarcastic bounters but in TBBT this performative layer covering affection just is not present.
Agreed. Penny was so nice in the early seasons and now they’re constantly fighting and i wonder what happened with her
its called a joke
@@RED-my9hl Some jokes aren’t funny
The whole point of this narrative was to make people in failed relationships feel better about themselves and tune into the show more than before
The irony of Raj not getting a long term partner is that Kunal Nayyar is by far the hottest of the guy actors in the show. He's literally married to a model in real life!!!!
Melissa Rauch, Bernadette actress, is so gorgeous!
Plus, he is sensitive and romantic. Once they cut the no talking gimmick and gave him a real character, I felt like he didn’t have the same low opinion of women as Howard or Sheldon.
He liked shopping, self-care treatments, romantic movies. All this was played for jokes, but are all great date ideas and things to do while you get to know someone on a deeper level.
Plus he didn’t live at home with his mother who still treated him like a 14 year old, like Howard. And actually wanted a girlfriend, unlike Sheldon.
Plus, I know it’s not meant to matter, but his family is loaded and desperate for him to marry. There are some women, particularly in LA, that would snap him up for that alone. And others that it wouldn’t matter as much to, but is nice to know.
I INOWQW
0
@@ginao6810 fr a lot of women like guys who are into self care and romantic movies. Just like guys like women who are into sports and video games (which BBT treats like diametrically opposite interests for some confusing reason?)
I had such a crush on Raj and found it so sad he didnt get a girlfriend, because honestly he was the nicest of them ? If someone like Howard who I honestly just got creeped out by could have a girlfriend, why not Raj???
To tell people it is ok not to have a girlfriend and you are still awesome. That is being shown in the last episode.
@@strenghsGirl Though I agree with you that that is a positive message to be spreading, with The Big Bang Theory's track record I can't believe that that was their intention.
It's pretty obvious to me that they were implying that the reason none of his girlfriends stuck around was his fault because he wasn't masculine enough.
Even though "masculinity" as exemplified by the other male characters basically involved treating women like shit.
@@messinalyle4030 I never felt that way. I also never felt that the other treated them as shit. I think they are pretty supportive to one another. Ofc they had some plots for the show. Ratsh character was meant to be more feminine. But this is why everyone liked him a lot. And he did get multiple girlfriends. Didn't work out for him. That is normal lifes. The rest was just lucky. Howard never had a girlfriend until Bernadette. I see it as a show. And Ratsh has not been the main cast. That developed over the seasons. Another character added would have been to much.
It's honestly how annoying how they "fixed" Howard got him a wife and kids. But yet Raj literally couldn't get a girlfriend. The creepy guy and the guy who doesn't even show emotions get girlfriends but the better guy doesn't
@@messinalyle4030 I'm 100% convinced it was a race thing. They acted like he cared about fashion but yet they give him such ugly clothes. He was never really given a chance to have a girlfriend
So, fun story... I was a physics undergrad when this show was big and was invited to a large conference down in Florida. One of the speakers was the science consultant for the Big Bang Theory. The women in the audience were FURIOUS. I mean, they grabbed the mic and mouthed out at this guy (who literally only double-checked the math for sound effects of falling objects, lol). And like, they weren't yelling at the right guy, but they absolutely hated this show. And so do I! lol, but I did feel bad for the guy. Public speaking is hard enough, working for a crap sit-com is harder
also, the comment about how this show stereotypes nerds as sharing unwanted facts and acting superior... it's 100% true. It's just not framed as a negative trait, but yes, it's a huge problem. Seriously, try going to a party with someone like this and dare them to not talk about their research once. That's a light-hearted example, but it can get pretty abusive and it's why I left academia
I feel bad for the guy too tbh, but i also understand their frustration. I mean he’s not a writer or probably has any power over the show at all! But glad I guess they were able to speak their minds to a degree. I think a lot of people justify the show as good or funny bc of the viewership numbers - which were through the roof - but that doesn’t mean it’s not a hurtful show. Sigh thanks for your input into the academic world! It’s really interesting!
@@CheyenneLin I totally agree. The guy was like, "ill pass this along to the writers." And really couldn't say more on the topic. But I wish I had it on tape when later, another keynote speaker, mentioned he was friends with Crick "who discovered DNA." OH LORD... thats the last thing you say to a group of aspiring female scientists.
I won't make assumptions, but to anyone reading this comment, a lot of women view Rosalind Franklin as the true discoverer of DNA's structure since she designed and conducted the experiment. She died before she could continue interpreting the data, which Crick and Watson did and got a Noble prize for. Franklin was swept under the rug, partially because the Noble prize isn't awarded posthumously.
Yeah, feel free to ask me about toxic STEM environments. I love to complain because i'm a bitter old lady now haha
@@AnnaKin I'm a female computer science student. at least for me college is definitely worlds better than high school.
I can definitely remember clearly getting bullied in computer science class for being the only girl there.
The teacher was on my side and praised me a lot cause apparently I was better at the subject than most of the boys. They were not able to cope with that cause how does a girl dare to be good at a male dominated subject like computer science, right?
They tried to get into EVERY conversation I had with the one single person there that wasn't a total jerk and make fun of me.
Example: I've talked with the one guy about alternative smartphone OS apart from android and ios, linux on smartphones. what did ALL of those boys do? literally scream at me "linux on smartphones will never become as successful as android and ios!!!!" when all I wanted to talk about with ONE person and NOT the whole classroom was privacy friendly alternatives. It was SUCH a toxic atmosphere. You could literally SENSE how they were lurking for you to say ANYTHING so they could try to scream at you or make fun of you.
Oh also these people liked to walk to the art class and say to them how they'd all end up as taxi drivers, like wtf.
These guys all went to study physics, mechanical engineering and similiar subjects after school.
@@prisle i love coding and learned some for my research and job, but I've heard so messed up things from women in the field and how they are treated. It sounds super toxic
"...it's for people who hate nerds and want their bias confirmed." that's nicely put. It's essentially the entire 90s white-sitcom formula. They defend tropes/status quo not by building up their case, but rather by tearing down everything different. The creators don't want you to learn anything or challenge your opinions, but rather reward you for settling for status quo.
Great vid, keep it up
Thank you so much!
@@CheyenneLin rubbish they made me love those nerds and its a hell of a good show
Ofcus schools are meant for learning,where american kids are not geting education and u want sitcoms tp educate and make ppl think? Cmon tel your schools to give ppl knowledge. Morals are to be thought by parnts not a funy tv show
@@prachi6802 Television and movies in general has a HUGE impact on how people view society. Thinking otherwise is beyond naive.
This are 90's nerds... Sillicon valley was les quorky and more accured, without the background laughs and a joke every 2''
honestly if big bang theory was written from the perspective of the women on the show, it couldve been 100x better
I don't see how that would make it better. I don't even watch the show already lmao.
Yes
I don't agree, Chuck Lorre would make it awful, just think about episodes that we just follow the girls and how bad they are...
@@amandalopes3048 I think they're just talking about in a women's prospective, also just because a woman directs a show doesn't mean that the show is going to follow the women a lot, and if they it'd be better
@@jassbunny4653 i love the idea of the female characters on the show but theyre never fleshed out beyond serving the protagonists. and i feel like they tried too, because the seeds are there: penny, the emotionally distant "bruh" girl to opening up to and creating/navigating geniune friendships (her dynamic w sheldon!) and relationship; bernadette, the girly girl with a superiority complex and anger issues is great basis for exploring how childhood trauma can be breeding ground for endless toxic relationship cycles (even if youre attractive, smart, respectable) and ofc. amy, who at first appears to be a semi-feminine sheldon clone, learning to navigate and explore her own femininty and sexuality and how it relates to other women (i actually love the example mentioned in the video w the magazine cover - even though the writers didnt actually understand why that idea is interesting and pushed the "wrong" character to apologize). theyre all such wildly different female archetypes and i just love that they can be a friend group and learn together. OFC THE ACTUAL SHOW INSTEAD IS LIKE: "blonde girl short skirt come in hA she is dumb and pretty. she doesnt understand anything 🤭🤣. we promise shes complicated and traumatized but hey hey look over here. tall autistic man has a special interest AND specific seating preference 🤣 he doesnt social cues thats so embarassing neurodivergent people do NOT belong in society 🤣🤣 oh shit his shady friend come in and say rape joke!! 🤭"
Amy counts as an "older woman"? Nevermind, I really hate this idea that asexual people are just people who haven't had the right kind of sex and Big Bang Theory also perpetuates that. Just wanted to mention it.
Yes
But who said amy was asexual? She was a girl whose mom never let her experience ppl and she herself never got out if her moms bubble
Yeah she was not asexual, she just rarely gets the chance to.
@@nessyness5447 I can definitely see it with Sheldon. He showd no interest in sex until they did it and all of a sudden it's "wow I guess I didn't know what I'm missing"
@@nessyness5447 yeah, Sheldon is a demiromantic asexual and no one can change my mind on that one. But I hate how they write it as if Amy "cured" him or something like that.
I really didn't like how Amy was so sexually aggressive towards Penny and it was always played for laughs. Made me uncomfortable every time.
Exactly and they soon dropped that out 1-2 seasons later and never even acknowledged.
well look at it from amy’s perspective, her mom was very strict and didn’t allow her to explore her sexuality, so when she moved out she felt free, all that suppression could get out
it’s a normal response that when someone suppresses something for too long it releases in unhealthy ways
@@jordanwljable a person doesn’t have to be lesbian, gay or bi in order to want to explore with the same gender
being open and figuring your sexuality out is valid too
Yeah, but you shouldn't flirt with a friend you know isn't interested in your gender. That's creepy. I'm bisexual, and I don't expect all women to be bi, or lesbian.
@@FruityHachi So I'm a lesbian and grew up in a homophobic town, plus had self esteem issues which caused me to suppress my sexuality for a long while but that didn't make me into a predatory lesbian who doesn't get boundaries and makes other women uncomfortable. That's actually a very harmful stereotype which a lot of lesbians who grew up that way have to deal with and we're always scares that we come off as predatory to the point that we still hide our sexuality even when we are grown up.
Honestly Anu was my favorite. She was smart, witty, beautiful. She brought out the best in Raj, accepted his deficits and balanced his hopeless romantic attitude. The makers of the show just hated Raj.
I loved Anu too...she was also clear and explicit in stating what she needed from Raj, and that is so refreshing. Nice to see someone not conventionally Hollywood-style attractive too...she was a wonderful character that I would have loved to have seen more of.
I liked her character but I felt that she was wrong for Raj, I think he needs someone more affectionate and who is more feminine interests that mirror his.
i remember watching BBT as a child and just despairing at the wasteland of gender relations that i assumed they were representing from real life. that episode where they make Penny apologise to Howard for him sexually harassing HER every day for YEARS was the moment i knew this wasn't just a poorly written sitcom, but a sitcom written by men who truly hated women.
Exactly!
@@BurningRubber454 you’re allowed to be rude to sexual harassers.
@Alan James He anyways deserved it
@Alan James God forbid people suffering from the consequences of their actions! Poor babies!!
What episode did that happen? Or do you remember quotes of that scene?
Putting aside the problem with making fun of nerds, I hate that when they “elevated” the fact that the some characters were smart and knowledgeable, it was always 1) because they’re geniuses 2) in highly sophisticated sciences. Why the heck is that NO ONE ever reads or celebrates effort, nor the interest in history, philosophy or art in sitcoms.
yeah, I hate the effortless genius trope (I think TV tropes calls it the Wesley, lol). It leads to the imposter syndrome when you struggle in your field
Oviously those geniuses read and studied and thatsy they are knowledgeable duh??? Wat about the part where bernie was doin waiter stuuf and learned and got her phd. U ppl are so blind by your own agenda
Its a show about science nerds why will they show history n philosophy
@@prachi6802 Maybe because the show would be more diverse ? More inclusive ? It would improve the overall quality of the show ?
@@spicychicken9163 its a show, shows are meant to entertain. Its anywys ovious ppl portrayed in the show are not real ppl nor there ever be real ppl like them. Its all fiction. Its meant to be laughed at, why do u want them to compromise their story line just to be inclusive for wat? How wuld that nake the show better? Ppl can make shows based on art and philosophy. U cant expect a show based on musicians to show scientific ppl rgt?
I'll give the Big Bang this: the way they framed Amy's little makeover and wedding look was really positive. She doesn't look like every woman in Hollywood, but the show frequently acknowledged she's cute, and framed Sheldon's inability to notice the effort she put in or compliment her looks as uncool of him. They also gave her wedding dress reveal the "awe-ful" sound effect, like, she looks great. I don't know, it made me feel better about myself vicariously.
The show has a lot of sexism and stereotypes, but it does have it’s moments. Like when Penny proposed to Leonard, and Amy actively wanting to have sex with a guy (Sheldon) and pursuing him rather than the other way around.
I thought that bit was really well done. When the BBT did do something right, they did it right.
Another thing that annoyed me about Priya (that I didn't realise until I looked back on the show) is that she doesn't have any storyline outside of Leonard.
Cuz she is not one of the main? As a side character, enough of her details were mentioned.
@@sagunrai8689 Perhaps, but contrast with some male side characters; for example, Stuart generally managed to interact with multiple characters, as did Penny's ex-boyfriend (I don't remember his name, the one she married in Vegas), making them feel more nuanced.
Contrastingly, Priya only really interacts with Leonard, Raj and Penny (and Sheldon a bit).
@@jasminewadsworth1983 I thought we were talking about character's storyline and not their relationship with the main 6.
What we about Priya is she is from India and we know about her family too. She did her LLB from Cambridge. She worked in one of the biggest car company in India. She is smart. This is her story outside Leonard plot. Zach (Penny's ex)
dad owned cheese cake factory which he later sold. He is portrayed as dense. He and his wife wanted Leonard as a donor.
Both of them had enough storyline as side characters.
Yeah sure, I bet if Zach or Stuart were female characters you'd like them.
@@jasminewadsworth1983 u could literally say the same for most of the side characters
It was the pro-life narrative for me.
I don't have a problem with people not wanting to abort their babies. But it doesn't sit right with me how both Bernadette and Penny (who have both explicitly stated that they didn't want children) were not only written to get pregnant accidentally but also that they suddenly felt like keeping the babies. Just a 180° on their personalities. No room for debates at all.
Like, Penny and Leonard didn't even get a scene where they find out she's pregnant, have a discussion over whether or not they'll keep the baby, and we don't even see Penny change her mind about wanting children. They couldn't even give her that. The writers just thought "Well, she's a married woman. Of course she wants kids now!"
And I really didn't appreciate Bernadette's holier-than-thou attitude when talking to Penny about having kids. The "miracle of childbirth" and "the beauty of motherhood" is not 👏 for 👏 everyone. 👏
@Luke Jameson right? And when they told Sheldon, Leonard got mad that Sheldon wouldn't congratulate them. Sheldon was very right to say "Are congratulations even in order? I didn't think Penny wanted children"
It's like the narrative of the show doesn't let its female characters have their own decisions and individuality when they contradict their partners'. Leonard and Howard wanted children, they didn't, and instead of setting up a complex, interesting situation about how couples should discuss things like this previously before getting so serious to the point of marriage. Penny and Bernadette suddenly are all over the baby fever, it's kinda uncomfortable to watch their pregnant scene, specially the one when Bernadette tries to convince Penny to have kids, it's supposed to be a scene where Bernadette has a postivie view of being a parent, but the actress made it look like she was trying to convince herself she made the right call in a decision she regrets.
Also the 'everyone wants children!! The best thing you can do!!' it's just frustrating. And the 'well they change their mind things like that happen' yeah but not in the span of a day when you find out you are accidentally pregnant
Can women not change their minds tho or do they have to think one way? I’m not understanding how this is prolife because women chose to keep their babies my sisters said they didn’t want kids but when they got pregnant they kept them no second thought...like y’all think because women get pregnant in a show it’s anti feminist 🙄
@@Las645 did u read my whole comment? Or did you just not understand my point?
Penny and Leonard never discussed children before getting married. It turns out Penny doesn't want kids.
In the episode where we find out she's pregnant, it was written as a surprise. The writers couldn't even give us a single scene where Penny changes her mind about wanting kids. We couldn't even be given a scene where she finds out she's pregnant and the panic she must've felt.
Even Sheldon pointed out that Penny didn't want kids so why should her being pregnant be celebrated?
I'm fully aware women can change their minds but it seems like the writers don't think that women should be allowed their own autonomy if both Penny and Bernadette (who have both said they didn't want kids) are forced to have kids. All their pregnancies were accidental and not once did anyone bring up abortion or adoption.
It's almost as if they can't fathom the idea that a woman would choose not to be a mother so she has to be forced into it.
Edit: And Amy is obviously the only one who actually wanted to be a mother from the get-go, so her eventually getting pregnant isn't a problem for me.
@@spectre9340 well unless you’ve been in that position you have no idea what you’re talking about. Being and learning you’re pregnant can switch everything in your world. Each woman handles it differently so please do not blanket all of our experiences with finding out we’re pregnant it’s not okay. Lol and the fact that you brought up Sheldon to validate your argument is hilarious, who cares what he pointed out?? Nothing matters except what the mother and father want so why bring a man into the conversation who has nothing to do with the conception of this child? It seems that you’re using this as a way to say women don’t have a choice. But Leonard, Amy and Bernadette tried to convince penny she needs to have kids but she held her ground. Penny gets pregnant and changes her mind. She didn’t change her mind because of other people but because of what she wanted, which is what you should’ve paid attention to.
As an immunologist, I can't stand the Big Bang Theory. Unfortunately, we see those attitudes from men in STEM though. People who deviate from cis white men standard are constantly being questioned on their place and apptitude in STEM. Also, I want to see a bunch of white cis het physicists men come to my field. Immunology is no joke!
Thanks for sharing Olivia!! As someone not in the STEM field it's interesting to hear your side and also sad to know that it's not very different from this show -,- thanks again for commenting and supporting the channel!
As a fellow immunologist I agree! Have you also noticed that even within stem there is a negative attitude towards biology as not being as pure as physics or mathematics
What does an immunologist do? Never heard of it.
@@strenghsGirl I'm guessing something to do with the immune system? researching how the immune system works and learning to improve it. sounds useful in the current situation
@@Anonymous-bi5pv Thanks. Sounds interesting. And yeah very useful. 😊
also i literally just noticed this, but why does almost everyone on this show hate their mom? sheldon, leonard, amy, howard...
Sheldon loves his mom!
Leomard amy and howard evryone loves their mom. Kids are more attached emotionaly to their mom so its natural to hate them for their behaviour
Sounds like mysogyny again! How people view their mothers says a lot
@@TokioTE I don't know if you are being ironic. In the show nearly everybody hates their dad too (Howard's abandoned him, Penny's wanted a son, Sheldon's dad was abusive)
Sheldon didn’t hate his mother 😂 he just made fun of her religious beliefs
God, that Disney episode infuriated me so much with everyone wanting to be Cinderella iirc. Like. What woman in academia in her 30ies in the 2010s who is into Disney DIDN'T have Belle as her favorite Princess growing up? But hey, why would any writers on this show even know anything about female nerd culture, I guess.
👏👏👏👏 yes!! Ugh I didn’t get why they’d all want to be Cinderella either 🤦♀️ ugh
I dislike Belle. So not me. I love pocahontas. That would have been my favorite.
@@strenghsGirl Good for you. My personal favorite is Mulan. Let's be glad they didn't put these white women into the costumes of princesses of color.
@@Vohalika why not? Are they not a allowed to? Can black woman not be Cinderella or Elsa?
@@strenghsGirl Oh dear. So, best case scenario is you have genuinely no idea about the racial dynamics related to this issue, in which case I'd advise you to find some creators of color who created content on the topic, as I am most definitely not the right person to explain it to you. In fact, this very channel seems like an excellent place to start!
Worst case, and given your question about black women as Elsa or Cinderella more likely, you're looking to provoke or troll, so engaging any further is also not in my interest. Goodbye!
i honestly kinda hate how they also make the male characters out to be huge nerds who NO ONE would ever date, like..... sure being socially awkward is one thing, but leonard is a conventionally attractive guy with a successful career and a wide set of interests, being a "nerd" doesn't make you an outcast anymore.
and this also counts for the nerdy women like....... i'm sorry but amy, leslie and bernadette are all very pretty so what's the problem??? bc amy's awkward? or because leslie is more blunt? literally, they all look fine but the show is so dramatic for no reason ugh.
@@squidsinspace75 you are 100% right. Sorry about your experience
Exactly!!! At this point 'nerds' are one of the most attractive groups of men and women because they can hold a job, are intelligent, have hobbies that nurture the mind and in almost all cases have long-standing and close friendships (oftentimes with other 'nerds'). Plus they don't care as much about keeping up appearances and what other people think about them. They do what makes them happy, a trait that is rare in our social media infested society.
I think the perception of 'nerds' changed a lot. My boyfriend's professor didn't tell his girlfriend that he was a professor in physics until their engagement for fear she might reject him. He actually told her he was an underground train driver. That was just 15 years ago.
Raj as well. If you look at photos of him outside of BBT, he's definitely conventionally attractive. But we can't have POC be considered desirable in Chuck Lorre's fragile world.
YES! And make them dress like 12yo’s like?! Engineers dress like normal people??
Writing screams “I’m a nice guy”
@Hawkeye Pierce It’s an internet term “nice guys” aren’t actual nice people who are men. They are re men who are sexist and feel entitled to women’s attention or sex because they do something simple like hold a door for a stranger or ask how your day is. They also tend to stereotype women in many ways, view themselves as better than other men because they stereotype other men as pigs, and react very aggressively when you politely turn them down. There are many other aspects to it but if you want to know more you can watch an r/niceguys video on TH-cam.
@Customer Engineer I am fully aware that good people exist. I’m talking about an internet term. The term “nice guy” or r/niceguys is a term used to describe self proclaimed nice guys who are actually rude, misogynistic, entitled, and borderline dangerous.
@Customer Engineer it’s not cynicism, it’s just the term used because of the common occurrence of bad people telling others people they deserve a chance because they are “nice” when not only are they not nice but even if they were it doesn’t make them entitled to other peoples bodies.
@Customer Engineer People who pretend to be kind but have ulterior motives is pretty much the definition of the term. Just look up redit nice guys or nice girls and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Don’t confuse nice guys with r/niceguys or “nice guys”. They mean different things.
@Customer Engineer the terms nice guys and nice girl come from redit. If you want the names to change you’d have to go on redit, come up with a short easy name, change the sudredit titles, and hope they catch on. I don’t even know if it’s possible to do that so I don’t think it’s ever going to change. Most people who frequent the internet know that nice guy doesn’t actually refer to nice people. If a person is a nice person just say that instead of specifying gender. It still works. Most people don’t get offended since they understand why it’s called that and if they do get offended they probably don’t understand what it means. A quick google search will fix that. There’s really nothing to be offended about.
This was super well written. As a female scientist who grew up watching this show, I've come to realise how much it missed the mark. You've just succinctly and eloquently summarised many feeling I have about the show. Thanks.
The things that annoyed me were a) when Emily watches horror films with Raj and then they make her out to be a psycho just because she's a horror fan, and b) making people whose intelligence lies in more creative pursuits like music, art and performance look stupid.
For A, Emily was (at least a tiny bit) morbid when it came to horror stuff and everything. When she and raj double dates with Howard and Bernadette, she said she’s a dermatologist because she “likes cutting people with knives, and most places that do that for a job are illegal.” Plus, she wanted to have s3x with raj ON SOMEONES GRAVE!
And for B, that was mostly just Sheldon, cause he’s, ya know, Sheldon.
It was so weird lmao like I watch horror movies and it sure doesn’t want me to go and yk do it on someone’s grave💀
Its funny that they marketed themselves to nerds, whereas like it actually continues that "making fun of nerds" trend that mostly had left the rest of the society at the time. It had moved on to being mean to autistic people more out right, but its not like. "We hate comic books and the people that like them" which the show is kind of doing WHILE still hating autistic people.
I'm autistic and this show was all my family watched growing up... it's harmful as hell for the viewers to watch this show. It was portraying me to be all of these different things I'm not, my family would take what they saw on TV and use it as ammunition to gaslight me and mentally abuse me. I don't think the writers realise they're doing real harm to real people, and giving ableist and sexist people what they want.
this show is sadly the reason i got diagnsoed
@@mikau1585 I used to watch the show with my dad (I wasn't diagnosed with ASD until a few years later) and he made me stop because apparently I was acting too much like Sheldon. I think I had acted that way before, but my dad found a way to explain it away as being that I was copying what I saw on TV. He stopped letting me watch the show because I guess he thought my autistic traits would go away? Idk i can't blame him too much because to be fair I wasn't diagnosed, but it really made me sad
Sheldon is one of the worst characters that I’ve ever seen on TV. One time I saw something like “Sheldon loves Spock but Spock would hate Sheldon for his prejudices”
But Sheldon is really interesting as a character, despite he is sexist and not nice person at all
@@saintunicorn8409 not really, at least to me he’s the stereotype of us (autistic people) media has, there are some autistics that act like Sheldon, but media tends to put us all in a box and we are a spectrum so we all have different personalities and mannerisms. To me the Big Bang theory is a mid serie.
@@yazminlares6000 from that point of view, he is stereotypical. But he has no diagnosis, so it's not really representation for people with autism.
I always thought he might has Asperger's syndrome, which is a little different.
Raj was undoubtedly the most dateable guy on the show. I feel like it’s just an indicator of how little influence women had on the writing that he ended up single. It’s like all the men writing this show were like ‘haha Raj is romantic and kinda feminine and does things that are stereotypically womanly, there’s no way a guy like that could get married’ when in fact that’s what a LOT of women want.
I sure HOPE that was a contributing factor, and he wasn’t left single in the year 2019 *solely* because he’s brown.
Mood. Big mood.
There is a stereotype that brown men don’t know how to win a girl 😅. I am not surprised
Raj being the only single one from the main cast is the most unrealistic thing in this entire show. Out of all of them he is easily the best boyfriend material, none of them deserved what they got😭
I agree, Raj was the only reason why I tolerated that show😅
As a child free by choice person, Penny being pregnant even though she is child free ENRAGE ME.
Penny deserved better
totally agree, the show did not even manage to bring this to the table..
I just came to the conclusion that no show will EVER have a child free by choice woman.
The moment Penny uttered she doesn't want children, it's like the fates of the show goes "lol, watch this!"
That happens with Bernadette as well and she was arguably more against having children. Basically the only main female character who shows any interest in having children doesn’t have children. Fine if some female characters want children, lots of people do want children, but not everyone. Especially if they say they don’t want children.
and the best part ist. Would one of the man had choosen to stay child free, that would be no problem and the guy would stay childfree and happy, but woman must have to have kids, because no woman can life without them.
I found it so hard to watch them emasculate raj as often as they did - they were insensitive with all the dudes on the show but it was a different flavour of uncomfortable when it came to him bc it's really playing into the whole emasculation of asian men -.- as the only poc on the main cast, it's unlikely to be a coincidence :/
They didn't even have the decency to let him end up with a girlfriend. And with all the gay jokes they made towards Raj, I don't think it's a coincidence either.
They didn't even have the decency to let him end up with a girlfriend. And with all the gay jokes they made towards Raj, I don't think it's a coincidence either.
Oh it’s in words.
The pop culture detective video she recommended about tbbt also talks about this exact point ur making, in case you havent seen it yet
@@connorbuttsoup6242 ooooo thank you!! I will have a look at it :3
Aromantic Leslie Winkle could have been such a cool and interesting character but we don't get that
I love how random people can make one or two suggestions to make a character more interesting and original than professional writers can.
Penny having to apologize a lot is sadly realistic to life. (Some) Women feel like they have to apologize for basically existing and it’s fucked up.
I am definitely one of those women. People have told me in the past to stop apologizing so much for I’ve done nothing wrong, and my automatic response is to apologize for apologizing so much. It’s a never-ending loop…
Yeah... trust me... its not just a woman thing... well, not outside of America at least...
One of the things about this show that bugged me the most was that I found the most dedicated fans of it seemed to be immigrant families, at least from what I had seen through past relationships. I'm the Canadian son of Brazilian Immigrants and have dated pretty much exclusively immigrants or the children of immigrants, and often I've found that the show would get left on in those households where people were learning English or only knew very little, because the visuals of the show are so exaggerated the jokes would still work for them.
They never understood why the show drove me up the wall. I was always an in-shape, athletic nerd who hated team sports mainly because of the toxic atmosphere rather than because of the games themselves. I've had prior partners who fetishized my nerdy side or tried to suppress it, even had a girlfriend who wanted me to wear fake glasses and button-ups for no reason other than "it would suit me better" because she just saw me as "pretty-boy nerd".
It honestly feels like an early 90s or late 80s sitcom just transplanted into the modern day. The laugh track just plays over them...playing Dungeons and Dragons. Not them playing and trying to seduce the dragon, not them playing and having fake drinking contests, just them saying "I will cast Melkor's Flaming Ass of Power" or whatever and then laugh track plays because "haha, silly spell word is dorky and therefore funny". So weak.
Oh yeah they play the laugh track over EVERYTHING. It’s so frikkin obnoxious and also inconsistent. They just play it whenever something “weird” I said. Like Leonard says he’s reading manga or watching anime and then the laugh track is played like, what’s the joke?
@@CheyenneLin One of the funnier things on TH-cam is the edits where they remove the laugh track and it just sounds like a bunch of awkward, abusive jerks that are stuck together.
For me, someone who's first language isn't English, the laugh track was helpful for me because it helps me know which part is supposed to be funny. (Because humour is very different in every culture) Some aspect of the show's offensiveness is definitely not detectable for me at the time. I only realized how misogynistic tbbt is after watching pop-culture detective's video. It is so popular in my country that the fanbase is already strong and not many realize how problematic the show is.
Also maybe it's because of how the show portrays a life so different than ours that many jokes and offensive comments are so out of touch that people don't pick up on them.
Absolutely this. My mother got really attached to the show while learning English and I’m 90% it’s what helped form her views when moving to America. It’s why she constantly belittles me for my interests (largely nerdy stuff like this. I’m really into Magic: The Gathering and she makes fun of me for it constantly) and really drove home a lot of insecurity for me. She’d constantly compare me to Sheldon whenever I was particular about something. It got on my nerves. And whenever I felt smart or felt knowledgeable in a field, she’d tear me down and say I wasn’t as smart as the characters on the show. So yeah, I finally watched the show and now realize she got lost of her insults and conclusions about my interests from the show.
TLDR; I’m fairly certain that Tbbt caused my shit upbringing.
@@Ummmmmmmm841 That would seem so deceptive for hardworking people who are genuinely trying to learn a language, with its nuances
Big Bang Theory was basically just a twelve season long car accident no one could look away from
The fact it went on for TWELVE seasons is proof we really do live in non-progressive times
As a woman of science who has met men like this in my career, this is one of the crappy tv shows that fuel their ideas that this type of behaviour is ok. If you want to vet a man, ask him if he liked this show, and even if he says "it was ok", run cause it is a red flag. The show sucks and the writes suck worse for writing it
As a woman of science I enjoyed this show. It is not education. If you judge someone by their series taste I would run away from you tbh. Seems very extreme.
@@strenghsGirl it’s her choice you may chose your men as according to your preference
@@run4508 Yes it is. Just het advice is questionable for me. It shows a very extreme sight to judge someone by the taste of a show. And that is my opinion. Calling this a red flag also talks real red flags (controlling behaviors, agessiviness) small.
@@strenghsGirl you drew that from one comment and that girl can’t even reject a man liking a whole show that ran for years?ok
@@run4508 How is my comment any different? You say she can choose according to her preferences. Never said she can't. I just said I would run, if someone is that extreme to call liking a show being a red flag. And that is my preferences.
I really hated Howard, loved Amy, Raj and Sheldon though. And Penny deserved a storyline outside Leonard, she had literally no development after about four seasons.
She basically went from "pop culture obsessed hot party girl" to "married woman whose only personality trait is wine". Plus I couldn't believe she and Leonard would've ever worked in real life. They have nothing in common and Penny spends a lot of time complaining about him and making fun of his job and interests, whereas Leonard basically just has her as a "prize". It was obvious they only ended up together to fulfill the "nerd gets the hot girl" fantasy.
Leslie is not Ugly. I. fact Leslies is always portraited as a strong independent woman, who lives for her career and chooses her sexual partners. Also when to start a relationship and when is better to end it.
Yep. I think this video is definitely focussing on small jokes made to drive home a point when the overall themes and character arcs are very positive and good natured.
@@brendanjohnstone4493 have you watched pop culture detective's video? :o
The show is definitely super flawed, but i honestly really like it still! there are stupid moments, but i don't see it as misogynist. just some dumb fun though i wish some parts could have been better like having the nerds have more varied and niche interests. im a biology major and woman as well.
@@emilyleaf9857 yes I have. Personally I disagree with it even as a very progressive person. The jokes are mostly just small jabs based on stereotypes and they make fun of almost every kind of person. As a nerdy person I think it’s good to laugh at yourself sometimes and don’t feel offended at all by the jokes. Nothing in it is mean spirited. All the characters have great arcs and grow as people. Especially Penny, who grows into a very intelligent and successful person while also vastly changing the lives of Leonard and Sheldon. I honestly think she is the best and most impactful character in the show.
@@inspectorspinda yes exactly. Most of the jokes are based off of societal stereotypes. There aren’t mean spirited. Sometimes you have to laugh at yourself a little. Each characters arc also does them justice immensely whether it’s penny, Howard, or Amy most notably.
At the very beginning of BBT, I thought "Oh, I get it -- it's a theoretical physicist and an experimental physicist as roommates! That makes total sense as a nerdy sitcom premise!" Unfortunately, it went in the directions you talk about instead.
Looking back at the show I’m not sure how or why I found this show funny...
Haha no worries. I think it’s still ok if you find it funny or find yourself laughing at some of the gags. It is made to be funny after all. But after you start looking really into it you see that the jokes are based on such bad and untrue things. The show just frustrates me nowadays 😑 but glad it’s finally off the air!
Anna Gr i dont want to come off rude at all but the plot is not smart or creative... as she mentions, the actual way the show could have been, so not the plot but the nebulous concept of what the show was, definitely could have been really interesting and something unlike other tv shows or movies. but instead it takes the same dull “revenge of the nerds” type attitude to nerdy men and never goes past a surface level look into their lives, feelings, or ideologies. I totally agree that fleshed out however, the show could have been very interesting
I think Raj looks better with his curly hair why would they make him straighten it?
Tbh I don't understand that choice either.
They don't want him to look attractive
Wait...what?!? xD
there's literally a whole story about this.. he eventually stops straightening his hair embracing his looks and his type of masculinity and refuses to take shit from howard until he learns to treat him better, through that gained confidence and cutting the most toxic person in his life he actually gets laid indicating that there was nothing wrong with him and his self depricating demeanour influenced by howard's jokes made him that miserable
after that he's happy with his life and decides happiness isn't achieved through relationships for the sake of relationships
so basically this show isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be
Can you imagine how much better this show could have been with like 30% more self awareness... i would LOVE to see a show where a bunch of nerdy guys have to confront their own sexism and elitism and mature as people.
That would require more creativity and writing skills on part of screenwriters than just find new ways to point at character while screaming "nerd!" or "woman!"
The most disgusting and disturbing part in TBBT was when Penny had to apologize for Howard although the total fault was with Howard.The character "Howard" was a harasser ,literally the victim had to apologize the harasser.Shame on BBT producers
Depressing fact: Penny was literally never given a last name!
My conspiracy theory is that they made her take Leonard's last name cos the writers couldn't be bothered to give her one
Theres an episode where sheldon takes a package for her, and her last name is on the box, "Teller", Penny Teller.
@@spectre9340 no, i think its like a running joke, or else they didnt have to give anyone else a last name either lol, even a lazy writer could come up with a last name so idk but i dont think thats the reason
@@palomapuntoycoma4619 "Penny" ls short of Penelope so she is Penelope Teller
It's a joke
One thing I remember clearly about Lucy is one of the biggest fights she had with Raj. There was a whole episode where Raj was attempting multiple times to get Lucy to come out of her shell more and stand up for herself, despite her protests and clear discomfort. At the end of the episode she blows up at him for disrespecting her boundaries and belittling the progress she's already made with her social anxiety just through dating him. I think she even broke up with him in that episode, though I'm not sure if it was the penultimate breakup or not. Big "Good For Her" moment that I appreciated as a neurodivergent woman who also has a degree of social anxiety.
Everyone in the show is a stereotype. That's why it sucks.
@@annagr1018 But they reinforce very hurtful stereotypes of some of the most vulnerable people in society.
It feels like the showrunner is punching down against geeks who already have it rough being socially bullied. And the jokes aimed at women don't reflect well on the writers.
You can have a comedy without it being mean-spirited. But BBT is built on reinforcing toxic stereotypes that encourage geeks to be picked on and women to be degraded.
I'm not an SJW but the humour on BBT is very problematic and has not aged well. It's like how alot of 'gay' humour from the 90's comes across as homophobic today.
@nessy ness stereotypes are supposed to be bad. The ones that are built on certain ideas or certain traits and aren’t just lazy characters that are disrespectful to certain people are archetypes. On the Simpsons they are their own characters but based on archetypes. They have been made different and not copied (like stereotypes) which is why they are so popular as characters.
@Alison Purgatory very good point and yay another pop culture detective watcher! His videos are so good! ^ - ^
It's not just that, the show is based on stereotypes and does NOTHING with it. Their could make fun of those stereotypes and show them as something wrong while at the same time being funny but they didn't, this show is basically a generic sitcom with nothing new except for annoying and stupid nerds/geeks stereotypes
I think one of the most awkward things of the show is how the Leonard character is written to be the sensible one who gets the girls bc of his nerdy charms. But really hes just as bad as the others and his whole character is built on critisising the other main cast. He doesnt have a personality and is, when you think about it, really boring. I think hes just a self insert of the writers/himself since he is a writer on the show!!!! It gives me the icks to think about lol
Sheldon was the only one who ever took an interest in penny as a human and tried to support her dreams
@Kira D tru. I think the writing in later seasons was much better and Leonard never grew u know. At least Sheldon appreciated penny as a human whereas Leonard never seemed to actually relate to her or support her, he was almost better with penny than his own gf loooool. Idk the people's ages but I always thought given Sheldon was a child genius he was like 20 when the show started and there why he was so awful and then he grew.
@@Illuminatibby Plus over time they tried to give Sheldon a bit more empathy and self awareness.
I used to like this show when I was younger, but that was when I was just real ignorant about feminism and the world in general. Knowing what I know as an adult I find it insufferable and I’m weirded out how many adults in my family enjoy it
It is because they see it as it is. A show. They make fun of everyone. They make fun of all the stereotypes. And your family sees it as a show and what is suppose to be. I don't see much problems in the show tbh. It also doesn't reflect the real life. At least not in Europe. Don't know about US, they seem way more extreme in all ways.
i used to like the show when i was younger and didn't know any better, but the more i remember things about it, the more i cringe
I feel the exact same way!
I never liked this show bc for me, this thing was painfully unfunny and I can't stand the damn stock laugh that every generic sitcom has 💀
I used to watch this show with my mom in middle school, and I thought some parts were funny but recognized some of the problematic aspects pretty early on. Now looking back I notice a lot more issues that I have with the show, but I will always have a soft spot for Amy. She was the inspiration for me starting to look into neuroscience, and now at 22 I’m finishing my last semester as a college student majoring in neuroscience on a pre med track. Now that I’m older I also realize that I’ve always related to her social awkwardness, romantic and sexual desires and fantasies but having to remain somewhat sexually repressed, always pining after guys even though I was always scared to seek out actual relationships. I was also somewhat ostracized in school because I didn’t interact well with my classmates, but I was always nice to them so I never had anyone bullying me for no reason. Sure there are things that could be different about Amy, but I do really appreciate her character and how she shaped my life, sometimes without my awareness until just a few months ago while watching clips from the show
And also how she ruined bernadette being in a magazine for being pretty and smart, bc they "sexualize" females... something bernadette (a beauty pageant winner girl) was enjoying and was looking foward. Amy is an amazing female character and i love how she writes fics... but her ruining the fun of others bc she doesn't agree really bothers me sometimes. Some girls like the attention of being "sexualize", we work hard to look good and is nice when people notices that too. Different opinions and different personalities, and we should respect them all as much as we want ours to be respected.
amy inspired me too!! im planning on majoring in physics tho. shes not perfect, but she was always my favourite
How is it going for you? :D
I have been wanting someone to do an analysis on the women in the show because it always bothered me and I'm glad to finally see it!
penny and bernadette, repeatedly: i don’t want to be a mother
everyone else: *y’all hear something?*
I hated that they had not just one, but two child free women turn around and have kids. Why is it so hard to see that CF people exist and can be happy without kids. Why is it so hard to remember that no one owe their spouse a child.
Why is it so hard for you to accept those women's choices?
@@Tontoquienloleation Those are fictional women specifically written to be child free and then specifically written to change their minds. This happens way too often in fiction and helps drive the narrative that CF women don´t know their own minds and will change to fit the norm. It´s an AH move from the writers.
@@namnetetagit So write your own fucking child free story.
Oh no god forbid a woman changes her mind 🙄 how dare she grow as a person and not find fulfillment in being alone.
I've binged your videos ever since you appeared in the eyeball zone. Awesome channel, keep up the good work
Thank you so much!!
Something that bothers me and I have noticed in several sitcoms is how usually the foreign characters or the one coloured characters are usually written as weird, quirky, one dimensional and are atacked with stereotypical offensive jokes from the rest of the cast. To the point that the writers don't even bother on giving them depth or to even develop their storyline like what happened to Raj or Fez from That 70s show. They just exist to be mocked
I stopped watching after season 5 or so, and I always wondered why Raj never got a girlfriend, he was such a cutie and the most handsome of them all. Maybe if he wasn't just written as the "exotic" character it woulda been nice, maybe if he ended up as gay that would have been totally awesome.
This is the epitome of the writers being white straight men, and their perspective
There is also another stereptype- Asian men are seen as feminine and not as sexual beings.
ness cool... Obv not saying the stereotype is correct lol. Just saying it exists and to be aware of it.
Raj, there's a chapter early on where he gets the hability to talk to woman when using an experimental med that some scientists were testing, in that moment raj acts like a second Howard when talking to Missy (Sheldon's sister) if I remember correctly.
“I watched every seasons of BBT”
Wow that’s a whole new level of self-loathing xD
I was always fascinated by how many boomer-age people loved this show. I think that's why it worked with such cartoonish and old-timey stereotypes of nerds and women that older generations could relate to, the show felt like it was made for people who didn't know anything about nerds to laugh at them and how they're so awkward and can't get laid.
As a 20 year old 'nerd' I still love this show so really anyone can like it :/
The show lost me when they started just bullying sheldon for no reason all the time because of his disabled coded personality. It was kind of just there at the beginning, but eventually it became a crutch.
I feel like this show was written because Chuck Lore got rejected by an actual intellectual woman after not staying in his own lane or something like that. I just eventually came to see it as an "old jock's" stereotyping view of two different types of nerds. Leonard and the guys in the beginning along with the other smart-looking women are usually looked at as "classical nerds" while Penny and a few of her exes are probably those nerds that got good at hiding in pop culture obscurity and all that other stuff. Penny did give herself away by actually playing "Star Trek Chess" with Sheldon.
My dad loves this show, so I'm subjected to it pretty often. I know the whole "woman teaches man to be responsible and less shitty" schtick sucks, but that still would have been preferable to watching them continue to be shit heads to the women in their lives
The show really drop the ball when they had Penny abbandon his ambitions of being an actress instead of making her work regularly on low-budget B movies. It would give her and Leonard a common interest, it would make the cameos of Star Trek actors more natural and she and the boys could go to ComiCon together (it would be an interesting dynamic, because for them is leissure but for her is part of his job)... but I suppose aknowledging the contradiction of being passionate for both hard science and cheesy stories of rubber-forehead aliens would be asking too much from the people that modeled a character after men in the autistic spectrum but never confirmed his atuism because that would make all the jokes at his expense cruel
Ughhh i absolutely hate that episode where Penny was forced to apologise to Howard for HIS disgusting behaviour. And i hate how they framed his creepy behaviour as a thing that can be fixed by the 'right woman' as soon as he starts dating Bernadette.
I have a few physical features in common with Mayim Bialik, and especially in high school, when I worse Amy-style glasses and Big Bang Theory was highly popular I used to get a lot "Have you ever seen the big bang theory, you look just like Sheldon's girlfriend!!". It always made me feel really self-conscious. Since this show actively goes out of it's way to make Bialik look frumpy and as you beautifully put it - relentlessly mock her.
As a geeky girl, it was annoyed me that they never had any geeky girls until maybe Lucy. There’s were nerdy girls but not any that were into geek culture like comic books and gaming. I thought that maybe one of the girls like Amy or Bernadette were going to be but instead they made them also bully the guys and understanding why they would ever be interested in those geeky things. This goes into staring at Penny when she walked into the comic shop because of course girls wouldn’t be interested in going in.
They did introduce Stuart's girlfriend eventually, she's geeky
Every time I see even a little of this show I’m disappointed. I caught a scene once where they made fun of girls who were into stereotypically girly things - a girl who wanted to be a beautician.
I never liked this show, but didn't know it was this grossly misogynistic.
Yeah me too could be because I watched it with 12 years but in hindsight it is pretty shitty
The only good thing about the Big Bang theory is that every time I see Mayim Bialik I get to play the blossom theme in my head again, and it makes me happy and also helps me chase away the horror of this show, which ran for 12 SEASONS.
As always, loved your analysis.
Ikr!! Can’t believe it lasted so long tbh 😬thank you so much :)
When i was younger. I liked the show. But after awhile i started to realize that racism, sexism, homophobia, fatphobia, and antisemitism were just too much. It was so disgusting, and the way they treated women showed it.
Antisemitism? You really need to check the early life section of both the creators and the actors/actresses 😄 almost everyone on that show is Jewish.
@@gwen_st107 They just had to throw that in there because that’s the trend now. If something is one type of “phobia”, it automatically becomes every other phobia, “ism”, etc.
Amy is seen as unattractive and nerdy but honestly I’ve always thought she was so cute
Totally agree. She looks so interesting and unique in the best possible way. Just how angular and pointy her face is, its such a rare trait and it looks so good. (Oh man, I am not good as describing my attraction, but as a bi woman, totally agree with you)
To me personaly nerdiness is an atractive trate so yeah.
Melissa Rauch was the hottest of the bunch
I used to think I liked this show. Then I learned what “internalized misogyny” is.
the bbt is one of those shows that probably will not age well but held entertainment value during its time
Bbt is like pop music. Made to just appeal to as large of a group as possible. The nerdy things are just surface level stuff with often completely incorrect details for the sake of the story. But to even analyze a readymeal sitcom to this level is a bit pointless in my opinion.
It seems weird to me though that you critize men so badly about being attracted to visuals while simultaniously dissing the looks of other women. Penny is definitely not the only hot girl the guys end up with. Raj dates a ton of more attractive women and Howard manages to marry a way more attractive woman than Penny aka Bernadette. Also Leslie is by no means an ugly woman just less focused on superficial things like makeup instead of her work. I think it would have been good to keep Leslie as part of the main characters and not have the show follow the generic path of only couples can be happy by getting a girlfriend for all the main guys.
Bbt was a show about "nerds" made by someone who doesn't get nerds. But it's light entertainment anyways, like lady Gaga or backstreet boys. Not a masterpiece.
@@cmxpiipl agree with some of what you say. The show is very shallow and problematic but It does pull some laughs. At least at the beginning it did.
Whist this video may be pointless I enjoy video essay such as this one because it shows an unpopular opinion in a compelling manner.
@@stargirl6659 To be honest, I never laughed or smiled even a little tiny bit with this show, is not for their problematic content. All was because for me, this was so painfully unfunny that even have de TV off was more funny and interesting than this, I never understood why people was so obssesed about this and I have so much curiosity for hear a person who actually likes and find funny this, I think it would be fun hear somebody with a sense of humor so much different than mine 😅
I liked this show because I hung out with the nerds in high school and now it makes me sad because I realize how shitty the boys I hung out with really were.
Ooof same.
I definitely had a "Howard" in my social circle...and a 'Leonard'
I really really love how you took your time to look at every character in detail, and not only how they behave in the group. Keep up the good videos!! :)
I used to like this show but some characters gave me weird vibes or just made me cringe until total mental exhaustion (*cough" Howard). I'm glad I now understand why this show sometimes made me feel the way it did.
The first video I watched about the topic is "The Adorkable Misogyny of The Big Bang Theory" by Pop Culture Detective, which eventually led me here.
I LOVED the big bang theory as a teenager, i remember watching the episode where Penny plays WOW and i was hooked. But after watching it pretty consistently for a while, i remember there being a point where... you know, they had introduced all these smart, beautiful, and nerdy women, but then there was a joke about comic con or videogames, and unanimously the three main women were like, "that's dumb". It opened my eyes that, even though the show tried to claim that women can be smart and beautiful, nerd culture was still a Boys Only territory that women would never understand, and I'm still bitter about that.
This was really well-done. I've watched other TH-cam vids on the misogyny of Big Bang, but you presented some truths I've neither heard nor considered before. Nice job!
Thank you Kelly!!
“So I’ve actually seen all twelve seasons of the Big Bang Theory - twice”
Oh bless your poor soul 😢
After the time skip (when penny had short hair) all the women were just really mean to each other and constantly bashed their men. It was really sad to see the change in that show. The only change in a female character I liked was when Amy began to realise that Penny isn’t this perfect women she always thought she was. She still liked Penny but stopped idolising her and began liking herself more for what she is.
As a autistic, bisexual woman who is super awkward, super horny, always the nerdy one and the odd one out and was bullied, I honestly saw so much of myself in Amy and the show ended up being a comfort show. But I definitely like it for the potential and what I can make in my head out of it, not for what it actually is.
I'm with you. I'm autistic and into geek culture and really relate to Sheldon and find the show comforting for that reason, and there are moments where they did good educating people about autism, but the show is also full of problems with how it portrays autism, feminism, women, feminine men, transgender people, Indian people, and more. I wish the show had done better with those things so that I didn't have to feel guilty about loving the parts that are good.
I feel you, I am also autistic and maybe bi? (I really don't know yet) and it was/is my comfort show. I love the shown knowledge, I love the characters (not howard) and yeah, there are a lot of problems, and I think it's not as many as in hImym, in that show everything is just so much worse, all women are just bland love interests for Ted and Barney. (And Ted is just an asshole)
Hey same! But I struggled with the lack of characterisation or nuance of the female characters. It broke my heart to see how it was handled, especially with Amy's interest for Penny played as comedic and/or creepy. Neurodivergent and disabled women are also even more likely to end up with toxic partners and experience abuse, so the fact that the show only played it for laughs was upsetting. I hope the series ended on a better note, at least.
I once put on the Big Bang Theory 'cause I thought it was well liked, but my mama was like "turn that crap off...something about it rubs me the wrong way."
I also hate how the show’s writing looks down on some sciences and STEM fields, especially social sciences. I’m a zoologist which in reality is very ‘typically scientific’ however it would absolutely be one of the fields mocked in shows like this. I haven’t seen later seasons of the show so it may well have been, but I can absolutely see them treating it as ‘girly’ and not a proper ‘hard’ science. Like Raj I believe liked animals and that alone was seen as some effeminate to be joked about. I can just imagine the jokes they would write about a Zoologist character in the show, whether they were male or female.
The vibe of this show was always vaguely insulting to me as a person with nerd/geek type interests. I never even really gave it a chance because it felt like typical mainstream "punching down" humor at the expense of nerds.
I preferred Community for the reason that it was nerdy reference humor made with love from a place of experience.
Community is so underrated!!!
Honestly, I'm glad we're mostly out of the hard 'laugh-track overlayed over bigotry' age in sitcoms... There''s way better stuff out there nowadays and I'm all for it!
I was a huge Sheldon/Penny shipper in the first few seasons, but stopped watching the show after like season 5 or 6.
Is it ok if I ask,why did you ship them?
(This isn’t important just saw them as friends so I’m curious why you ship them)
I absolutely despise this the show. I've only seen a handful of episodes and I think the only full episodes I've seen are from the first season (when I gave it a try after it was recommended to me, and I was quickly turned off), so I haven't seen much of the women in the show aside from Penny. It's just so incredibly clear that the writers hate the characters - often the "jokes" are just a reference to nerd culture followed by a laugh track, and most of the rest of the time they are just blatantly being made at the expense of their characters, particularly Sheldon.
I love the show... Hate that has so much huge problems.. penny apologizing to Howard got me so uncomfortable
Can you imagine the amount of money, time, blood, sweat, and tears that you have to go through to receive a DOCTORATE in NEUROSCIENCE, and then end up as a character on the Big Bang Theory. Holy shit. This is sadder than successful people who get hooked on drugs and shit
It was her choice and she made a lot of money and fame out of it. Why are you getting offended for her when she chose it for herself?
I think you need to read up on Mayim Bialik a bit; 'cause she was an actress long before she became a scientist, and started acting when she was 12. I remember watching her in _Blossom_ back in the early '90s.
It was her choice to act on it tho , she likes acting
Yeah i don’t get this comment. I actually think she’s badass for being both a neuroscientist and an actress. I like her for pursuing her passions, and i look up to her a lot for it. And… she chose to be on this show? Meaning she read scripts and knew what she was getting into? So i don’t get why that would be a sad thing lmao
@@arabellascomet Thanks for sharing your opinion
The best relationship in that show is the one between Penny and Wine.
The whole "hot women get free stuff waa waaaaaa" thing drives me mental. I've seen it become particularly pervasive in the gaming community where a lot of young guys think that women have life "easy" because they can get money by being cam girls and therefor everything is easier for women. Boo hoo woes me life is hard so women don't deserve my empathy. They seem oblivious to the myriad of problems this presents for women, what it says about us as a society, how degrading that can be for women who don't actually *want* to be cam girls, or how they as men willing to throw money at women are the ones who create the very situation they despise women for taking part in. There is a serious disconnect between understanding that you can put someone on a pedestal and still treat them like shit because they're not a real person to you, they're decoration.
I've also been in the position of being with a guy who went around boasting about his "hot girlfriend" to my friends and telling the guys in or friend group "you know you want her" even the married men who were married to some of my best friends! It was mortifying when I found out! I was so embarrassed and disgusted I broke up with his ass. It's one thing to be physically attracted to your partner and be happy about that, it's something else to use it as bragging material to make yourself feel good at the expense of your partner. The way the show brings up the "how did you bag a hot girlfriend" trope all the time is so gross.
That reminds me roommates stories about man basicly loosing their mind over hot girl. All she gets from it was staring at best and borderline harrasment at worst.
Indeed, this always rubs me wrong immensely. It ties/overlap into incel culture too which I'm sure we have a strong opinion on too...
No one has put into words why the whole "bragging about your hot girlfriend" bothered me so much. I always thought I was just being overly sensitive but you put into words why it always feels icky.