Would anyone be interested in a Feminist critique of The Big Bang Theory?

Has Exalted been expunged? Who is going to educate us now?

Oh god. Not one for our family then.

Again, I think the first two series were much more positive about the men, the spectrum, the women. So I now just watch repeats.

I can't either, Uriah. I can't believe they're supposed to be making a film of it. Surely it would fall foul of every piece of Disability Discrimination law that exists in the world.

Twg, I can't bear TRP.

So the poster who wants all the empirical evidence so s/he can evaluate and assess it in order to reach a non-biased viewpoint, since s/he is so much better and thinking and logic than everyone else, thinks the answer is to 'disengage your brain'?

I think we should ignore a poster who has come onto a board with which s/he is clearly in opposition from the outset, and discuss the programme anyway.

TBBT is indeed a misogynistic show. Bernadette earns money and is academic, but why on earth give her that stupid squeaky voice? I suppose one might argue it's to puncture expectations that all bright women are unattractive and unfeminine. It doesn't work.

The representation of Amy is the most troubling of all. She's been unpopular and unattractive all her life (and was unfortunate enough not to get raped at a frat party ), and is so desperate to belong and to be attractive that she wants continually to touch up Penny, to have 'romance' with Sheldon, and even for Raj to fancy her ...

Awesome - I'm going to follow up on all these recommendations!

Zoe and Wash in Firefly was a good relationship - comfortable, they fit together - a very well written/played established pair, totally different people but clearly working.

Mal and Inara seemed to be written as the opposite - two people you think should work, but just seemed to continually rub each other the wrong way - I couldn't ever get on board with the idea of them becoming a couple because they'd written both characters such that it clearly wasn't going to work (I feel like I could see old relationships I'd had myself in there - so wanting something to happen, but when it did, it just wasn't right)

Also thanks Shadow and yoko for interesting insights.

Oh brilliant! I thought Exhalted was a clever person doing a perfect mimic of Sheldon. But no!
Hurrah for the perfect specimen coming and telling us how wrong we all are!!

Green, if you liked Community and Parks (both of which I love) you might try and track down Party Down. It's only two short seasons but it's sharp and funny and just really, really good. Has Adam Scott, Lizzy Caplan, Jane Lynch, Megan Mulally, Ken Marino and lots of other known faces.

I also like Veep, although that is quite caustic - more Larry Sanders-ish than Parks-ish - and Silicon Valley.

I shall go back to lurking on this thread now, because I have never watched TBBT. I'm enjoying the analysis though and the snark lobbed at the sixth-form debate team captain

It is a series that seems to have got worse. I remember enjoying the first few series, found them genuinely funny and didn't dislike the characters beyond what was intended (I.e. Always found Howard a creep)

But the later series are indeed loathsome. I particularly find the evolution of Amy as a character grim. Went from being a match for Sheldon (intellectually) to portrayed as desperate enough for sexual attention that she would trick and harass. The episode where she pretends to be ill was very unpleasant, both in her treatment of Sheldon, and the way she herself was portrayed.

That is an excellent point about in 20 years time will we find it funny. I suspect it will be viewed with distaste. Rather like the way we are now looking at film/tv from the 90s.

Uriah, the book The Rosie Project is similar - ripping the piss out of a man with Asperger Syndrome. Yet lots of people on the spectrum claim to have enjoyed it. I don't get that at all. It seems blatant cruelty to me.

You are right about there being no good men. Penny's occasional neurotypical boyfriends are nothing but dumb oafs, albeit good-looking with six-packs etc.

Here's another, non feminist non non feminist thought about TBBT.

Various AS people I know/ know of loathe it. They, male and female, see it not in the ways discussed here but on the lines of unacceptable humour aimed at people with a neurological difference, as unacceptable as in former days people laughed at those with mental or physical disability.

And the people on TBBT who normally display those symptoms and are more the butt of the jokes, even expressing their mysogenistic viewpoints, are in this case male.

One of the reasons I enjoy it is because it is multi layered. I don't think Leonard is supposed to be the nice guy. He is complex and often not very nice but more attractive than done others. His childhood was screwed up, and I agree about the view of his mother being potentially misogynistic, but equally there are some people like that.

I find it misandrous, there are no good men. With some misogyny. But very cruel to those on the spectrum. In 20 years time will we still find it funny?

But if I engage my brain I can't really watch much film/tv because I end up screaming at how women are portrayed.

Then perhaps you should disengage your brain. And I don't just mean when you're watching film/TV, but permanently. It is not conducive to progressive thinking, and clearly, it is doing you no favours xD

Well Quest 'big bang' sounds a bit doesn't it?

Am I the only person who thought this was going to be a really weird thread about the origins of the universe?

I'll get me coat.

TBBT in my opinion, you know that way women qualify their reasoning rather than stating it as fact ... (And they wonder why we can spot men via words on a screen)

It's a whole load of exaggerated characters. The dumb blonde, the nice guy, the lecherous MRA..., the aspie scientist etc etc. None of them stand up as decent people. Sara Gilbert's cold bitch was a horror, the weak men both terrified of her and still having sex with her because it was umm available I presume. Which is rather damning on its own. If you can disengage brain it's amusing enough. But if I engage my brain I can't really watch much film/tv because I end up screaming at how women are portrayed.

And yes, I'm well aware that men are portrayed less than favourably too (#whataboutthemenz) but y'know I've only got so much fight in me, so I'm using it for women, the kind with 2 X chromosomes.

I also liked Firefly/Serenity, and of course Buffy TVS too. I watched all of Firefly when I was on mat leave, whilst tied to the sofa feeding, and was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it.

You exist to try to put down strong women who stand up for themselves.

That is a heinous misrepresentation of my views, DoctorTwo. It is evident that you have completely misunderstood my stance and regressed to the easy, convenient conclusion. Laziness of the mind.

I'm sure you stick up for womens' rights in the Middle East all the time...

It goes without saying that a suffrage movement is a necessity in many countries today; not least of which, the ones in the middle-east.

Every progressive movement in history has concentrated on the concerns of the groups that they believe to be left out by the current system. Would you have told the civil rights movement of the 60s that they should be also campaigning for white people's rights?

Of course it was necessary for this movement as well as numerous others in history to concern themselves exclusively with their woes. These people were denied the most basic of human rights and privileges; the ability to vote (without impediment), apply for a job without discrimination, be regarded justly in the eyes of law, and so forth. These are such fundamental rights that, in their absence, an individual is prevented from functioning in society.

By the same token, women's suffrage was a necessary movement in years gone by for similar reasons. However, I fail to see which fundamental rights are being denied to women in western democracies today. We have reached a point in time where they enjoy the very same social and political rights as men, and are protected from discrimination in the law.

I suspect your position is more along the lines that gender inequality doesn't exist and nothing needs to be rectified.

That is not the case; I am well aware of the existence of inequalities that affect both genders in this day and age. However, I strongly believe that modern feminist rhetoric is not the answer as it does not earnestly consider the plights of both genders.

Wash and Zoe are definitely equals in my eyes. Mine too. They both play to their strengths. Inara and her relationship with Mal were not my favorite but you can't have everything...

"I'm sure you stick up for womens' rights in the Middle East all the time..."

I'm sure he's off reminding ME women's rights campaigners that Saudi men should also be allowed to drive.

I'm sure you stick up for womens' rights in the Middle East all the time...

Do you fuck. You exist to try to put down strong women who stand up for themselves. As another regular in FWR says, We See You.