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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to love that The Big Bang Theory is really The Amy Show?

45 replies

Bogeyface · 28/06/2013 00:47

She is not only the Science Consultant but also a proper comic book geek, and she is the only one who (according to Jim "Sheldon" Parsons) really knows what they are talking about when the script goes nerdy! FYI, this came from an interview in this months SFX magazine.

The show is seen as boys being boys, as they are nerds interested in science and comic books, but none of the actors are. She really is and I love that because it shows that girls can be clever and geeky too, and that its a good thing.

I just wish that they would make more out of Amy so she could be a real role model for girls who are into that stuff and pretend they aren't because it isnt "cool".

OP posts:

madaki · 28/06/2013 00:51

Don't forget Bernadette. No idea what the actress is like but the character has a PhD (even though her husband, Howard is the only one of the guys without one)

Original poster

Bogeyface · 28/06/2013 00:52

I didnt know that about Bernadette was a Dr too. Its such a shame that the real brains in that show are the "eye candy".

OP posts:

WorraLiberty · 28/06/2013 00:53

I like Amy, I think she's been very cleverly casted

But I like everyone in the show because I think they've all be cleverly casted.

I don't understand your role model/cool point though?

Amy is most definitely a role model but she's so far removed from cool, she's positively melting - that's a major part of the character she plays

I imagine most girls would like to look like Penny and have her 'street sense', but with Amy's brains.

Original poster

Bogeyface · 28/06/2013 00:54

Sorry, misunderstood. I thought you meant that the actress had a PhD.

Maiyim Blanik (Amy) is a Dr and loves comic books, so she isnt just a face on TV.

OP posts:

AThingInYourLife · 28/06/2013 00:55

I love Amy, and I love that old Blossom is so smart and funny.

But TBBT is a sexist programme that buys into the idea that clever women are ugly and attractive women are (basically) stupid.

As much as they try to subvert that message, it's always there there.

And in recent series the attempts to get away with blatant, old-fashioned sexism and racism, by hiding them in Sheldon's inflexible prejudice, is embarrassing.

So yes, Amy Farrah-Fowler is great. But the fact that she is explicitly repulsive is not so great.

WorraLiberty · 28/06/2013 00:56

I have to say though, liking comic books just means you like comic books.

It doesn't make you clever or a role model.

So she's a Dr turned actress?

WorraLiberty · 28/06/2013 00:58

But TBBT is a sexist programme that buys into the idea that clever women are ugly and attractive women are (basically) stupid.

Apart from Bernadette.

She's been given the role of a brainy woman, but with a 'bimbo's' voice.

I think they're just trying to turn a few stereotypes on their heads.

AThingInYourLife · 28/06/2013 00:59

She's an actress turned doctor turned actress.

(DH is a bit obsessed by her :o )

Yy to liking comics not being a moral statement.

Original poster

Bogeyface · 28/06/2013 01:01

I think you are missing my point.

I am saying that a woman can be a total geek AND be a very popular actress. You dont have to choose between the two, thats the message I would like to be out there. That girls should be proud of their brains and not hide them because they are not cool. Being brainy should be cool and women like Mayim Bialik could promote that.

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prissyenglisharriviste · 28/06/2013 01:01

Bit contorted to describe Amy as eye candy... The appeal of the character is precisely because it offers an antithesis to that sort of role model.

But yes, of course, Maiyam Bialik is very clever. I'm glad you read it in a magazine. And a mother too. She would be great for a web chat

Original poster

Bogeyface · 28/06/2013 01:02

Sorry....and that just because something is traditionally a boy thing doesnt mean that girls who like it too should pretend they dont.

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AThingInYourLife · 28/06/2013 01:03

Yeah, Worra, I get that Bernadette is supposed to counter accusations that the hot girls are dumb and the smart girls are ugly, but she's no Penny and she's no Amy.

She's just token quite pretty, pretty smart bird.

prissyenglisharriviste · 28/06/2013 01:03

(I'd like to know why actress and not something that explicitly uses her phd full time, but that's just me... It's a free world.)

Original poster

Bogeyface · 28/06/2013 01:05

Prissy she was using it full time but was a consultant on the show how did a cameo (like Lesley, Darlene from Roseanne) but was so popular that they made her a full time character. She is a home schooling, extended BFing mum, that is her main job.

OP posts:

AThingInYourLife · 28/06/2013 01:06

"I am saying that a woman can be a total geek AND be a very popular actress."

There is nothing surprising about that.

But the sexism in mainstream culture means that Amy is portrayed as repulsive to any sexual man.

And the sexism in geek culture is a whole other conversation.

McGeeDiNozzo · 28/06/2013 04:17

DW looks a bit like Mayim Bialik. Mayim Bialik is the most attractive actress on television full stop, bar none, no arguments. That is my two cents. Good day to you all.

OhMerGerd · 28/06/2013 05:35

TBBT is a regular watch in this house. I have a 16 yo daughter with the brains of Amy, the looks of Penny and so far in her short dating life, the boyfriends of Bernadette (ie not as brainy as her, terrified of their mothers, and swinging between believing they are gods gift to all women and seeking constant reassurance about their looks and kissing skills!) lol... I pray this is because they are aged16 to 18 and it is not the pattern for the rest of her life.

Anyway back to TBBT - we love it for the geeky references, the science and maths language. The sexism we can deal with because the joke is on the 'boys' totally as it serves to highlight their inadequacies in every department, intellectual, social, physical and sexual. The sisterhood definitely have the upper hand.

Increasingly though the racism is getting nasty and it's becoming an uneasy watch. We may be missing the joke and if there is an inversion we'd love to get it, but the whole Raj, his ever increasing family and the Mrs Davis episodes(Sheldon stop please!) are starting to grate.

SquinkiesRule · 28/06/2013 05:47

Mayim Bialik is a very cool lady.
She got some raised eyebrows and a bit of flack on TV interviews for cosleeping, breastfeeding her toddlers baby led weaning and attachment parenting, all that and she's super smart. A real role model for young girls.
Who says she's ugly? She was cute as a button as Blossom and is only made plain for the show (more normal really, most women don't look like models or wear a ton of make up each day), she actually looked very nice in her interview that I saw.

scaevola · 28/06/2013 06:39

So the first two seasons don't exist?

Amy is only in 2/3 of it.

I think it might be "the Penny show" - it's much more about how the rest of the cast fits in with her Ms Everywoman (her intelligence is perfectly normal - it's the geeks who are abnormal).

Bernadette and Lesley are both independent. But Amy is in thrall to Penny.

Sparklingbrook · 28/06/2013 08:47

My favourite part of TBBT is Sheldon and Penny's relationship, esp the bit where she gets him the Leonard Nimoy napkin. I hadn't thought of it as the Amy show at all.

Bernadette and Howard are starting to grate.

hattymattie · 28/06/2013 08:57

I don't find it too sexist. Basically the boys are so nerdy and inadequate that the sexism is water of a ducks back. I did love the Lesley Winkle character - I wish they'd bring her back. She kept them all in order.

I think Amy is just the female equivalent of the nerdy guys - a nerdy girl she wishes she was cool like Leonard and Howard wish they were cool.

AThingInYourLife · 28/06/2013 09:22

"Who says she's ugly?"

This is turning into a conversation I had with DH a few days ago.

He was very displeased at the thought that I was saying she was ugly :o

I'm not. I love Mayim Bialik, possibly not as much as the next man (he being DH), but I think she's great and very attractive.

But the character Amy is clearly intended to be ugly and so unattractive (and hairy ) that only an asexual man would want to be her boyfriend.

scaevola · 28/06/2013 09:24

Howard's attitude towards women is appalling - and Penny is the only character who ever takes him to task about it.

In terms of career/brainpower I'd agree not sexist. But in terms of inter-personal relationships, there are some seriously low moments.

AmyFarrahFowlerCooper · 28/06/2013 09:29

I'm biased but I think the episodes Amy is in are the best ones (apart from the dreadful spanking one and the pubes episode). I love her.

KatyTheCleaningLady · 28/06/2013 09:30

She's got an unconventional face that can, properly groomed and styled, be lovely. But, AFF is styled to accentuate the odd angles and hide her pretty features.

Bernadette is probably more conventionally pretty, but they give her glasses and dress her like a little girl to sort of hide it so that Penny is "the hot one."

Penny is the only regular character without a last name. That bugs me a little.

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