Remember to grab Atlas VPN for just $1.83/mo + 3 months extra before the SUMMER DEAL expires: get.atlasvpn.com/Serena thanks so much for watching this video 💖💖
I liked that they addressed that not every woman automatically wants to have children, since being female doesn't necessarily mean that you're maternal. But Bernadette ended up having two children back to back, and Penny was revealed to be pregnant in the finale, making it seem like a cop out, of sorts.
They just had to the of course women want kids eventually at the end she`s gonna be happy to have it. Feeding the narrative we`re always told: Oh when you have one you`ll change your mind you`ll love it. Like wth are you gonna take it if I have a child and realize I didn`t want to be a mum? Can i return it?
Tbf Bernie was developed into wanting children, there's an implication that she was afraid of becoming a mom because of trauma related to her siblings. But what the show did with Penny... ehhh just unbareable
@@Jutsch80HD It just seems like the world is scared to admit people don't want kids and when people do meet us... they may as well be talking to aliens with how we're treated.
The fact that Sheldon gets away with so much sexism is infuriating to me. Just because he’s autistic (sorry-“quirky”), he doesn’t get called out nearly as much as the other guys. As an autistic person myself, I think it’s insulting and infantilizing. It doesn’t matter if we don’t realize what we’re saying is offensive, our friends should tell us when and how we mess up. We can learn and deal with the consequences in our own ways. Sheldon’s friends treat him like he’s a little kid in that respect, rarely bothering to explain to him that he’s hurting people because “oh that’s just Sheldon, he’s harmless” or “he doesn’t realize that he’s being mean.” But then they make fun of him for completely harmless eccentricities
It's so infuriating that he gets away with so much blatant misogyny, it's gross and I hate that the men get away with so much creepy, sleazy and entitled behaviour and how they're framed as 'not being that bad'.
The fact that the Producers came out with the bullshit 'he isn't autistic' excuse so they could unapologetically make fun of his autistic traits is so fucking annoying. He IS autistic, like it or not if he saw a psychiatrist he WOULD be diagnosed. They purposefully act as if the fans are in the wrong for asking about it. They need to acknowledge that for a lot of allistic people, when they think of autism they think of Sheldon Cooper which is a huge problem for us, because he is the definition of terrible representation. My friend had been avoiding me once and when I asked what was wrong, she told me I had been making her uncomfortable by swearing. I had no idea, and when I asked why she didn't tell me before she said that she didn't think I could help it. Characters like Sheldon make Allistic people think we are incapable of growth and change, and that they can't criticise us because we simply 'can't help it.' But we can in cases like this.
Sheldon's character I felt was a complete misunderstanding of what people high on the spectrum are normally like. Sheldon tends to spew misogynistic ideas about women because of the spread harmful stereotypes being normalized while he was growing up, instead of questioning the validity of irrational assumptions. Most people on the spectrum have difficulty engaging in social behaviors because unspoken rules are easier for neurotypical people to pick up since they question the logic of social norms less.
exactly this. I'm not sure if I have autism or not, but I know I have ADD and I sometimes have troubles understanding people and interpreting if what I am saying or doing is bad/if what they are saying or doing is bad and have always had family around helping me interpret the world and now I am not afraid to go out and ask questions of others if I just don't understand. I tell people to please call me out and let me know if I am wrong so I can understand stuff instead of just letting me get away with things. I definitely don't completely like the excuse that it's because he's autistic that he just gets away with everything. You can use it to better understand why he is that way and acts that way and can be nicer in reprimanding them but definitely don't let them get away with it.
I hated when Leonart and Penny went out together to watch a movie when they were exes and Leonart constantly told Penny how he only let her choose what kind of movie to watch etc. just so he could have sex with her that night. That's typical nice guy behavior, being nice not for the sake of being a decent human being but for getting a woman into bed
I really don't get where the problem in "wanting to have sex with the girl he loves" is. It's not like he manipulated or forced her. People (especially women) often talk like if wanting sex as a man from a woman is in itself a malicious or at least superficial act, despite the fact that sex is a part of affection when it's not just about one-night-stands. Like seriously: What is wrong wanting to have sex with *someone you like* and increasing your odds by giving in to that person's wishes? It's not like he is some Barney Stinson who lies left and right to manipulate women to a toxic degree just to have sex with them. All Leonard does is avoiding conflict by letting Penny choose the movie. Which is something that btw maybe 90% of men on the globe do every single day. And I highly doubt that women would prefer men not doing that.
Howard throughout the show was creepy I was surprised how many people found him funny. I had problem with Leonard too he always thought he was the nice guy so Penny should be with him. I hated menstrual cycle jokes by Sheldon
Yeah. Being the comic relief was the writers way of trying to get you to laugh "with" Howard instead of at him. As for Leonard, he was also a HUGE enabler. He sat there and watched Howard make unwanted advances toward Penny, yet he still guilted her into apologizing to him so they could win a bet.
@Jutsch80HD True. Although Bernadette didn't start off that way. In the beginning, she was very nice and fairly Stern. Later on, they turned her into a huge bully.
I don't think penny and Leonard have a healthy relationship. Their whole relationship is based on the fact that Leonard conquered Penny even though she was out of his league, everyone wants a justification about how someone as good looking as penny would date him. I also think Leonard is only with penny for her looks and penny is with him cuz he's either safe choice or she's done with dating all the dumb/ self centered men. She also constantly criticises Leonard's interests, throwing away his collectibles, makes fun of him for being passionate about the geeky stuff, it feels like she constantly ridicules and looks down on him and they just justify her bad behaviour saying that its just penny being penny. Penny constantly feels like she settled for Leonard and kind of has a superiority complex like Leonard should be thankful she selected him. They don't seem to be equals.
Also the way Penny undermines the Leonard's childhood trauma. If I told my partner I wanted nothing to do with my abusive parents and they still tricked me to spend time with, I would break up with them
@@Historyandlegends789 The characters were all pretty terrible people in the first few seasons, especially Howard. They really needed to grow, especially Howard.
i think ive gone through a very similar path as you with this show. its subtle enough that if youre just focusing on the nerdy stuff you dont notice, but if you do its played as a joke, everyone is laughing so its not bad right...? no one is hurt right...? it does get pretty grating after a while tho - just as the same interactions irl - so its good to see it being called out
I had already watched the video by The Pop Culture Detective and was curious to see what other points you would bring up, but I personally think this might be one of your best videos yet. You're so well spoken and eloquent and all the issues you addressed were pinpointed so precisely, while still remaining in a flow of words, which to me is so impressive, as I sometimes struggle to verbalize my thoughts. I'm glad to have somebody like you address these topics and to be so representative, especially from a female pov🥰
Already commented this today haha (on Lilys Simpson video about BBT transphobia, also recommend) but Cheyenne Lin also has great videos on the BBT! Mosly about the misogyny but also homophobic themes etc, and in general examples of bigotry of the shows humor and story
I did want to say something about the whole "Bernadette earing more than Howard" thing. It's great we get to see that in a show, but I hated the way it was handled here, because it felt like the only reason they put it in was to make fun of Howard. The only times it's ever brought up, it's always bout demasculating Howard, portraying it like he is a weak and stupid man, instead of the focus being on how intelligent she is. And Howard himself only ever talks about it begrudgingly, like he's embaressed, instead of celebrating his wife's achievments. They took a plotpoint which could've been an interesting conversation starter and completely ruined it in my opinion.
this video came at perfect timing currently going through my own rewatch of this show on season 9 right now they had 12 seasons and these have been my exact thoughts while watching feels great that someone is acknowledging it awesome video 👏🏽
Loved this. Another problematic show that I love is How I Met Your Mother. Ted and Barney have a lot of moments worth criticising. But the reason I thought of this show was because of your comment about shows forcing motherhood on characters that dont want it. That was something How I Met Your Mother did right - Robin states multiple times she didnt want children and true to her character she doesnt have them.
In fairness she also found out she isn't able to have children so the option was taken away from her. But they did the limited infertility story spot on. I loved the episode she grieved the children she would never have and when she tells barney she can't have kids and he just hugs her.
There's an episode in one of the last seasons (I think it's the very last one?) where Penny opens up about not wanting kids and literally EVERYONE is on her ass about it, it's so uncomfortable. They position it as Penny being somehow in the wrong for not wanting kids, someone who 'doesn't know better yet', instead of accepting and embracing the fact that not everybody wants to be a parent and that is okay. The fact that the show ends with Penny being pregnant feels like a disgusting extension of this sexist notion that women SHOULD want to be mothers, a really sour note to end the already faltering storyline that was Penny and Leonard's relationship.
I interpreted that as Bernadette being jealous of Penny's freedom and her wanting to have the same societal burden as Bernadette did. Yes, childless women DO get pressure and shame from others for choosing to remain childless; just ask a woman who's childless by choice about this.
everything can't be 'problematic'. Someone said I would like Bungo Stray Dogs because I'm like Dazai, and darned if they weren't right 🤔 I can't be mad at that
Hi Serena! Nice video :) I just wanted to add a few comments. The first thing that makes this show sexist is : apart for Sheldon's mother, grandmother and Penny's mother (as far as I can remember), all women introduced are somewhat of a love interest (examples are the neighbor, Missy and even Leonard's mother with Sheldon), and I feel like they didn't dissociate women from their sexual potential, basically. Also, Penny is pictured as dumb, but I remember an episode where she bests Leonard at chess. Instead of being proud of her or even telling her she won, he wouldn't admit he lost the game. The moment she can do something in the realm of what he likes, his ego takes a hit. That reminded me of what "The Take" had to say about "cool girls" in the video they made about them: they are attractive to male protagonists because they have the same interests, but they aren't better at it. I also wanted to say I didn't understand the whole "Penny is pregnant, yay" thing. In the same season, they had a whole episode where she affirmed she didn't want to have children, all of that to unravel it by making her pregnant - and happy about it - in the last episode. I feel like they had a whole season to develop both points of view, and seeing her shift from not wanting children to wanting some, or having a hard time with her pregnancy before accepting it and being happy about it would have made much more sense. Also, can we take a minute to acknowledge how messed up and sexist it was for Bernadette and Amy to pressure her into having kids, when Bernadette wasn't sure she wanted children either in earlier seasons? Maybe they wanted to highlight the pressure society imposes on women on this issue, but still.
You mention that the actresses playing Bernadette and Amy are paid less and blame it on the gender pay gap, but Penny is paid the same as Sheldon and Leonard. And Howard and Raj are paid less than the 3 leads, its not about gender, they weren't part of the main cast so they were paid less, its not complicated
Yes, it's kinda annoying how nowadays everyone is almost intentionally looking for discrimination because of race or gender, no matter if it's even there or not.
Ive never wanted to watch this show. When it was really popular, I was told A LOT that I look like Bernadette. I’m blonde, have similar glasses, but not the voice. That always put me off watching the show. Hearing the misogynistic jokes/themes, I’m glad I didn’t watch. It’s not really my cuppa tea.
I grew up watching this show with my brother as well! I have a lot of nostalgia for the show because it reminds me of being young, but any time I’ve tried to watch it as an adult I genuinely cannot focus my brain just turns on TV static
Serena, you could honestly do a whole video on Chuck Lorre, alone. That guy has created so many sitcoms like Roseanne, Two and a half Men, Big Bang Theory, Mom, Mike and Moly. And a recurring theme in all his shows is that he tends to make women and POC second-class citizens.
He generally have characters that geniunely hate each other somehow spend all their time together and most of them have mommy issues I wouldn't say women are second-classe citizens but rather that they all hate men
True. Sheldon and Howard couldn't stand each other for most of the show, yet they still hung out. Also, you're not totally wrong about women hating men. But the men don't treat them that great either. Take two and a half men, for example. Charlie was a huge womanizer, and by the end, Alan became one, too.
@@rachelmartin5187 Maybe it's because I'm a man, but I always felt that in those shows when a man does something wrong to a woman it was treated as a bad thing while it's normal for a woman to badly treat a man. Then again it's just my pov. Charlie was a womanizer but it was treated as an issue with the character. And Alan... well
@louis-stephane1391 You're right. It's double standards. Take Big Bang theory, for example. Sheldon treated Amy like crap, but no one talks about the fact that she repeatedly pressured him when it came to romance.
And how about Bernadette. I think she’s the most toxic female character I’ve ever seen in a TV show, certainly in a sitcom. Maybe the writers someone to punish Howard for being such a creep when the character was single but still.
Howard being so pathetic and oblivious to women's rejection is played for laughs because we're meant to laugh at his obliviousness. Raj making remarks with a mysogenistic tone is also played for laughs because we're meant to laugh at his misogyny (laughing at it, not with it). This show in large part hates its protagonists, particularly in the earlier seasons.
I always loved bernie as a character she had this wonderful evil streak that came out when she talked about the dangerous aspects of her lab work. She was fearless and feisty and I loved her dad too
Interesting to read that perspective. I’ve always seen her as one of the most toxic characters I’ve ever seen on TV, certainly the most toxic I’ve ever seen in a sitcom.
I saw Bernadette as a personification of corporate culture. Corporations project an image that they are innocent and harmless while hiding the real intentions underneath.
I’m one of those people who thinks that this show isn’t funny. And I don’t like it at all. Also they don’t even represent the nerds properly. Anyway congrats on your first sponsorship!
I agree about the nerd representation for sure. I think the show has some good jokes, but their geek culture comedy was always the worst. Often the punchline was just “smart guy says the name of a nerd thing”, as if people acknowledging Star Wars in conversation is funny on its own. Also the portrayal of most nerds as loser men is so outdated, especially since this show became popular at the same time that fandom became mainstream
Pop Culture Detective's "The Adorable Misogyny of the Big Bang Theory" is a great watch! Glad you mentioned it. I hated watching this show as a kid -- at the time I was so upset that none of the main female characters enjoyed the same nerdy stuff. I was a HUGE nerd as a kid so that was disheartening. I remember feeling unconformable with a lot of the show but not being able to pin down why. I actually can't watch shows with laugh tracks to this day because of the cognitive dissonance of the laughing along while not finding them funny that I experienced with sitcoms of this era. Looking back there is SO MUCH sexual harassment played for laughs. It doesn't matter if it was intentional or not, it doesn't matter if it was comedy or not. I'm not saying it should not have existed, but good lord my parents should not have encouraged me to watch it with them.
I also still loves the show. Bc i honestly think this is just bad humor in a specific time where this was funny. Let’s not forget how Howard wrote a song thanking Bernadette to his life, ”i’d never could’ve imagined how good this life would be, from the moment that i’d met you, bernadette.” That they made being a nerd is ok, being outstanding and autistic is okay, and made female characters in the scientific community
Personally, Sheldon is still a terrible character but his family (his older brother, twin sister, parents & maternal grandmother) are actually interesting characters and got me into the show. I still don't like it because it's based on TBBT but it doesn't have a laugh track & does have slightly better writing compared to TBBT
TBBT got me through the death of one of my cats, and I am so grateful for it. It was around Christmas, and our cat had been a little sick for weeks until we took her to the vet who told us she was painfully dying due to a disease most cats have but that doesn't usually break out, so she had to be put down. I broke my heart, that cat was the closest I ever had to a soul mate, our connection was on another level. I was in a horrible place and actually got back into SH, but I'd started TBBT a few weeks prior. It got me laughing even when the jokes were terribble, and it made me feel at home and safe and good. I'm so grateful I had that show at the time, so while acknowledging its issues, I can look past them and still enjoy TBBT.
One thing I found odd about the show was that all the women, whether they do or do not have a PhD, even if they are portrayed as “nerdy,” laugh at the guys interest in comics and Star Trek. Why can’t a girl like those things? I am a huge Star Trek fan and people always look at me funny when I say that because I’m a girl. The reality is I would rather dress up at a Star Trek convention than at Disneyland. I can’t be the only one. Why isn’t that form of nerdiness portrayed in at least one of the girls on the show?
Yeah, you're so right about how sexist this show is. Howard and Raj being so creepy with the model house always makes me so uncomfortable and I hate Sheldon's constant blatant misogyny. The Penny/Leonard relationship didn't sit right with me either and I hated how the finale talked about her pregnancy/conception and how he manipulated her to apologize to Howard in the robot ep despite him repeatedly sexually harassing her in that very episode.
Oh i also used to watch it with my brother 😁 There are definitely some amazing moments, but i‘ve never really loved the show, i never could put my finger on it why…You are right, women were not represented very well. But i also think this show is playing in a sort of Nerd centered world and a few things were done intentionally to fit this narrative. But you are right, it would have been nice to break up these stereotypes even more by the end. By the way, i literally started watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend after your first video and binged the whole show! I can’t thank you enough for bringing my attention to this gem 🥰
Not disagreeing with anything in the video, I just want to point out that Penny does have a last name. It's "Teller". There's an episode in season 2 I think where she gets a package delivered and you can see it on the package. I think it was meant as a reference to Penn & Teller.
As for Penny, she sometimes explains her regret at her hookups. And while Leonard is far from perfect, the plot made it so that he was the only man who treated her with the most respect and built himself up focusing on his career while Penny was not as focused and partoon in a lot of wild partying. The only other respectful man is Zack but because he's conventionally attractive he's portrayed as a moron.
this show is sexist AND racist 🥲 they’re constantly using sexism to make fun of raj, the whole asian men r more feminine stereotype,,, it’s a double whammy- using femininity to emasculate someone based on race bc being anything close to a woman is the worst thing for a man. i bet i know exactly what the writers look like 😭
The thing that annoys me with these criticisms is that you guys completely ignore the inappropriate behavior of the women on the show, and even excuse it often. 1.) Penny is a grown woman when she moves in. Her financial well-being is in no way on Leonard or Sheldon. Yet she continues to eat their food and beg off them, even when Sheldon makes it clear that he wishes she would stop doing so. She also continues to mooch off Leonard while she's actively dating other men. While knowing full well that Leonard is deeply in love with her. Then there's the fact that even after being together for YEARS, she has no idea what his job is, what he does, or even what his birthday is. When she gets called out on this by Amy and Bernadette, she says Leonard's job is "to make me happy" and when asked what her job in the relationship is, she says "letting him make me happy." He's basically her toy. How about the fact that she boxes Leonard's belongings up when he's not home and puts them into storage because she thinks they're dumb. When caught she says "your wizard robes are next to go!" Imagine the outrage if Leonard boxed up her skimpy clothes and then told her "your bikinis are next to go" Lord, the complaints would never end. Her entire life there was saved by Leonard and Sheldon. Sheldon loans her thousands of dollars so she doesn't have to move. And Leonard buys her a car so she can continue going to auditions when she's ready to admit defeat and move back to Nebraska. And she does these things while Leonard dates other women, and continues to come over to their place even when his current girlfriends object and make it clear they don't want her around. 2.) Bernadette attempts to sabotage Howard's lifelong dream of being an astronaut. She does this knowing how much it means to him. She also shows very little empathy when Howard doesn't want to completely reno his mother's home after she dies. Bernadette even tries to sell off Howard's things simply because she doesn't like them, even though she got the house completely re-done, she still wants to get rid of his stuff. 3.) Amy is a total perv to both Sheldon AND Penny. She's constantly making comments that make Penny and Bernadette uncomfortable, especially in the earlier seasons. Always mentioning how sexy she finds Penny and trying to come up with ways to see her naked. Amy belittles Sheldon's interests, calling his collectibles "children's toys" when he and Leonard are dividing their stuff. And, she spends literally years trying to get Sheldon to have sex, when he says over and over he's not ready for it. Lines like "there's only so many times a woman can say 'how about the bed' " or "I'm just sayin- second base is right there" None of this denies that the male characters act like idiots and say stupid stuff. But in none of these video criticisms does anyone ever examine the female characters. They're held to a far, FAR lesser standard, simply because they're female characters.
I completely agree and not a lot of comments on what you said, probably because of this uploaders target audience. I can see from the comments that they mostly see negative things about the men in the show but not the women. Im assuming because the same commenters share the same type of behavior.
I never expected a comment like this to be here, and I'm even more pleasantly surprised that there is one. Seems to be a common trend nowadays that bad behavior from men are quickly seen and called out, but when it comes women's bad behaviors, people still have blind eyes. Both in media and the real world, even when children are the victims (like the sadly ever more common cases of female teachers "getting too close" to their male students). Just the different wording for those cases speaks volumes, the r-word is present all the time with male culprits, but with female culprits the phrases suddenly change to "they had intercourse". The double standards are ridiculous.
@ryanvannice7878 I kind of doubt that. Especially the way she acted about penny eating their food. She almost made it seem like a god given right for her to do that. Or that Leonard and sheldon should just do it because they should be lucky she's in the same room with them. I actually saw someone ballpark how much she owed them for just food once, and it was insane. The one episode that mentioned how much her meal was, it was $14.50. For one dinner. They have takeout literally 7 days a week, unless they're on a trip or at comicon or whatever. If you figure that the average meal she has is around that much, she costs them about $5,000 a year. Idk, it really rubs me the wrong way, because I've seen other video essays on this too, and they all hammer on the same points. The guys are sexist and mean to raj. Meanwhile, the girls are horrible, but that's okay I guess because the men are worse? Which is debatable at best.
Some comments are very accurate, while others make me doubt that we were watching the same series, perhaps there were not enough strong arguments for a large analysis and several points had to be twisted
If people get pissed off by your analysis ask them to put in the geek's position and doing the same things a jock,or a handsome man, and see if they think he is creepy or not.
There has been a LOT of talk about The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Friends. etc. being sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic or fatphobic. But one major important point is being left out of the discussion. Is a show actually prejudiced simply because a character made a bigotted comment? That defends on two factors. Do the writers of the show agree with the character's bigotry? Do they want the audience to agree with the character? If a show is racist because a character is racist ... well then All In The Family must be the most racist show ever made. Yet it's not. Because the creator of the show is a liberal who clearly wanted the audience to disagree with Archie Bunker. But I'm not saying that I'm convinced that Chuck Lorre and the rest of TBBT writing staff didn't agree with the character's sexism. I'm saying it;s worth a discussion. If they agree with the character's misogyny, then the show is sexist. If they disagreed, then the show is not sexist.
They were trying to play it for laughs so at least the writers find m!sogyny funny/not a serious issue. Also Penny having to apologize to Howard after he makes very unwanted sexua! advances? That’s messed up. The writers made that choice. I could go on, and on, and on. So yes, TBBT definitely is sexist. It doesn’t take long to see that.
8:15 well you say that but I remember back in high school my best friend and I went to talk to her cousin and his group of nerds and one of them sincerely exclaimed “A girl!!”
Same here. I really like a lot of things about The Big Bang Theory and I enjoy watching it, but there is a real problem with sexist/misogynistic elements that doesn't get addressed. The one thing I will say in its favor is that it showed signs of improvement over time (making Howard less creepy, bringing in more regular female cast members), but even later in the show the problems were still there. It doesn't stop me from enjoying reruns, but there are episodes that I'll skip over just because they're especially sexist.
home improvement, Roseanne, Frasier, Sabrina the teenage witch, family matters, fresh prince, Dinosaurs, Seinfeld, Everybody's Loves Raymond, What I like about you, Married With children are all way better shows than the tbbt. And they are all funnier. Not cringe.
BBT is a horrible bad-natured parody, laughing at the expence of the geek/nerd community. Can we just forget this mess ever existed? Please, tell me, I'm not going to hear "Oh, like in BBT" every time I introduce someone to D&D( (I agree with all the critisizm, I'm just triggered by the "i still love it" part)
I say "i still love it" in the title just so i dont repel people from clicking on it, i figured if my title was more neutral, fans of the show would still click xx
All your points on the sexism of the show are absolutely valid, and they are sort of the sexism that is real and present in real life in the nerd circles (or it was around the 2000s). To me personally I started watching it because I thought a sitcom with geeks as the main cast would be making geeky jokes, but I just ended up feeling like all the jokes were at the expense of the geeks, saying "look how geeky they are!" and not references to stuff geeks would understand. I stopped watching around season 3 when it was clear we were all just poking fun at sheldon's quirks.
exactly! after season 3 the entire show consisted of making fun of Sheldon's autistic traits and romance, completely forgetting the simple 'popular girl befriends geeks' idea that the show came from.
In one episode, leonard had the audacity to shout “you used me for sex” to Penny after taking advantage of her when she was intoxicated. He should’ve stopped her and let her be. When Penny was normal she knew it was a mistake but leonard didnt see anything wrong and found it to be her fault?? The way in s4 he admitted to just letting her do what she wants just for sex and it’s saddening because Penny is more than just a “pretty dumb blonde” like how the show makes her seem. leonard is a terrible person and it’s very obvious if you actually watched the show.
TBBT is one of my fav shows but has definitely disappointed me at times because of how sexist it can be. You should check out the comedy series "mom" created by Chuck Lorre, Eddie Gorodetsky and Gemma Baker, and see how it compares to a show like tbbt. It addresses issues like alcoholism and drug addiction and imo it's pretty funny and underrated!
I never liked the show, even as a young teenager. I didn‘t find it funny and I always felt it had sexist themes and scenes. Especially the potrayal of male and female characters and their relationships - I thought it was so dull. Yeah sure, they were playing with clichés, but it‘s not like I found these clichés enjoyable. I actually think many of it is just sad. I‘m glad we move on.
I overall agree with this but how is the guy’s fault that Penny failed as an actress and yeah Leonard had different motives but Penny knew so I don’t understand “women are put in these positions to be dependent on men’ she is an adult and makes her own decisions. I’m not saying Leonard is morally ok but Penny isn’t either
ngl after i watched the pop culture detective video, i went back to try and rewatch big bang theory and couldn’t. it sort of ruined it for me lol. i couldn’t stand howard. there are lots of films/shows or idk stand up comedy specials where i find sexist jokes funny (as a woman), but idk something about the big bang theory gave me the ick even tho i used to like it. i really like young sheldon tho, but that may or may not be because all the characters have yeehaw accents and i find that fun 😂
Of course, the creators were the same guys who created Two & Half Men..... Really, its the actors and how they handled the bad writing that made the show, not the comedy itself.
Yea, no one stops in their tracks no stares when a woman walks into a comic place or anything. Mostly it’s stuff like when I buy my comics or dnd dice I’m asked if it’s a gift for someone or if my boyfriend sent me to get something then I clarify it’s mine and it’s usually just “oh cool”. That’s all
Howard was really disgusting the first half of the show. All the ‚jokes‘ and ‚flirts‘ with penny were so gross. And how howard treated bernadette esp. at the beginning of their relationship.
First, gender wage gap is a myth and any economist can easily debunk it. Secondly, you do a great job and showing the seismic towards women but completely pretend that the women in the show don't shit on and belittle the men constantly. The sexism goes both ways in the show. The women tend to be the dominant figure in each of the relationships in the show. If you're gonna make a whole video about sexism at least call it out on both sides.
That was my thought process during this video. Women like this only care when women are presented negatively and don’t give a damn about how negatively men can be portrayed. As you said, the women were awful to their partners, bordering on being abusive, but of course, the only thing that matters is “misogyny”.
aa, i was already an adult when the show started. insert horror at the passage of time here. but yeah the show is sexist and the main characters are all sexist.
Agreed. There was a point when I liked the show but that was pre-season 8. However, even pre-season 8 material still has a lot of cringeworthy material especially every time Howard opens his mouth and Raj's meltdown since he can't talk to women.
That's why I like the show Num3ers: it is NOT a comedy show by ANY means, BUT it DOES have funny moments in it, & the show is ABOUT nerdy guys, BUT they're NOT creepy @ all. & The women are actually smart & VALUED in it, too!! And, yes, it IS older, so it DOES have some problems in it, too, BUT all in all, it is a REALLY well-done show. (I recently started watching it again & forgot how good it really was! 😅) Anyone else seen Num3ers?? & yes, I still love the Big Bang Theory, too! 😍
You should criticise the framing of the characters, not the characters themselves. When you criticise the show for having misogynistic characters, you're completely missing the mark.
You’re a female Howard? so what your saying is you are overtly sexual, perverted, and can’t take no for an answer unless they tell you off and say hurtful things to get you to back off…
the problem is that when comedy has things like casual racism or casual misogyny, it can cause problems because it perpetuates stereotypes and has real life effects. There's nothing wrong with loving something and finding it funny while also understanding the problematic aspects. I loved The Big Bang Theory, but I also think that the show has a lot of problems. It didn't stop me from enjoying it though.
Wow. I think it's the first time I almost completely disagree with one of your video essays. I believe you try to analise a message - or an agenda - that isn't there. The characters are very well-written (except for Bernadette I reckon) and the guys aren't likeable people for instance. They're - very - funny in the context of the show but it's obvious they'd be a***s in real life. The show isn't sexist, the writers just had fun with these sort of stereotypical nerds and the wannabe actress. And if someone acts like Howard e.g. because he thinks his behaviours are inspiring, well, he's just a moron (and a felon). That's one example. Anyway, still interesting content as always.
I totally get that perspective and that's what I initially thought too. The reason I do think there's an unintentionally sexist agenda there is because the show's male creator has made a sexist show before, so it seems to be a pattern
@@SerenaSkybourne Right. Chuck Lorre could actually be a topic for a future video. He worked on Roseanne and Mom for instance, as well as Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory. Maybe he's not sexist, he just wants to make a bunch of money haha ;)
Using stereotypes, well aware that they are stereotypes, for jokes doesn't make using them any better. The show does not come across as self aware of the stereotypes they are using to me (to me, PERSONALLY), at least not about the serious, harmful ones like the masculinity and sexism shit. Using stereotypes knowing they are stereotypes does not make them and less harmful. It carries on these harmful ideas of women and men, femininity and masculinity, of spectrum disorders and ethnicity, all for the sake of some shitty jokes. I am completely with Serena on this one. It takes a lot of skill and especially balance between 'show'& 'tell' to actively use stereotypes well and self aware, and to properly SHOW that self awareness and therefore spread a positive helpful mindset,, and TBBT definitely is NOT all that.
Remember to grab Atlas VPN for just $1.83/mo + 3 months extra before the SUMMER DEAL expires: get.atlasvpn.com/Serena
thanks so much for watching this video 💖💖
Political correctness has really rotted your brain. That's very sad.
I liked that they addressed that not every woman automatically wants to have children, since being female doesn't necessarily mean that you're maternal. But Bernadette ended up having two children back to back, and Penny was revealed to be pregnant in the finale, making it seem like a cop out, of sorts.
They just had to the of course women want kids eventually at the end she`s gonna be happy to have it. Feeding the narrative we`re always told: Oh when you have one you`ll change your mind you`ll love it. Like wth are you gonna take it if I have a child and realize I didn`t want to be a mum? Can i return it?
I think they made bernadette pregnant because the actress was I could be wrong tho it might have just been for the second pregnancy
Tbf Bernie was developed into wanting children, there's an implication that she was afraid of becoming a mom because of trauma related to her siblings. But what the show did with Penny... ehhh just unbareable
I agree, it really was a cop out. Why is it so hard to create a character that doesn’t want children? Are they afraid of offending someone?
@@Jutsch80HD It just seems like the world is scared to admit people don't want kids and when people do meet us... they may as well be talking to aliens with how we're treated.
The fact that Sheldon gets away with so much sexism is infuriating to me. Just because he’s autistic (sorry-“quirky”), he doesn’t get called out nearly as much as the other guys. As an autistic person myself, I think it’s insulting and infantilizing. It doesn’t matter if we don’t realize what we’re saying is offensive, our friends should tell us when and how we mess up. We can learn and deal with the consequences in our own ways. Sheldon’s friends treat him like he’s a little kid in that respect, rarely bothering to explain to him that he’s hurting people because “oh that’s just Sheldon, he’s harmless” or “he doesn’t realize that he’s being mean.” But then they make fun of him for completely harmless eccentricities
It's so infuriating that he gets away with so much blatant misogyny, it's gross and I hate that the men get away with so much creepy, sleazy and entitled behaviour and how they're framed as 'not being that bad'.
The fact that the Producers came out with the bullshit 'he isn't autistic' excuse so they could unapologetically make fun of his autistic traits is so fucking annoying. He IS autistic, like it or not if he saw a psychiatrist he WOULD be diagnosed. They purposefully act as if the fans are in the wrong for asking about it. They need to acknowledge that for a lot of allistic people, when they think of autism they think of Sheldon Cooper which is a huge problem for us, because he is the definition of terrible representation.
My friend had been avoiding me once and when I asked what was wrong, she told me I had been making her uncomfortable by swearing. I had no idea, and when I asked why she didn't tell me before she said that she didn't think I could help it. Characters like Sheldon make Allistic people think we are incapable of growth and change, and that they can't criticise us because we simply 'can't help it.' But we can in cases like this.
So true. The father of an autistic young man once told me very similar points about how he raised his son to know what’s right and wrong.
Sheldon's character I felt was a complete misunderstanding of what people high on the spectrum are normally like. Sheldon tends to spew misogynistic ideas about women because of the spread harmful stereotypes being normalized while he was growing up, instead of questioning the validity of irrational assumptions. Most people on the spectrum have difficulty engaging in social behaviors because unspoken rules are easier for neurotypical people to pick up since they question the logic of social norms less.
exactly this. I'm not sure if I have autism or not, but I know I have ADD and I sometimes have troubles understanding people and interpreting if what I am saying or doing is bad/if what they are saying or doing is bad and have always had family around helping me interpret the world and now I am not afraid to go out and ask questions of others if I just don't understand. I tell people to please call me out and let me know if I am wrong so I can understand stuff instead of just letting me get away with things. I definitely don't completely like the excuse that it's because he's autistic that he just gets away with everything. You can use it to better understand why he is that way and acts that way and can be nicer in reprimanding them but definitely don't let them get away with it.
I hated when Leonart and Penny went out together to watch a movie when they were exes and Leonart constantly told Penny how he only let her choose what kind of movie to watch etc. just so he could have sex with her that night. That's typical nice guy behavior, being nice not for the sake of being a decent human being but for getting a woman into bed
Womp womp
I really don't get where the problem in "wanting to have sex with the girl he loves" is. It's not like he manipulated or forced her.
People (especially women) often talk like if wanting sex as a man from a woman is in itself a malicious or at least superficial act, despite the fact that sex is a part of affection when it's not just about one-night-stands.
Like seriously: What is wrong wanting to have sex with *someone you like* and increasing your odds by giving in to that person's wishes?
It's not like he is some Barney Stinson who lies left and right to manipulate women to a toxic degree just to have sex with them.
All Leonard does is avoiding conflict by letting Penny choose the movie.
Which is something that btw maybe 90% of men on the globe do every single day.
And I highly doubt that women would prefer men not doing that.
Howard throughout the show was creepy I was surprised how many people found him funny. I had problem with Leonard too he always thought he was the nice guy so Penny should be with him. I hated menstrual cycle jokes by Sheldon
what was Sheldon's obsession with female hormones 🤣🤣😭😭
Yeah. Being the comic relief was the writers way of trying to get you to laugh "with" Howard instead of at him. As for Leonard, he was also a HUGE enabler. He sat there and watched Howard make unwanted advances toward Penny, yet he still guilted her into apologizing to him so they could win a bet.
I think with Howard they kinda got back at him by writing him the most toxic girlfriend/wife imaginable
@Jutsch80HD True. Although Bernadette didn't start off that way. In the beginning, she was very nice and fairly Stern. Later on, they turned her into a huge bully.
@@rachelmartin5187 I honestly can’t remember how long it took for the character to receive that drastic change
penny canonically solved string theory and found something in space
Not to mention, she beat Leonard at chess, but he was too embarrassed to admit it.
Big bang was always a great background show. Just something to relax to. That probably keeps people from being overly critical of it.
I don't think penny and Leonard have a healthy relationship. Their whole relationship is based on the fact that Leonard conquered Penny even though she was out of his league, everyone wants a justification about how someone as good looking as penny would date him. I also think Leonard is only with penny for her looks and penny is with him cuz he's either safe choice or she's done with dating all the dumb/ self centered men. She also constantly criticises Leonard's interests, throwing away his collectibles, makes fun of him for being passionate about the geeky stuff, it feels like she constantly ridicules and looks down on him and they just justify her bad behaviour saying that its just penny being penny. Penny constantly feels like she settled for Leonard and kind of has a superiority complex like Leonard should be thankful she selected him. They don't seem to be equals.
Honestly their relationship made me sad, they didn't even like each other
Also the way Penny undermines the Leonard's childhood trauma. If I told my partner I wanted nothing to do with my abusive parents and they still tricked me to spend time with, I would break up with them
I still love the show, while acknowledging the flaws.
Honestly, Mayim Bialik saved it for me. I made a rerun recently and jumped straight to season 4.
Mayim is really great in this role
Interesting. I thought she was the beginning of the drop in quality. It was never as funny with her again.
@@Historyandlegends789 The characters were all pretty terrible people in the first few seasons, especially Howard. They really needed to grow, especially Howard.
i think ive gone through a very similar path as you with this show. its subtle enough that if youre just focusing on the nerdy stuff you dont notice, but if you do its played as a joke, everyone is laughing so its not bad right...? no one is hurt right...? it does get pretty grating after a while tho - just as the same interactions irl - so its good to see it being called out
I had already watched the video by The Pop Culture Detective and was curious to see what other points you would bring up, but I personally think this might be one of your best videos yet. You're so well spoken and eloquent and all the issues you addressed were pinpointed so precisely, while still remaining in a flow of words, which to me is so impressive, as I sometimes struggle to verbalize my thoughts. I'm glad to have somebody like you address these topics and to be so representative, especially from a female pov🥰
thankyou so much this is so sweet
Already commented this today haha (on Lilys Simpson video about BBT transphobia, also recommend) but Cheyenne Lin also has great videos on the BBT! Mosly about the misogyny but also homophobic themes etc, and in general examples of bigotry of the shows humor and story
I did want to say something about the whole "Bernadette earing more than Howard" thing. It's great we get to see that in a show, but I hated the way it was handled here, because it felt like the only reason they put it in was to make fun of Howard. The only times it's ever brought up, it's always bout demasculating Howard, portraying it like he is a weak and stupid man, instead of the focus being on how intelligent she is. And Howard himself only ever talks about it begrudgingly, like he's embaressed, instead of celebrating his wife's achievments. They took a plotpoint which could've been an interesting conversation starter and completely ruined it in my opinion.
this video came at perfect timing currently going through my own rewatch of this show on season 9 right now they had 12 seasons and these have been my exact thoughts while watching feels great that someone is acknowledging it awesome video 👏🏽
Loved this. Another problematic show that I love is How I Met Your Mother. Ted and Barney have a lot of moments worth criticising. But the reason I thought of this show was because of your comment about shows forcing motherhood on characters that dont want it. That was something How I Met Your Mother did right - Robin states multiple times she didnt want children and true to her character she doesnt have them.
In fairness she also found out she isn't able to have children so the option was taken away from her. But they did the limited infertility story spot on. I loved the episode she grieved the children she would never have and when she tells barney she can't have kids and he just hugs her.
There's an episode in one of the last seasons (I think it's the very last one?) where Penny opens up about not wanting kids and literally EVERYONE is on her ass about it, it's so uncomfortable. They position it as Penny being somehow in the wrong for not wanting kids, someone who 'doesn't know better yet', instead of accepting and embracing the fact that not everybody wants to be a parent and that is okay. The fact that the show ends with Penny being pregnant feels like a disgusting extension of this sexist notion that women SHOULD want to be mothers, a really sour note to end the already faltering storyline that was Penny and Leonard's relationship.
I interpreted that as Bernadette being jealous of Penny's freedom and her wanting to have the same societal burden as Bernadette did. Yes, childless women DO get pressure and shame from others for choosing to remain childless; just ask a woman who's childless by choice about this.
People used to recommend this show to me constantly because I'm autistic "like Sheldon" and it just made me never want to watch it to be honest
people comparing you to sheldon is the worst offence of 201x, and they always meant that as a good thing.........
That sounds pretty offensive, to be honest. Like putting you in a box.
everything can't be 'problematic'. Someone said I would like Bungo Stray Dogs because I'm like Dazai, and darned if they weren't right 🤔 I can't be mad at that
@@ennuiblue4295 no one said it was problematic, me and original commenter just said it was unpleasant to be compared to sheldon lol
omg-^THIS. Sheldon is a robotic sexist racist pig and Chuck Lorre made his neurodivergence a joke. To quote Mariah Carey: "I do not know [him]."
Hi Serena! Nice video :)
I just wanted to add a few comments.
The first thing that makes this show sexist is : apart for Sheldon's mother, grandmother and Penny's mother (as far as I can remember), all women introduced are somewhat of a love interest (examples are the neighbor, Missy and even Leonard's mother with Sheldon), and I feel like they didn't dissociate women from their sexual potential, basically.
Also, Penny is pictured as dumb, but I remember an episode where she bests Leonard at chess. Instead of being proud of her or even telling her she won, he wouldn't admit he lost the game. The moment she can do something in the realm of what he likes, his ego takes a hit. That reminded me of what "The Take" had to say about "cool girls" in the video they made about them: they are attractive to male protagonists because they have the same interests, but they aren't better at it.
I also wanted to say I didn't understand the whole "Penny is pregnant, yay" thing.
In the same season, they had a whole episode where she affirmed she didn't want to have children, all of that to unravel it by making her pregnant - and happy about it - in the last episode. I feel like they had a whole season to develop both points of view, and seeing her shift from not wanting children to wanting some, or having a hard time with her pregnancy before accepting it and being happy about it would have made much more sense.
Also, can we take a minute to acknowledge how messed up and sexist it was for Bernadette and Amy to pressure her into having kids, when Bernadette wasn't sure she wanted children either in earlier seasons? Maybe they wanted to highlight the pressure society imposes on women on this issue, but still.
i love this commenttt
You mention that the actresses playing Bernadette and Amy are paid less and blame it on the gender pay gap, but Penny is paid the same as Sheldon and Leonard. And Howard and Raj are paid less than the 3 leads, its not about gender, they weren't part of the main cast so they were paid less, its not complicated
Yes, it's kinda annoying how nowadays everyone is almost intentionally looking for discrimination because of race or gender, no matter if it's even there or not.
Ive never wanted to watch this show. When it was really popular, I was told A LOT that I look like Bernadette. I’m blonde, have similar glasses, but not the voice. That always put me off watching the show. Hearing the misogynistic jokes/themes, I’m glad I didn’t watch. It’s not really my cuppa tea.
Oh my goodness I love this show glad your analysing it
😍😍happy to
I grew up watching this show with my brother as well! I have a lot of nostalgia for the show because it reminds me of being young, but any time I’ve tried to watch it as an adult I genuinely cannot focus my brain just turns on TV static
If you want to see a good representation of the dark side to adorkable misogyny, Buffy season 6 does a really good job, in my opinion.
Many comedies rely on hyperbole, it's so absurd that big part of the audience won't be upset with clearly negative behavior.
i looove pop culture detective, he makes cohesive and informative content.
i like him too :)
He's amazing, I watched his Big Bang Theory vids multiple times.
@@societycrumbles doesn't that say a lot when you can enjoy something so much you watch it multiple times!
@@SerenaSkybourne Yeah, haha. I have few comfort YT videos I love coming back to.
Serena, you could honestly do a whole video on Chuck Lorre, alone. That guy has created so many sitcoms like Roseanne, Two and a half Men, Big Bang Theory, Mom, Mike and Moly. And a recurring theme in all his shows is that he tends to make women and POC second-class citizens.
He generally have characters that geniunely hate each other somehow spend all their time together and most of them have mommy issues
I wouldn't say women are second-classe citizens but rather that they all hate men
True. Sheldon and Howard couldn't stand each other for most of the show, yet they still hung out. Also, you're not totally wrong about women hating men. But the men don't treat them that great either. Take two and a half men, for example. Charlie was a huge womanizer, and by the end, Alan became one, too.
@@rachelmartin5187 Maybe it's because I'm a man, but I always felt that in those shows when a man does something wrong to a woman it was treated as a bad thing while it's normal for a woman to badly treat a man.
Then again it's just my pov.
Charlie was a womanizer but it was treated as an issue with the character. And Alan... well
@louis-stephane1391 You're right. It's double standards. Take Big Bang theory, for example. Sheldon treated Amy like crap, but no one talks about the fact that she repeatedly pressured him when it came to romance.
And how about Bernadette. I think she’s the most toxic female character I’ve ever seen in a TV show, certainly in a sitcom. Maybe the writers someone to punish Howard for being such a creep when the character was single but still.
Howard being so pathetic and oblivious to women's rejection is played for laughs because we're meant to laugh at his obliviousness. Raj making remarks with a mysogenistic tone is also played for laughs because we're meant to laugh at his misogyny (laughing at it, not with it). This show in large part hates its protagonists, particularly in the earlier seasons.
I always loved bernie as a character she had this wonderful evil streak that came out when she talked about the dangerous aspects of her lab work. She was fearless and feisty and I loved her dad too
Interesting to read that perspective. I’ve always seen her as one of the most toxic characters I’ve ever seen on TV, certainly the most toxic I’ve ever seen in a sitcom.
I saw Bernadette as a personification of corporate culture. Corporations project an image that they are innocent and harmless while hiding the real intentions underneath.
I’m one of those people who thinks that this show isn’t funny. And I don’t like it at all. Also they don’t even represent the nerds properly. Anyway congrats on your first sponsorship!
thankyou 😍😍💖💖
I agree about the nerd representation for sure. I think the show has some good jokes, but their geek culture comedy was always the worst. Often the punchline was just “smart guy says the name of a nerd thing”, as if people acknowledging Star Wars in conversation is funny on its own. Also the portrayal of most nerds as loser men is so outdated, especially since this show became popular at the same time that fandom became mainstream
Pop Culture Detective's "The Adorable Misogyny of the Big Bang Theory" is a great watch! Glad you mentioned it.
I hated watching this show as a kid -- at the time I was so upset that none of the main female characters enjoyed the same nerdy stuff. I was a HUGE nerd as a kid so that was disheartening. I remember feeling unconformable with a lot of the show but not being able to pin down why. I actually can't watch shows with laugh tracks to this day because of the cognitive dissonance of the laughing along while not finding them funny that I experienced with sitcoms of this era. Looking back there is SO MUCH sexual harassment played for laughs. It doesn't matter if it was intentional or not, it doesn't matter if it was comedy or not. I'm not saying it should not have existed, but good lord my parents should not have encouraged me to watch it with them.
I also still loves the show. Bc i honestly think this is just bad humor in a specific time where this was funny. Let’s not forget how Howard wrote a song thanking Bernadette to his life, ”i’d never could’ve imagined how good this life would be, from the moment that i’d met you, bernadette.” That they made being a nerd is ok, being outstanding and autistic is okay, and made female characters in the scientific community
I need a young Sheldon video essay LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE
So true about the social media echo chamber, if we stopped watching shows because they did shit things in them we would have any left unfortunately
We’d probably only have five left lmao
What do you think of Young Sheldon? Haven't seen it myself but have heard it was good.
Personally, Sheldon is still a terrible character but his family (his older brother, twin sister, parents & maternal grandmother) are actually interesting characters and got me into the show.
I still don't like it because it's based on TBBT but it doesn't have a laugh track & does have slightly better writing compared to TBBT
TBBT got me through the death of one of my cats, and I am so grateful for it. It was around Christmas, and our cat had been a little sick for weeks until we took her to the vet who told us she was painfully dying due to a disease most cats have but that doesn't usually break out, so she had to be put down. I broke my heart, that cat was the closest I ever had to a soul mate, our connection was on another level. I was in a horrible place and actually got back into SH, but I'd started TBBT a few weeks prior. It got me laughing even when the jokes were terribble, and it made me feel at home and safe and good. I'm so grateful I had that show at the time, so while acknowledging its issues, I can look past them and still enjoy TBBT.
This is very touching and I’m glad the show gave you something important when you needed it ❤️
One thing I found odd about the show was that all the women, whether they do or do not have a PhD, even if they are portrayed as “nerdy,” laugh at the guys interest in comics and Star Trek. Why can’t a girl like those things? I am a huge Star Trek fan and people always look at me funny when I say that because I’m a girl. The reality is I would rather dress up at a Star Trek convention than at Disneyland. I can’t be the only one. Why isn’t that form of nerdiness portrayed in at least one of the girls on the show?
Yeah, you're so right about how sexist this show is. Howard and Raj being so creepy with the model house always makes me so uncomfortable and I hate Sheldon's constant blatant misogyny. The Penny/Leonard relationship didn't sit right with me either and I hated how the finale talked about her pregnancy/conception and how he manipulated her to apologize to Howard in the robot ep despite him repeatedly sexually harassing her in that very episode.
Oh i also used to watch it with my brother 😁 There are definitely some amazing moments, but i‘ve never really loved the show, i never could put my finger on it why…You are right, women were not represented very well. But i also think this show is playing in a sort of Nerd centered world and a few things were done intentionally to fit this narrative. But you are right, it would have been nice to break up these stereotypes even more by the end.
By the way, i literally started watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend after your first video and binged the whole show! I can’t thank you enough for bringing my attention to this gem 🥰
I’m so happy you enjoyed it ❤️
Not disagreeing with anything in the video, I just want to point out that Penny does have a last name. It's "Teller". There's an episode in season 2 I think where she gets a package delivered and you can see it on the package. I think it was meant as a reference to Penn & Teller.
As for Penny, she sometimes explains her regret at her hookups. And while Leonard is far from perfect, the plot made it so that he was the only man who treated her with the most respect and built himself up focusing on his career while Penny was not as focused and partoon in a lot of wild partying. The only other respectful man is Zack but because he's conventionally attractive he's portrayed as a moron.
this show is sexist AND racist 🥲 they’re constantly using sexism to make fun of raj, the whole asian men r more feminine stereotype,,, it’s a double whammy- using femininity to emasculate someone based on race bc being anything close to a woman is the worst thing for a man. i bet i know exactly what the writers look like 😭
The thing that annoys me with these criticisms is that you guys completely ignore the inappropriate behavior of the women on the show, and even excuse it often.
1.) Penny is a grown woman when she moves in. Her financial well-being is in no way on Leonard or Sheldon. Yet she continues to eat their food and beg off them, even when Sheldon makes it clear that he wishes she would stop doing so. She also continues to mooch off Leonard while she's actively dating other men. While knowing full well that Leonard is deeply in love with her.
Then there's the fact that even after being together for YEARS, she has no idea what his job is, what he does, or even what his birthday is. When she gets called out on this by Amy and Bernadette, she says Leonard's job is "to make me happy" and when asked what her job in the relationship is, she says "letting him make me happy." He's basically her toy.
How about the fact that she boxes Leonard's belongings up when he's not home and puts them into storage because she thinks they're dumb. When caught she says "your wizard robes are next to go!" Imagine the outrage if Leonard boxed up her skimpy clothes and then told her "your bikinis are next to go" Lord, the complaints would never end.
Her entire life there was saved by Leonard and Sheldon. Sheldon loans her thousands of dollars so she doesn't have to move. And Leonard buys her a car so she can continue going to auditions when she's ready to admit defeat and move back to Nebraska.
And she does these things while Leonard dates other women, and continues to come over to their place even when his current girlfriends object and make it clear they don't want her around.
2.) Bernadette attempts to sabotage Howard's lifelong dream of being an astronaut. She does this knowing how much it means to him.
She also shows very little empathy when Howard doesn't want to completely reno his mother's home after she dies.
Bernadette even tries to sell off Howard's things simply because she doesn't like them, even though she got the house completely re-done, she still wants to get rid of his stuff.
3.) Amy is a total perv to both Sheldon AND Penny. She's constantly making comments that make Penny and Bernadette uncomfortable, especially in the earlier seasons. Always mentioning how sexy she finds Penny and trying to come up with ways to see her naked.
Amy belittles Sheldon's interests, calling his collectibles "children's toys" when he and Leonard are dividing their stuff.
And, she spends literally years trying to get Sheldon to have sex, when he says over and over he's not ready for it. Lines like "there's only so many times a woman can say 'how about the bed' " or "I'm just sayin- second base is right there"
None of this denies that the male characters act like idiots and say stupid stuff. But in none of these video criticisms does anyone ever examine the female characters. They're held to a far, FAR lesser standard, simply because they're female characters.
I completely agree and not a lot of comments on what you said, probably because of this uploaders target audience. I can see from the comments that they mostly see negative things about the men in the show but not the women. Im assuming because the same commenters share the same type of behavior.
I never expected a comment like this to be here, and I'm even more pleasantly surprised that there is one.
Seems to be a common trend nowadays that bad behavior from men are quickly seen and called out, but when it comes women's bad behaviors, people still have blind eyes. Both in media and the real world, even when children are the victims (like the sadly ever more common cases of female teachers "getting too close" to their male students). Just the different wording for those cases speaks volumes, the r-word is present all the time with male culprits, but with female culprits the phrases suddenly change to "they had intercourse".
The double standards are ridiculous.
I think the creator of the video would just say the women's portrayal are just another example of the creator's misogyny.
@ryanvannice7878 I kind of doubt that. Especially the way she acted about penny eating their food. She almost made it seem like a god given right for her to do that. Or that Leonard and sheldon should just do it because they should be lucky she's in the same room with them.
I actually saw someone ballpark how much she owed them for just food once, and it was insane. The one episode that mentioned how much her meal was, it was $14.50. For one dinner. They have takeout literally 7 days a week, unless they're on a trip or at comicon or whatever. If you figure that the average meal she has is around that much, she costs them about $5,000 a year.
Idk, it really rubs me the wrong way, because I've seen other video essays on this too, and they all hammer on the same points. The guys are sexist and mean to raj. Meanwhile, the girls are horrible, but that's okay I guess because the men are worse? Which is debatable at best.
@Gandalf1232 I suppose either explanation would absolve the ladies of any wrongdoing.
Some comments are very accurate, while others make me doubt that we were watching the same series, perhaps there were not enough strong arguments for a large analysis and several points had to be twisted
If people get pissed off by your analysis ask them to put in the geek's position and doing the same things a jock,or a handsome man, and see if they think he is creepy or not.
There has been a LOT of talk about The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Friends. etc. being sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic or fatphobic. But one major important point is being left out of the discussion. Is a show actually prejudiced simply because a character made a bigotted comment? That defends on two factors. Do the writers of the show agree with the character's bigotry? Do they want the audience to agree with the character? If a show is racist because a character is racist ... well then All In The Family must be the most racist show ever made. Yet it's not. Because the creator of the show is a liberal who clearly wanted the audience to disagree with Archie Bunker. But I'm not saying that I'm convinced that Chuck Lorre and the rest of TBBT writing staff didn't agree with the character's sexism. I'm saying it;s worth a discussion. If they agree with the character's misogyny, then the show is sexist. If they disagreed, then the show is not sexist.
They were trying to play it for laughs so at least the writers find m!sogyny funny/not a serious issue. Also Penny having to apologize to Howard after he makes very unwanted sexua! advances? That’s messed up. The writers made that choice. I could go on, and on, and on.
So yes, TBBT definitely is sexist. It doesn’t take long to see that.
8:15 well you say that but I remember back in high school my best friend and I went to talk to her cousin and his group of nerds and one of them sincerely exclaimed “A girl!!”
Same here. I really like a lot of things about The Big Bang Theory and I enjoy watching it, but there is a real problem with sexist/misogynistic elements that doesn't get addressed. The one thing I will say in its favor is that it showed signs of improvement over time (making Howard less creepy, bringing in more regular female cast members), but even later in the show the problems were still there. It doesn't stop me from enjoying reruns, but there are episodes that I'll skip over just because they're especially sexist.
I loved pop culture detective’s video on this!
Same
Agreed! One of my favorite videos
home improvement, Roseanne, Frasier, Sabrina the teenage witch, family matters, fresh prince, Dinosaurs, Seinfeld, Everybody's Loves Raymond, What I like about you, Married With children are all way better shows than the tbbt. And they are all funnier. Not cringe.
Who's your favourite character in the show?
Penny. She feels the most 3-dimensional to me. Writing the show from her perspective would’ve been way more interesting, I think
BBT is a horrible bad-natured parody, laughing at the expence of the geek/nerd community. Can we just forget this mess ever existed? Please, tell me, I'm not going to hear "Oh, like in BBT" every time I introduce someone to D&D(
(I agree with all the critisizm, I'm just triggered by the "i still love it" part)
I say "i still love it" in the title just so i dont repel people from clicking on it, i figured if my title was more neutral, fans of the show would still click xx
i always cant wait to hear your opinion. ur videos are addicting lol❤️
Omg you’re sooo sweet
Your vidéo made my day. One of your best vidéos
💖💖
LET HER COOK!
Frfr, you are on to something. There are so many issues with this show
All your points on the sexism of the show are absolutely valid, and they are sort of the sexism that is real and present in real life in the nerd circles (or it was around the 2000s). To me personally I started watching it because I thought a sitcom with geeks as the main cast would be making geeky jokes, but I just ended up feeling like all the jokes were at the expense of the geeks, saying "look how geeky they are!" and not references to stuff geeks would understand. I stopped watching around season 3 when it was clear we were all just poking fun at sheldon's quirks.
exactly! after season 3 the entire show consisted of making fun of Sheldon's autistic traits and romance, completely forgetting the simple 'popular girl befriends geeks' idea that the show came from.
In one episode, leonard had the audacity to shout “you used me for sex” to Penny after taking advantage of her when she was intoxicated. He should’ve stopped her and let her be. When Penny was normal she knew it was a mistake but leonard didnt see anything wrong and found it to be her fault?? The way in s4 he admitted to just letting her do what she wants just for sex and it’s saddening because Penny is more than just a “pretty dumb blonde” like how the show makes her seem. leonard is a terrible person and it’s very obvious if you actually watched the show.
TBBT is one of my fav shows but has definitely disappointed me at times because of how sexist it can be. You should check out the comedy series "mom" created by Chuck Lorre, Eddie Gorodetsky and Gemma Baker, and see how it compares to a show like tbbt. It addresses issues like alcoholism and drug addiction and imo it's pretty funny and underrated!
from only reading the title, i can say i fully agree.
Defending women shouldn't be equal to accepting promiscuity. Defending a woman shouldn't be equal to negate family.
I never liked the show, even as a young teenager. I didn‘t find it funny and I always felt it had sexist themes and scenes. Especially the potrayal of male and female characters and their relationships - I thought it was so dull. Yeah sure, they were playing with clichés, but it‘s not like I found these clichés enjoyable. I actually think many of it is just sad. I‘m glad we move on.
The sexism is just one facet of the overall meaness underlying almost all the comedy in this show!!!!
I overall agree with this but how is the guy’s fault that Penny failed as an actress and yeah Leonard had different motives but Penny knew so I don’t understand “women are put in these positions to be dependent on men’ she is an adult and makes her own decisions. I’m not saying Leonard is morally ok but Penny isn’t either
ngl after i watched the pop culture detective video, i went back to try and rewatch big bang theory and couldn’t. it sort of ruined it for me lol. i couldn’t stand howard.
there are lots of films/shows or idk stand up comedy specials where i find sexist jokes funny (as a woman), but idk something about the big bang theory gave me the ick even tho i used to like it.
i really like young sheldon tho, but that may or may not be because all the characters have yeehaw accents and i find that fun 😂
Of course, the creators were the same guys who created Two & Half Men.....
Really, its the actors and how they handled the bad writing that made the show, not the comedy itself.
Yea, no one stops in their tracks no stares when a woman walks into a comic place or anything. Mostly it’s stuff like when I buy my comics or dnd dice I’m asked if it’s a gift for someone or if my boyfriend sent me to get something then I clarify it’s mine and it’s usually just “oh cool”. That’s all
Love you Serena u look great love the big bang theory as well binging all your videos again because I love you 😊🥰 ❤❤❤
i love you!!
I dont know why i feel really hard to concentrate while listening to her.
The show is pure cringe to me.
Howard was really disgusting the first half of the show. All the ‚jokes‘ and ‚flirts‘ with penny were so gross.
And how howard treated bernadette esp. at the beginning of their relationship.
First, gender wage gap is a myth and any economist can easily debunk it. Secondly, you do a great job and showing the seismic towards women but completely pretend that the women in the show don't shit on and belittle the men constantly. The sexism goes both ways in the show. The women tend to be the dominant figure in each of the relationships in the show. If you're gonna make a whole video about sexism at least call it out on both sides.
That was my thought process during this video. Women like this only care when women are presented negatively and don’t give a damn about how negatively men can be portrayed. As you said, the women were awful to their partners, bordering on being abusive, but of course, the only thing that matters is “misogyny”.
So men cant check out a cute chick? Its getting ridiculous
aa, i was already an adult when the show started. insert horror at the passage of time here.
but yeah the show is sexist and the main characters are all sexist.
I can tolerate some offensive material if its actually funny. But the big bang theory is annoying not funny.
Agreed. There was a point when I liked the show but that was pre-season 8. However, even pre-season 8 material still has a lot of cringeworthy material especially every time Howard opens his mouth and Raj's meltdown since he can't talk to women.
So why nobody talks about, how Penny and other girls play with the nerds and use their own beauti to get away with everything ?
You shod watch sex and the city
That's why I like the show Num3ers: it is NOT a comedy show by ANY means, BUT it DOES have funny moments in it, & the show is ABOUT nerdy guys, BUT they're NOT creepy @ all. & The women are actually smart & VALUED in it, too!! And, yes, it IS older, so it DOES have some problems in it, too, BUT all in all, it is a REALLY well-done show. (I recently started watching it again & forgot how good it really was! 😅) Anyone else seen Num3ers?? & yes, I still love the Big Bang Theory, too! 😍
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Omg grow up
Am I the only one that liked every character less as the series progressed? Haven't seen the last 3 or 4 seasons.
So...don't watch it.
you're crazy. i hate this show now. I would rather watch 90s sitcoms than this trash.
its more the nostalgia for me, when you grow up watching something it clouds your judgement
You should criticise the framing of the characters, not the characters themselves.
When you criticise the show for having misogynistic characters, you're completely missing the mark.
I adore Howard but that is because I am the female Howard in every sense of the word
I'm not sure that's a good thing, unless you mean you relate to his... Luck with Women?
......Um I wouldn't brag about that. 🫥
You’re a female Howard? so what your saying is you are overtly sexual, perverted, and can’t take no for an answer unless they tell you off and say hurtful things to get you to back off…
@@rachelmartin5187yeah that’s embarrassing and it’s telling me that she’s perverted
It’s a comedy! You don’t have to take it seriously.
the problem is that when comedy has things like casual racism or casual misogyny, it can cause problems because it perpetuates stereotypes and has real life effects. There's nothing wrong with loving something and finding it funny while also understanding the problematic aspects. I loved The Big Bang Theory, but I also think that the show has a lot of problems. It didn't stop me from enjoying it though.
She also acknowledged that it’s a comedy, and mentioned the issue with PEOPLE who are overly B&W about a topic, and who can’t make fine distinctions.
Wow. I think it's the first time I almost completely disagree with one of your video essays. I believe you try to analise a message - or an agenda - that isn't there. The characters are very well-written (except for Bernadette I reckon) and the guys aren't likeable people for instance. They're - very - funny in the context of the show but it's obvious they'd be a***s in real life. The show isn't sexist, the writers just had fun with these sort of stereotypical nerds and the wannabe actress. And if someone acts like Howard e.g. because he thinks his behaviours are inspiring, well, he's just a moron (and a felon).
That's one example.
Anyway, still interesting content as always.
I totally get that perspective and that's what I initially thought too. The reason I do think there's an unintentionally sexist agenda there is because the show's male creator has made a sexist show before, so it seems to be a pattern
@@SerenaSkybourne Right. Chuck Lorre could actually be a topic for a future video. He worked on Roseanne and Mom for instance, as well as Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory. Maybe he's not sexist, he just wants to make a bunch of money haha ;)
Using stereotypes, well aware that they are stereotypes, for jokes doesn't make using them any better. The show does not come across as self aware of the stereotypes they are using to me (to me, PERSONALLY), at least not about the serious, harmful ones like the masculinity and sexism shit.
Using stereotypes knowing they are stereotypes does not make them and less harmful. It carries on these harmful ideas of women and men, femininity and masculinity, of spectrum disorders and ethnicity, all for the sake of some shitty jokes.
I am completely with Serena on this one.
It takes a lot of skill and especially balance between 'show'& 'tell' to actively use stereotypes well and self aware, and to properly SHOW that self awareness and therefore spread a positive helpful mindset,, and TBBT definitely is NOT all that.
@@paularoth4915 give me an example of a funny show in your opinion.