Things can be tough, let people enjoy the things they enjoy. It brightens there day as long as there healthy.
Good for you that you think that way :). Fuck that show though. I can’t stand the unfunnyness and misogyny in it
Problem is the misogyny (and racism, and queerphobia, and ableism and so on) in it doesn’t stop when the show ends, it makes the people watching think it’s ok, or worse - funny, normalising it. Hell, even this post is defining it as “healthy”, which is so fucked up, because who exactly is that content “healthy” for?
So while I’m all for letting people enjoy what they enjoy, doing so uncritically, and/or refusing to hear when people tell you that something you enjoy is harmful to others (which misogyny, racism, queerphobia, ableism, and so on are) is when you go from “enjoying” to “supporting” and even “actively contributing”, no longer “harmlessly” enjoying something, and I will judge you for that.
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I know this will sound pretentious as fuck, but as someone who got a physics degree and knows some shit, BBT drives me fucking nuts with its relentless pandering. Nerd culture isn’t even nerdy anymore since being a nerd implies being some kind of outcast. When the outcasts become the majority, they’re no longer outcast.
Gimme old Star Trek episodes for comfort TV any day.
As someone who got a physics degree and knows some shit, the first couple seasons are not too bad. The physics/math jokes are mostly fairly accurate, and those shows happened as nerd culture was getting mainstreamed. The first Avengers movie were several years away. I can’t really say whether the series had a part in this mainstreaming, but at the least it was in the Zeitgeist.
I grew up in the north Italian province. Being a nerd didn’t make you an outcast, but definitely an odd one.
The first couple seasons came out while I was doing my bachelor (i.e. the equivalent of undergrad) and with its caricature of some quirks I couks recognize in many of my friends and colleagues, it made me feel at least acknowledged.
Then it got progressively worse as they kept looking for more and more ways to drag it out, lost those qualities I found positive, and I really gave up not too long after that.
Glad someone said it.
Season one or two are actually pretty decent. As the show continued, it doubled down on the minor stereotypical qualities of each character and made that feature their entire personality. It’s a pretty normal outcome for any television show, particular across comedy and sitcoms, when the qualities in question are “has autism/aspbergers” and “doesn’t know how to treat people like they’re human”, it quickly becomes a show focused on punching down. Before long, the plot breaks down to the more socially competent characters “fixing” nerds and nerd culture as it continually reinforces the stereotypes that the first couple seasons, sure, poked fun at, but in equal measure challenged the validity of.
At some point the show stopped being a comedy about nerd culture and shifted to actively mocking, not even nerd culture, but the entire culture around academics and intellectualism. It shifted to bullying, validated on your television screen, by showing you time and time again how horrible these socially awkward nerds are, and how difficult they make life for others.
And after all that it is full circle back into no, they didn’t challenge the validity, they abused the tropes so s thoroughly that it became known as one of the worst shows in history
I’m honestly not sure what season of the show I’ve seen. I’ve only seen bits and pieces of an episode or two. Maybe it was a positive thing early on, and I think it could be a better show if it were a little more earnest, but the little exposure I had to it was decidedly negative.
Nerd does not imply outcast. It simply means someone who is obsessed with subject matter. Nerd culture is definitely nerdy and never won’t be.
Despite the show’s embarrassing cartoonish portrayal of nerds it isn’t miles from reality.
Nerd does not imply outcast.
Hmm. I guess it does not. But the show (at least occasionally,I haven’t seen much of it) implies the nerdy folks are ostracized from the more “normal” ones when they make some quip that no one but them (and the audience obviously) understand. Though, I suppose that could also be because Sheldon is an immense prick as well as a nerd. Something else that does not endear me to the show.
Perhaps closer than Revenge of the Nerds was…
Perhaps, but for older nerds like me, that outcast experience is an essential part of nerd identity.
Younger nerds and geeks, who are now embraced, never went through that shit, and have in my mind a fucked up perspective on what it means to be one.
I’m an older nerd. Thank fuck nerds can just enjoy things now. Frankly, if you think nerds need to go through being ostracised, I think you have a fucked up perspective.
BBT isn’t nerd culture, it’s nerdface.
The problem with BBT was making a stereotype caricature out of being a need or having aspergers, and then assholes get to call you Sheldon cause they think they’re funny.
No, the problem is how misogynistic Leonard is but they portray him as an adorkable guy to be loved.
Yeah, it’s fucking creepy.
I had no issue with this show for a while until someone pointed out how overtly perverted many of the main cast are. The laugh track and ‘adorkable’ aspect really throw you off, but once you see it…
Nah, this show is terrible and if you disagree I’m not so sure you deserve happiness.
Bazinga
Who hurt you
sheldon bazinga’d my dog
bazooka
To be fair, every corporate enterprise I engage with by any terms regards me as an antagonist it must catch and parastize and engages routinely in dark patterns to trick me into its barbed snares.
A better question is, who doesn’t hurt you?
It’s a shorter list.
It was Big Bang Theory.
Me then: BBT is trash
Me now: still trash, like, it was always really bad. You’re allowed to like trash. I encourage you to like trash. If you learn to love trash then the world is full of wonders. But we’re not gonna pretend it’s good out of some sense of politeness.
You know a show is trash when a character saying some jargon is somehow a laugh line
I wouldn’t define it as safe and happy when it’s full of toxic masculinity.
It’s a show for bullies. To enjoy laughing at caricatures of people people they never respected or understood.
So full of it. The show definitely became aware of it nearer the end of the shows run but it was too little too late.
“These aren’t real nerds! They make us all look dumb!”
Other than Sheldon’s quirks, I’ve always felt like the characters were just like my friends and I and this sentiment that permeated Reddit always just felt like people who very much are like Sheldon were the ones taking the most offense at the show.
Bazinga!
Your friends are sexist homophobes?
While they have done some pretty unsavory things involving Penny being the butt of many jokes that border on sexist, I can’t think of a single example of homophobia from the show.
That’s kinda surprising. The trans episodes are usually a double whammy on trans and homophobia
This reeks of projection. You can’t dislike this thing I like if you do you are like that weird guy that is sexist on the show you don’t like!!! You sir sound like Sheldon.
To be fair, I have this attitude regarding those friends who drink, smoke or try to kill themselves with fentanyl.
This world drives us to terrible, monstrous copes, and better these than fascist pogroms.
its so boring though
Agreed, the IT crowd is a better choice
No, it’s still awful.
Reading thru the thread … Only thing I can say is, I don’t like Friends. Cool if you do though. Can’t watch Seinfeld anymore. Didn’t age well as I aged. Again, just me. Cool if you do.
Get you your joy as long as it harms no one else.
God people in the comments can’t enjoy shit in life.
Learn to love trash. Everything gets so much brighter when you do
Live and let live man. I don’t care what everyone does in their own time, have fun, live your life and be happy.
Where I have a problem is when someone forces me to do something. You NEED me to watch this show? No. Watch it in your own time.
