(no subject)

[shadowkat]

Should go to the gym after work today, but it's only 2:30 and I feel draggy.
Busy but draggy. Maybe tomorrow? Did manage to get to the gym twice last week, be curious to see if can do that again this week...particularly since it will be "colder" as in a 30 degree drop towards end of week. Was 55 degrees yesterday (Farhenheit) and will be 28 degrees by Friday or so I've read. Fun.

Favorite Happy show continues to be Big Bang Theory - which once again had me cackling like a loon last night. It's the only sitch I've found to date, outside of maybe Better Off Ted and Modern Family that is not obsessed with sex.

The funny? A joke about a Wolverine comic, which I'm convinced only a geek or someone who knows guys like this would get.

Only drawback- Big Bang is a bit sexist, but then 90% of the tv shows are.
I can only think of maybe three or four that I don't have to turn off my inner feminist in order to watch. But to be honest, that was true of Star Trek too, well up until Voyager, at any rate. One of the many reasons I preferred Bab5 to DS9.

Comments

Re: Why so defensive??

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Please see this link here - that I just read, which perfectly explains why the show is more watchable now but unwatchable in its first season...


http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/01/how_degazing_saved_the_big_ban.html

Re: Why so defensive??

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

She has a point about Penny but I still find it extremely skewed. But again, I see Penny's depiction in the early episodes as being more an effect of the guys not knowing her very well. Geeky guys are extremely sexist, mostly because most of them can't get women. The hot girl across the hall is a cliche of a geek's dream. As they came to know Penny better, her character opened up.

I don't necessarily think the show is at fault for being in a geek POV. Very few shows are. Particularly this show, which is in a far more genuine geek POV than the typical TV geek characters. But all the characters have grown, and the ability to see other sides to Penny is one of those reasons. As she becomes friends with them (and she's probably the most attractive person who has ever been on speaking terms with any of them), she's no longer the unattainable dream but a real person.

And this was helped a great deal by Sheldon, a completely asexual guy who has no interest in her in that way whatsoever.

Another point - While the pilot is not perfect, it has some genius moments, and, overall, I actually have more trouble with Sheldon's depiction in that than Penny's, and that problem is solved by the second episode.

Re: Why so defensive??

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thanks again for sharing your perspective.

Mine's different, possibly because I know these guys really really well, they aren't that different from Warren/Andrew/Jonathan - a rather familar trope in tv, although admittedly far better developed here than elsewhere and far more realistic. I've been the invisible female in the comics store who didn't look like the hot Penny with sexy outfits, but had a rather fascinating conversation with Sheldon. Sheldon is my favorite character. This wouldn't irk me, if it were not among the least sexist of the sitcoms...

And ...90% of the tv shows - specifically sitcoms are from this perspective. I can't think of any that aren't at this moment in time which are not on HBO or Premium Cable (I don't have access to those). Ironically this sitcom is actually one of least sexist on tv, and that I think...is part of the problem.
But, it is also, admittedly a reflection of our society at large - which like it or not is still incredibly sexist. ;-)

One more thing about Penny

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

Another thing that has opened up Penny's character is that not only have the guys changed from prolonged contact with her, but she has also changed, because this is also the first time she's really hung out with and had friendships with people who aren't as hot as she is. At the beginning, she was using her "feminine powers" to get these dorky guys to do things for her, which is something you could tell she always fell back on, because it was easy. She's lived her whole life in a society that tells her she gets things when she does this.

As she and the guys started to know each other better, though, she became more confident in herself and started to relate to them as people, not potential minions, stopped using her "little girl" voice, and realized that they weren't actually from a different species. She could carry on a conversation with them, even if some of the science will go over her head. Sometimes, she realizes, she can even be smarter than them, such as when it comes to the "outside world." There's one great moment where Sheldon tells Penny that he knows physics and therefore knows about absolutely everything in the universe, and she counters, "Oh, yeah, what's Radiohead?" And Sheldon's eye starts twitching like a broken-down computer. Another time, after she fails at their trivia game, she assembles her own trivia game for them, which is all pop culture, and of course, they get none of it. "Not so smart after all," she says.

I actually always found the evolution extremely subtle and realistic. There isn't one episode where you can point to and say "Penny has changed overnight," but neither can you for the others (except for Sheldon, who was flat-out different in the pilot). It happens quite organically.