08-19-2014, 01:26 AM
I think this all boils down to the willingness of the writers to stretch themselves. Characters can't grow unless there are interactions for them to react to and as it's the writer that initiates these interactions it's up to him/her to keep in mind the realistic reaction of the character. This is then pressed into the sit-com joke format and, at least for me, this is where the creativity and work ethic of the writer comes into play. It's quite easy to make jarring OOC moments that play on the juxtaposition of Sheldon's character, for example, just like it's easy to make the humour malicious and petty in order to get an immediate reaction. But that's the point--it's the easy way out and as we've seen in subsequent seasons, narrowing the field of subjects into a single rom-com format has also diminished the quality of the story telling, humour, as well as the characters themselves. They are putting all their eggs in one basket.
Sheldon is the canary in the mine because he is such a cerebral character. Once the writers narrowed their scope Sheldon had no choice but to 'go along with it' although in order for him to do so a lot of fundamental qualities had to be ditched. In order to 'convince' the viewers that this is, indeed, Sheldon the writers throw in an occasional 'bazinga' or 'quirk' as needed. They rely on them to 'anchor' the character so they can manipulate the rest the way they see fit in order to fit their new direction for the show thus effectively 'hollowing out' the character. Personally, this makes me more aware that 'Sheldon' is merely a prop on a sit-com rather than a well-rounded character as he was in the early seasons. But that's not his fault. It's lazy writing that's to blame.
That's why it's so irritating to see quick fixes and hastily done patchwork on what was an exceptionally well-written show. Our list of things that writers just made up on the spot, like Penny's Box of Memories, to shore up weak development shows this as does the character of Amy who has demonstrated more personalities than Sybil as the plots demanded and thus never had a chance to stabilize. Instead, she's become a template for the writers to fracture the other characters; after all, if they can get the viewers to accept that someone who thought that romantic relationships were 'an unnecessary cultural construct that add[ed] no value to human relationships' would end up licking staplers in an effort to 'keep her man' then what's the stretch that someone who's mysophobic and uncomfortable with touching will suddenly shake off his compulsions?
Sheldon is the canary in the mine because he is such a cerebral character. Once the writers narrowed their scope Sheldon had no choice but to 'go along with it' although in order for him to do so a lot of fundamental qualities had to be ditched. In order to 'convince' the viewers that this is, indeed, Sheldon the writers throw in an occasional 'bazinga' or 'quirk' as needed. They rely on them to 'anchor' the character so they can manipulate the rest the way they see fit in order to fit their new direction for the show thus effectively 'hollowing out' the character. Personally, this makes me more aware that 'Sheldon' is merely a prop on a sit-com rather than a well-rounded character as he was in the early seasons. But that's not his fault. It's lazy writing that's to blame.
That's why it's so irritating to see quick fixes and hastily done patchwork on what was an exceptionally well-written show. Our list of things that writers just made up on the spot, like Penny's Box of Memories, to shore up weak development shows this as does the character of Amy who has demonstrated more personalities than Sybil as the plots demanded and thus never had a chance to stabilize. Instead, she's become a template for the writers to fracture the other characters; after all, if they can get the viewers to accept that someone who thought that romantic relationships were 'an unnecessary cultural construct that add[ed] no value to human relationships' would end up licking staplers in an effort to 'keep her man' then what's the stretch that someone who's mysophobic and uncomfortable with touching will suddenly shake off his compulsions?
Let's go exploring!