09-15-2014, 07:07 AM
A and B are plot devices, not characters. They are tools with which to carry out the "change." I am suspicious of any character who is introduced for the sole purpose of being a love-interest.
Plus, none of these characters seemed to be deeply unhappy before the "changes." (Especially not Sheldon. Leonard was perhaps the unhappiest.) Did they have problems, maybe even serious problems? Yes. But so does everyone. There is no problem-free life. We all have challenges, disappointments, neuroses, fears, and areas of weakness. I don't think anyone can honestly say that these people's lives are better now. They've simply traded one set of problems for another.
Life is not some 12-step program where each person is steadily progressing towards some arbitrary definition of "better."
As I've mentioned before, I find the values promoted by this show to be utterly bizarre. When you examine it, it's extremely old-fashioned: the point of life is to get married/coupled ASAP, to the first person who is even remotely suitable, and this is the only rite of passage that can make a child into an adult?
Are we living in pioneer times, with a shortage of people to marry? People in their mid to late twenties need to "grow up" and stop acting youthful? This show's attitude towards relationships is downright Victorian. It's almost fundamentalist. Life has no other purpose than to marry young and reproduce? Are we living on a farm where we need 12 kids to plant the crops?
It's just *so* backwards and wacky, to me. I can't comprehend where the writers/creators are coming from, at all. This show's definition of maturity is to act middle-aged at 30. It's so completely out of sync with the current state of our society. I don't know anyone IRL who is in a constant state of panic about being single, or anyone who thinks you're a failure if you're not married/coupled by 27.
It's just *so* retrogressive and weird. Do the writers think we're living in a medieval village where you'll only live to be 50, so hurry up and get married before you die?
There are all different kinds of lifestyles out there. The show seems to deny that, strenuously. They won't show us a character who is content to be single*, or a gay relationship that isn't treated as a punchline, or anything other than "boy and girl must get together and stay together, now, now, NOW." They won't even admit that two people might like each other but not want to live together, or that couples can be together without a formal commitment. There's only one right way of doing things, and that's the most conventional and traditionalist way.
*Sheldon was content to be single, but they wouldn't leave that alone.
Plus, none of these characters seemed to be deeply unhappy before the "changes." (Especially not Sheldon. Leonard was perhaps the unhappiest.) Did they have problems, maybe even serious problems? Yes. But so does everyone. There is no problem-free life. We all have challenges, disappointments, neuroses, fears, and areas of weakness. I don't think anyone can honestly say that these people's lives are better now. They've simply traded one set of problems for another.
Life is not some 12-step program where each person is steadily progressing towards some arbitrary definition of "better."
As I've mentioned before, I find the values promoted by this show to be utterly bizarre. When you examine it, it's extremely old-fashioned: the point of life is to get married/coupled ASAP, to the first person who is even remotely suitable, and this is the only rite of passage that can make a child into an adult?
Are we living in pioneer times, with a shortage of people to marry? People in their mid to late twenties need to "grow up" and stop acting youthful? This show's attitude towards relationships is downright Victorian. It's almost fundamentalist. Life has no other purpose than to marry young and reproduce? Are we living on a farm where we need 12 kids to plant the crops?
It's just *so* backwards and wacky, to me. I can't comprehend where the writers/creators are coming from, at all. This show's definition of maturity is to act middle-aged at 30. It's so completely out of sync with the current state of our society. I don't know anyone IRL who is in a constant state of panic about being single, or anyone who thinks you're a failure if you're not married/coupled by 27.
It's just *so* retrogressive and weird. Do the writers think we're living in a medieval village where you'll only live to be 50, so hurry up and get married before you die?
There are all different kinds of lifestyles out there. The show seems to deny that, strenuously. They won't show us a character who is content to be single*, or a gay relationship that isn't treated as a punchline, or anything other than "boy and girl must get together and stay together, now, now, NOW." They won't even admit that two people might like each other but not want to live together, or that couples can be together without a formal commitment. There's only one right way of doing things, and that's the most conventional and traditionalist way.
*Sheldon was content to be single, but they wouldn't leave that alone.