12-16-2014, 08:33 AM
I saw some Youtube commenter saying "the guys are fulfilled and contented now." Um, no. If that were true, then they'd seem relaxed, confident, at ease with themselves and with those around them. They wouldn't be so spiteful and mean, sniping at each other, getting into petty, pointless conflicts, seeming insecure and hostile and on edge. The friendship amongst the guys seems to have been broken.
People who are happy with the current state of their lives wouldn't feel the need to revisit high school, or to constantly dredge up old incidents, old conflicts, old mistakes. (Raj/Penny scandal, Howard/cousin scandal, etc.) People who were happy and secure would've forgotten about old shit and put it behind them. On the contrary, TPTB are seemingly portraying these characters as keepers of grudges; people who are overly focused on past slights. Characters who had "grown up and moved on" wouldn't be bitching at each other about things that happened years ago. Now these people are so insecure and oversensitive that they feel threatened by the success of their "dearest friends"; they feel threatened by the smallest challenge to their status and their complacency.
For all the talk of how neurotic these guys were at the start, they now seem more mired in petty personal issues than ever. Everything's a power struggle, everything's about competition and jealousy.
It occurred to me that the reason TPTB like to bring up these past mistakes is to send a message of "the characters' lives are so much better now! See what a desperate, miserable, creepy pervert Howard used to be? See how lonely and pathetic (whoever) used to be???" Well, it's not working. If you have to *tell* us the characters are happier now, that's not convincing. *We* remember these characters being full of life and energy, despite their problems. You can't pull this Animal Farm-style propaganda of "everything was so horrible, before."
If "learning and growing" had actually taken place, these characters would seem self-assured and happy. Also, people who are mature and confident wouldn't allow their partner/spouse/friends to badger them, scold them, bully them, and emotionally manipulate them. They wouldn't put up with it.
I'd like to believe a person who loves and respects themselves couldn't be conned into believing a bad relationship is better than *no* relationship, and a self-confident person wouldn't look to their spouse/partner/friends as their sole source of happiness and determiner of their worth.
This applies to all the characters. Penny also. She has more experience with relationships than the guys do, but her relationships have seemingly been negative ones, on balance.
As Space mentioned in the chat box, perhaps Sheldon just too inexperienced to know the difference between a good relationship and a bad one, a trustworthy person and an untrustworthy one. That's why this "marry the first person you've ever met" message is so bizarre and harmful. It applies to Howard, too.
I know I've mentioned it many times before, but I'm just continually amazed that in 2015, anyone is advocating "marry the first person who crosses your path, because you don't deserve any better." What kind of message is that, to be absorbed by millions and millions of viewers??
People who are happy with the current state of their lives wouldn't feel the need to revisit high school, or to constantly dredge up old incidents, old conflicts, old mistakes. (Raj/Penny scandal, Howard/cousin scandal, etc.) People who were happy and secure would've forgotten about old shit and put it behind them. On the contrary, TPTB are seemingly portraying these characters as keepers of grudges; people who are overly focused on past slights. Characters who had "grown up and moved on" wouldn't be bitching at each other about things that happened years ago. Now these people are so insecure and oversensitive that they feel threatened by the success of their "dearest friends"; they feel threatened by the smallest challenge to their status and their complacency.
For all the talk of how neurotic these guys were at the start, they now seem more mired in petty personal issues than ever. Everything's a power struggle, everything's about competition and jealousy.
It occurred to me that the reason TPTB like to bring up these past mistakes is to send a message of "the characters' lives are so much better now! See what a desperate, miserable, creepy pervert Howard used to be? See how lonely and pathetic (whoever) used to be???" Well, it's not working. If you have to *tell* us the characters are happier now, that's not convincing. *We* remember these characters being full of life and energy, despite their problems. You can't pull this Animal Farm-style propaganda of "everything was so horrible, before."
If "learning and growing" had actually taken place, these characters would seem self-assured and happy. Also, people who are mature and confident wouldn't allow their partner/spouse/friends to badger them, scold them, bully them, and emotionally manipulate them. They wouldn't put up with it.
I'd like to believe a person who loves and respects themselves couldn't be conned into believing a bad relationship is better than *no* relationship, and a self-confident person wouldn't look to their spouse/partner/friends as their sole source of happiness and determiner of their worth.
This applies to all the characters. Penny also. She has more experience with relationships than the guys do, but her relationships have seemingly been negative ones, on balance.
As Space mentioned in the chat box, perhaps Sheldon just too inexperienced to know the difference between a good relationship and a bad one, a trustworthy person and an untrustworthy one. That's why this "marry the first person you've ever met" message is so bizarre and harmful. It applies to Howard, too.
I know I've mentioned it many times before, but I'm just continually amazed that in 2015, anyone is advocating "marry the first person who crosses your path, because you don't deserve any better." What kind of message is that, to be absorbed by millions and millions of viewers??