Anthropology of the Big Bang

[devilbk]

The guy wrote what he felt like writing after reading that the show was about two scientists. Maybe this is satire. But I think it's a bit moronic.

[Nutz]

"A great many of you have asked me, “Kaleb Horton, did you ever watch a single episode of the damn thing?” and I always hung my head and answered no. I felt it would compromise the integrity of my vision to know more than what I already knew, which was that The Big Bang Theory was about two scientists. Two scientifically driven men of impure motive and questionable morality."

I hope he meant this as a joke, cause I really find that he thought Sheldon (well vintage Sheldon) had impure motive and questionable morality upsetting.

Sheldon had completely pure motives. Get a Noble Prize, help the damsel in distress (Penny), and enjoy watching and discussing a good movie/Graphic Novel/Comic Book/Game. Everything else was below his intelligence and wasn't really worthy of his time. But nothing he did was out of spite or mean-spirited. He would never say... stab a fellow scientist in the back to get ahead or betray them. Even his practical jokes and "revenge" on Kripke could be considered pretty chaste.

[ricardo shillyshally]

I think you're idolising Sheldon slightly. I like it when he can shift across his whole range, from Shellybean to diabolical(as A called him). From my perspective I'd pretty much forgotten about Star Trek; I'd watched them all until it got franchised out. But isn't it programmes like BB that have revitalised interest in all these, sci fi, comic books,etc. Star Trek films had lost credibilty, but did BB help JJ Abrams believe people were still interested. Recently Simon Pegg said that these retro genres keep us adolescent. I think culture isn't sure where to go!

[devilbk]

I don't think TBBT has inspired anything pop-culture wise. It has only reacted, and to the pop culture that existed 10 years ago at that. None of the films that have been made since it came on the air owe anything to it. Nobody saw them that wasn't already going to see them. TBBT sent nobody to the box office.And TBBT owes much more to to comic book, scifi and fantasy cultures than they owe to it. I'm at the point where I finally agree with one of the early reviews. TBBT is nerd culture in blackface.

[ricardo shillyshally]

I think cultural referencing, creates eddies within culture itself, where certain shows are poignant. BB has been apart of that reappraisal(along with FG and others), and an acceptance that programmes like ST were formative to many people for different reasons. Martin Luther King was a fan because having a black woman on screen, in a new setting, was groundbreaking.

[devilbk]

I disagree. I believe that, certainly at this point post-Season 8, the geeky affectations the boys have are not only played as an embarrassment to be ridiculed by the girlfriends not appreciated, they are for the most part firmly set in 2006 and before. Any geek cultural milestones post-2006 are derided. TBBT has contributed very little to nerd culture.

In the world of cause and effect, TBBT has been firmly in the effect camp. While actors who appeal to nerd culture have appeared on the show, the show has had little if any effect on their popularity. The only exception to this has been Wil Wheaton and he's not exactly a superstar. The effort by SyFy to cash in on any popularity failed and the show is being remounted without him. And, conversely, Kaley's popularity hit the stratosphere during the short period she dated Henry Cavill (Superman). And her life has not been the same since. She has stated so herself.

And I don't expect to see any of the TBBT cast making cameo appearances in any of the comics or sci-fi inspired films coming down the pike.

Sorry, but I see no ebb and flow here. I see a plan to take advantage of the popularity of things nerd-related that quickly became another opportunity to ridicule those who attend university, those who are more intelligent and those who love "childish" things that most folks just don't understand.

I think Lorre et al are laughing all the way to the bank, having convinced the viewing public that they love something they actually despise.

[Louise]

I could be wrong, because at this point I've only watched about a quarter of this show's full run; but: something that strikes me is the relative lack of references to the guys *reading.* Off the top of my head, I can think of three instances: when they gave Leonard a book for his birthday in Peanut Reaction, when they discussed Asimov, and a mention of Sheldon's Kindle.

Academically-inclined people read, both fiction and nonfiction. They have to, and they want to. I'm sure all four guys learned to read at a precociously young age and they should have fond childhood memories of classic fantasy & scifi novels like Narnia or Alice in Wonderland and countless others.

IIRC they discussed LOTR in terms of the movies, not the books. Not that you can't have both, of course, but still. Did we see them discuss the differences between the movies and the books? I don't think so.

A&B do not come across as intellectual at all. Their conversations and interests revolve around the most excruciatingly trivial and banal things. Like the saying goes, great minds talk about ideas, mediocre minds talk about events, and poor minds talk about people. B. has no interior life whatsoever; I've never seen such a hollow and insubstantial character as a regular on a show, ever, and A's interests seem kind of pasted-on, like her other weird attributes. They don't seem to do anything just out of pure curiosity and enjoyment; they do things that benefit them in some concrete way.

But I would've expected more name-dropping of classic (or recent) scifi and fantasy *novels* and stories, if this show was actually geek-friendly, which it isn't, as Dev said.

[devilbk]

At a later point in the series Leonard is shown reading and later referring to a Harry Potter novel (which is surprising because any self-respecting nerd had already read the novels before they were made into films but Leonard is a self-hating nerd) and Sheldon ruins it for him, implying that Sheldon had either read the novel or seen the movie. Raj has referred to reading Eat Pray Love. That's not a good thing. Leonard has criticized Penny for what she reads but she may actually have been shown doing more actual reading than any of the others.

[Louise]

At a later point in the series Leonard is shown reading and later referring to a Harry Potter novel (which is surprising because any self-respecting nerd had already read the novels before they were made into films but Leonard is a self-hating nerd) and Sheldon ruins it for him, implying that Sheldon had either read the novel or seen the movie.

Yeah, and *everyone* has read Harry Potter, so there's nothing obscure about that. It's a pop culture juggernaut. I can think of so many classic fantasy novels, as well as hard-scifi stuff which would presumably appeal to those guys because of the technical detail...

Not that geeky interests have to be obscure, but I feel like it's less about the *type* of things a person reads/watches, it's more about the degree or depth of thought and passion that goes into it.

Raj has referred to reading Eat Pray Love. That's not a good thing.

Yeah, they made him super effeminate and weepy and I'm not sure what to make of that. A little is funny, too much is too much...

[ricardo shillyshally]

I think terms like nerd and geek, are problematic. They were originally used as insults. I know we use them, and when we use them as nouns, they seem little more than marketing labels. But it's illogical to believe that all those labelled will have the same limited interests. Even the characters's interests can't be contained; Sheldon is an expert on football, Howard likes Eminem. Most of the interests explored in BB are mainstream. Obviously BB owes alot to ST. As we know ST was a propaganda exercise to encourage Americans that it was more beneficial to spend money on space exploration(in reality a cold war ego trip), than say health care. But it also offered people hope that there was more to existence in the future, compared to the vagaries of modern existence. And that message was influential then, just as it is when Sheldon imagines the future. Whether it revitalised anyones career is irrelevant.