Anthropology of the Big Bang

[devilbk]

Ricardo, I think your take on the origins of Star Trek is bull. This is the same period when Medicare and Medicaid were created so your proposition is actually ridiculous. Was that what you were going for? And the money spent on space exploration plus healthcare was minuscule compared to the vast amount spent on the wars in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. If the government wanted to take attention away from anything it was that.

[ricardo shillyshally]

Well that's why I used 'say'. I'm sure there's many beneficial projects that could have been funded with the money. Those wars were part of the cold war, as well. I did find that info about government funding for ST as propaganda, from a tv programme, I'll source it. My point is, that isn't it ironic that it inspired so many people, and even gave them hope, (Even the cast thought it would die).

[Gamma]

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.

Yeah there are not a lot of references to the guys reading but I did think of a couple more for Sheldon. In the Martha episode he talks about the book Flatland(was that also the episode he learned Finnish?). In another episode Sheldon counsels Leonard (when Leonard is thinking of cheating on Pryia) by saying he has read all the moral philosophers, including Dr.Seuss. He then refers to Nietzsche. Also in 43 Peculiarly Raj makes reference to The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy.

[Idle Miscreant]

Original Sheldon had a vaguely "renaissance man" quality, insofar as his intelligence was wide-ranging, and not limited to strictly theoretical physics, his talents spanned various mediums, and his interests appeared to encompass almost everything under the sun. Not only a brilliant scientist, and science-fiction aficionado, but he could cook, sew, "shoot close enough to a raccoon that it craps itself", and had a Apocalypse survival plan. The limits of his knowledge were celebrity pop culture, sarcasm (although he could use it), sex/romance, and social etiquette (although again, for these last he understood the technicalities).

It is interesting that the Sheldon of seasons 5-8 not only quotes pop culture, understands sarcasm, is engaged in a “romance”, makes sexual jokes and is being propelled towards coitus faster than the Millennium Falcon made the Kessel Run, but has simultaneously been stripped of all his S1-4 talents (and mannerisms and traits and personality attributes….but we don’t need to repeat that).

He’s gone from something akin to Machiavelli’s Prince to being a court jester. He’s YORICK now for godsake. (Alas) Although Blackadder to Mr Bean is still the most accurate, in my opinion...

Observe.

Sheldon Cooper Skill Set – Implied and/or Demonstrated (and not even counting scientific knowledge, computer games, wii archery or Rockband, comic-related trivia or general encyclopedic knowledge)

S1-4
1) Tuvan throat singing, 2) Theremin, 3) Piano, 4) Recorder, 4) Dancing, 5) Acting, 6) Singing (sea shanties, blues, musicals, rounds), 7) Finnish, 8) Mandarin, 9) Klingon, 10) Invented 3 person chess, 11) Invented Research Lab board game, 12) Invented numerous car games, 13) Created luminous fish, 14) Built an MVPD (and helped with the creation of MONTE, unlike in S8 when he and Howard break a simple toy), 15) Weaving, 16) Sewing, 17) Optimized manufacture of Penny Blossoms, 18) Bowling, 19) Shooting, 20) Kite-fighting, 21) Paintball, 22) Football (theoretical knowledge of), 23) Rock climbing (well enough until he fainted and hung there like a giant sawami), 24) Driving (badly, but still), 25) Cooking/baking, 26) Waiter/busboy

Quotes/References – Omar Khayyám, Lewis Carroll, Leibniz, Nietzsche, Shakespeare.


Season 5-8
1) Klingon, 2) Paintball, 3) Singing (karaoke and children’s songs), 4) Er…kissing? (whilst thinking about the Flash)

Quotes – Taylor Swift, and his redneck father.



I literally cannot think of anything else, and whilst I may have skipped most of Season 8 out of sheer horror, I certainly read the Taping Reports. From my mid-morning recollection (and do correct me), in four years he has played no instruments, learned no languages, demonstrated no new skills (other than kissing), invented nothing (the scullcap he was wearing in Anxiety is not an invention), quoted no philosophers or great literature (indeed, he had to learn about Pride and Prejudice from Amy. For the love of...), and displays a manner that suggests that far from being a genius, he’s actually a little “slow”.

And in my humble (ish) opinion, “slow” is NOT the new sexy.

They have also retconned the things he previously knew. Amy now taught him to drive, despite him driving Penny to hospital in Season 3, Penny had to teach him acting AGAIN (and he’s now oddly worse at it), he’s being spoon-fed these ghastly morality lessons by AFF, and I might say that being lectured on morality by a woman as canonically manipulative, sabotaging, envious and self-serving as Amy, is a little rich.

Incidentally, the erroneously titled “Fun” With Flags is not a skill, it’s a pastime, and is really just an excuse to put Parsons in silly outfits. The whole activity is deeply cringe-worthy and humiliating for the character who was once Vintage Sheldon.
A note on costumes in general, other than when he lost a bet to Stuart and Wil Wheaton, Sheldon's chosen get-ups were always magnificent. The Doppler Effect, The Flash, the white tuxedo, the Coopersuit. Now it's all French Maid's costumes, drag, naked in Amy's soft porn scenarios, pantsless (regularly once a year now) or lederhosen and clutching a giant pretzel - all calculated to make him look ridiculous - or drab and boring normalwear for his "romantic scenes", which Vintage Sheldon would curl his lip at.
In addition he got his head stuck in a wall, caught in a revolving door, chased a balloon, and seems to alternate between acting like a dog and a toddler, depending on who’s minding him at the time…

But Sheldon’s GROWN dammit!

Incidentally, I’ve worked out why so many well-meaning but gormless souls say he’s grown. They’re starting at Season 5, where Sheldon was unceremoniously booted back to a rednecky, shouty toddlerhood, from the camp, mad scientist he was in Season 4. Of course he’s “grown” from Season 5. It would be very difficult to regress any further than that character. But grown from Season 1-3? Fuck off.

[Toad]

This is brilliant! And it occurs to me that an interesting project (which I might undertake) would be to scour the transcripts for references to Sheldon's skills, talents, ideas and knowledge, within the parameters established above, i.e. not related to work or gaming.

Just in the pilot alone Sheldon:

1. Is mulling an idea for a t-shirt (a photon directed through a plane with two slits in it)
2. References a series of stairstep experiments he did when he was 12 (in which his father broke his clavicle)
3. References his work with lasers (after which he was sent to boarding school)

Yes this stuff is a bit wacky (it IS a sitcom after all), but the point is that we learn right off the bat that Sheldon has a fertile, restless brain always thinking thinking thinking and looking for outlets.

Plus there's this exchange:

Sheldon: I really think we should examine the chain of causality here.
Leonard: Must we?
Sheldon: Event A. A beautiful woman stands naked in our shower. Event B. We drive half way across town to retrieve a television set from the aforementioned woman’s ex-boyfriend. Query, on what plane of existence is there even a semi-rational link between these events?
Leonard: She asked me to do her a favour, Sheldon.
Sheldon: Ah, yes, well that may be the proximal cause of our journey, but we both know it only exists in contradistinction to the higher level distal cause.

Which, yes, leads to a penis joke, but still...

Mr. Lorre, Mr. Prady, why is dialogue like this no longer being written?

[ricardo shillyshally]

Yes I'm now thinking, it was Sheldon's range of knowledge that made him interesting. People don't just lose that in real life, and from how you describe Sheldum, someone's been re-routing his neural pathways, while destroying the best bits. Something, as people relied on religion less and came to worship science, they needed a new vision of heaven, the future, as shown in ST, 2001:A Space odyssey, The Time Machine. While other sci fi offered visions of Hell!

[ricardo shillyshally]

I don't totally agree with Simon Pegg. Culture reflects our development, if they only make safe nostalgia inducing remakes and prequels, films based on comic books, or programmes that only reference others, I don't know what will happen. I think what keeps adults in perpetual adolescence, is their parents. Adults are aware of being eighteen, and usually go through an initiation rite of passage. But what makes the parents let go, and stop treating their offspring as children! I see it in real life, and in the show. Usually the parents have something that the child/adult wants; Leonard needs to realise his mother can't love him, grow up, and stop trying to get his emotional high from substitutes. Howard living at home with his mother until (let's say) thirty! And then expecting his substitute to cook,wash and clean for him, grow a pair! And Sheldon will never get the recognition he so craves, his family have no comprehension of what he does. And they live in the past. It's the parents that need to let go!

[wellplayedpenny]

One of my favorite quotes comes from the book, 'No Country for Old Men' by Cormac McCarthy:
-- Kids don't have to grow up any faster than they have to.
And that has explained to me quite clearly why I encounter very few adults where I live. The childlike can stay but it's the childishness that is a complete turnoff.

[devilbk]

There's an implication that perpetual adolescence is a bad thing. Retaining a sense of wonder, idealism and hope for the future is a lot better than becoming cynical, world-weary and hopeless. If that's what being an adult means I'd rather remain an overgrown teenager.

[Louise]

Howard living at home with his mother until (let's say) thirty! And then expecting his substitute to cook,wash and clean for him, grow a pair!

That's New!Howard. We didn't start hearing about "Howard can't cut his own pancakes or his own meat" until S5. Prior to that, he was whipping up some supposedly-erotic scrambled eggs for Lenny. The difference is quite abrupt and noticeable. While I doubt Old!Howard would be super-keen on housework, either, (most people aren't ) he wouldn't be as helpless and lazy as New!Howard. The natural direction to take with this character would be to watch him become more independent, not less. Old!Howard enjoys being spoiled by his mother to some degree, I'm sure, but he pays for it through putting up with her eccentricities and demands.


It would've been cute to watch Howard learning how to manage his own place. There'd be a learning curve, I'm sure, but I don't believe he'd just sit there passively and wait for the nearest person with ovaries to tie his shoes for him. He's industrious and enterprising. He'd be programming little robots to do things for him, with amusingly mixed results...

He's obviously so precise and fussy about his clothes and hair, I could see him becoming equally precise and fussy about his surroundings. It might've been funny if he and Raj or one of the other guys were roomies and they each had a different way of doing things and this caused some mild friction and they had to have a Roommate Agreement of their own. (What if Sheldon went off with Penny or went off on a work-related trip and Leonard had to live with Howard and/or Raj, and he realized that living with Sheldon really wasn't so bad? IDK, that might've been a funny storyline.)

"Howard looking for a new Mommy-figure" is a retcon. He didn't behave that way with any of the women prior to B. We didn't see him expecting Leslie or Stephanie or Christie to attend to his needs. (And while he's sexually forward, he doesn't have a sense of entitlement, sexually. He seemed very *grateful* to those girls for showing him some attention and affection, which is kinda poignant.)

What did he do at MIT? Probably ate ramen a lot of the time, but so what?


ETA: Simon Pegg's recent movie "Hector and the Search for Happiness" was kinda disappointing. Message of "give up your childhood dreams in order to be a functional adult", similar to what we've discussed here.

ETA 2: and just for the sake of argument, if someone *is* reluctant to take responsibility for some task or other, the solution is not to scream, threaten, manipulate, or use bribes, rewards, or punishments. Getting angry only escalates the situation. If someone says "I don't know how to do that", a better approach is to say "Let me show you how, then." And if they still won't do it...well, why are you continuing to associate yourself with that person? That dynamic will not make for a good friendship or partnership, and it will only get worse, not better. You can't change people, you can only give them a chance, and if they show themselves to be incompatible with you and your needs, you move on. Most sensible people are not going to stay with someone whom they find intensely annoying and inflexible, except in sitcom-land.