9.07 The Spock Resonance

[Toad]

Thank you for this!   

But how ridiculous is it that we have to, once again, bring up these moments, iconic moments to boot, in order to refute this calumny?

It's one thing for the canons to perpetuate the myth - cold, emotionless robot-man redeemed by the love of a good woman seems to be the shiny new engine propelling their ship at the moment - but for the writers to be complicit in this as well is damn near criminal! (Not to mention them essentially throwing Spock under the Growth bus. For shame!)

They created him, for pete's sake! They know, they SHOULD know, what's in his makeup. That a large part of what makes Sheldon memorable and relatable is how the intellectual, logical and orderly side of his personality is so often overwhelmed and overruled by his emotional side. It's the grist for much of the comedy. The facade of logic and orderliness crumbles, revealing a man who can be enraged, anguished, overjoyed, etc. etc.

Just because someone prizes logic doesn't mean he or she has no emotional core. So it is with Sheldon. Just because he admired Spock and sought to emulate him doesn't mean that he was particularly successful at it. In fact I'd wager we could quickly fill up a thread with Sheldon emoting all over the damn place if we wanted to. But Proof That Sheldon Is Not A Cold Emotionless Robot-Man is too cumbersome a title, and hopefully we've made our point anyway.

[devilbk]

I really think that this is due in large part to the laziness of the current writing staff. Writing Vintage Sheldon is hard and often involves research. He is iconic. There is no other like him. Writing NuSheldon is easy because he fits easily into traditional sitcom tropes. Rather than being Homo Novus he is Joe Shmo. And anyone can write Joe Shmo in their sleep. The problem is that Joe Shmo doesn't get you "real" award nominations because that character could be played by anyone.

[Louise]

That kiss does indeed look very staged. Not that that's necessarily a problem, whatever the actors are comfortable with, but their scenes are already so stiff and awkward.

I just had this horror scenario idea of the show actually going through with Howardette babies and the plot that they teased in the first episode where they were talking about babies, the one with the magic show, where they decided Howard would raise the kids. Can you imagine what this show would do with Howard having to take care of a baby, given how adult they have been about the idea of a woman earning more than her husband? Or the episode where Howard was getting female hormones and started acting like a mutated Bridget Jones? A MAN DOING A WOMAN'S JOB? THAT'S CRAZY, MEN CAN'T USE BABY BOTTLES AND DIAPERS (you know, never mind that even twenty-five years ago when I was born it wasn't really strange that my dad, who was still at university at the time, took care of me more often than my full-time working mum or that several of my friends have an arrangement where dad stays at home because mum happens to earn more money and no one cares because everyone has to pay bills and understands that problem).

They'll do all that and more to Howard. I have no doubt. I've been predicting it for a while. And yes, it's completely sexist and outdated and doesn't reflect people's real lives, nowadays. "Men don't know how to take care of a baby!!111!!!!"  This show's gender stereotypes are *ancient*, and they think that even the slightest deviation from traditional gender roles is hilarious and ( for the man ) demeaning. 

Smart, caring, reasonable couples who actually love each other don't give a shit about this ridiculousness like "A man baked a cake, that means he must have ovaries!!!" How moronic. As you said, ADA, right now all of us are looking at our own lives and the lives of people we know, like parents and siblings and friends, and going "Whaaaaa?" because this is not how marriage, parenthood, work, and other issues actually function IRL.

Plus, the continuing idea that there's nothing very significant about Howard's career. Being an aerospace engineer is like working at Target, so naturally he would be the one to stop working. 

The elephant in the room is that a couple is supposed to discuss all these issues ( money, work, kids or no kids, where to live) BEFORE they get engaged and certainly BEFORE they get married. As I outlined in a recent post, H and B do not communicate, they weren't communicating in S3-S4 and they basically don't know each other at all. IMO their incompatibility was clearly evident from the start.

I don't care anymore. This show is utterly, utterly unrealistic. Nothing about it reflects the actual lives of couples in their 20s/30s and how they manage issues of work, money, decision-making, childcare, etc.  It's every bit as unrealistic as saying that someone makes millions of dollars working at Starbucks or Old Navy. 

And yeah, that's not how hormones work and that's not how women behave, even in their not-so-great moments. I've watched those clips. Even in a sitcom, you need some type of baseline level of realism and believability.  This show is now a cartoon, in a bad way. The fact that there are young and not-so-young people who think this is a normal, and even admirable/aspirational portrait of responsible adulthood is just  .  I am continually shocked at just how willfully stupid some viewers are and how the writers are not even trying.  This is Gilligan's Island-level ridiculousness, on a show that markets itself as being "smart" and pro-science. (and even GI was rather enjoyable in its own way.)

The good news is, that's not Howard. Howard's central trait is *energy.* Passivity and inactivity are the antithesis of him.  The change isn't as dramatic as with Sheldon, perhaps, but New!Howard's traits and behaviors are, in some ways, very antithetical and contradictory to Vintage Howard. I don't even particularly feel sorry for this character, because he doesn't seem real, he's just a bundle of tropes and stereotypes. He doesn't *quite* look right or sound right to me, either, which is why I don't one hundred percent enjoy even some of the relatively good scenes we've had recently, but that's another topic for another post.

Now this stuff just annoys and aggravates me with its factual inaccuracies, instead of breaking my heart. 

As I've said before, I don't think it's completely OOC for Howard to want children, but it's not a topic I need to see on the show.

I wrote a story about Howard and Raj being a couple and adopting a child together. That's as far as I'm willing to explore that idea:  http://archiveofourown.org/works/4731389

The beloved vintage characters are gone, so now my real axe to grind is just how *offensive* this show is, with the way it seems to revel in ignorance and portray all this gibberish as something to aspire to. And it's not just teenagers, either. Apparently, there are people in their 30s and 40s with jobs and kids and spouses and responsibilities, who think this show's portrayal of everyday life is normal and admirable and something to emulate 

ETA: my brother-in-law is an engineer. He makes $$$. He has Star Wars posters in the living room and his seven-month-old baby plays with an R2-D2 plushie. When he and my sister got married, the groomsmen had Star Wars cufflinks. My sister is not mega-keen on SW, but she doesn't *hate* it, and she likes other fandoms, including Harry Potter. She once threw an HP-themed party and made Golden Snitches and all kinds of things.

I, myself, am not heavily involved in any major fandoms, but I like all of them in a casual way, and if I met someone as smart, charming, lovable, and successful as Howard, I would LIVE inside the fucking Tardis. I'm just very laid-back about that sort of thing, generally. Some things aren't worth arguing about.

[Louise]

Thank you for this!   

But how ridiculous is it that we have to, once again, bring up these moments, iconic moments to boot, in order to refute this calumny?

I wish I could like this post twice, and I wish I could like Gripe's post twice. There is so much to say, here, that I don't know where to begin.

[Idle Miscreant]

I, myself, am not heavily involved in any major fandoms, but I like all of them in a casual way, and if I met someone as smart, charming, lovable, and successful as Howard, I would LIVE inside the fucking Tardis. I'm just very laid-back about that sort of thing, generally. Some things aren't worth arguing about.

I imagine living inside the TARDIS would be quite pleasant!




I must say, I liked this bit VERY bloody much.



It's a very amusing switcheroo...the schmaltzy and conventional beginning of "I think the same thing that appeals to people everywhere..." Followed by what is a highly subjective statement.

Just to spell the joke out.

I also kept Penny in that gif because I like that she's getting a kick out of it. She's obviously terribly fond of the fucker...

[Louise]

Proof That Sheldon Is Not A Cold Emotionless Robot-Man

The lyrics aren't perfectly applicable, but maybe someone would like to put some of these scenes/moments into a fanvid, using this song: 

[Idle Miscreant]

I'd prefer something by The Doors...What about "People Are Strange"? Or better, "Where Is My Mind?" by the Pixies...
It's always irked me that fanvideos are predominately made using modern pop songs. Where's the Cab Calloway dammit! I think the only exception I've found recently was a Niles Crane fanvid (such things exist) to the tune of "I feel Pretty" from West Side Story. That was hilarious.
Otherwise it all sounds like techno-babble to me. And no I'm not an old man on a porch, just an archaic wanker...
Buster Keaton fanvids are quite good. I've seen a few with Iggy Pop, Radiohead and whatnot. Radiohead also seems to pop up a lot in Shenny fanfiction...Most of OK Computer album seems to fit quite well.
Karma Police! With Sheldon running the hell away from a driverless car carrying a beige, normalised future!

(Edit - Interesting song and a good find though! Just being cranky in the morning...)

[Louise]

I'd prefer something by The Doors...What about "People Are Strange"? Or better, "Where Is My Mind?" by the Pixies...
It's always irked me that fanvideos are predominately made using modern pop songs. Where's the Cab Calloway dammit! I think the only exception I've found recently was a Niles Crane fanvid (such things exist) to the tune of "I feel Pretty" from West Side Story. That was hilarious.
Otherwise it all sounds like techno-babble to me. And no I'm not an old man on a porch, just an archaic wanker...
Buster Keaton fanvids are quite good. I've seen a few with Iggy Pop, Radiohead and whatnot. Radiohead also seems to pop up a lot in Shenny fanfiction...Most of OK Computer album seems to fit quite well.
Karma Police! With Sheldon running the hell away from a driverless car carrying a beige, normalised future!

(Edit - Interesting song and a good find though! Just being cranky in the morning...)

Well, it also contains the line "Better to be hated than loved for what you're not" which IMO is pretty applicable to the canon ships.

The song that I associate with Howard is "Strange Magic", by ELO. For obvious reasons

ETA: I love old music from the '30s and '40s, too.

[Louise]

I'd prefer something by The Doors...What about "People Are Strange"? Or better, "Where Is My Mind?" by the Pixies...
It's always irked me that fanvideos are predominately made using modern pop songs. Where's the Cab Calloway dammit! I think the only exception I've found recently was a Niles Crane fanvid (such things exist) to the tune of "I feel Pretty" from West Side Story. That was hilarious.
Otherwise it all sounds like techno-babble to me. And no I'm not an old man on a porch, just an archaic wanker...
Buster Keaton fanvids are quite good. I've seen a few with Iggy Pop, Radiohead and whatnot. Radiohead also seems to pop up a lot in Shenny fanfiction...Most of OK Computer album seems to fit quite well.
Karma Police! With Sheldon running the hell away from a driverless car carrying a beige, normalised future!

(Edit - Interesting song and a good find though! Just being cranky in the morning...)

I'm obsessed with this song, which featured in the movie "Curse of the Jade Scorpion":

[SpaceAnJL]

Radiohead - 'Fake Plastic Trees' feels like Penny's life now.