7.18 The Mommy Observation

[devilbk]

And now they will have completely infantilized Sheldon in order for Amy to rebuild him into a "better" sexualized being. How very sad.

[queenoftheDales]

Nope. Negative. I can't watch this episode. Im done done done with these people infantilizing and dumbing down Sheldon for laughs. This is the final blow for me. That is the the stupidest crap that has come out his mouth. I get Sheldon becoming more childish around his mom but this is too much for me. I don't care if Sheldon ends up teaching his mom about sex or whatever.

Im part of the no watch crew, now. UGH >_< !!!

[FranEssi]

And now they will have completely infantilized Sheldon in order for Amy to rebuild him into a "better" sexualized being. How very sad.

I agree. We all know the main reasons behind infantilizing Sheldon: 1) to guarantee Leonard's place as the hero and as the mature one in the group. We can't have Sheldon outshine Leonard in any way. 2) to portray Amy as the long-suffering girlfriend and to justify her efforts to control and to change Sheldon.

BUT the degree and the frequency of this infantilization has made me wonder if there are other factors at work too. Occasional childish behavior is OK, but this is overdoing it. Also note that while Sheldon is the main victim of this infantilization, the writers have been doing it to other characters too. Amy back in season 5 acted like a teenager especially when it came to her friendship with Penny and Bernadette. She is the one that dreamt of Sheldon saying the 'mommies and daddies' line. In a recent episode, the 'girls' went out and Amy put on her tiara like a 5 year-old and even Penny talked about how she had problems with being an adult. I also remember that episode in season 6 when the guys were called to the office of the Human Resources lady, and the whole scene looked more like four schoolboys being called to the Principal’s office at a school and not four “scientists” visiting the Human Resource office at a “university”. (Now that I come to think of it, the wardrobe choice for the main four characters kind of makes sense. Maybe the writers and the creators of the show always saw these characters more as schoolboys rather than adults and scientists?)

So I am beginning to wonder: can it be that these writers indeed have a thing for grown-up men and women acting like little kids? Or maybe they have deep-rooted growing up/mommies/daddies issues themselves and they are expressing those issues through the characters? Or maybe as Tuesday Pajamas once said, they are conducting a social experiment on the audience to see how many people, and for how long, will go along with and approve of such creepy characterizations and relationships!!

[Tuesday Pajamas]

I agree. We all know the main reasons behind infantilizing Sheldon: 1) to guarantee Leonard's place as the hero and as the mature one in the group. We can't have Sheldon outshine Leonard in any way. 2) to portray Amy as the long-suffering girlfriend and to justify her efforts to control and to change Sheldon.

BUT the degree and the frequency of this infantilization has made me wonder if there are other factors at work too. Occasional childish behavior is OK, but this is overdoing it. Also note that while Sheldon is the main victim of this infantilization, the writers have been doing it to other characters too. Amy back in season 5 acted like a teenager especially when it came to her friendship with Penny and Bernadette. She is the one that dreamt of Sheldon saying the 'mommies and daddies' line. In a recent episode, the 'girls' went out and Amy put on her tiara like a 5 year-old and even Penny talked about how she had problems with being an adult. I also remember that episode in season 6 when the guys were called to the office of the Human Resources lady, and the whole scene looked more like four schoolboys being called to the Principal’s office at a school and not four “scientists” visiting the Human Resource office at a “university”. (Now that I come to think of it, the wardrobe choice for the main four characters kind of makes sense. Maybe the writers and the creators of the show always saw these characters more as schoolboys rather than adults and scientists?)

So I am beginning to wonder: can it be that these writers indeed have a thing for grown-up men and women acting like little kids? Or maybe they have deep-rooted growing up/mommies/daddies issues themselves and they are expressing those issues through the characters? Or maybe as Tuesday Pajamas once said, they are conducting a social experiment on the audience to see how many people, and for how long, will go along with and approve of such creepy characterizations and relationships!!

I remember a couple of years on the TBBT fansite there was talk about that the show being dumbed down. This caused a lot of arguments but the process which the shamy supporters denied is now complete.

The clever dialogue has all but gone. Sheldon threw in a science rant in 'Table', which was quickly ridiculed by Leonard, to drive home the fact that this shows mocks intelligence now. It makes the average feel safe in the knowledge that the characters are beneath them, stupid, childish and undeveloped. It's sickening. I loved the characters being smarter than I am. My ego is not that fragile that it threatened me.

The average viewer is being insulted and they don't even seem to notice. *sigh*

[SpaceAnJL]

When you consider how many of the showrunners come from Nickelodeon, it might make more sense. They are used to catering for an audience of hysterical tweens.

There's always been the view in the show that the whole geek thing is 'childish', a love of sci-fi and comics reduced and equated to 'playing with toys'. And portrayed as a bad thing. You can't be an adult and have hobbies that aren't mainstream. Because, obviously, casual sex and binge-drinking are the mark of a grown-up, and painting your face and wearing a jersey to follow a sports team makes you a good adult, whilst wearing a brown coat to follow a tv show makes you a bad one.

I'm not touching the idea of badly sublimated kink. The kindest interpretation is that they think it's funny to have people behaving like small kids aping a rather infantile concept of adulthood. Maybe it's supposed to be entertainingly transgressive, I don't know. I just find it uncomfortable, tedious and embarrassing by turns.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

When you consider how many of the showrunners come from Nickelodeon, it might make more sense. They are used to catering for an audience of hysterical tweens.

There's always been the view in the show that the whole geek thing is 'childish', a love of sci-fi and comics reduced and equated to 'playing with toys'. And portrayed as a bad thing. You can't be an adult and have hobbies that aren't mainstream. Because, obviously, casual sex and binge-drinking are the mark of a grown-up, and painting your face and wearing a jersey to follow a sports team makes you a good adult, whilst wearing a brown coat to follow a tv show makes you a bad one.

I'm not touching the idea of badly sublimated kink. The kindest interpretation is that they think it's funny to have people behaving like small kids aping a rather infantile concept of adulthood. Maybe it's supposed to be entertainingly transgressive, I don't know. I just find it uncomfortable, tedious and embarrassing by turns.

Jim Parsons is 40 now. It starting to make him look foolish.

[queenoftheDales]

Jim Parsons is 40 now. It starting to make him look foolish.

Will it get worse when he runs 41 in a couple weeks? I just do get how he can have adult conversations about sex before the Shamy now he is an idiot. How do people think this is funny????

[Nutz]

The whole show smacks of Age Play now, something I can really see AFF sexually getting into. For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about:
Ageplay or age play is a form of roleplaying in which an individual acts or treats another as if they were a different age. Ageplay is role playing between adults.
Ageplay can be sexual or non-sexual. It may be mildly sexual, or very sexual.
Ageplay can enhance power dynamics, and allow a partner to feel more comfortable with their dominance or submission. Often, sissification of boys is present, in order to add another level of power to the situation.

Sexual variations may include among other things such as incest play, in which individuals recreate and sexualize roles within a family, and Daddy's girl fetishism in which real or imagined age differences are the basis of the roleplaying and the female is portrayed as the younger partner.

I can totally see Amy sticking Sheldon into a diaper and getting a female woodie as he calls her mommy.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

The whole show smacks of Age Play now, something I can really see AFF sexually getting into. For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about:
Ageplay or age play is a form of roleplaying in which an individual acts or treats another as if they were a different age. Ageplay is role playing between adults.
Ageplay can be sexual or non-sexual. It may be mildly sexual, or very sexual.
Ageplay can enhance power dynamics, and allow a partner to feel more comfortable with their dominance or submission. Often, sissification of boys is present, in order to add another level of power to the situation.

Sexual variations may include among other things such as incest play, in which individuals recreate and sexualize roles within a family, and Daddy's girl fetishism in which real or imagined age differences are the basis of the roleplaying and the female is portrayed as the younger partner.

I can totally see Amy sticking Sheldon into a diaper and getting a female woodie as he calls her mommy.

Her daydream about him saying "like mommies and daddies do" seems to fit into this. Oh dear!

[Trust No One]

Nope. Negative. I can't watch this episode. Im done done done with these people infantilizing and dumbing down Sheldon for laughs. This is the final blow for me. That is the the stupidest crap that has come out his mouth. I get Sheldon becoming more childish around his mom but this is too much for me. I don't care if Sheldon ends up teaching his mom about sex or whatever.

Im part of the no watch crew, now. UGH >_< !!!

Nice to have you join myself and wellplayed queen? Anyone else want to join before it gets too crowded?

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Jim Parsons is 40 now. It starting to make him look foolish.

Wow thanks to the writers, Sheldon is soo far from 40 it's not funny.