What may not be a big deal to you may be a big deal to other people. Try respecting that even if you don't agree with the other person's view. Look, I don't watch the show on a regular basis anymore. But when I did I mostly found it enjoyable. I didn't find it offensive or racist either. That being said I'm not Indian. Perhaps if I were I would be more sensitive to how Raj is portrayed. No offense to anyone but if you are white it may be a bit hard for you to see why some people of color take issue with the handling of non-white characters on TV, even if the show is a sitcom. How can white people in America for instance relate to this when they are overrepresented on TV compared to their actual numbers in the population? If people do tend to identify with characters who look like them and sound like them, then white viewers have always had an excess of riches. 99.9% of the TV shows in Hollywood's history have been about white characters, starred white actors and actresses. A white viewer doesn't like a certain show or two, well he/she always has endless amount to choose from (if the criteria again is finding characters they identify with). For people of color the options are far less abundant. Therefore we may end up getting too attached to the far less numerous non-white characters. Which means we may end up expecting those handful of characters to represent all the people of their respective races and therefore personally place burdens on them that are not placed on white characters. And of course that means we may be put off more when some shows, perhaps our favorite shows, don't have any cast members of our own race (white viewers tend not to have that problem obviously). Can it lead to a bunch of paranoia and unnecessary hysteria? Yes. But then again that is what happens when even today in 2012 non-white viewers are still looking for more non-white characters who are as fully formed as their white counterparts. Instead of dismissing that out of hand, try walking in someone else's shoes. I had to do that when hearing the arguments of female friends that in some areas women were not given the same opportunities as men. I had to do that when gay colleagues use to bemoan the lack of representation of homosexual characters in the movies. I had to do that when Asian friends would discuss how disappointing that there weren't many Asian American role models in sports. I like to put it this way. Let's say that there is an ensemble drama like "Lost" in which there are about 25 or so regular characters. Now how about it if the one or two black characters end up dying and/or end up betraying the rest of the characters, killing some of them and then end up dying. White people often can't understand why black viewers may bemoan such events by asking why did such and such have to happen to the black character. The white viewers may respond that "hey, one or two white characters died too" or "that one white character went bad also so what's the big deal?". What they don't grasp is that if one or two white characters went belly up there are still like twenty or more white characters to choose from. In other words there is no shortage of white characters in the first place. Same can't be said of black characters so when the one or two (whom are rarely the lead characters anyway) go down there is a void left. And by the way I agree that while sitcoms are not the vehicles of social messaging, any form of media is still capable of shaping perceptions, even if unintentionally.
Imagine? One doesn't have to imagine too hard since that is a reality. No need to imagine what's right outside our doors. Plenty of studies are out there if you want to read up on it. White viewers tend to "shy" away from movies and shows that are dominated by black characters. The rationale used is that they feel the shows/movies aren't "meant for them". Yeah, right. Last year for one particular study they gathered a collection for white individuals and presented them the plot of four different movies. The thing is the plots (a romantic comedy) were the same for each film. The difference is that in one film they came up with photos of a make believe cast and the people in the photos were all white. In another the photos were of a cast of mostly white people. Film #3 had photos of a mixed cast (evenly split amongst whites and blacks). And the last film had photos of a mostly black cast. Well, as some of you may guess the interest level of the white participants in the study decreased for these phony films as the main characters went from all-white, to mixed cast to mostly black. In other words the more white the film was presented to be the higher the interest; the more black the film was presented to be the lower the interest. And this is despite the plot being exactly the same for each one.
Interesting read thanks for posting. I just hate how they desrxualized this particular character who is a weathy astro physicist yet Sheldon who has an extreme aversion to people in general finds a womn and the creepy sexual pervert finds love yet the brown guy has five seasons of virtually no action outside of a weird nympho who tries to do his friends and a gold digging deaf girl. I should stop Im being over sensitive again lol
Like if men said they wouldnt watch the view? Its not the same thing and dont over simplify and dismiss the real problem. If the show belittled and stereotyped whites in a negative way then youd have a point but there are plenty of all white sitcoms and no one cared. I guess for a lot of you being white makes it hard for you to get it.
No different if they one of the women told me something was difficult for me to understand because I'm man so beat it with that bullshit. Saying white is not race baiting especially of its essential to the discussion topic at hand.
If there are plenty of shows with all black casts, then why the hate for TBBT? It's a tv show about nerdy guys. It's making fun of white guys (ok, and an indian guy) who are so smart they can't really function in the 'real' world. Who gives a fuck? Do you want them to throw in an Urkel just for the hell of it? Look at the women in the show. One is pretty but dumb, the other two are nerdy as hell...one so much so that no man in his right mind would be attracted. And of course, the pretty one of the two has to be blonde, doesn't she. Why does the normal girl have to be dumb and blonde...oh wait, there's a stereotype right there, maybe all blondes should be offended by that and all us brunettes should be offended that we're not in the show too. There are also no fat people in it, no little people, no disabled people (that I can recall). My point is...not every single show on the planet has to have every single kind of person in it just to please people. There's a lot of variety out there, something for everyone. If you don't like it, then that's fine. Don't watch it. You can't like everything. But this thread started out as a thread from someone who recently discovered the show and wanted to share how much they liked it, and then all this shit happened.
To be fair there are things we as men wont ever have to deal with as far as gender. We dont have to worry about rape or abduction the way they do. We arent solely judged on our looks the way they are, we arent dismissed in converations about business and sports the way they are or plagued with unrelenting hormonal issues that make us emotional. Its tough being a woman, I just expect the same understanding and compassion that a lot of us give them.
Reread the first post Sin. Arwen asked "whats your opinion" and mqny of the posters gave it. Secondly I dont think any of us were complaining about there bwing enough black characters, at least I wasn't, my critique was of how they depict the one person of color on the show. ALL of the guys are socially awkward yet Raj is the one who for some rrason cant find anyone to date. Its a fair critique and one worth mentioning as to why the show turns me off.
hang on a tick, that's just piss-weak. how is my strine? :: tosses you a tinny :: no aussies in the show, that's just wobbly and as bad as a write-off. i think im yacking too much, maybe its cause im a yabbo thats really zonked right now. muah hahaha! i guess i needed to use the sarcastic font on that post. dont get it twisted, just because im in corp america dont mean the damu in me is gone. my cdc number isnt attached to me anymore and im proud of it.
[YOUTUBE]oUc0vbSlanM[/YOUTUBE] I've been watching Friends all week after I get home from work. I'll admit, I do wonder what things would look like in an alternate universe if they had one of the female characters end up with or seriously date a black male character introduced into the friend group. Would the show still have been as popular? Would it last as long as it did? Would the general audience continue to tune in every week if the same things had of occured, except maybe Ross or Chandler was an afro-american male? :smt017 I hope so! And maybe someday a show like that will come along and knock it out of the park. And this is of course excluding some few shows that may have had interracial romance with supporting characters, but in most cases, the main characters. Anyway, back to Big Bang Theory lol
Sin,you have not seen a lot of all Black sitcoms in Oz. If you live in the States you would had seen some. Loki,that piece is deep on the BBT treatment of the Indian character. For me it is a lack of swirling and no Blacks. Black Knight, you knocked it out of the park.