The Big Bang Theory (Post 5)

This weekend I watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory. In this episode, two of the main characters, Penny and Leonard, are having problems in their relationship, in an attempt to try to make things better Penny begins to spend more time at Leonard's apartment. Leonard, however, shares his apartment with his roommate Sheldon. And of course, Penny and Leonard don't really get along. In this episode, Sheldon seems to be in power and he always shows how he is smarter than Penny, by talking about things that she does not understand, and also shows power over her when he offers her a chocolate whenever she follows his "rules". For example, they are watching TV and Sheldon likes everyone to be quiet when he is watching his shows, at this time, Penny receives a phone call and Sheldon glares at her, she looks at him and then decides to step out to the hallway to talk on the phone, Sheldon nods at her and offers her a piece of chocolate, she takes it and leaves the room. In other words, this show portrays men to be smarter than women. This example supports Gebner's claim that "people aren't born a minority, they are trained to act like a minority through that kind of cultural conditioning." In the show, it is all the guys that are the geniuses, and the only female role is the one of the dumb blond, which follows the stereotyping of blond girls. Continuing with the minority on TV issue, the show includes a Hindu person, Rajesh, he has a very thick Hindu accent and he is picked on and made fun of a lot, or more than other characters. The show also emphasizes the stereotypical geniuses or as we called them today, geeks. They are also another minority. They are portrayed as wearing geeky clothes and hair styles and not getting much female attention. This types of shows that make some groups of people a minority, and it is also shows like this that put labels on people, but even if it is not the best or correct thing to do, people still like the show and watch it.