For reasons that probably made sense at the time, I watched three seasons of The Big Bang Theory before I took a look at myself – metaphysically, not literally; I didn’t sit there and watch them all in one sitting or anything – and realised I hadn’t laughed once. I might have forgotten what laughter was, actually, it had been so long. There are a number of things that bother me about The Big Bang Theory, but one thing more than others. No, it’s not the misrepresentation of “geek culture.” It’s not the tragic misunderstandings of scientific principles. It’s not the ever-so-slight-but-still-there,-y’know-what-I-mean-when-you-think-about-it casual racism and misogyny, although… yes, actually, that’s part of it, but I’m out of my depth talking about that, so let’s move on to the next paragraph, in which I actually explain what it is that bothers me. It’s the fact that one of the main characters, Sheldon, clearly has some kind of developmental disorder and yet, even if they’ve caught onto it, none of these so-called eggheads will come out and say it. This is because the show’s creators will never come out and say it. This is so that they can keep making jokes at the expense of the character with a clear-and-obvious developmental disorder. Which is to say, they can keep making fun of people with autism spectrum conditions. Contrast this with the competing Community, where one of their characters has a developmental disorder. It’s more-or-less explicitly stated in the first episode, and it is hilarious.

For reasons that probably made sense at the time, I watched three seasons of The Big Bang Theory before I took a look at myself – metaphysically, not literally; I didn’t sit there and watch them all in one sitting or anything – and realised I hadn’t laughed once.

I might have forgotten what laughter was, actually, it had been so long.

There are a number of things that bother me about The Big Bang Theory, but one thing more than others. No, it’s not the misrepresentation of “geek culture.” It’s not the tragic misunderstandings of scientific principles. It’s not the ever-so-slight-but-still-there,-y’know-what-I-mean-when-you-think-about-it casual racism and misogyny, although… yes, actually, that’s part of it, but I’m out of my depth talking about that, so let’s move on to the next paragraph, in which I actually explain what it is that bothers me.

It’s the fact that one of the main characters, Sheldon, clearly has some kind of developmental disorder and yet, even if they’ve caught onto it, none of these so-called eggheads will come out and say it. This is because the show’s creators will never come out and say it. This is so that they can keep making jokes at the expense of the character with a clear-and-obvious developmental disorder.

Which is to say, they can keep making fun of people with autism spectrum conditions.

Contrast this with the competing Community, where one of their characters has a developmental disorder. It’s more-or-less explicitly stated in the first episode, and it is hilarious.

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  1. amchphotography said: Still love this show! I do laugh at times :]
  2. sublimepanda8 said: LOVE this post
  3. laviebelem said: LOL. I feel the same way about this new show Whitney…except replace developmental disorder with female misogyny.
  4. barretta said: I dispute your first clause. There’s no possibility your reasons made sense at the time.
  5. jamiedrew posted this