September 20, 2013

To his friend...


49 comments:

  1. [I Don't Want to Live on this Planet Anymore]

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    1. I bet they also sell rings with the Big Bang Theory shirt logo on!

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  2. Just one of the many reasons why I can't stand that show

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    1. ...Because of the people who watch it?

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    2. You're EXACTLY like half the people in these comics.

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    3. OP here. Just to clarify I disliked the show originally because I found it not funny in the slightest. And then when people like this think every single nerdy comic or whatever relates to the BBT or comes from the BBT, it's a little annoying. Mostly because I don't understand why anyone could like the show. Sorry for having opinions.

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  3. "...Its like a Roman Numeral Zero"
    "There is no roman numeral zero!"

    An exchange between my father and I on the phone as he tries
    to describe The Green Lantern Logo.

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  4. I am so glad this has the "dopes" tag. I would have been very sad if it didn't.

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  5. I'm so excited for this comment thread!

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    1. I'm just glad I have found others like me. I hate that show.

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  6. More proof that "the sitcom that shall not be named" was made for jocks who hate nerds and not for nerds. Anyone who has ever been on that show that tries to claim to be a nerd or a geek should immediately lose their nerd card and credentials and be shamed into oblivion. Yes, I'm looking at a certain Mr. W.W., you quisling, you.

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    1. BBT is nerd blackface. Bad nerd blackface.

      It's a useful tool for identifying fake nerd boys and fake nerd girls, but that's about it.

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    2. I like the show....? Am I a terrible nerd? Shouldn't the lack of logo recognition fall on DC Comics and not a sitcom?

      meeleeart.com

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    3. It, in short, is the nerd equivalent of blackface.

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    4. The comments section is surpassing all my expectations.

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    5. Did someone kill every single nerd in the universe and now you're king? Wow.

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    6. Dan Harmon Is God9/21/2013 6:13 AM

      You know, Anon 8:07 may be an asshole, but that doesn't make him or her any less right. Oh, and if you like BBT you aren't a terrible person, but it may indicate that you have an exceedingly mundane sense of humor. Congratulations, you're in the vast majority!

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    7. Finding a particular show funny in no way implies a 'mundane' sense of humor, whatever that is supposed to mean. It is entirely possible to like Big Bang Theory and The I.T. Crowd, and Deadpool etc... There is no sin in a broad sense of humor. I'm convinced that most of the people who are down on BBT really haven't paid much attention to it, the black face comparison only stands up if the geeks are the but of the jock, which simply isn't the general case in the show.

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    8. Dan Harmon Is God9/21/2013 4:00 PM

      It means that you're receptive to the, as you say, broad humor that's being pitched to the broadest segment of the American viewing public. Sometimes really popular shows (like, say Seinfeld, though it took quite a few years to really catch on) will be brilliant and groundbreaking, but more often than not, they're cliched - content to work within the broad character archetypes (ex. Fat, Dumb Married Guy or Autistic, Anti-Social Nerd) that give dumb people something to laugh AT as well as with. It's my Important Internet Opinion that BBT is an example of the latter. Not saying that you're dumb, only that they're going for the low-hanging fruit. So there!

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    9. Alright, I'm personally not a fan of the show either, but boring, cliched jackassery like "Stop liking what I don't like" and "You are in the unrefined majority while I am a special and unique genius" only manage to make you two look like raging douchecanoes with hyper-needy self-affirmation problems... Not to mention the kind of characters who'd make one appearance on the show and then get kicked off for being too unrealistically stereotypical.

      Honestly, if you're not trolling, seek help.

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    10. *Only manages. I are grammar goodly at 6:45 am.

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    11. Tallyrand:

      "the black face comparison only stands up if the geeks are the but of the jock"

      I guess you mean 'butt of the joke'. The nerds are *always* the butt of the joke. Howard is a pathetic horny nerd who can't cut the apron strings and doesn't know how to treat women. Raj is a pathetic nerd who can't interact with women at all. Sheldon is a pathetic nerd who can't interact with (or understand) *people*. Leonard is the 'everyman' only in that he desperately wants to interact with and be part of the 'normal' scene, but usually fails miserably. Most of the jokes that Penny is the butt of, involve having a 'normal's' confused and irritated reaction about whatever the nerds are wittering on about this time.

      I used to watch BBT. I used to love BBT, so it's not like I'm coming from a 'I hate a show I never saw' standpoint. But there was one particular episode that flipped a switch.
      Leonard and Sheldon find themselves in contact with a guy who used to bully and terrorise them at school. Near the end of the episode they have a chance to raise the issue with him, to make him understand how he made them feel. How does it end? Two twentysomething grown men, respected scientists, scurrying down the stairwell like little kids, trying to escape the guy who - from all the implications of the 'joke' - is justified in assaulting them 'cos they're nerds.
      Same episode, Penny steals from a charity that she volunteered to 'help'. Consequences? Not a thing. That was a pretty clear message that in the eyes of the makers, there's one rule for nerds and one for good-looking 'normals'. Having pop-culture (nerd-culture?) references and pathetic catchphrases doesn't make it much more sympathetic to the former.

      I had pretty much the same experience with Two And A Half Men, too. Took me a while to spot just how much it's a two-dimensional, one-note show with a stunning dichotomy between people it deems as 'worth something' and 'worth a kicking'. Makes me think the name Chuck Lorre shouldn't be seen anywhere near a TV.

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    12. To OP: the jocks/nerds false dichotomy is one that needs to be killed with fire. BBT makes fun of nerds, but it wasn't made by 'jocks'. It was made by businessmen who want to make money. Exactly the same kind of businessmen also exploit the jocks.

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  7. Honestly, I'm less concerned with this guy and more so with his skeptical friend, who refused to believe such a tall tale as "this place sells Big Bang Theory shirts." What would give him reason to doubt that? The world may never know...

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  8. To the people who say that this show is nerd blackface-you are the biggest of the nerds, I swear.

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    1. I think that's the point they're trying to make. It's a big ol' nerd-off.

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  9. I don't really care for the show but I have friends who like it. Whatever. HOWEVER, it does annoy me that the Flash shirt I have is know as "Sheldon's Flash Shirt". Really?! There's nothing on it to differentiate it from a normal Flash shirt... but this one is Sheldon's...

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    1. Sorry to say, but I think they have two or three different flash t-shirts for Sheldon on the show, none of which are different from ordinary flash t-shirts.

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    2. I once put a Flash comic panel as my cover photo on Facebook and a guy I work with wrote "Wow, Big Bang Theory cover pic, nice!" I still don't know if he was joking or not.
      ...it's not easy being a Flash fan.

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    3. Don't worry once Flash's show premieres next season it'll be better.

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  10. Banzoogle!

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  11. Wow. First of all, it's a TV show. So calm down. Second, if you think "nerdface" is anything like "blackface", you grossly misunderstand the level of exploitation in the latter. Third, we won. It's cool to be nerdy. Stop pissing and moaning.

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    1. I think this is my favorite comment on this site, ever. Thank you, Anon 8:22.

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  12. I HATED THINGS BEFORE THEY WERE UNCOOL!!

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  13. It's threads like this that make me begin to understand why nerds get stuffed in lockers. Now that the show has made nerdism into a cool, socially acceptable lifestyle, you start acting all snobby and elitist...just like the people who used to pick on you. What WOULD make an acceptable depiction of nerds? If they were all square-jawed chiseled musclemen with blond Barbie doll girlfriends and black Camaros? Or maybe they could make a show about nerds who socially well-adjusted with average-looking wives and merely show an interest in comics and sci-fi but never get into fevered arguments over niggling minutae?

    Yeah, that'd make a much better show...one about nerds who don't look or act like nerds and are otherwise indistinguishable from anyone else. That there would be a bottomless gold mine of comedy.

    And quit saying 'nerd blackface'. It was clever when whoever said it first said it, but parroting that shit over and over makes you look like you have nothing original to comment. There should be a Jolson's Law that immediately invalidates any opinion of BBT once the term 'nerd blackface' is regurgitated.

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    1. Thank you for being the voice of reason. For self-proclaimed "nerds" (i.e., people who you'd think should know about that kind of stuff), some people don't seem to understand that fiction and especially comedy relies on archetypes and exaggeration. Like you said, centering the show around "normal" people with regular family lives who occasionally talk about comic books or video games would be pretty boring, albeit a bit more realistic.

      However, regarding your question how a show about nerds could be better...well...

      First of all, one problem with the "nerd" characters on BTT is - in my opinion - that they all work in a scientific field. On one hand, that's rather realistic - the characters met and became friends because they work at the same place. But on the other hand, it's kind of sending the message that only those with a "nerdy" background can have "nerdy" interests. This hypothetical show that portrays nerds in a more positive light would have the main characters come from very different (work) backgrounds, to show that there are nerds in every facet of society, not only in "nerdy" jobs. And the question how they met could have easily be answered by them frequenting the same game or comic shop or meeting at a LARP or something. Which brings me to my next point.

      The "nerdy interests" portrayed in BTT are very mainstream, if that makes any sense. They are things "regular people" know at least to a certain degree. Everybody knows or has at least heard of Superman, Star Trek etc. But why not let those guys partake in some more obscure nerdy hobbies? Let them play Pen & Paper RPGs! Attend LARPs! Not only talk about TV, movies and comics, but also literature. Asimov, Pratchett, Lovecraft etc. And portray those interests accordingly. Which leads to my next point.

      To be fair, I've only watched the first two seasons of BTT, maybe the third. And it's been a while since I've done that. So I don't know if it's really that bad. But as I recall, when the guys talk about their interests, it's...kind of like tchnobabble in Star Trek. The viewer isn't really expected to understand them. Their enthusiasm is just a means to an end, which is either "haha, they're nerds" or "haha, Penny doesn't understand them. Because they're nerds". This "better nerd show" would try (if it succeeds is something different, but it should at least try) to convey WHY the protagonists like what they like and WHAT it is that draws them to it. It's easy to, for example, portray Role-players as social outcasts who sit in a basement and do stupid voices or to show LARPers as guys in cheap costumes hitting each other with foam swords. But conveying that they AREN'T that, but rather strong heroes on epic quests, that would be a bit more challenging.

      Of course, there'd still have to be some stereotyping and some jokes at the expense of the nerds. And that would still piss many people off, because it's "serious business" to them and they fail to see the inherent silliness of grown men (and women of course) fighting over fictional characters (hey, *I* fight over fictional characters too. But you have to admit that it is rather silly), but that would - in my humble opinion - be a far superior "nerd show", which would not only portray nerds as more than punchlines but also help "normal" people understand them. Or rather, us.

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    2. Sounds like someone needs to be stuffed in a locker.

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    3. IA show like How I Met Your Mother has it's issues but I liked that the characters CAN be nerdy, talking about their love of Star Wars for example, but it's not the FOCUS of the show. It goes WAY beyond it being about a nerdy problem and becomes being a tv show problem when every episode focuses on the same joke: "Haha! Look at these silly losers."

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  14. i'm not gonna read any of this.

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  15. Hey, I'm a nerd and I like The IT Crowd. Big Bang Theory is funny, but only because I can see myself in Sheldon, as he appears to be a comical take on people on the autism spectrum. I like The IT Crowd, though, because it's not just a simple "haha, lookit the nerds being goofy and weird" but more a "look at [thing], it's goofy and weird". It invites you to laugh with the nerds as well as at them. Plus, Richard Aoyade (Moss) plays a character on The Mighty Boosh, as does Noel Fielding (the weird goth in the server room).

    Community had a pretty nice episode about tabletop roleplaying, something that's usually super cringe-inducing because they portray it so inaccurately, but they did a good job of it.

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  16. This is why I am reluctant to wear Green Lantern and other DC shirts around. I worry some asshole like this is going to go up to me and say "Bazinga". Hell, I was wearing one with a comic cover today and I wondered if the idiots running BBT had used it in an ep from the trove of random shirts they got from their sister Warner company DC Comics.

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