TV « In Which It All Started With The Big Bang Theory »
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 1:10PM 
The Theatre of All Our Struggles And Ideas
by ELEANOR MORROW
The events of The Big Bang Theory occur in three primary locales, each of which bears a closeness to reality without touching on anything quote-unquote real.
The first are two apartments in California. One is a male dwelling, occupied by two men, Leonard and Sheldon. The other is the female side of the coin - messier, more colorful, occupied by Penelope. The second setting is a university lunchroom where the men gather to eat. It is the budget version of a cigar club, or group therapy. The third place is Penelope's work environment, a Cheesecake Factory, but an early one without the amenities we've come to expect from the venerable chain.
As far as this show in concerned, there are very few places in the world. There isn't really an outside "world" as we conceive of it. There are just a series of interiors. And we can believe, in fact we don't even have to be convinced, that there is no other world than this.
"nerdier! more nerd! more nerd!"On the back of his phenomenally successful Two and a Half Men, executive producer Chuck Lorre was driven to create a sitcom even more sexist than his first. In short, he has done it, but not in the way you might have imagined it.
The centerpiece of the show is Sheldon Cooper, played by 37 year old Jim Parsons. Dr. Sheldon Cooper is the smartest man on the planet. He is at the very least the smartest Texan on the planet. His work in physics is on its way to being legendary, and when he took up residence in California, he put out an ad that said, "Roommate needed, no whistling."
leonard got the time machine on ebayThis is how he found his partner Leonard. For although there is no explicit homosexuality in The Big Bang Theory - indeed in Chuck Lorre's world gay men are heterosexuals with a fey way about them - we are dealing with individuals who are barely able to relate to women.
Thus we meet Penelope, or Penny. Although she might have been cast as a dumb blonde in another generation, she is actually the show's protagonist in disguise. Penny is a relatively normal young person in her twenties, and because of this she represents something of a television first. Beyond St. Elmo's Fire and Cameron Crowe's Singles, sheis here to tell us with all certainty that the young people of this generation are completely lost.
your nerdiness is comforting right now leonard. i will give you a handjob, but only one handjob
She moved into her apartment with vague dreams of becoming an actress, before realizing that she was neither pretty enough or ugly enough or thin enough or good enough to do exactly what she wanted. She toils in a job she is overqualified for, and she meets men, the best of which can only be considered boys.
"who's up for a circle jerk? sheldon?"Naturally, Leonard (Roseanne's Johnny Galecki) is infatuated with her from the moment he sees her pretty blonde tresses. The show's first season saw her date the inevitable series of jerks, culminating in the jerk of all jerks, who blogged about their sex life in the internet in a storyline shameless lifted from news headlines, Law and Order-style. Leonard took that opportunity to offer the possibility of himself as a mate. She said, "Why not?"
one of many possible reasons why notThis is a terrible lesson for both men and women to absorb, although I am not entirely sure if it is sexist or not. It is probably unfair to both the sexes. It is unfair to women because it gives them a false agency - they can choose their partner, but their choice is more of a concession than a selection, and ultimately disempowering. It is unfair to men because it suggests that all they have to do to win a woman is to wait. This isn't really unfair so much as it is true.
you think WHO is a cylon?There were days in which natural selection mandated that women had to be recruited and pursued with all due force, or there was to be no reproduction to ensure the future of the species. These days all men have to do is text a lot and hold down a regular job. What possible incentive is there to lead a life without peer with standards so low?
that's the 'you weren't on roseanne, were you?' stareLeonard and Penny did get together, but it was as unsatisfying for both of them as you might think. Now she's patiently waiting for Leonard in California while he spends the next two months in an Artic hut doing hard research with Sheldon and the boys. Leonard doesn't know it yet, but he gets far more out of his relationship with Dr. Sheldon Cooper. And this is how nerds could potentially end the reproductive potential of the human race.
Sheldon Cooper, Dr. Sheldon Cooper, and his band of merry intellectuals aren't too keen on reproducing. One day we may have to take a more eugenics-based view of the reproductive enterprise, but for now childless lives are deemed more fulfilling to the upper middle class, and they have the benefit of being cheaper too. You never see a child in The Big Bang Theory, which is strange since the show's title describes the most important birth in history. You never see a child except when he is in a man's body.
Eleanor Morrow is the senior contributor to This Recording. She lives in Manhattan, and tumbls here.
"Symmetry" - Little Boots (mp3)
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Reader Comments (2)
" You never see a child except when he is in a man's body." - amazing
"you never see a chíld ..." - not true. what about the little Chinese genius who threatens to take away Sheldon's job?