Stereotypes in The Big Bang Theory

I realize that it has been quite sometime since I've last posted on my blog. I hereby apologize for my extreme neglectfulness. Now that fall semester is over I have quite a few papers and essays I'm willing to publish on the blog and I will be doing so over the next few weeks. I may even write a couple new things (exclusively for this blog :P) over break. So, to kick things off here's a little piece I wrote for my communication class on stereotype usage in the popular CBS sitcom, The Big Bang Theory.

There are three universal topics of conversation in America: the weather, relationships, and television. Whether for good or ill, television has become a dependable, influential fixture in our conversations. We talk about it at water coolers, on internet forums, over drinks with friends, and on the phone with loved ones who may live thousands of miles away. Whether the topic is reality shows, sitcoms, dramas, or political talk shows, television is a source of commonality between millions of individuals. However, to hold onto a large audience, television shows need to make some “sacrifices," employing various stereotypes to easily generate humor and inform viewers how certain characters fit into the mythos of a show. While these sacrifices may lead to some negative effects, the utility and potential positive effects make stereotypes an extremely useful tool to employ in television programs. A case in point is CBS’s The Big Bang Theory.

The Big Bang Theory is a traditionally-shot sitcom about two physicists, Leonard and Sheldon, and the various situations they find themselves in with their friends, Rajesh, Howard, and Penny. The show began airing in September 2007 and has steadily attracted a wide audience, becoming the highest-rated live action comedy among the coveted young-adult demographic (ages 18-34).

One character on The Big Bang Theory who clearly falls into the territory of being a stereotyped persona is Rajesh "Raj" Koothrappali, portrayed by Kunal Nayyar. As an Indian astrophysicist, Raj displays many characteristic often associated with both Indians (or foreigners) and nerds. The character speaks with a thick Indian accent and often makes remarks about how great certain aspects of America are compared to Indian practices, illustrating the common behavior of Indians admiring Americans. Raj also suffers from a form of selective mutisim which prevents him from speaking to women – unless he is inebriated. This inability to talk to women seems to play into both the idea that male nerds have trouble talking to the opposite sex and the stereotype that young, foreign men having difficulty communicating with attractive women. Additionally, Raj’s parents are frequently shown trying to interfere with his romantic life – strengthening the association between Raj and what Americans believe to be typical Indian characteristics. Finally, Raj being both a nerd and Indian plays off of the resonance had by Americans between individuals of Asian ancestry being nerds versus the dissonance of Hispanic or African individuals being nerds. Viewers are encouraged to take Asians nerds seriously, while black nerds such as Steve Urkel are viewed humorously, because they don't fit into society's conception of nerds.

Another stereotyped character on the show is Howard Wolowitz, portrayed by Simon Helberg - a nerdy, Jewish, aerospace engineer. Wolowitz still lives at home with his extremely loud, overly informative, obnoxious mother. He is also explicitly portrayed as the creepiest and least likable character on the show. Wolowitz is completely out of touch with women and usually just ends up offending them when he attempts to interact with them. Here viewers are presented with several traits all popularly associated with young Jewish men. Wolowitz is very comparable in many ways with the famous Jewish sitcom character George Costanza of NBC’s Seinfeld, who also lives with his mother and is woefully inept at interacting with women.

One other significant stereotype on The Big Bang Theory is Penny – played by Kaley Cuoco – the protagonists’ next-door neighbor. Penny is pigeonholed into her stereotype so strongly that the writers have never even given the character a last name. She fits right into the typical “girl next door” character type in several ways. Firstly, she’s blonde and very attractive. She also hails from the Midwest (Nebraska) and works as a waitress as she tries to become a professional actress. Penny is initially portrayed as a sweet, unintelligent individual who gets by on her good looks and charm rather than possessing a strong intellect or talents. Finally, Penny fits the stereotype of a beautiful young neighbor by being presented as rather sexually promiscuous. Men are often seen leaving her apartment the morning after she's been on a date, and in episode 401,“The Robotic Manipulation,” Sheldon seems to accurately estimate the number of Penny’s sexual partners to be thirty-one.

Examining these examples, one could contend that the show uses stereotypes in two main ways. The first purpose is to generate comic relief at minimal investment. The common stereotypes incorporated in The Big Bang Theory are quite familiar to the majority of its audience. This allows the show to allot its time to better set up the main story threads it wants to promote while investing little to no time generating the secondary chuckles that sitcoms seem to require. In essence, using stereotypes often nets a show the best “bang for its buck.” While hour-long dramas have the time to develop side characters and situations, sitcoms writers know that time is at a premium. Networks expect them to fit as many laughs into a twenty-one minute time slot as possible. Character development is not essential to a sitcom, because the constantly changing scenarios provide for enough entertainment.

We can see stereotypes used to set up humor in The Big Bang Theory in a number of situations. One such case is in episode 108,“The Grasshopper Experiment.” In this case Raj’s parents – being the controlling, match-making Indian parents that they are – try to set him up with a woman from India. This situation based upon a stereotype allows humor to be found in multiple ways, including Raj taking up drinking to speak to women, Raj making a fool of himself in front of his arranged date, and Raj’s parents’ reactions when they find out the unfortunate results of said date. A similar situation occurs in episode 223, “The Monopolar Expedition.” Towards the end of this episode we see Raj’s and Howard’s over-controlling parents going at each other when their sons announce plans to go to the North Pole for a science experiment. Their ethnic backgrounds are played off each other to generate maximum comedic effect. Throughout the series one can see a plethora of simple jokes that require certain stereotypes in order to work. Without such stereotypes, much of the show's easily-generated side humor simply wouldn’t function.

The second primary purpose stereotypes serve in the series is to provide a shortcut in establishing who its characters are as people and how they fit into the show's mythos. In the very first episode we are introduced to all five main characters, and the stereotypes they are portrayed to fit immediately allow the audience to get a solid grasp on what it can expect from them. Raj is the awkward foreigner, Howard is the creepy Jewish guy living with his mom, and Penny is the desirable but dim girl next door. After one episode, with little exposure to these characters, the audience has a solid foundation for how to perceive them. Again, the show is using stereotypes to better allocate its resources, allowing it to focus on the main characters of Leonard and Sheldon.

It's important to note that these stereotypes are only a starting point for these characters. While certain elements of the stereotypes remain in place – such as Raj having an Indian accent, Wolowitz living with his mother, and Penny being attractive – others are removed in order for the characters to develop and show more complexity. In Episode 217, “The Terminator Decoupling,” Raj is seen interacting with a woman in a positive way, something not initially seen on the show. In Episode 212, “The Killer Robot Instability,” Wolowitz shows a sensitive side, and the audience is given an explanation for why he comes off as creepy and inept. Finally, in episode 207, “The Panty Piñata Polarization,” Penny is seen to possess a keen mind, proving herself to be an extremely capable foe for Sheldon. All of these significant developments take place in season two, which lends itself to the idea that the stereotypes were used as springboards, allowing characters to exist in a familiar form until the show had time to better define them.

While they clearly serve a useful purpose for shows, stereotypes can also have a negative effect, reinforcing and perpetuating prejudices of audience members. Seeing a character in a stereotypical role adds credence to the stereotype. However, as shown in the previous paragraph, the use of stereotypes can be a net positive if they are eventually explored and pursued by a show. If a show can establish a character of a particular stereotyped group and then turn certain conceptions of that character completely around, the audience’s perceptions may be changed. Counterexamples and surprises in the stories may bring traditional views into question. Of course, this is not always the case. Rather than adjusting the given stereotype to fit the character, the audience will sometimes chose to instead move said character out of that stereotypical group. Even in these cases, it still seems that audience members make a little progress into better understanding stereotypes.

As more and more television shows are produced, we can expect the use of stereotypes to continue. Despite the negative effects they may carry, they are simply too efficient at providing humor and establishing characters to be simply tossed aside. However, one can hope that as more shows employ stereotypes, these stereotypes will begin to dilute somewhat, due to audiences being shown so many variations of the same type of character. While this may simply cause broad stereotypes to fracture into smaller, more specific stereotypes, doing so will reduce the amount of generalization that each stereotype encompasses. Ironically enough, the continued use of stereotypes may, in time, show audiences more nuanced sides of various, stereotyped groups that exist in today’s television landscape.

(Special thanks to my lovely sister, Sarah Joy Hewitt for the input and corrections she provided me with for this piece.)