ESSAY: Copper Trophy - Nerds, Hotties, & Leagues

[evelynvaughn01]

Television Without Pity posted a photo list of the top 10 best "Nerd Loves Hottie" movies, inspired by the upcoming movie with the annoying title: She's Out of My League.

With the exception of Wall-E, and the marginal exception of Say Anything *, these movies feature high-school characters. I Love You Beth Cooper. Some Kind of Wonderful. All of

Comments

[spaceanjl]

Preach it

[evelynvaughn01]

It really is disturbing, and this movie coming out (which may be a perfectly fun, harmless movie) seemed as good a time to rant on it as any. As usual, I didn't figure half of this out (or at least, put it into cogent thoughts instead of just a vague "ugh") until I was writing about it, but... yeah. Yech. I'm glad I figured out why I'm okay with Chuck's "Sarah" and not with how Penny's been treated, that it's not the nerd getting a hot chick, but it's the label "hot chick" as her whole being.

[arabian]

I'm sorry, but can you please put your essays under a cut? They're so long when I'm going through my flist. I'd really appreciate it.

[evelynvaughn01]

My apologies, arabian -- I'm sending a separate e-mail to figure out how to better do this. Thanks!

[arabian]

Oh, it's super-easy.

Simply type < lj-cut > (without the spaces early in the text, and then at the end, type without spaces. And you're good to go. :)

[eolivet]

I don't know who wrote all of TWP's nerd/hottie movies, but I'd wager almost anything it was a man (or men). When I was first discovering BBT, I had this fear that because it was written by men, that Leonard would be the more "relatable" character because he was "less nerdy." And that this "gaze," if you will, would extend to the viewer -- so there would always be this block to any idea of a S/P romance because viewers/men would see the "geekier" guy getting the "hottie" over the more "normal" guy as "unrealistic." They relate more to Leonard, because they see geekiness in themselves, but they're not geeky like Sheldon, so Leonard getting the "hottie" is perfectly normal and fine, because it's an extension of themselves (read: "I could get a hot girl like Penny, but that nerdy guy totally couldn't!")

And there's no denying BBT has attracted male viewers, and that's helped make it a hit. The key word is helped, because its main audience is women, and the "smart is sexy" trope is not exactly breaking news, and for BBT to fail to

[evelynvaughn01]

Hey, tangent away eolivet! I sometimes want to get in someone's face and scream, "If this is really about Nerd Empowerment, let Sheldon get the girl!" But even if that didn't happen, Leonard getting the girl has a chauvinistic subtext that's all kinds of disturbing.

I would love to see a breakdown of male to female viewers of TBBT!

[awmperry]

Agreed - once upon a time BBT was about geeks happily being geeks; now it's about (if I've got the distinction right) dorks laughing at the true geek.

Never mind that entirety of technological society owes its existence to geeks - if drinking and bonking isn't the be-all and end-allof someone's existence, they must be geeks deserving of ridicule. If they spend half an hour on an intellectual quandary rather than drinking (and just to be able to have sex) they must be "pathetic" (Raj, the cricket episode).

Yeah, I'm starting to get quite annoyed by the message BBT is sending out too. Come on, Prady and Lorre - bring the geekdom back!

[raincitygirl]

I think the show goes back and forth on the joys of being "pathetic". Sometimes it's the dorks laughing at the true geeks (good way of putting it) and other times it's the geeks thinking of themselves as pathetic. But they're having a lot of fun in spite of how allegedly pathetic it is to spend all evening chasing down a rogue cricket. Certainly more fun than the "cool" people who are busy vomiting up huge quantities of alcohol. I mean, Raj, Howard and Sheldon won't end up with a massive hangover as a result of their cricket activities. And in that particular instance the show is definitely laughing AT Penny and Leonard, despite how much "cooler" their evening is than the guys'.

[evelynvaughn01]

"I'm more interested in great characters themselves" Exactly! I have no problem with using terms like "geek" as short-hand for a character "type," as long as the character is then written deeper than that. But "hottie?" Call Penny a "cheerleader" if you must, as that shows she's cheerful and outgoing, or a "pretty mother hen" (to all of them, thank you, not just Sheldon) or an "aspiring actress" if she were actually, ya' know, aspiring. Or acting. But "hottie?" Grrr. Thanks for the comment!

[hey_am]

So true. Your essays are always spot-on, to the extent that it sometimes makes me uncomfortable (but in a good way). And the 'degazing' thing? Unfortunately, for large parts of this season, I feel like we've regressed into seeing Penny merely as Leonard's girlfriend, rather than as an individual with her own unique character that really came to the fore in season 2. Now it's like we're back to Penny as the hot neighbour/girlfriend who just happens to hang around. Which is so not healthy, both for the show, and also as a reflection of 'relationships' in general.

Depressing topic aside, I enjoyed your essay :)

[evelynvaughn01]

Thank you for the comment! I seriously hope that new episodes will help me stop wanting to shake TBBT and yell "Live up to your potential!" ... and writing about depressing stuff :-) This season has been a regression for poor Penny. But the show outgrew that once; hopefully they can do so again!