I've moved from rage to the knowledge that this type of misogynistic tripe is rampant on television. At the end of the show all three important women were defined and either rewarded or punished for their willingness to become mothers. Lily goes from a woman who realizes that she needs to at least look beyond marrying the second guy she dated and try to see if she can become an artist, to a woman who seems to have nothing other to do than pop out babies. (And I have to note here that Ted was absolutely FURIOUS that Lily went to San Francisco, even though it was none of his business!) Robin is punished for wanting to have a career and life that fulfills her and for not wanting children. She is doomed to find out that no man, not self-designated paragon of love and devotion, Ted, nor designated by Ted selfish jerk Barney can love her when she has the career she wants. Tracy suffers the most. She provides Ted with the children he wants, only to die to clear the way for Ted to get Robin as she realizes that her life is empty and lonely
( ... )
I've moved from rage to the knowledge that this type of misogynistic tripe is rampant on television.
It is, but I can't remember the last time I saw this much misogyny this concentrated. AtS, maybe, but at least that was a tragedy.
Ted was absolutely FURIOUS that Lily went to San Francisco, even though it was none of his business!
OH MY GOD, that was awful.
Even worse, those children showed not one bit of interest in Tracy or who she was. They are content to listen to the world's longest story about how much Ted wanted Robin. Then they become cheerleaders for him to go and get Robin back.
It's really appalling. I....want to think that Ted, being Ted, has probably spent the last few years telling (and re-telling and re-telling) all of his stories that are actually about Tracy, and so the roundabout "how I met your Aunt Robin" was not such an insult. But it's still more than a little manipulative to promise them they'd hear about their mother.
maybe it is preferable to be dead than married to Ted
It would be nice to think that he had told them everything before, but here is the transcript of the first lines of the Pilot
Narrator: Kids, I’m going to tell you an incredible story. The story of how I met your mother
Son: Are we being punished for something?
Narrator: No
Daughter: Yeah, is this going to take a while?
And at the end of the Pilot
[Cut to year 2030. Kids intently listening keenly interested]
Narrator: …is the true story, of how I met your Aunt Robin.
Son: Aunt Robin?
Daughter: I thought this was about how you met mom!
So Ted and the kids aren't acting like he told it before and even if he had, wouldn't they be hoping that they could find out something new, instead of acting like hearing about their DEAD mother is a huge chore?
THIS POST EXISTS, THANK. Now I can link it everywhere in my rage.
from the ancient Celtic for “manipulative douchebag”)
This truth tea.
So, “The Mother” lived long enough to pop out and mostly raise the kids Robin couldn’t and didn’t want to give him and then had the grace to die of OTP-block-itis
I AM A MOTHERFUCKING HULKING TOWER OF RAGE.
I completely agree that HIMYM is more revolting than the likes of GoT or Supernatural could even hope to be. At least those shows are not claiming to be normative.
And L O L - there was once a time I DIDN’T hate Ted?? I WILL LAUGH ABOUT THIS FOR NINE MILLION YEARS.
I don’t even have the energy to be mad about the total assassination of Barney - the disgusting insult to Robin and the mother of his child aside - but yep, his character arc was yet another sacrificed at the altar of Ted Mosby.
HIMYM is basically America's most popular romcom, running for 80 hours of screen time and nearly a decade of cultural influence, and it both reveals and reinforces a horrifying cultural prioritization of
( ... )
I didn't even care enough to be furious, THANK R'HLLOR BECAUSE THIS WAS THE WORST. I would be so hurt if I had cared.
I don’t even have the energy to be mad about the total assassination of Barney - the disgusting insult to Robin and the mother of his child aside - but yep, his character arc was yet another sacrificed at the altar of Ted Mosby.
hahaha, yeah. "We have an organic and interesting connection between two fan favorite characters, KILL IT KILL IT WITH FIRE." And so Barney had to be as awful as possible to make the HORRIBLE Ted/Robin thing work. UGH.
THIS IS A GREAT POST AND EVERYTHING I HAVE BEEN FEELING.
I had heard about how the writers 'trolled' the people going into it, so while watching the episode, I thought the completely randomness and OOC-ness of it was the troll that would get resolved at the end as the gang dreaming of the worst possible scenarios that could happen, or something. I kept waiting for the turn-around. I didn't realize the troll was that the whole thing was legit.
I completely agree with you, of course. Everything was at its most gross. Ted's character getting his dream ending and everything he'd ever wanted from his life- the house, the kids, the girl- and Robin's desires (a good career, no kids) being subservient to that and Tracy actually getting shafted for them is so gross, I cannot. It is completely illogical and degrading in its male fantasy-wish-fulfillment thematic.
And though Barney's character has always been misogynistic, the show's acknowledged that at most times, through his friends. But this felt like it was supposed to be 'progress',
( ... )
Yeah, the real trolling was the stunning contempt they apparently have for at least half of their audience. Ha, ha, it's funny because it's grossly misogynistic.
he spent so much time actually coming to terms with Robin's infertility and they had great moments dealing with what they wanted from a married life.
I remember thinking on the times I did touch in with the show that Robin and Barney were a surprisingly realistic and mature sitcom couple, specifically because of stuff like this. That's the kind of relationship that people have, not some inferior placeholder for ~destined fairytale love-at-first-sight~ nonsense. So knowing that it was created and developed with the intention of falling apart is kind of disturbing.
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It is, but I can't remember the last time I saw this much misogyny this concentrated. AtS, maybe, but at least that was a tragedy.
Ted was absolutely FURIOUS that Lily went to San Francisco, even though it was none of his business!
OH MY GOD, that was awful.
Even worse, those children showed not one bit of interest in Tracy or who she was. They are content to listen to the world's longest story about how much Ted wanted Robin. Then they become cheerleaders for him to go and get Robin back.
It's really appalling. I....want to think that Ted, being Ted, has probably spent the last few years telling (and re-telling and re-telling) all of his stories that are actually about Tracy, and so the roundabout "how I met your Aunt Robin" was not such an insult. But it's still more than a little manipulative to promise them they'd hear about their mother.
maybe it is preferable to be dead than married to Ted
Better dead than Red Ted?
Reply
Narrator: Kids, I’m going to tell you an incredible story. The story of how I met your mother
Son: Are we being punished for something?
Narrator: No
Daughter: Yeah, is this going to take a while?
And at the end of the Pilot
[Cut to year 2030. Kids intently listening keenly interested]
Narrator: …is the true story, of how I met your Aunt Robin.
Son: Aunt Robin?
Daughter: I thought this was about how you met mom!
So Ted and the kids aren't acting like he told it before and even if he had, wouldn't they be hoping that they could find out something new, instead of acting like hearing about their DEAD mother is a huge chore?
This was so, so bad.
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from the ancient Celtic for “manipulative douchebag”)
This truth tea.
So, “The Mother” lived long enough to pop out and mostly raise the kids Robin couldn’t and didn’t want to give him and then had the grace to die of OTP-block-itis
I AM A MOTHERFUCKING HULKING TOWER OF RAGE.
I completely agree that HIMYM is more revolting than the likes of GoT or Supernatural could even hope to be. At least those shows are not claiming to be normative.
And L O L - there was once a time I DIDN’T hate Ted?? I WILL LAUGH ABOUT THIS FOR NINE MILLION YEARS.
I don’t even have the energy to be mad about the total assassination of Barney - the disgusting insult to Robin and the mother of his child aside - but yep, his character arc was yet another sacrificed at the altar of Ted Mosby.
HIMYM is basically America's most popular romcom, running for 80 hours of screen time and nearly a decade of cultural influence, and it both reveals and reinforces a horrifying cultural prioritization of ( ... )
Reply
I don’t even have the energy to be mad about the total assassination of Barney - the disgusting insult to Robin and the mother of his child aside - but yep, his character arc was yet another sacrificed at the altar of Ted Mosby.
hahaha, yeah. "We have an organic and interesting connection between two fan favorite characters, KILL IT KILL IT WITH FIRE." And so Barney had to be as awful as possible to make the HORRIBLE Ted/Robin thing work. UGH.
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horrifying cultural prioritization of men's desires over women's identities
is a pandemic.
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I had heard about how the writers 'trolled' the people going into it, so while watching the episode, I thought the completely randomness and OOC-ness of it was the troll that would get resolved at the end as the gang dreaming of the worst possible scenarios that could happen, or something. I kept waiting for the turn-around. I didn't realize the troll was that the whole thing was legit.
I completely agree with you, of course. Everything was at its most gross. Ted's character getting his dream ending and everything he'd ever wanted from his life- the house, the kids, the girl- and Robin's desires (a good career, no kids) being subservient to that and Tracy actually getting shafted for them is so gross, I cannot. It is completely illogical and degrading in its male fantasy-wish-fulfillment thematic.
And though Barney's character has always been misogynistic, the show's acknowledged that at most times, through his friends. But this felt like it was supposed to be 'progress', ( ... )
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he spent so much time actually coming to terms with Robin's infertility and they had great moments dealing with what they wanted from a married life.
I remember thinking on the times I did touch in with the show that Robin and Barney were a surprisingly realistic and mature sitcom couple, specifically because of stuff like this. That's the kind of relationship that people have, not some inferior placeholder for ~destined fairytale love-at-first-sight~ nonsense. So knowing that it was created and developed with the intention of falling apart is kind of disturbing.
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