Representation Task

There are several representations of foreigners, men and women within The Big Bang Theory, and we can apply theories towards these representations that have been created.

Medhurst’s theory of shorthand that carries value judgement’s can be applied to Raj. The fact that he is represented as the typical Indian through his accent etc. immediately suggests to the audience that he is intelligent (stereotype of Asians being smart) and his beliefs may be backwards and that the “westernised” ideology on certain things may not always appeal to him, the audience usually find this appealing and funny, and schadenfreud plays a huge deal in this. However, this representation is still carried out through the show and can be shown through the clip where Raj tries to enforce the fact that men are superior to woman. Raj tries to interfere and control who his sister date, he then refers back to religion to restrict Priya's freedom of choosing whom she wants to be with. This supports Medhurst’s theory, as the audience immediately shorthand Raj through the way he is represented by his ethnicity and then it is applied to the show. Richard Dyers theory of stereotyping and power can also be applied to the character of Raj because he is a foreign character, and because Dyers theory states that those with power stereotype those with less power it makes sense that there are quite a lot of stereotypes for non-white people, poor people etc.

We can furthermore link Perkins theory of stereotypes being positive or partly true to Raj as Asians have the stereotype of being intelligent, and this isn’t necessarily a negative stereotype.

Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze can be applied to TBBT towards the character of Penny.  Mulvey suggests that the dominant view in the media is masculine and that women are presented for men to look at, hence the ‘male gaze’. This links to the idea of ‘sex sells’ and women being represented as sex objects. Penny is represented as the pretty Caucasian character that has quite some appeal amongst the male characters and also male viewers, this is most likely because some of the characteristics of Penny were made to be appealing towards men i.e. her looks. However, Penny also carries the stereotype of blondes being “stupid”, which is quite negative but a common and dominant stereotype. This can be linked to Dyers theory on stereotypes as women are quite inferior therefore it is easier for them to be stereotyped.

We can apply Levi-Strauss’ theory of representation and ideology towards the characters of Leonard, Howard and Sheldon as they have all been represented as socially awkward because of they are highly intelligent. This set of beliefs and values must have been held by the producer of the text, who may have been influenced by this growing stereotype of intelligent men being awkward through the media or maybe even experiencing or seeing this stereotype in action themselves.

Overall, the theories of Levi-Strauss, Mulvey, Perkins and Medhurst’s can be successfully applied to the characters of TBBT and their representations.