Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Big Bang Theory & The Male Gaze

NPR has an awesome article about how the character of Penny has changed since the pilot of The Big Bang Theory and for the better:
This is, in maybe the most literal form in which you'll ever see it, the male gaze. She exists relative to Leonard and Sheldon's arrival home (just standing there reading a magazine in profile with the door open!), relative to their door, relative to their apartment. It's a comedy, but it's still true. This is it; this is the thing. This is the thing people talk about where she's not really herself, she's just the lady standing in the doorway.

1 comment:

antijen said...

Interesting review. I'd avoided watching The Big Bang Theory because A) I don't like most sitcoms and B) it sounded terribly sexist and I had no interest in wasting my time on it. It's good to know that the show has appeared. I love seeing such classic feminist analysis outside of a specifically feminist forum.