Case (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
case) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomsecrets2013-06-20 06:56 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2013-06-20 06:56 pm
[ SECRET POST #2361 ]
⌈ Secret Post #2361 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
01.
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02.
[Hetalia]
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03.
[Charles Coulson (and indirectly, Avengers)]
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04.
[No. 6]
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05.
[Leto Brothers]
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06.
[Harry Potter]
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07.
[Xiaolin Showdown/Xiaolin Chronicles]
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08.
["Zombies Took My Daughter"]
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09.
[Wolf's Rain]
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10.
[The Croods]
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11.
[Phineas and Ferb]
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12.
[Ouran High School Host Club]
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13.
[Hetalia]
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14.
[The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug]
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15.
[Starsky and Hutch]
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16.
[Once Upon a Time]
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17.
[Hannibal]
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18.
[Zoo Tycoon]
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19.
[Monty Python]
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20.
[Hannibal]
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21.
[Teen Wolf]
Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 022 secrets from Secret Submission Post #336.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
no subject
BBT is obviously (and painfully) making fun of geeks. It makes fun of geeks and then makes it look like it's actually doing them justice, when it's clearly not (they also want you to buy their merchandise, as it was mentioned by somebody else). IT Crowd? Not so. IT Crowd laughs WITH you, not AT you. And IT Crowd, for me, wins for that alone.
The episode with Jen and her shoes? I can agree it could be taken as sexist, but I'll tell you something. Compare Jen to Penny in BBT. Jen's obsession with shoes in that episode of the IT Crowd is clearly ironic and it's to be taken as a joke, as satire. The exaggerate way in which her foot twists after having worn the shoes is proof enough. Penny? She's a waitress who wants to be an actress, has been a waitress for 6 seasons of BBT, cannot manage her money for the life of her, she spends too much money on shoes and cannot pay her bills and has to use the guys' wi-fi because she can't afford her own. She's the classic dumb blonde, she embodies all the wrong traits of women and she's, in my opinion, one of the most horrible and offensive female stereotypes that TV has ever seen. What's worst is, what Penny does and the way she lives is passed off as fairly normal in the TV show. Her life is only occasionally passed off as ironic. She's there to represent the non-geek audience and, being a female character, the female audience is somehow supposed to relate to her. I don't like relating to Penny. She's overall in a worst situation than the geeks, and yet the show keeps making fun of the geeks, who are intelligent, have jobs and, as far as I can see, are okay financially. But she's treated as normal - actually, I think the show tries way too hard to make you relate to Penny, tries too hard to let her pass as the average person, when really, she's just a terrible stereotype.
Jen? She is actually normal, rather than just pretending to be normal. She's way less of a stereotype compared to Penny. She actually has social skills and shows them off in the show. When has Penny ever shown social skills? Jen is not overly pretty, stupid or a wreck financially. She's a NORMAL woman. She doesn't know much about IT stuff, but that's the point of the series. I'd much rather relate to Jen than Penny.
IT Crowd is not just about geeks alone, but a bunch of other people as well. Characters are much better written in the IT Crowd than BBT. I could go on for hours on how Moss is better than Sheldon and how Moss is well-treated by the show-runners and writers, instead of being cruelly made fun of, like Sheldon is.
You will probably be "disturbed" by my comment, but whatever. I just hope my arguments were clear enough.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2013-06-22 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
no subject
(Anonymous) 2013-06-23 06:05 am (UTC)(link)The shoe episode was just plain dumb overall, but I'm not even sure it was bad satire. Who are we laughing at again? Oh, that's right, Jen, for being one of those women who luuuuuuurve sheos to the point of impracticality and self-torture.
I don't like BBT theory, but fail to see how IT Crowd is a big improvement.
no subject
The fact that Jen knows nothing about IT is the whole point of the series. She got her job because of a misunderstanding, but at least it's a better job than being a waitress (for 6 years, I might add) at the Cheesecake Factory. I also get the impression that Jen has had other jobs in other companies before, better jobs than Penny's, because she comes off as a much better written character and I can believe that she had a 'life' before she came to the IT department. With Penny it's pretty clear her storyline starts when she meets the geeks of BBT and she's there to be/do nothing but go 'whut?' at the physics/geek jokes. Oh, and she's eye candy, as well.
When BBT makes a joke about Penny not understanding physics/geek stuff, it's clear she doesn't get it because she's not bright. The formula of this joke, might I add, it's always the same: Leonard or Sheldon start talking (completely out of the blue) of some physics formula or what have you in front of Penny, Penny has a dumb look on her face, the audience laughs as if on cue and then either Penny says something or she just stays silent. This happens EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
The jokes about Jen and IT vary. Sometimes Jen is not even involved in the joke (for example, that time Moss was 'restarting' from his happy place, the sound of a computer starting was heard). But, while the jokes in BBT about physics are fairly average, the jokes about IT in the IT Crowd are brilliant. By this, I mean they are so over the top that you can't help but laugh. The whole bit about the 'Elders of the Internet' was hilarious because no sane person would ever believe that, it's just so ridiculous. But the joke worked. Also, in that particular scene, I don't feel like I'm laughing at Jen. I'm laughing at the joke 'Elders of the Internet'. Might I add that, in that episode, Jen AND a whole bunch of other "normal" people believed it. See, it's not just Jen - NO ONE except for Roy and Moss knows ANYTHING about IT stuff in that series. And it's even more funny, because sometimes that's how people who work in IT feel like.
Also, how many jokes in IT Crowd actually have to do with IT? Some episodes are more IT-centric than others, but the jokes about IT are mostly one-liners and are scattered among the series. As I said before, IT Crowd is about a whole bunch of characters, besides the geeks, so they have their storylines and their jokes as well. But the situations and the jokes are so over the top, that it's pretty clear they are, in fact, jokes. No character is mistreated by IT Crowd. For example, the gay musical called 'Gay' is not there to be laughed at gays. It makes me laugh because it's just ridiculous. And I don't mean 'ridiculous' as in, 'gay people/musicals are ridiculous', but in a, 'this is so over the top, I can't help but laugh' way.
It's really hard to explain why you're not laughing AT Jen (or at anyone), but laughing nonetheless. I guess you either get it when you're watching the show or you don't. I like the show and I can see the difference between IT Crowd and BBT and it just really bugs me when people compare the two and say "they are the same thing", because I don't think they are.