Review One: The Big Bang Theory

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As I mentioned on my blog before I am a huge fan of The Big Bang Theory. Throughout many of the episodes viewers witness numerous racial and cultural stereotypes that pertain to all the characters in the series. In this particular episode (season five episode six) Sheldon’s mom, Mary comes to visit from Texas. Whenever Mary visits she says things she probably should not. Many of the things she says are racial slurs. One part in this episode Sheldon and his roommate Leonard take Mary out for supper at a sushi restaurant. She says how she has never had sushi before. The closest place just serves fish sticks and uncle bens rice. Mary then goes on to say “put it in the menu in those kungfu letter but that don’t make it sushi”. Leonard corrects her by saying “kungfu letters might not be politically correct”. She continues by saying “oh, I thought the one we couldn’t say was ching-chong”.

  In another situation Leonard tells Mary how he is having trouble with his girlfriend because she cannot tell her parents that she and Leonard are dating. The reason behind this is his girlfriend is East Indian and Leonard is white. Leonard implies that the parents would not approve of their relationship because he is white. Mary finds this comical and says “oh that’s a funny turn isn’t it, you never think about it going the other way”. Obviously Mary is implying that most white families would not want their son or daughter dating someone of another racial group.

 Leonard and Sheldon’s friend Raj shows up at their door drunk. When helping him inside the apartment Mary says “I thought it was our Indians with the occasional alcohol problem”. Leonard replies “we don’t say that either…I’ll make you a list”. Mary smiles and says “oh that be mighty white of ya”.  Clearly this show crosses lines when trying to mix comedy and racial stereotypes. It brings into question can we laugh about stereotypes?  Especially if it is a serious one that could be offensive to some people. When I think about how she refers to “I thought it was our Indians with the occasional alcohol problem” and there is a laugh from the audience, is it actually funny? Or do people laugh just to feel included and make the awkwardness around race go away.  When Leonard talks to Mary and says “we don’t say that” it’s almost like another he is implying another stereotype on her because she’s a nice Christian Texan lady who really doesn’t know better so it really isn’t so bad. When in actual reality I’m not sure if most people would have handled it as well as Leonard. She may mean well but the things she says can still be hurtful. When watching The Big Bang Theory a lot of the stereotypical things they say are what we have all heard before, it is nothing new. But I am not sure if even “innocent” jokes should be taken so lightly. Around the same time this episode came out we were reading Alfred and Corntassel (2005) and one quote that stuck out to me was "when lies become accepted and normal, the imperative of the warrior is to awaken and enliven the truth and to get people to invest belief and energy into the truth" (603). I think that can really pertain to this episode of The Big Bang Theory.