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In today’s popular culture you can learn a great deal
about other cultures. The way a large amount of this educating is done is
through the use of stereotypes. Stereotypes are often used in a way that helps
those taking in the popular culture to get a better idea of a certain culture;
and this is usually positive. But sometimes they play on stereotypes that
already exist and are widely known; this is usually done in a negative way. For
my fifth CAPS blog over popular culture I watched 3 episodes of my favorite TV
show, How I Met Your Mother. The
three episodes consisted of two from season four and one from season seven;
they were I Love New Jersey, Not a
Father’s Day, and The Best Man. From
these three episodes I picked up on three key themes from all of them. These
three themes were the Bro culture, New York superiority, and Problems with
Communication.
The Bro culture theme was present in all three episodes I
watched, equally dispersed throughout. The stereotype perpetuated here is that
“bros” like to go out, get wasted, pick up chicks, tell dirty jokes, and look
forward to always being single and never having kids. In addition to all of
this bros have a lax mindset towards religion, are disrespectful towards women,
and exist to help each other out above all else. This theme is prevalent in the
show and even to a degree in modern culture. In the show the stereotypical bro
is primarily acted out through the character named Barney Stinson whose role is
that of the single, wealthy, ruthless ultra-man. He is the one living his life
according to the Bro code; wearing suits and running plays on women. But being
a bro in this show is more than just actions and attitudes, it is a lifestyle.
There is no clearer illustration of this than in the episode titled Not a Father’s Day. In this episode
Barney gets a call saying that he might potentially be the father of a possibly
pregnant woman’s baby. The emotions elicited from Barney upon hearing this are
that of shock, disappointment, and hopelessness, saying “who in their right
mind would ever want kids?” In the end he gets a call while at Church praying
to God in a very bro-like manner, he subsequently finds out he is not a father
and goes out to celebrate. He goes to Marshall and shares the great news, he
then decides to create a new holiday just for men who are not fathers, he calls
it Not a Father’s Day. Beyond the core attributes of “bro-ship”: fist bumps,
high fives, self-confidence, and over exaggeration, there is one core principle
that is often left out, the idea that friendship is the best thing in the
world, and if you can find a “best bro,” they will be there with you through it
all.
The second key theme I noticed was an arrogance or a
sense of superiority about the city of New York. In two of three episodes we
see this this New York superiority quite often. The first episode, I Love New Jersey, is almost an entire
episode dedicated to bashing the state of New Jersey. Some of the stereotypes
they have about New Jersey are that it smells bad, the people all wear gold
medallions, and that the bars in New Jersey all suck. Ted, the main character,
even goes as far as to say that “I hate line cutters more than I hate New
Jersey; well, that’s not true, there’s nothing I hate more than New Jersey.”
And when Ted’s fiancée, who lives in New Jersey, says that he will be moving in
once they get married, it sets off a war of sorts. Ted and his friends argue
that New York is the greatest city on earth, with their argument revolving
around the landmarks and famous buildings in New York City. But Ted’s fiancée
argues that New York is “full of weirdos, snobs, and mean people.” In the end
Ted agrees to move to New Jersey with his fiancée, but although the stereotypes
make for one hilarious episode I can only imagine what that would look like to
someone not from America.
In the second episode Ted and the gang all go to
Cleveland for Ted’s friend’s wedding. This episode makes fun of the city of
Cleveland quite a bit. It says that women from Cleveland are overweight, that
the people are tacky, and that they do not know how to dance. The wedding they
go to is decked out in Cleveland Browns colors and insignia. And while they are
there Barney refers to it as a smaller market where he can test out “plays” and
take the ones that work back to New York City. Ted and his friends in the
episode are portrayed as sophisticated, trendy people, whereas Ted’s friends
from Cleveland are more modest, salt of the earth type of people.
The third key theme deals with communication in
relationships, and the stereotypes surrounding it. The types of relationships
that are portrayed in these episodes are couple, girl-to-girl, friendships, and
mutual friendships, to name a few. More often than not the focus would be
placed on miscommunication in relationships and the various elements that could
cause said miscommunication. One such example of this was when Ted and his
fiancée Stella had a misunderstanding over who would move into whose place.
There were a few steps leading up to the eventual argument between the two. In
and amongst these steps of misunderstanding were things like sarcasm,
avoidance, and assumptions. This episode makes generalizations that these kinds
of things are bound to happen in any type of relationship, when that is just
not the case. Moreover, the episodes portrayed the relationships between women
to be complex and confusing whereas the men’s relationships were portrayed as
simple and straightforward.
The question eventually becomes how can we resist the
stereotypes and generalizations contained in this show. The problem is that if
you are a fan of this show or maybe even a show like it, then you most likely
know all too well that these sorts of things are interwoven into the DNA of the
program. Avoidance is impossible if you choose to watch, but if you choose not
to watch, you just might have a chance. I suppose the interesting argument is
always going to be whether this show and its stereotypes are good or bad. To
answer this question you need to ask yourself this; am I smart enough to separate
fact from fiction. If you answered yes, then you’ll be alright. But if you said
no, a little skepticism never hurt nobody.
Works Cited
Martin, J. N. (2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts
(Sixth ed.). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill.
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