I’m idly curious as to whether or not there’s a more offensive show on television than Two and a Half Men. (At least on free-too-air Australian TV – but then, we have plenty of our own crap.) It offends many groups – men, women, ex-wives, their new husbands, fathers, mothers, their offspring, oh, and alcoholics. I ended up watching an episode yesterday thanks to my brother, and it actually seems to have gotten worse from the last time I caught it.
So younger brother Alan – who, don’t forget, was so screwed over by his ex-wife Judith and her crippling alimony payments that he’s had to move in with his brother Charlie and has spent the last however many years leeching off him – is involved with the much-younger Candy. I could overlook the fact that Candy appears young enough to be Alan’s daughter – after all, Modern Family tackled that same issue with intelligence and maturity – if she had anything going for her as a person. But she appears to have chosen a life of willful ignorance and her sole purpose in life seems to be to get Alan to pay for stuff – a new car when hers breaks, extensive dental work, and finally moving in with him when her housemate moves out and she can’t afford to pay the rent on her own. Does she not have her own job? Is her sole purpose in life to get men to pay for her stuff? It didn’t bother me so much that Alan paid for all that stuff – I’ve taken a short-term loan from my own partner to pay for tuition and paid him back in installments – but that Candy seemed to expect that the man in her life, well, fund her life, and Alan, while reluctant, acquiesced.
Anyway, Alan’s bankrolled all these expenses by exhausting his savings and selling his brother’s things on e-bay. (Charlie hasn’t kicked him out by now… why?) Meanwhile, Charlie’s rolling his eyes and making wisecracks at what a loser Alan is for going even deeper into debt for a woman who has nothing to recommend for her other than a young body.
I’m not sure what the Powers That Be behind TaaHM thought they were saying. I suspect it was that haha, isn’t it funny, women are money-grubbing bitches who use sex, the law and whatever other underhanded means they can get their filthy mits on to castrate men and bleed them dry. The thing is, while I had zero respect for Candy for apparently relying on sex to get men to fund her lifestyle (and seriously, how often does that happen in real life? I’ll wait for y’all to find an example. A real example that you have personally witnessed, not a friend-of-a-friend story or something you saw on TV) I had even less for Alan, an apparently intelligent guy, for thinking with his penis to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. This is the patriarchy that’s all-superior to women?
*And just for extra laughs, Charlie, after one too many blackouts, decides to give up drinking. Excluding beer, which apparantly beer isn’t alcoholic. Because, heehee, isn’t Charlie-the-alcoholic just so funny. At this point, though, Charlie was the only one in the show I came even close to respecting. At least the guy has some grasp of the fact he’s an alcoholic who uses women and he doesn’t leech off anyone. Yeah, that’s the kind of caliber show this is, that the lead male is a misogynistic, womanising alcoholic but at least he can fund his own lifestyle.
So here with have a man whose steretyped bitch of an ex-wife bled him dry in the divorce and continues to bleed him dry in the form of alimony payments (aren’t they supposed to stop when the spouse remarries?) to a point he has to leech of his brother for seven years. Then he hooks up with a woman young enough to be his daughter and sinks even further into debt to pay for stuff that any self-respecting person, man or woman, would rather pay for it themselves by working – honest day’s work and all that. I realise that sometimes, people aren’t in a position to pay their own way, but the impression I got from Candy was that she wasn’t willing, and that she expected the man in her life to do it. It’s the old, ugly stereotype of ‘airhead exchanges sex for stuff’, and one that I have never known to exist in real life. I’m sure such women do exist, but certainly not to the extent film and television would have us believe.
I’m flabbergasted to know that TaaHM is so popular, and that it’s lasted as long as it has. It offends so many groups on so many levels. Oh, I forgot to add Americans to my initial list. Because as much badly-written, stereotyped claptrap that Australia had churned out over the years, at least we don’t have an equivalent to Two and a Half Men.
*Bro was watching a three-ep marathon so may not have been the same episode. The offensiveness tends to roll together.
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Yeah, I was trying to explain to him about social conditioning and gendered social roles starting, essentially, from birth, so he would stop? But my dad interpreted that as “free pass when I say something really blatantly inappropriate/homophobic/racist.”
EPIC EYEROLL.
Gena(Quote) (Reply)
…I ALWAYS FORGET COLON+P DOESN’T EQUAL THE GROSSED OUT TONGUE HERE.
*whatever emoticon expresses revulsion*
Gena(Quote) (Reply)
Actually, I think that IS the software’s idea of a grossed-out tongue. It just looks more like a happy tongue to me.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Reporting back in to confirm that yes, I did just spend the last six hours reading TV Tropes. Again.
And 2.5 Men came up quite a lot! Though I think it should be added to the trope you mentioned, which I read in full. The most 2.5 Men references were in the Trope “Missed The Point.” Which makes sense.
Anne(Quote) (Reply)
Yeah, I totally am in fanlove with him, but he was a bad point of perspective for the audience and did some skeezy things that made me not really like his character and question whether I could really be sympathetic towards anyone…just like in The Hangover! What a coincidence.
*Possible spoilers for Due Date since it hasn’t been released yet*
The bonus in this movie is that while I don’t think it passes the Bechdel Test (there may have been a conversation about labor between the mom and daughter but I think there weren’t), it’s not the anti-woman movie that The Hangover was. The wife is a flat character, but she’s not awful like the overbearing girlfriend in The Hangover. And those’re pretty much the only girl characters (there are few male characters, as well, since it really is about the two boys on a road trip. I think only one other character even had a name, and he had to be male for the purpose of his role).
But I think this is off track now, so that’ll be all I say not about 2.5 Men!
Anne(Quote) (Reply)
Yea, that’s what I was trying to say.
Brand Robins(Quote) (Reply)
OMG I just remembered something (thanks to TVTropes
).
There was an episode where Charlie has to write the English theme song for an anime called “Hoshikuru” or something, and the kid has to tell him what it’s about? Yeah, I liked that sub-plot (‘cuz I’m a weaboo). Aside from that, Two and a Half Men can go DIAF.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Sorry for the double-post but this show can now SUPER DIE IN A FIRE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-P-pQ_yRmA&feature=related
It’s not even the LOLBOOBS thing going on, it’s the comments section:
“i dont kno why women show such cleavage and get offended if a man’s eyes wander there.. even women would get distracted
its a clear attempt of gaining attention and when they get it, they bitch.. what the hell?!”
This has 165 thumbs-ups.
I hate humanity right now.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
@Jenn, weather intentionally written that way or not, that is so Alan. In one episode, he borrows money from his mum to buys a sports car. Alan points out that it’s not not worth the hassle to borrow money from their mother, and if he DID, then shouldn’t he be putting it towards paying off some of his debt, like what he owes Alan. (Similar storyline in an episode where he inherits an antique and plans to sell it to buy a Jagua.) Now, I’m all for people heavily in debt haveing *some* money to splurge on themselves, but by that, I mean a manicure, not a luxury car. The fact that Alan doesn’t stop to think that maybe making a dent in x years of living expenses is more important than a luxury car tells me that he has no concept of managing finances or trying to remain debt-free (or at least minimise the debt that he has).
Scarlett(Quote) (Reply)
Actually, I *did* know someone who expected her boyfriends to pay for everything in the relationship because she believed it was a man’s job to provide in a relationship and in exechange, he got a well-groomed, attractive young woman to show off. But even *she* funded her own lifestyle – house, car, well-paying job – because it was common sense to her that she might not always have a guy around. I didn’t nesasarily agree with her attitude, but I did understand it.
Scarlett(Quote) (Reply)
I remember an article some years back in which the male author stated how guilty he feels about his one-night stands because he Knows every woman wanted a relationship. Even though they’ve stated up front that they’re fine with one no-strings night of sex, he Knows they weren’t telling the truth because women just don’t do casual sex.
fraser(Quote) (Reply)
Yes, exactly.
Patrick McGraw(Quote) (Reply)
Yes, TVTropes’ front page has a link to the “TVTropes Will Ruin Your Life” page on the front page for a reason. I have… 27 articles open at this moment.
It will also ruin your vocabulary, since when I try to describe “Misaimed Fandom” it just comes out as “Audience Completely Misses the Point of Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist.”
Patrick McGraw(Quote) (Reply)
Gah, I’m in an argument with a commenter on Angry Black Woman about this–this commenter claims girls who are promiscuous have a mental disorder or problems and that women are not able to have one night stands because we are not emotionally capable/not the same as men. It’s like…wut?
What’s weird is the argument started out as being about Halloween Costumes and racism, but this commenter turned it into a rant against women in general. The weird thing is I am pretty sure, based on the commenter’s chosen name, that they are female…which makes me feel strange. They also use the argument that Halloween costumes are never racist because it’s all in good fun, she’s part Indian/Hispanic (she claims both) and they don’t offend her so therefore they are fine, etc. Blah.
Anne(Quote) (Reply)
Why does it make you feel strange? Women can be very misogynistic – I just treat them exactly like I treat misogynistic men. And while she has every right to share her opinion, she cannot speak for everyone who shares her heritage.
And of course, “she” could always be some white male troll from Ohio – this would be keeping in line with their tactics.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
It made me feel strange because it’s still a struggle for me to support equality for all women but argue vehemently with one. I mean, you are right, I shouldn’t feel strange about it, and there are misogynistic women–sadly, I know quite a few–but for me it still puts this weird “I’m fighting people who I feel should be on my side” quality to it. Though perhaps strange was the wrong word to describe that.
If that makes sense.
It also felt strange for me, with all my white privilege, to be arguing against someone who claims non-white heritage about race and offense in regards to it. I consider myself an ally, and as men are often told in feminist circles, being a good ally might mean shutting up and listening. So I want to make sure I’m not just being privileged or holding some entitlement where I think I’m an expert of something I’m really not an expert at. And I don’t want to be like “I’m white and even I think this is fucked up” because that’s just making it about me and it ISN’T about me–it’s that there are people who are offended and I happen to agree that they have something to be offended about.
Gah, things are so complicated to me sometimes.
Anne(Quote) (Reply)
That’s all totally understandable, and I hope I didn’t sound like I was criticizing you or anything.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Oh, not at all. ^__^ This is one of the places where even when someone corrects me or points something out I haven’t felt like it’s not a criticism I shouldn’t consider, and your comment was far from what I’d view as critical. Though, I did feel the need to expand on my thoughts!
Anne(Quote) (Reply)
Jennifer: “And of course, “she” could always be some white male troll from Ohio – this would be keeping in line with their tactics.”
I live in Ohio, and there is no shortage of white male trolls here.
Patrick McGraw(Quote) (Reply)
Yes, the Common Ohioan Troll is the worst kind of Troll. I should know, having probably gone to school with many of them.
Genevieve(Quote) (Reply)
My ex never understood why I don’t like this show–he said to me once “I know you don’t like it because Charlie has one-night stands and all…” and I’m like “um, that has nothing to do with it.” I could care less if a character has one-night stands. What I don’t like are shows that portray women as being basically the scum of the earth.
Genevieve(Quote) (Reply)
Don’t you LOVE how people assume they know what you’re thinking, based on what TV has told them other women think? And then they tell us “It’s just a show, lighten up.” I’ve got an article coming up about this – on how, basically, we will stop taking shows seriously as soon as stupid fucks stop citing them as evidence that we feel, think and want certain things because Women On TV Always Do.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Yeah, I’ve run into women like this too. One of my cousins apparently married a woman who didn’t want to work and wanted him to provide a maid as well (no, she’s not disabled), but I don’t actually know if they use maid service cause I haven’t asked. I also have an aunt on that side who rails to me about how feminism ruined her life because now she can’t find a man to support her and let her be a 1950′s housewife/homemaker. Yes, really.
…On the same token, one of my adult cousins is basically leeching off my grandmother. She shows up at the beginning of the month, takes large chunks of her Medicare/pension benefits, and then disappears till the next month. One of my underage cousins ALSO does this (yes, my family is awesome). Both of these examples are a lot more substantial than “they totally have maids” or “I wish I could find a man to pay for everything for me!” I think they’re probably also more representative of how people take advantage/get taken advantage of than “omg alimony!” but it is funny how these shows will only use the golddigger girlfriend as an example.
Shaun(Quote) (Reply)
That’s one of maybe 3 episodes I’ve seen (was in the room while they were on the t.v.) and was probably the first I ever watched any of it. I liked that subplot too, but that included, it strikes me as a very bland show.
I suspect that might be why it gets away with as much as it does. Even ignoring the terrible messages in it, it’s not a good show. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say it was their favorite, or even especially good or funny.
Quib(Quote) (Reply)
Also, who doesn’t have a few MALE relatives sponging off anyone who’s stupid enough to pity them?
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Someone should write an anthropology paper on them.
Patrick McGraw(Quote) (Reply)
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