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The Big Bang Theory’s Penny and Friends’ Rachel Green actually had a lot in common, though one of their most surprising similarities is actually the way that their stories treated their...
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00:00The Big Bang Theory's Penny and Friends' Rachel Green are two of the most popular characters on two of the biggest sitcoms of all time.
00:07Though they share some surface-level attributes, one of their most surprising similarities is actually the way that their stories treated their growth, and unfortunately, their endings.
00:18Both characters worked hard to overcome the stereotypes they were initially set up with,
00:22but in the final moments, their shows decided to walk a lot of those decisions back to keep them on more traditional paths.
00:31They're certainly not the only characters to get hit with this kind of backsliding,
00:34but they are two major examples that perfectly illustrate the issue.
00:38So let's take a closer look at how both of these characters found their own ways out of the sitcom Ditsy Hot Blonde box,
00:44why their stories of growth were so important to their shows as a whole,
00:47why their shows decided to throw wrenches in their plans at the last second,
00:52and what it all means.
00:54Friends aired through the late 90s and early 2000s,
00:57and a few years after it went off the air, The Big Bang Theory hit the scene.
01:01Though they might seem quite different at first,
01:04one, the story of a group of rather regular friends just trying to get by in New York City,
01:08I feel that if I can do this, you know, if I can actually do my own laundry,
01:13there isn't anything I can't do.
01:15The other following a group of hyper-intelligent geeks in Pasadena, California.
01:19Sheldon, you're wrong! Wolverine was not born with bone claws!
01:23Howard, you know me to be a very smart man.
01:26Don't you think if I were wrong, I'd know it?
01:28But, both being sitcoms, they share many key foundational elements,
01:32particularly a reliance on known tropes.
01:35Sitcoms love to use well-known tropes and stereotypes
01:37to make the characters and relationships generally simple and easy to understand.
01:42They want anyone who might happen to come across any episode for the first time
01:46to pretty quickly be able to figure everything out and not feel lost.
01:49I just didn't know where to go, and I know that you and I have kind of drifted apart,
01:53but you're the only person I knew who lived here in the city.
01:56Who wasn't invited to the wedding.
01:58This is what makes them such effective, easy viewing.
02:01But, this reliance on already established tropes
02:05can also mean that some characters can get put into some stereotypical boxes
02:09that can be difficult to climb out of.
02:12All of my life, everyone has always told me,
02:15you're a shoe!
02:15What if I don't want to be a shoe?
02:17What if I want to be a purse?
02:19You know, or a hat!
02:22Both Penny and Rachel are the new girls in their respective groups.
02:25They're both seen as ditzy by the others, though, for different reasons.
02:28Penny, because she's just a normal person and not a super genius like the others.
02:33I suppose if someone could teach sign language to Coco the Gorilla,
02:36I could teach you some rudimentary physics.
02:39Great!
02:40It's a little insulting, but great!
02:42Rachel, because she's a spoiled rich girl
02:44having to figure out life on her own for the very first time.
02:47Everyone I know is either getting married or getting pregnant or getting promoted,
02:51and I'm getting coffee!
02:53And it's not even for me!
02:55While sitcoms love ditzy's of all types,
02:57No, I don't wash the towel!
02:59The towel washes me!
03:00Who washes a towel?
03:02You never wash me.
03:02You wash your towel?
03:03Thanks to that desire to keep in line with Well-Trod's sitcom shorthand,
03:07that attribute has often been given to blondes,
03:10especially during the late 90s and 2000s era,
03:13where being blonde was very much associated with being dumb and shallow,
03:17and using your looks to get what you want.
03:20Well, some people think the sexiest organ is the brain.
03:22No one ever bought me drinks at a bar because my brain just popped out of my shirt.
03:27While this dumb blonde persona was one that had long been put on by performers to appeal to men,
03:32I can be smart when it's important, but most men don't like it.
03:36on sitcoms especially by this era,
03:38instead these women were often, at least initially,
03:41portrayed as just actually not being very bright.
03:44Much of the humor around Rachel to begin with was laughing at her
03:48and her inability to understand basic parts of adulthood and self-sufficiency.
03:52Penny was initially created just to be a side character that was the butt of the guy's jokes.
03:57Four years I lived with him! Four years!
03:59That's like as long as high school!
04:01It took you four years to get through high school?
04:04This setup made it more difficult for both women to find their footing within these friend groups,
04:09especially for Penny,
04:10since at least Rachel already had an existing, if strained,
04:13relationship with some members of her new friend group.
04:16But thankfully, in both cases,
04:18the writers began to see the true potential in these characters
04:21and to appreciate the comedic abilities of their actresses.
04:25And so they began to be fleshed out into more multifaceted, interesting people.
04:29We are dessert stealers! We are living outside the law!
04:32While growing out of ditzier or more materialistic attitudes over time
04:36can be seen as a useful arc for younger characters,
04:39older characters who are given those attributes
04:41often find they have a much more difficult time moving out of those stereotypes.
04:46There's an idea that how you behave as an adult is more set in stone.
04:50And so if one still has those attributes by the time we meet them in adulthood,
04:54then that's just the way they are.
04:56I felt like such an idiot!
04:59I mean, it's all my fault!
05:00And you know why?
05:01Because I make very bad decisions!
05:04And even when shows do give these characters the opportunity to grow out of those behaviors,
05:10it can often come across as a bit two steps forward, four steps back,
05:14as the writers continue to undo that growth at random when it's more convenient for a joke.
05:19On the one hand, this of course makes sense.
05:22Sitcoms are about comedy, after all.
05:25Though tweaking situations or characters a bit to get a laugh is par for the course.
05:28I have got to learn how to spell Hofstetter!
05:31I know there's a D in there, but it keeps moving every time I try and write it!
05:35But on the other hand, it can cause some problems
05:38when it starts to feel like a show doesn't want to let a character really grow in a permanent way.
05:44With characters who have been designated the hot one by their shows,
05:47this kind of backtracking can begin to feel a little nefarious,
05:51as if there's a worry that these women having too much agency or smarts will make them less hot.
05:56As we talked about in our video on the hot one trope,
06:00being the hot one doesn't actually have much to do with looks,
06:02but instead with how one is framed within the larger narrative.
06:05And we can see this in both shows by taking a look at the other blondes,
06:09Phoebe and Bernadette.
06:11Both are very blonde and very beautiful,
06:13but they're also very opinionated and determined.
06:17It was like a whole other universe!
06:20If I wanted to, I could wipe it out with my thumb like a god!
06:23And so, even though all of these characters are equally beautiful,
06:27it's the ones that are seen as more focused on male attention that are framed as hot.
06:32This then affects the entirety of their growth journeys,
06:36and the degree to which they're allowed to change.
06:39In Rachel's case, the building up and knocking down of her growth
06:42does actually feel pretty realistic a lot of the time.
06:45Even though she is continually working on herself and trying to become a better person,
06:49that spoiled daddy's girl does creep back up to the surface from time to time.
06:54Oh, I'm my father! Oh my god, this is horrible!
06:58I've been trying so hard not to be my mother, I did not see this coming!
07:01But overall, being out in the real world
07:03and having to figure out how to make her own way is good for her.
07:06She soon comes to realize how freeing and confidence-building it is
07:09to be able to stand on your own two feet.
07:12And mom, I realize you and daddy were upset when I didn't marry Barry
07:14and get the big house in the suburbs with all the security and everything,
07:18but god, this is just so much better for me, you know?
07:21She's by no means a perfect person,
07:23but she does spend most of the show really trying to change herself and her life for the better.
07:27One way we see this play out is through her career.
07:30When we first meet her, she's never worked a day in her life
07:34and is miserable about the prospect of having to get a regular job.
07:38And for a while, she does hate it.
07:40Who's FICA? Why's he getting all my money?
07:42But then she comes to appreciate having true control over her own money and her own life.
07:48And then she realizes that she doesn't have to give up her interests.
07:51In fact, she can use her love of fashion to create an entire career.
07:55My work, it's for me, you know?
07:58I'm out there on my own and I'm doing it.
08:01And it's scary, but I love it because it's mine.
08:04Penny might not have the book smarts of her friends,
08:06but she does possess something very important.
08:09People skills.
08:10How do you know these things?
08:12I go outside and I talk to people.
08:16As she was written to be a more fully drawn character,
08:18this attribute became key to Penny's integration into the group and her own growth.
08:23Penny's empathy allows her to connect with these new friends in deep ways
08:26and also help them understand more about the world around them.
08:30And while they don't initially value this,
08:32over time they do all come to appreciate what Penny brings to the table.
08:36Do you want to stop?
08:37I know you have trouble with eye contact.
08:39Plus it's easier around people that I'm comfortable with.
08:42Oh, sweetie, I'm comfortable around you too.
08:45Penny excels in other aspects of her life too.
08:48After letting go of her dream of becoming a famous actress,
08:51she comes to find that her people skills and acting ability make her a really great sales rep.
08:56Well, I'm excited that you found this new job or you're making decent money.
09:00Decent?
09:00I make twice what you make.
09:02Wait, twice?
09:03Another avenue of growth for both characters comes in their relationships.
09:07For both Rachel and Penny,
09:08deep friendship becomes a major animating force in their lives.
09:12They end up forming incredibly strong and resilient relationships
09:15with people they never would have imagined they would ever be friends with in a million years.
09:19I can always make you a chai T-3PO.
09:22Oh, I get it.
09:23Like C-3PO.
09:25What happened to me?
09:26They're able to use their own special skills to help improve the lives of their friends.
09:30We're going to have to go with an oldie but goodie.
09:32Making a scene.
09:33I don't think I'd be good at that.
09:34Yeah, that's why you're lucky to have me.
09:36Back in Omaha, there are two different restaurants I'm not allowed into.
09:39And they very much appreciate that these relationships are reciprocal.
09:43Their friends also help them out and keep them going.
09:45You guys really took care of me.
09:48Yeah, Monica made us.
09:49Whatever, I really appreciate it
09:51because I don't think I would be the person that I am today if it wasn't for you guys.
09:56We can also see growth in their romantic relationships as well.
09:59Kind of.
10:00Penny began the show with commitment issues
10:02and often found herself getting into relationships with guys who didn't seem to really value her.
10:07We meet Rachel when she's literally running away from her own wedding.
10:11Both have a variety of relationships over the course of the show
10:14but are overall set up as the endgame match for one of the main male characters.
10:19See? He's her lobster.
10:21Their relationships run into similar issues.
10:24Fear of commitment, the nerdy guys feeling insecure about dating a hot girl
10:28and seeing himself as above her for being book smart, etc.
10:31And both get stuck on the long-running show staple rollercoaster
10:35of on-again-off-again relationship problems to keep the drama alive.
10:38As both shows neared their ends,
10:41it seemed that they were setting up both Rachel and Penny
10:43to finally get to have the lives they had worked so hard to build.
10:48But then...
10:49After seasons of growth and these characters being quite clear
10:52about what they did and did not want out of their lives,
10:55both shows wait until the last moment
10:57to shove these characters back into more traditional endings.
11:00Rachel was on her way to Paris to take on a dream job at Louis Vuitton,
11:04only to give it up at the last second for Ross.
11:08Did she get off the plane? Did she get off the plane?
11:11I got off the plane.
11:13Penny, who had been very explicit about not wanting children...
11:17What if... what if we didn't have kids?
11:20Ever?
11:21I mean, our life is so great. Why would we want to change that?
11:24...finds out that she's pregnant as her final storyline.
11:27Neither of these plot points are particularly out of this world.
11:31People changing their minds about jobs or accidentally becoming pregnant
11:34isn't all that rare in everyday life.
11:36The problem lies in the fact that these storylines aren't given any time
11:40to feel fleshed out or lived in at all,
11:42so that they could feel like real decisions that the characters actually wanted to make.
11:47Instead, it feels like at the very last second,
11:50the show worried about letting these characters be too free
11:53or have too much agency yet again,
11:56and so decided to push them back into that box one last time.
12:00We're done being stupid.
12:02Okay.
12:03It's you and me, alright?
12:04This is it.
12:05This is it.
12:06Unless we're on a break.
12:10Similar to Robin's final arc on How I Met Your Mother,
12:13here it feels like the focus was more on making sure that the male love interests
12:17got their happy endings at the expense of Penny and Rachel's own lives and desires.
12:22The silver lining of all of this is that,
12:24regardless of how their arcs might have been derailed in their final episodes,
12:28we still have their entire stories up to that point to enjoy.
12:32And we can learn from them as we continue to go forward and create new characters,
12:37avoiding the easy shorthands of played-out tropes and shoehorned-in endings,
12:40and instead writing something that feels much more real and free,
12:44just like Penny and Rachel themselves.
12:46And that, my friend, is what they call closure.
12:55That's the take.
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