Science Learning + Equity: Thinking through The Big Bang Theory
Scientists and mathematicians appear frequently in popular culture. Currently The Imitation Game
and The Theory of Everything are doing well in cinemas and the Oscar nominations. These biopics
of Alan Turing and Stephen Hawking explicitly raise issues of equity as Turing struggles with being a
gay man in England at a time when homosexuality was illegal and Hawking suffers from a disabling
illness. However, even when issues of equity aren’t so prominent we should still interrogate the
images of scientists we encounter on big and small screens, asking how these promote ideas of
who can do science. Media narratives have immense power, so as educationalists, we need to look
critically at these and how we can use them to support young people’s science learning.
With that in mind, I turn to The Big Bang Theory a popular US-based situation comedy now in its
eight season and screening multiple times daily on UK channel E4, as well as in Australia, Canada,
Ireland and New Zealand. The image below shows the five central characters, from left to right:
Jewish aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz, room-mates and physicists Leonard Hofstadter and
Sheldon Cooper, their neighbour, waitress and aspiring actress, Penny (no last name), and Indian
astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali. As this photograph, taken in Leonard and Sheldon’s flat, suggests,
the series plays on the contrasts between the four geeky male scientists and the non-geeky nonscientific Penny. If you don’t know the show, before reading on you may want to view this typical
example where in one episode Sheldon attempts to teach physics to Penny.
‘Geek’ is difficult to define precisely and to distinguish from ‘nerd’, ‘boffin’ etc. Essentially they
capture a figure who is male but often physically weak and/or overweight, heterosexual but
awkward with women, white (or occasionally East or South Asian), and academically intelligent but
socially incompetent. The Urban dictionary offers a range of definitions, the pithiest and most
highly-rated of which is: ‘The people you pick on in high school and wind up working for as an
adult’. This captures the tension between awe and derision within the cultural gaze on geeks, a
tension which reaches its apotheosis in ‘geek chic’.
The Big Bang Theory is perhaps the most successful series to capitalise on the rise of geek chic.
Leonard, the most conventional and sexually successful of the four, is the most ashamed of his
geekiness. For example, he conceals that he plays word games in the sci-fi language klingon. He
suffers from a range of health problems and nervous disorders including lactose intolerance, sleep
apnoea, migraines, carsickness, nose bleeds and asthma. He tilts his head when he talks and has a
tendency to whine; he regularly applies excessive hair gel and wears mismatched clothing. At the
other extreme is Sheldon, who is unashamedly geeky. He interprets everything literally (needing to
be taught to recognise irony), feels compelled to order his surroundings (even when this involves
breaking into his new neighbour’s flat) and worries that massaging his own shoulders involves
excessive physical contact. In between these two on the geekiness scale, are Howard, who lives
with his overbearing mother, and Raj, who can’t talk to women while sober.
Most of the female characters, like Penny, exist to contrast with the male geeks, and implicitly
emphasise their heterosexuality. The two female geeks who appear are peripheral characters
introduced as potential love interests for the men. They stand out like the one female geek and
one gay geek included in a total of 42 geeks featuring across five seasons of US Reality TV show
Beauty and the Geek. In these and other shows, popular culture makes jokes with and about geeks
but also values them for being intelligent and unafraid of being different. In The Big Bang Theory,
Penny clearly enjoys hanging out with the geek gang and she dates Leonard and has a one night
stand with Raj. Their ability to find fun in mathematics, science and technology seems to extend
into other areas. From Howard’s dependence on his mother to Leonard’s preponderance of
childhood illnesses, there is a boyishness to the way geeks are depicted. All The Big Bang Theory’s
male characters own a large number of comic, fantasy and sci-fi themed toys and memorabilia and
are regularly shown playing games. However, their skills are also depicted as being immensely
valuable, securing large government funding, and exemplified when Howard’s technical expertise
wins him a place on a space mission despite his physical inadequacies when compared with the
other astronauts.
Here are a few questions the show raises for me:
•
What impact do geek stereotypes of scientists have on how young people feel about the
subject? Have shows like The Big Bang Theory helped to change these stereotypes or to
reinforce them?
•
Do these shows make it seem like science is more ‘natural’ for some people (by gender,
ethnicity etc) than others? Does this connect with the young people with whom you work
and whether they see themselves as ‘naturally’ good or bad at science?
•
What kind of images of scientists would you like to see on television? And in your clubs,
programmes and festivals?
At the workshop, I’d be interested in hearing any thoughts on these questions or on any questions
the show raises for you.
Heather Mendick, Brunel University, [email protected], 18 February 2015
This Think Piece draws on a chapter to be published in The Princeton Companion to Applied
Mathematics.