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The Big [Censored] Theory

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1444 points feross | 6 comments | 29 Aug 22 17:34 UTC | HN request time: 0.695s | source | bottom
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sudhirj ◴[29 Aug 22 18:52 UTC] No.32641992[source]▶
We have this kind of censorship in India as well, even the in weirdly innocous places. In James Bond movies, and I think Gone Girl as well, scenes were by zooming into character's faces or just straight cuts.

This is probably the only reason I maintain a US iTunes accounts (used to have to buy gift cards from sketchy sites online to keep this going, but I recently discovered that my Indian Amex card works fine with a US address).

Also trivia for those who are wondering how cuts are made, at least for cinema content: all video and audio assets are usually sent to theatres in full, but there's an XML file called the CPL (composition playlist) that specifies which file is played from which to which frame / timestamp in what sequence. Pure cuts or audio censorship can be handled by just adding an entry to skip the relevant frames or timestamp, or by specifying a censor beep as the audio track for a particular time range.

https://cinepedia.com/packaging/composition/

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ginger2016 ◴[29 Aug 22 21:36 UTC] No.32643886[source]▶
Given the racist protrayal of Indian American Raj Kuthrapalli, I am of the opinion Indians are magnanimous in allowing this show to be aired there.
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clouddrover ◴[29 Aug 22 21:49 UTC] No.32643998[source]▶
What in particular is racist about it?
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ginger2016 ◴[29 Aug 22 21:55 UTC] No.32644064[source]▶
If you have watched the show and failed see why it is racist, then we need to give some anti-racist education.

It is affirming the stereotype Indian males lack confidence with women. Raj can’t speak with women without the use of alcohol, the show constantly mocks his accent, worshipping of cows etc.

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MichaelCollins ◴[29 Aug 22 22:19 UTC] No.32644300[source]▶
> lack confidence with women

Aren't all the male characters in the show this way?

Is the show doing "Character who is Indian male lacks confidence with women" ?

Or is it doing "Character lacks confidence with women because he's an Indian male"?

There's a world of difference.

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1. ginger2016 ◴[29 Aug 22 22:39 UTC] No.32644470[source]▶
Asian men historically have been desexualized. The show is relying on that stereotype.

https://youtu.be/2k82hIqd1Os

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2. kelnos ◴[30 Aug 22 00:25 UTC] No.32645270[source]▶
Raj is an Indian male who is desexualized.

Sheldon is a white male who is desexualized.

Leonard is a white male who is desexualized.

Harold is a white male who is oversexualized in creepy ways.

And I'm not even sure "desexualized" is the right word. With both Raj and Leonard, at least, I remember there were many plot points about their difficulty with women. "Desexualized" to me would mean that they weren't even seen as people who are interested in sex or relationships -- that is, their status as having sexuality at all was minimized and never touched upon -- which was clearly not the case for either of them.

In any case, "relying on a stereotype" does not make something racist. When I watched the show (admittedly not for long; I probably got tired of it after a season or two), yes, there were certainly jokes that only worked because Raj was Indian, or Harold was Jewish, or Sheldon was neuro-atypical, but for the most part it was the stereotype "nerdy people are awkward in all sorts of social situations, especially when nerdy heterosexual men interact with women". Being Indian, or Jewish, or probably-autistic were secondary characteristics that gave them more color as people.

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3. delecti ◴[30 Aug 22 00:31 UTC] No.32645319[source]▶
I think the butt of the joke regarding their ineptitude with women is their being nerds, not their individual demographics (Indians, Jews, or Autistics).
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4. exodust ◴[30 Aug 22 05:05 UTC] No.32646807[source]▶
In the episode mentioned in article (Series 3, Ep 21), Raj gets the girl in the end. Leonard and Howard miss out.

Raj embraces the role-playing sex game with scientist woman. The scene fades out implying they have a night of sex and wine.

Where exactly is your "desexualisation"?

5. mcv ◴[30 Aug 22 07:24 UTC] No.32647588[source]▶
That is my primary problem with the show. It's often more making fun of nerds than making nerd jokes (though they have those too, fortunately). It's pretty low-brow humour for a show about smart people.
6. Gordonjcp ◴[30 Aug 22 09:11 UTC] No.32648230[source]▶
Sheldon's not neuro-atypical, he's what neurotypical writers thing neuro-atypical (not sure that's even a word, but it's good) are like.

Sheldon could be more accurately diagnosed as "a total pain in the arse".