What Do “Community” and “The Big Bang Theory” Have in Common?
Author: DavidJones // Category: Pop Culture, TV
Ask any fan of CBS’ popular show The Big Bang Theory who their favorite character is, and 99% of people will tell you it’s Sheldon (played by Jim Parsons).
Likewise, ask fans of NBC’s show Community the same question and it’s likely a majority will tell you their favorite character is Abed (played by Danny Pudi).
What’s interesting is that both characters seem to have some type of disorder that many have labeled as Aspergers. In fact, in one of the first episodes of Community, Jeff (played by Joel McHale) directly tells Abed that he has Aspergers.
According to Wikipedia, Asperger syndrome is “an autism spectrum disorder, and people with it therefore show significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests.”
Symptoms of this are very evident in Sheldon. He is socially awkward and often gets on his friends’ nerves because of his repetitive behavior that seems OCD. He has trouble with social interaction, often being clueless as to when someone is using sarcasm. Although he’s a genius, he’s often the butt of all the jokes and just doesn’t have a clue.
Abed shows many of these symptoms but in different ways. Though socially awkward, he is also very culturally aware. Typically, Abed is the one making the jokes instead of getting made fun of. However, he seems to having a problem taking social or emotional clues from other cast members, often living outside the norm and doing his own thing and being his own person.
When interviewed about the possibility of Sheldon having Aspergers, Jim Parsons had this to say:
When I asked the writers if Sheldon had Asperger’s, they said, “No, he does not. That’s not what we’re doing.” Okay. But it made me curious. And I don’t know why, but Johnny read that book Look Me In The Eye by Augusten Burroughs’ brother [John Elder Robison], who wrote about his life with Asperger’s. I think Johnny purchased it and took it with him on a trip, and when he came back he said, “You’ve got to read this. You’re gonna die. The Sheldon comparisons.” And I immediately went and I got it. And that was as much “research” as I’ve done on it. Which was very fun research, because it was very applicable human stories about living with Asperger’s. And the comparisons were undeniable. (Thanks to The A.V. Club for the article)
So far, I have not heard any comments from NBC about Abed possibly having the disorder.
By scanning through some message boards, blogs, articles, etc. I have noticed several reactions to the idea the characters have Aspergers. Some are extremely upset and refuse to watch the shows because of the portrayals. Some of the people, which include parents of children with Aspergers, say they are extremely offended by people making jokes at a very real disorder. However, others, including parents of children with Aspergers, love the idea that there are characters on TV that have this disorder. One father said his child with Aspergers has always longed to see TV incorporate characters with these real disorders to make people see that they are real. Other people have said that it has opened up their eyes to a disorder that they didn’t know is real.
I’m not here to argue if it’s right or wrong, but I do find it extremely interesting that two of the most popular and likable characters on television seem to have this disorder. Maybe this is because we’ve exploited the quirks of the disorder, but I’m not so sure. During the current season of The Amazing Race, one of the most popular teams was Zev and Justin. Zev was the first contestant on the show with Aspergers. Before their elimination, they became one of the most popular teams on the show as many came to love Zev’s unique personality and unique sense of humor.
While Sheldon and Abed aren’t exactly representatives of “reality,” I do think that along with their senses of humor (thanks to well-written shows), people have come to love their differences and quirks. Maybe it’s exploitation. Maybe it’s people acknowledging these disorders are real and coming to accept and love the people that have them nonetheless. I guess that’s not for me to decide…
Tags: Abed, Amazing Race, Aspergers, Big Bang Theory, Community, Sheldon, Zev and Justin
November 16th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Interesting. I don’t watch Big Bang, but I do watch Community, and the idea of Abed having Asbergers never occurred to me. I must have missed Jeff’s offhanded remark on the show. I guess the reason I missed it is because his character doesn’t remind me of the Asbergers I’ve encountered. I’ve only known two people with Asbergers. They were very similar to each other in behavior, although different in ages. And they were anything but funny. When their symptoms showed, it was downright awkward, and sometimes sad. Even made me angry at times.
Abed is the observer from another culture, candidly commenting on our own. He is a classic comic foil who goes around our traps and defies our logic. He gets the best of us. That’s why he’s popular. Because that kind of person doesn’t really exist.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:10 am
Editor’s note: This blog has been edited since its initial post
December 12th, 2009 at 12:46 am
I think Abed does have Aspergers- the third episode of Community was particularly telling. He had to resort to creating art to communicate on a personal level with his father, and it was really moving to see.