3. Laughs At Stereotypes
On the one hand, it could be argued that TBBT embraces stereotypes: the show follows four geeky men who often hang out playing video games, board games or frequenting their local comic book store one of them even lives with his mother! In this respect, the show really does embrace the geek stereotype. However, others are simply laughed at, such as the Indian stereotype. Depending on what will benefit him the most; Raj will sometimes chastise his friends for being racist, while at other times he embraces the stereotype. Think: not only are there children starving in India, theres an Indian starving right here and Oh, sure, cut the foreigner in half, theres a billion more where he came from, both taken from The Dumpling Paradox episode in series one. This is something that many people would do in real life and is definitely funny; the show allows people to laugh at stereotypes, stopping them from causing problems in reality. Unlike TBBT, Friends doesnt really have many stereotypes - the cast, until series nine, are all-white, there arent many gay characters and there is only one instance where a character has a disability. Of course, the show is to entertain rather than to cure the media of its stereotypical prejudices, but when it does happen, like in TBBT, it allows another type of humor which is refreshing when this style of sitcom is being hashed and rehashed again and again.