Page 2 of 4 [ 54 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4  Next

Asp-Z
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Dec 2009
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,018

13 Jan 2010, 1:04 pm

It's a show based on nerd stereotypes, of course they'll be Aspie.



Wikan
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

User avatar

Joined: 9 Dec 2008
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 77
Location: Pécs

13 Jan 2010, 9:25 pm

If Sheldon is an aspie, how come he never gets nervous around people? I think he's too designed. Altohugh he does corky and offensive things to others, none of them can be interpreted as mere cold hearted, as many of a real aspie's actions would be. His peers seems to cope somehow and get along with his exentricity, and they care for him.



Danielismyname
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Apr 2007
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 8,565

13 Jan 2010, 10:14 pm

You don't have to be nervous around people to have an ASD.

The main problem I have is that he interacts too well (the give and take of social interaction), but then, they need to add it as he wouldn't be much of a character* if he interacts how someone with an ASD does.

*To outside observers



Vexcalibur
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,398

13 Jan 2010, 10:33 pm

I think being nervous around people is more of a sympthon of social anxiety (which Sheldon, the incarnation of rationality, does not have at all). Granted, Social anxiety tends to be correlated with AS, but it is mostly a result of the frustration the person gets due to her social limitations due to the AS.

Ie: I have Social anxiety but I do not have AS. Some person has AS but does not have social anxiety. Many people in this forum have both AS and social anxiety.

I think Sheldon is probably more of a case of the Albert Einstein syndrome (if there's such thing) than AS...

I love Sheldon. I sometimes do see similarities between him and me, although I wish I was as smart as him. Though in other ways, he is so smart he can be dumb some times. Though when I figure out "god this guy is clueless" I wonder if there are situations in which I am actually as clueless as him without noticing. hmnn.

Though I am more like Raj, unfortunately. But not even that would make me drink, never!


_________________
.


Vexcalibur
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,398

13 Jan 2010, 10:38 pm

AGMorehouse wrote:
I myself have Asperger's Syndrome and I watch this show every Monday night when it is all new. Sheldon IMO is indeed an Aspie- and not treated for it. Sheldon is not a TRUE representation of someone with Autism, but the writers just do it to exaggerate his characteristics. I wasn't too hip about the making friends one (especially when he was talking to an 8-year-old) as to me that was reinforcing the stereotype that people with Autism are dangerous to the world, since many of us at least know what is right and wrong (I can have friends my own age thank you very much). As for them revealing his Autism someday- that will never happen. I want it to happen, but that will be "Jumping the shark."
I digress. Sheldon was clearly just being friendly and not being dangerous at all. Leonard perceived danger but only because on what would people think off if they saw it (which would give Sheldon trouble). But Sheldon himself was not doing anything wrong, he was just clueless to notice that people would not enjoy him making friends with an 8 year old regardless of how much he found out to have in common with her.

It also could not reinforce any stereotype about autism either because the producers have never claimed he is got AS or another thing in the spectrum.

Sheldon can have friends of his own age as well. He even managed to befriend Penny and that seemed so unlikely in the first few episodes...


_________________
.


Aietra
Sea Gull
Sea Gull

User avatar

Joined: 20 Oct 2009
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 240
Location: New Zealand

13 Jan 2010, 11:36 pm

Aww...Sheldon... ^^

When I saw the first episode of this, I said to my roommate "if I were neurotypical, I believe the correct course of action would be to develop a massive character crush".

But thinking back, I guess if I were NT, said character crush would not involve Sheldon Cooper!



Nightsun
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Sep 2009
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 567
Location: Rome - Italy

14 Jan 2010, 1:55 am

0hawkeye0 wrote:
On a sidenote, I like to think myself to be most like Leonard, but my family insists I am most similar to Sheldon. Hm. Go figure. :o


Haha, the same here. I see it with 2 my good friend while pausing from work. I usually insist that I'm Leonard, but they always tell me "no, no, you are Sheldon".

Actually I think that from an "understanding" point I'm like Leonard, while from a "pulsion/behaviour" point I'm more like Sheldon (but I like sex).


_________________
Planes are tested by how well they fly, not by comparing them to birds.


mitharatowen
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Oct 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,675
Location: Arizona

14 Jan 2010, 2:02 am

LostInSpace wrote:
It has been brought up before, but that's all right. We don't expect you to read the entire archive before posting! People on here seem to agree that Sheldon seems very Aspie.

I would guess that Sheldon is intended to have Asperger syndrome, because there are several Aspie characteristics he has (like the need for sameness) that writers who are just going for a general "nerdiness quotient" probably wouldn't include. There are several characters on other TV shows who also seem Aspie, whose creators have discussed them as being likely Aspies, so it seems like AS is more widely known in the television production world than it used to be.

I doubt the character of Sheldon really helps AS awareness. For one thing, since it is not stated on the show that he is AS, you would only pick up on it if you were already familiar with AS. Also, Sheldon's eccentricities are often shown as being extremely annoying to the other characters on the show, while we really don't see any benefits to AS. After all, several other characters on the show are as intelligent as he is without being AS.

Nailed it!



Danielismyname
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Apr 2007
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 8,565

14 Jan 2010, 3:37 am

But, Sheldon is the coolest cat on that show. :)



musicboxforever
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Dec 2009
Age: 59
Gender: Female
Posts: 518

14 Jan 2010, 7:17 am

I absolutely love Sheldon. I have been thinking he has aspie traits. In the show I watched the other day he said to Raj, I'm not good with facial cues as you know so I am guessing you are either sad or angry." And I thought that's it. He's definately aspie.

And the way he doesn't get sarcasm. My sister is like that. She takes everything literally.



wesmontfan
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

User avatar

Joined: 29 Nov 2009
Age: 68
Gender: Male
Posts: 144
Location: Near Washington DC

16 Jan 2010, 2:11 pm

Its a fun game. On this and the other aspie site I go to there are threads about "which movie/TV characters do you think are aspie?"

I glanced at the "Big Bang Theory" once and it seemed liked all of the principle characters were prime candidates.

It could well be that the writers of the show may even have had Asperger's in mind when they created atleast one of the characters, but they didnt intend the show to be an educational public forum on the subject of aspergers so that trait was never spelled out.

It is a comedy.

I suspect that the "Gieco Caveman" was originally concieved of as the "Geico Neanderthal Man" (the ads would make more sense that way- " we had no idea you guys were still around!"). But they dumbed the concept down for the general public by calling the fictional victims of Gieco's insensitivety simply "cavemen" because Anthropology students are few and far between.

Likewise alot of therapists (let alone the public in general) havent heard of Asperger's yet.



Obres
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 13 Jul 2007
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,423
Location: NYC

16 Jan 2010, 3:41 pm

Sheldon says the kinds of things that I think but (usually) have the good sense not to say. Watching him is almost liberating in a way.



bonuspoints
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Aug 2009
Age: 42
Gender: Female
Posts: 598
Location: Washington state - *Do I get bonus points if I act like I care?*

16 Jan 2010, 9:00 pm

Obres wrote:
Sheldon says the kinds of things that I think but (usually) have the good sense not to say. Watching him is almost liberating in a way.


Yes! Exactly! Me, too!


_________________
Those who cannot tell what they desire or expect, still sigh and struggle with indefinite thoughts and vast wishes. - Emerson

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. - Oscar Wilde


Eirun
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

User avatar

Joined: 31 Dec 2009
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 85

17 Jan 2010, 5:48 am

bonuspoints wrote:
Obres wrote:
Sheldon says the kinds of things that I think but (usually) have the good sense not to say. Watching him is almost liberating in a way.


Yes! Exactly! Me, too!

Yeah same here!
Sheldon is how I feel I am inside. Except I dont know the technical stuff he's ranting about. ;)

I read that the actor of Sheldon said that the character wasnt meant to have AS, but, he said that the character couldnt have more traits of the syndrom. ;) So yeah, he also agrees to that Sheldon is a typical Aspie. :)

I love the show. So does my fiance. We watch it and laugh and laugh. We recognize alot so that makes it even more fun!


_________________
// I are cat - resistance is futile! *meow*


Aietra
Sea Gull
Sea Gull

User avatar

Joined: 20 Oct 2009
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 240
Location: New Zealand

17 Jan 2010, 2:55 pm

Eirun wrote:
bonuspoints wrote:
Obres wrote:
Sheldon says the kinds of things that I think but (usually) have the good sense not to say. Watching him is almost liberating in a way.


Yes! Exactly! Me, too!

Yeah same here!
Sheldon is how I feel I am inside. Except I dont know the technical stuff he's ranting about. ;)

I read that the actor of Sheldon said that the character wasnt meant to have AS, but, he said that the character couldnt have more traits of the syndrom. ;) So yeah, he also agrees to that Sheldon is a typical Aspie. :)

I love the show. So does my fiance. We watch it and laugh and laugh. We recognize alot so that makes it even more fun!


I fourth that! And yeah, I reckon I probably got more out of it than the NTs I was watching it with. (Except the ones who took up sneezing every time I mentioned online gaming or started talking in long technical terms or misunderstood their sarcasm...and those sneeze/coughs sounded suspiciously like the word "Sheldon"!)



Ahaseurus2000
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Sep 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,546
Location: auckland

17 Jan 2010, 11:37 pm

I love the show!

I agree that Sheldon is Aspie, while he seems irritating to the other characters, I occasionally wonder if he's on to something that they don't like to hear. The other characters only seem aspie in relation to their efforts (or difficulties?) with women. I can relate to Rajesh's shyness, I feel like that on the inside!