Ramiz Yousuf

Tamara Warren Chinyani

CST 110

01 June 2020

Culture and Gender

The first depiction that I presented is the Big Bang Theory, the YouTube video is

titled gender wars (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icvtrrFD-80). It shows how

Leonard and Sheldon are having a match off with their significant other Penny and Amy.

Apart from them playing Pictionary, a game where one has to guess the picture the other

teammate has drawn. Leonard and Sheldon struggle to communicate with each other in

order to guess the word that is chosen from the deck. This clearly depicts how men are

less smart than women in many cases. It also depicts the lack of communication between

the two male opponents. They go as far as showing how Amy and Penny start mocking

Leonard and Sheldon by giving them extra time so that Sheldon can draw out more

pictures in order to give Leonard more time to guess the word. This clearly informs the

audience that men struggle to communicate with each other as often as men do. It doesn't

really mean that they are a whole lot dumber, it just means that men are slower and less

thoughtful when it comes to competitive thinking. I wouldn't say men are dumber, just

less smart in this situation.

 The second depiction that is shown has to do with the T.V series called ‘The

Office’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt96focL_oc). In this depiction a male actor

by the stage name of ‘Dwight Howard’ tries to make a sale pitch to a group of women

workers. Yet when he tries to shoot his pitch, right off the bat the women workers such as

Penny, Nellie, Phyllis, and Erin start disagreeing with his pitch in a comedically way. He

tries to be aggressive and imposed as a seller by telling them that he will tell them what

their needs are and that he will fill them. This clearly shows that men are more likely to

play the part of an aggressor instead of women. Apart from being aggressive with the

‘client’, the women workers try to tell Dwight that in order to be a good salesman and

prepare a good sales pitch, he should listen to the client and figure out their needs. Yet

when they try to teach him this on a white board the women workers asks Dwight if he is

actually listening, notice that in this example Dwight is using the so called passive

listening tactic where he is listening without engaging the topic in any noticeable way, I

just thought that was a cool little add on, but apart from that this video also shows that

Dwight is more aggressive and impatient with his sales pitch compared to the advice

given from the women workers.

I hope that I was able to identify some of the gender roles using both of these

examples from the internet. Male and female tend to have their own ways of handling

things and situations, but I believe that in these two videos, it clearly shows what the

roles are for each gender shown and how each gender is able to deal with certain

situations given to them.

 Works Cited

Buchanan, Haydn, director. The Big Bang Theory - Gender Wars. The Big Bang Theory -

Gender Wars, YouTube, 23 Dec. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=icvtrrFD-80.

Office, The, director. Pitching to Women - The Office US. Pitching to Women - The Office

US, YouTube, 17 Aug. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt96focL_oc.