When I was little, I wanted to be like Cinderella because I thought we looked the same and she could sing to animals. At the time, I had short blond hair and I wished I had a superpower that would let me talk to animals. She was my favorite princess, and was one of the first times I thought I was seeing someone who looked like me despite Cinderella being a fictional character. Now, as an adult, I am still drawn to shows and movies where I can relate to the characters on screen, although much more grounded than my bond with Cinderella. This week, I want to talk about The Big Bang Theory, and why I wish I had better autism representation as a kid.
Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory was the character used to describe me the most often as a child. For those who never watched the show; The Big Bang Theory follows a genius scientist named Sheldon Cooper who struggles with social cues as he works, maintains friendships with three other scientists named Leonard, Raj, and Howard, his new neighbor turned friend named Penny, and eventually a romantic partner named Amy. Each character is given a complex character arch, and all of the characters interact with each other to form a chosen family. However, there were and still are some glaring problems with this comparison.
One of the main ways I am not like Sheldon Cooper is I am not a genius. I do well in school, but I am not classified as a genius in any way. I do not have any special talents or extraordinary skills, otherwise known as savant syndrome. You will never find me trying to build a radiator, or find uranium. I have something called splintered skills, where I am less of a jack of all trades and more of a master of a few rare things. By comparing me to a character who went to college at 11, I was set up to have the "less cool" form of autism. At the time, there were not a ton of well known portrayals of autism that were well rounded. Most autistic characters were portrayed as being a genius, which is still overrepresented in most TV shows.
The next flaw with my comparison to Sheldon Cooper is that I was a girl, and am now a woman. Currently, women and girls are less likely to get diagnosed with autism (Moore, 2023). Some stereotypes with autism, such as having an intense or special interest of trains as seen with Sheldon Cooper, stem from male portrayals of autism. I for one never cared for trains. I did like rocks and looking up trivia facts, but I did not have a special interest that stayed the same for years, and I did not share about my special interests in that intense of a way. Girls can also be better at hiding their autistic traits in certain social or educational situations by what's called masking (Rudy, 2023). For example, Sheldon struggles when the subject changes from something he was interested in and outwardly objects, while I was mostly okay moving on to a new topic of conversation and felt the disappointment internally. These differences, while sometimes minute, made it harder for me to relate to Sheldon Cooper.
Lastly, Sheldon Cooper was not officially diagnosed with autism. Showrunners claimed that they did not want the responsibility of portraying autism correctly, so he was not officially diagnosed in the show (Star-Ledger, 2010). However, he does still demonstrate some autistic characteristics as seen in this fan made video. This led to a more exaggerated and extreme portrayal of experiences I struggled with, including making friends, managing emotions, reading social cues, and sharing feelings. Sheldon was often the butt of the joke, such as when Howard, one of Sheldon's friends, dressed up as Sheldon to mock him. However, when Sheldon did the same thing back, he was criticized and told it was rude. While the showrunners were not directly portraying autism, autistic traits that I related to were mocked in an unwelcoming way. Sheldon was repeatedly told that he was annoying, hard to be friends with, and rude. Since I was compared to Sheldon, I worried people thought those same things about me.
As a child, Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory was the closest autism representation I had. I used that show to explain to my peers some of the ways I was different to help find common ground. However, I think having representation that wasn't focused on acceptance made it harder to be welcomed into groups my own age. If my peers couldn't see someone like me succeed, how would they trust that I wasn't weird or bad in some way?
I wish I had more shows growing up where the characters were like me in ways other than portraying autism. A lot of disability representation on TV focuses on characters who are white, straight, and male. I didn't see someone with my experiences succeed as a kid, which lead to me wondering if I was alone and capable of navigating the things life throws at us. I hope that as more stories are told, kids with autism can see themselves doing cool things, and have a way to share their experiences with others.
Thank you for reading this week's post about The Big Bang Theory! If you have any questions or comments, please reach out at @Anniekrollblog over on Instagram or Facebook. I hope to see you next week!
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