Big Bang Theory star, Kaley Cuoco’s struggles filming the Flight Attendant further emphasizes the long criticized mistreatment of Penny by Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory.
The offensive treatment of Penny by Sheldon in the famous CBS sitcom is proved once again by The Flight Attendant. The Big Bang Theory wrapped up its last season in 2019 after running for 12 long seasons. This however shocked some fans as CBS talked about expanding the show by at least another season. However, the cast moved on to do separate projects shortly after the show ended. Kaley Cuoco who played the naïve Penny also did a number of shows posts on the Big Bang Theory, including The Flight Attendant where she not only plays the troubled protagonist, Cassandra Bowden but also produces the HBO show.
Why The Big Bang Theory has been Misogynistic at times
Being someone who was in the Big Bang Theory right from the beginning, it was definitely hard for Cuoco to fully transition from her role as Penny to her role as Cass given that both the characters are quite different. Although The Flight Attendantbecame an instant hit, and Cuoco was applauded for her dramatic performance as Cass; this titular role bagged her Critics Choice, SAG, and Golden Globe nomination, MichielHuisman (who played Alex, Cass’s brief lover) claimed that Cuoco had trouble shooting love scenes.
In the past many critics have called out The Big Bang Theory for being misogynistic especially in it’s early seasons. Penny was always depicted as being promiscuous and everyone humiliated a grown woman for her choices, especially Sheldon. Nobody deserves to be treated like that, and the worst part is Sheldon often painted a very wrong and misleading image of her as all through the sitcom Penny was never actually shown sleeping around with random guys. She sure liked to go out with men but that does not give anyone the pass to humiliate her. What’s ironic is, she was actually ever really shown sleeping with Leonard, someone she eventually married. This is also the reason Cuoco struggled to do a similar but more intense intimate scene in her latest HBO show.
The writing changed after the initial seasons
As we look back at the famous sitcom we can see that The Big Bang Theory repeatedly used misogyny for cheap laughter, Penny’s mistreatment, and Sheldon’s constant humiliation of her were uncalled for. Having casual relationships is normalized since the last decade and thus this dated writing of the show is what made many viewers and critics made. Maybe it is because of these critics that the writers changed the tone for the show a bit and did some justice to Penny’s character in the later seasons. Chances are Cuoco herself stepped in and spoke against the blatant sexism in the writing. Whatever the reason might be, all we have to say is better late than never.
This is even more troublesome given how patient and kind Penny has been to Sheldon. How accepting she has been to Sheldon’s quirks, trying to accommodate them. And in return, she has mostly received sexist, callous remarks. Her excuse for tolerating his offensive behaviour was that he did not mean to be offensive, but that never excuses his foul treatment of a friend simply because of his choices.
