Geeks logo

If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree

One of my biggest problems with sitcoms

By Dyllon RodillonPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
19

Before I get started, this is not to hate on anyone especially those with learning disabilities or anything like that. This is article with purely be a critique about writing characters that are incredibly one dimensional. I understand that the "stupid" character is a main staple especially when it comes to sitcoms. But I genuinely believe everyone is smart in their own way, hence why I titled this article the popular Albert Einstein quote. He once wrote, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”. But in sitcoms we only ever see the stupid characters stay stupid or worse get stupider as the show progresses. Here are some examples of both characters who are stupid for the sake of being stupid and those few and far in between that broke that trend. Then worst of all of course, unfortunately those who got dumber.

Jason Mendoza

Don't get me wrong, I love Jason's "Florida Man" character, the crazy stories he tells about his life and complete lack of impulse control made for some great Scenes. Plus it's always great to see more Filipino characters on American TV, and of course said characters going against the grain instead of just being the smart (guys/girl) of the group.

Oh Jason

London Tipton

Speaking of Asian American characters breaking the stereotype, I believe London was the very first Asian American character to not be depicted as the group genius. Good job Disney. However they still could have done more with London to give her more depth, the only time I remember London ever being smart was when there was the alternative universe where she and Maddie swapped personalities.

Chelsea Daniels

In case you've forgotten "That's So Raven" was an incredibly deep show. "That's So Raven" tackled plenty of mature issues from racism, to healthy eating, and even shoplifting. But boy Chelsea was really, really not smart at times to say the least to keep it nicely.

The Good Place, The Suite life of Zack and Cody, and That's So Raven. All great shows that fell victim to the dumb character troupe.

Now for the 2nd part of this article let's take a look at characters who broke the trend. We

Reese, AKA Reese Wilkerson AKA Reese Nolastname. Chief

So Reese is one of the major reasons why I'm writing this article. Growing up with Malcolm while just being arguably the single worst problem child is just asking to be a completely useless character. Reese really was all brawn and no brains growing up, that was until they discovered Reese was a prodigy chef. If I remember right this was intentional though, each son was supposed to be a genius in their own and I'm glad they let Reese have his culinary passion. Now I won't be including Dewey or Jamie, Dewey wasn't stupid. For those of you who don't remember he was actually supposed to be a "krelboyne " just like Malcom. That was before Malcom and Reese interfered. Also we never got to see Jamie past being a toddler, so no real way to see just how smart he was or wasn't nor what kind of genius he'd grow up to be.

counter-intuitive to the article, but still funny line from Reese

Michael Scott: amazing salesman

Sure Dwight may have been the one pitted against a computer to see who was a better salesman, however Michael's understanding of people is why he'll always be a better salesman than Dwight will ever be. Michael was incredibly people smart.

Kevin Malone: Trivia genius (also potential criminal mastermind?)

For those of you who have forgotten the specific trivia I'm referring to, Oscar was always portrayed as the "Smart one" of the group while Kevin is your run of the mill oaf, yet during bar trivia "The Einsteins" were able to beat Oscar and his dream team.

Honorable mention for Kevin. There is also there is a fan theory going around that when "The Office" ends, Kevin was only able to afford his bar because he along with the other accountants were laundering money through Dunder Mifflin. Now I'm just mentioning that because it's a fun theory, but it doesn't count because it is just a theory.

I can't find the flaw with this logic

Honestly in writing this article I found it really hard to find characters like these 3. As I mentioned above, most of the time characters actually became dumber as their respective shows went on and that's very discouraging to see. Charlie Kelly, Eric Matthews, Joey Tribbiani, Andy Dwyer, and Kelly Bundy they all fell victim to this troupe. We need to break this trend, it's becoming less and less apparent but unfortunately we haven't seen a character like these 3 I mentioned in a long time.

Thank you for your time, I hope you enjoyed what you have read today. I have plenty of different articles on many different topics. Feel free to give those other articles a read or two. Also if you'd be so kind, I'd greatly appreciate a heart and if you really feel so inclined tips are always appreciated but by no means required.

tv
19

About the Creator

Dyllon Rodillon

Jack of all trades, master of none.

Feel free to use my link to sign up for vocal+

https://vocal.media/authors/dyllon-rodillon?via=dyllonrodillon

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.