Gurrala & Preciado 1

Rohan Gurrala

Samuel Preciado

Samantha Ocena

Writing 1.07

3 December 2018

Gaming Good? Examining the representation of gamers throughout pop culture texts in the 21st

century

Since the 1980s when video games became popular, there have been many

representations of gamers in movies and tv shows. These gamers have generally been portrayed

as being lazy, having messy rooms, and with below average grades. This representation of

gamers has been the same in dozens of American movies and tv shows for over a decade. Many

of these films stick to the single story idea of how all gamers are naive and foolish. However,

the tv show Big Bang Theory, breaks away from the single story typically told about the video

game community. The Big Bang Theory helps parents get a new idea of a good representation

of what gamers are really like.Although there are gamers who are irresponsible and immature,

the single story representation of gamers should be abandoned since there are many more who

are responsible, smart, mature people who know how to effectively balance playing games with

their social and academic life.

The single story idea was first introduced by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who is a

Nigerian novelist warning people that if we hear only a single story about another person or

country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. She argues that inherent in the power of stories, is

the danger of only knowing one story about a group. For instance nn her TED Talk speech she

says, “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are
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untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” This quote

shows the problem with portraying a person, personality, idea, or characteristic as only one or

the other with nothing in between. Additionally, Adichie says the problem with the single story

representation is not that its “untrue” but that its “incomplete”. Consequently, in the case of

portraying gamers repeatedly as immature, disorganized, and irresponsible. The unintended

consequence is that people will believe that is the only type of gamer that can exist. Further, this

idea of a single story is very important to recognize and acknowledge, since nothing is ever

black or white, true or false, right or wrong.

The pop culture text we chose that breaks the single story representation of how all

gamers are immature, irresponsible, and disorganized is from the show Big Bang Theory. The

characters in the Big Bang Theory only play in their spare time in order to relieve stress and

relax from a hard day of work. They have regular jobs, live normal lives, and have personal

relationships. Video games don’t dominate their lives day and night and keep them from

pursuing their dreams and accomplishing their goals. It is just a harmless hobby to get closer

with friends and have fun. For example, this is a scene from the tv show The Big Bang Theory

in which the characters are shown sitting in the living room together playing video games.
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Figure 1. The Big Bang Theory Playing video games: Reporter, Daily Mail. “Inside their

fictional apartment.” Daily Mail, 24 February 2015

As illustrated in the picture, one can see the clean living room, neat table, and organized style of

play from each character. They are portrayed like this in order to show their close friendship and

comradery. They are only playing games to relieve stress and have fun. As a result, they are not

shown with a messy or chaotic room, because are simply trying to show how these characters

are normal. Not an exaggerated obsessed gamer with no social life, but instead just four regular

guys, with regular lives, trying to have fun. Additionally, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who is a

Nigerian novelist warns people that if we hear only a single story about another person or

country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. However, this show breaks Adichie’s single story

narrative of gamers being unsocial people who can’t concentrate on anything else but video

games. To rephrase, I am not saying that people who let video games take over and affect their

social and academic lives don’t exist, I am saying that there is a larger percentage of people who
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play games responsibly and in moderation. Thus by only representing gamers in pop culture

texts as irresponsible and foolish, you are fueling a dangerous false single story in people.

Which will cause parents and other people to generalize these false personality traits to

everybody who plays video games. Furthermore, The Big Bang Theory does an excellent job of

destroying those stereotypes of how gamers are seen and how gamers actually are, being that

they have their life figured out and make playing video games one of their favorite pastimes.

The first pop culture text we used in order to show how gamers are being negatively

portrayed in movies, is the 2007 film Superbad. This movie is about a group of high school

friends who spend their daily lives hanging out with each other and never taking anything

serious. They are portrayed as having bad grades, no social life, being unpopular at school,

having unhealthy bodies, and being very irresponsible. Throughout the movie they are shown as

being careless messy characters who only care about playing video games. They are portrayed

this way in order to emphasize the single story idea of how all gamers will turn out like these

characters. For example, the is a scene from the movie Superbad when one of the main

characters is shown playing video games in his room.

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Figure 2. Superbad playing video games: The Getaway PS2. “Black Monday.” Youtube, 16

December 2008

As you can see from the picture his room is very chaotic and disorganized. There are worn

clothes on the floor, a cluttered desk, and a dirty unmade bed. His room is portrayed like this in

order to represent all gamers as being messy and immature. In contrast, The Big Bang Theory

portrayed the gamers as being normal, mature, and responsible. Superbads gamers are

represented in the exact opposite of how they are represented in the Big Bang Theory and this is

what helps break stereotypes and helps create a more accurate representations. Further, to

rephrase once more, we are not saying that the types of gamers who are portrayed in Superbad

don’t exist, we are only saying that those who don’t let gaming affect other aspects of their lives

also exist.

The second pop culture text we used in order to show how gamers are being falsely

represented is the cartoon show, The Regular Show. This show is about Rigby and Mordecai

the two main characters who work at a park. Each episode revolves around them getting into

trouble while at work and finding a way to resolve it without getting fired by the park manager.

Throughout the show the two characters are portrayed as being irresponsible, immature,

destructive, dangerous, and stupid. Additionally, they are also continuously portrayed being late

to work, completing daily tasks adequately, and more because of their addiction to playing

video games from sunrise to sunset. For example, this is a scene from Regular Show when

Rigby and Mordecai are show playing video games in the living room.
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Figure 3. The regular Show playing video games: Reporter, Daily Mail. “Part of shows DNA.”

Polygon, 8 October 2016

As you can see from the picture the table is very messy and chaotic with candy wrappers, chips,

crumbs, and crushed soda cans. They are shown as being so consumed by the game that they

don’t even notice all the trash that piled up. They are portrayed like this in the show to highlight

and make fun of their lazy and immature personalities, but the unintended response is that it

causes others to believe that all gamers have personalities like this. In contrast, The Big Bang

Theory as explained before breaks this standard personality that gamers are portrayed as having.

While The Regular Show highlights the negative traits of gaming solely, the Big Bang Theory

instead focuses on the realistic traits. The traits in which gamers play a moderate amount of

games, mainly to pass time and hang out with friends, while still having social and academic

skills.

Gladwell like Adichie proves how people make assumptions by certain characteristics

that they have known to be associated with certain stereotypes. Malcolm Gladwell, a canadian
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journalist who researches social sciences, explicitly goes into detail to show how people make

self conscious assumptions and stereotypes of others just because of how they have learned to

associate people with stereotypes. Especially based on their environment growing up and what

they were exposed to, which can be seen in his book “Blink.” In his book, he expresses how

people unconsciously judge someone a certain way without even knowing it. Gladwell gives us

an example in “ There's plenty to suggest the height, especially in men, does trigger a certain set

of very positive unconscious association.” (Gladwell 86). For example, Rigby and Mordecai are

portrayed as teenagers, which causes the audience to automatically presumes they are immature

and very irresponsible. This triggers a negative outlook toward the characters. And with these

facts given two viewers both in the beginning and throughout the show, Gladwell's thoughts

come into place because people usually assume that people that play video games never really

grow up. Throughout the show, the two friends live chaotic lives which furthers the notation of

the stereotypes pertaining to teens. This negatively impacts the video gamer community by not

being accurate.

In conclusion, The Big Bang Theory does an excellent job of representing the gaming

community by showing accurate representations of how gamers really are. Unlike Superbad and

The Regular Show where the representations of gamers are made to fit stereotypes and common

misconceptions. Both Superbad and The Regular Show embody what Adichie and Gladwell

express as stereotyping people. They fit into pop culture mainstream yet fall short of informing

its audiences of accurate representations. The misrepresentations affect the communities its

representing negatively and creates more concrete stereotypes that are not accurate. The Big

Bang Theory is one of the few mainstream media's that allow for a changed outlook on the
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gaming community, by showing an accurate representation and breaking down false generalized

stereotypes.

Frank, Allegra "Games Are Part Of Regular Show’S ‘DNA,’ Polygon. 2016. Web. 29 Nov.

2018.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/h5j5toF8hw-

PD2Z3HEz5Uiu0_jA=/0x0:1920x1080/920x613/filters:focal(807x387:1113x693):forma

t(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/51262703/31046-regular-show-

mordecai-and-rigby-gaming.0.jpg

Gladwell, Malcolm “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking ” “The Warren Harding
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Error” October 2012. file:///C:/Users/Sammi/Downloads/Blink.pdf

Reporter, DailyMail.com "Archive: The Big Bang Theory Inside Their Fictional Apartment”

Mail Online. 2018. Web. 29 Nov. 2018.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/13/video-undefined-1C3E445A00000578-

793_637x351.jpg

The Getaway PS2 "The Getaway Black Monday In Superbad Movie." YouTube. 2018. Web. 29

Nov. 2018. https://youtu.be/ZGTHtLCQZ2w?t=33

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