Glass of Water - Tropes vs Sheldon Cooper 

"Thank you for putting up with me" Which episode is this?? Just seeing the clip made me tear up. I'm autistic myself and I've lost count of how many times I've said this to people. Sheldon is one of the few characters in modern day T.V that I can relate to, honestly. Does anybody know this episode? I'd love to know~

And I did know someone like Howard. Even kind of looked like him. He did eventually change because he was forced to. Howard eventually changes because he realizes he can’t be that way and have healthy and stable relationships in his life.

One your best Glass of Waters so far Lily. When I was growing up, I was diagnosed with autism at a young age. I'm very low on the spectrum, and from time to time I still commit a social faux pas. The problem was, no one told me I was autistic. I didn't understand why I had all the social grace of hippo on ice skates. I understand that now and do everything in my power to grow and overcome those challenges I used to face. I relate to Sheldon a lot, bag genuinely really like The Big Bang Theory because of him. Keep up the hard work Lily.

Oh lord, I love this video so much. Sheldon has always been a character close to my heart, and he was a tool used by my speech pathologists for years. I remember how the class would sit together, watch a scene, and my counselor would have all of us talk through how Sheldon could have stood up for himself, apologized, addressed the situation differently... We'd come up with solutions to apply in our own lives. The show encouraged both myself and my classmates to become better people, to learn and grow.

This is just... a video I need to rewatch every few months.

My little brother is Autistic, nonverbal. My family doesn't know how much he understands us, and it's hard to understand him sometimes. Having Sheldon be such a well-known character, one we could see on a show we're able to easily watch, is a bigger help than we noticed... My mom pointed out that 'Sheldon's got to be some kind of Autistic' and that helped us be able to guess, a little, at how my brother's mind was functioning. I know that seems a little like a leap, but like how you mentioned Sheldon was able to learn and understand better when the rules were laid out explicitly for him, we were able to glean that bit of information from the show. My dad, instead of getting frustrated when my brother wouldn't do what he asked him to, would slow down and /show/ my brother, explain it more to him. Same thing with my littlest brother, he would still get frustrated with my little brother, but would try to explain more, or show better. Being able to see Sheldon helped us connect better with my brother, as sappy as I realize that to be. Thank you, Lily, for laying your reasoning out so clearly. I'm always glad to see a new video of yours in my subscriptions, and I'm very glad you covered this topic

Well Lily congrats, you managed to get me evaluating myself in the first two minutes, I do have a bad habit of repeating other peoples criticism without actually having seen/played the thing (Big Bang theory does not apply here because I'm not mega into it its the sort of thing I watch when nothing else is on) Anyway point is you made me realise the blindingly obvious (IE: its a really dumb thing to do) and I now endeavour to stop doing it... I probably wont succeed but you have got me to at least try and improve myself so thanks for that. (But seriously how did I not realise that?!?!)

Honestly this is the best description of Autism I have ever seen. When I was in high school I did have some friends but the people that I wanted to be friends with thought I was very annoying. What I did was instead of pulling the special snowflake card, I got my act together and started to behave and watched what I said. By the time I got to my junior year I met a freshman who was in the same boat as me, had friends but people still thought he was annoying. He said that he's fine the way he is but I tried to tell him otherwise, and now he thinks I'm an asshole who thinks he's superior to everyone else. I ended up getting much better at social behavior because I put my analytical mind towards being social. I started looking at what drives conversations, if people are good listeners or talkers, what are some topics and everyone can contribute too, and so on. I hardly watched Big Bang Theory but the way you described how Sheldon analyzes the scenarios and improves is dead on to what I did in terms of talking to people, I hope you don't mind me sending this to people.

I work with kids with autism, and the social privacy diagram he made isn't even over the top. It's literally something we use to teach kids.

Material like this is why I continue to watch and enjoy your work, Lily: you call out bullshit when it's actually there and give a message of self-accountability that I too often don't see in other personality-driven RU-vid shows. Most folks I see suck up to their audiences and tell them that they're already the best thing since sliced bread because they think that's the proper thing to do (and to get as much revenue as possible). You get your audience to think about themselves critically, myself included, and I can't thank you enough for that.

years late I know but I ended up coming back to this video this morning. I'm autistic, as are many of my family members, and I love you explaining how so many times autistic people can and do grasp social concepts if explained. I had the very lucky life experience of my autistic mother understanding this concept very easily and using that understanding to teach myself and my sibling social rules in a way we could easily understand which led to us both having thriving social lives from a relatively young age and I think it's so great hearing the perspective of a person who has worked with families like mine to help them achieve the same thing. I think people forget that *all* relationships regardless of neurotype are work and involve some degree of self improvement, it's ok to wish to be met halfway, but not to expect everyone around you to constantly put their feelings aside.

I have autism! When I was really young, I had to be taught about feelings and I still have trouble telling when people get annoyed... I think it's good you addressed this BS criticism! (Also I find it kinda funny that you think RAINBOW is on the autism SPECTRUM)

Lily, you are my hero. My English final was to write an analytical essay about whatever topic I wanted, and I was struggling to really write something good. I decided to binge watch your videos, and when I saw your style of video, it showed me a less ass-kissing way of analysing things, which I LOVED. Long story short, thanks to you and your awesomeness, I got a 105/100 on my final, where extra credit wasn't even offered! I actually owe it to you for passing my English class!

I'm really glad that you brought up Rainbow Dash and Twilight. I know people with autism, and people that like to wallow in self pity, and a lot of them HATE Rainbow Dash because she constantly fucks up and has troubles with empathy. And I feel like a lot of the people that hate her do so because she reminds them of themselves, and because her place in the show is a rebuke to people who refuse to learn from their mistakes.

Great job, Lily. This probably the best video you have ever made. Everything about this is amazing.

13:37 Interestingly enough, when I was in my early teens, I repeatedly told myself that I needn't change myself (after all, anyone who would dare criticize me and my superior intellect because of a lack of social graces clearly aren't tolerant enough to be dignified with any thought). Yet, after I became obsessed with the Big Bang Theory, I realized that my autism is not an excuse to refuse to change. If Sheldon, someone who was much smarter than myself, had to change, so should I (after all, I was frequently compared to him and I wanted nothing more than prove that I could be as brilliant as him). Why did I look up to Sheldon? It was initially due to his intellect, but it was later his willingness to change and grow as a person, something which I sorely needed to do, and nowadays see as a basic human necessity. My father insisted that the comparisons between myself and Sheldon were insulting, but even now I cannot see them as such because it's evident that we did not watch the same show (since he overlooked how Sheldon had changed, despite his lack of social skills). It was Sheldon's lack of social skills being gradually eroded that led to me wanting to develop my own, and whilst I still have a long way to go, I certainly don't understand why anyone would see Sheldon as a caricature or an insult, considering what Sheldon demonstrated to be possible. It is for that reason that I see Sheldon as an exemplar of autism, and wish more shows (and people) were willing to wrestle with the idea that autistic people can change if they have a desire to do so. It would be infantilization to say otherwise, after all.

My one regret about watching this video: not having caught up to the show sooner, because I was not aware of that season ending cliffhanger. I'm only 3 episodes into season 10. Time to binge!

I have never seen the big bang theory(even though I really want to) but I've always loved Sheldon, he reminds of a 7 year old I know, and through seeing little tiny clips of the show I was able to grasp how to not be a dick around him. I'm really glad you made this video Lilly, thank you.

What a fascinating take on this. I'm interested in your take on Abed Nadir from "Community." I've found him to be similar to Sheldon Cooper as they are both autistic people who go through character growth, social development, and overcoming personal flaws (like what you described here), but Abed is often praised as being an example of positive representation while Sheldon is derided as negative representation. I've found this confusing because, as an autistic person, I've found myself relating more to Sheldon just as much (if not more so) than Abed. That, and I felt there were some parts of Community where Abed came across as more of a caricature (even some sort of "Magical Autist") at times (Abed still one of my favorite characters in one of my favorite shows, though). I'd be interested in hearing your take on this.

The good doctor tried to do Sheldon Cooper but went the way of icarus

I recently found your channel after the Korra video and I just wanted to thank you for your content. I often find my preconceptions and opinions being challenged by your videos and that is something that’s really rare on RU-vid. Again, thank you ❤️

THANK YOU, I work with people who have a range of mental disabilities and illnesses. And it frustrates me to no end when people give up on those who have autism because they think those with autism will never learn instead of taking/trying different steps to actually teach them. That and the point you need to want to learn and change to ACUTALLY grow. Everyone needs to put in effort to see growth!

as someone diagnosed in highschool, and had a short time to figure this out before i was dumped in the world( still working on this)... thank you for making this

One of the best Glass of Water's yet. I have a very close friend who's autistic. At first, even though I loved her to death, she still infuriated me many times over with how she was, but I hadn't a clue what autism when i met her. But Big Bang helped me learn. I often see our relationship being similar to Sheldon and Leonard, to the point that, 5 years later, I still get frustrated with her, but never let that get in our way. I'm glad you put the idiots in their place and I hope everybody needing a beginners course in Autism, and why not to be a misogynist, not only watches the Big Bang Theory, but also this video to really hammer home the points.

Thank you for this, you minx goddess. I get giddy whenever I see that you've put up a new video. I have never described myself with that word.

This is probably the first video/written piece I’ve seen that’s actually convinced me to go back and watch more of the Big Bang Theory. That confrontation scene between Leonard and Sheldon was really well-written from just the clip you showed, and it makes me wonder what else is left out of the basic cultural perception of this show.

I'm on the autism spectrum and I... really connected with Sheldon and the Big Bang Theory. It's nice to see people struggling with the things I struggle with (though to an exaggerated degree) and to be able to get the jokes, since so many are based on nerdy stuff that I'm interested in. And it's nice that it doesn't come across as "haha, they're so weird compared to the main characters" because they ARE the main characters. I'm weird, and I'm fine with that. But I am a person, and despite the exaggeration, they are people too, not just funny props.

I appreciate how you pointed out the distinction between people who are honestly seeking to improve themselves and those who want "representation" to justify their lack of willingness to change. I grew up with a sibling with some mild autistic traits (it was called Asperger syndrome at the time), but unfortunately his response to being diagnosed amounted to saying "See, that's why I am the way I am. Now everyone else needs to change to accommodate me." Sadly my folks didn't realize there were other options and continued to enable this defeatist attitude. It actually made me afraid to talk about my own issues because I grew up with the assumption that receiving a diagnosis meant admitting defeat and letting the diagnosis define you. I didn't realize that there was an alternative until I got a little older and met adult friends who had grown up with similar problems and learned ways to cope or even surpass those problems completely. While I may not be a fan of TBBT I can appreciate characters like Sheldon who show that change and growth are possible. It gives me hope that more representation like this will prompt discussion and encourage people with ASD to seek out the resources they need.

My teacher at school has a PhD in psychology. He always uses the Big Bang Theory and always explain us why Sheldon behave the way he does and it help me to understand more of Sheldon as well. Also I learn the whole theme song and I got extra points.

I've seen both Big Bang and "The adorkable misogyny of" and after watching the second my reaction was stunned laughter and , "... What?! But they all get punished for that behaviour! And they change over time! Have you even watched the show, or only hand picked clips from someone else?!" Followed by even more laughter. It's ridiculously wrong.

I was diagnosed with autism last year and I really connect with Sheldon. That and some other things made my mum and I go and get tested for it.

I have autism and one thing that I have problems with is that somethings with autism cannot be controlled. For example, My brain processes sound in a way where high pitched sounds and sounds that go from loud to silence make my ears ring horribly. I have noise cancelling headphones but some classes refuse to let you wear them. All I can do is ask others not to whistle.Do you think that 14 to 18 year old's politely stop when i ask? no. They whistle when i'm not looking(like I don't have working ears) and one time resulted in a kid getting suspended when he said that I bit him and called me a "psycho retarded cripple" (I'm not even physically disabled). I can only get so convincing when asking others. Sometimes you have learned everything and things don't work out in the end. I'm not saying that you're wrong, just that this a nuance that you left out. Also you are my favorite youtuber.

I'm so glad you made this video. I love the Big Bang theory and never understood why some people hated it nor did I realize Sheldon was viewed as a person with autism most likely because I'm not well versed with the medical area I suppose.

Thank you Lily. This was great and shall be very useful.

I need to get over my irrational dislike of laugh tracks.

O....k? And what if my criticism of BBT isn't that it has harmful stereotypes about autism? Because I've watched a couple of the early seasons and this never occurred to me, nor have I ever heard anyone else use this criticism outside of this video. I'd call it a Strawman, but then again it sounds like your average discussion on tumblr so maybe that's where you got it from. You do raise a lot of good points, and if the show has some educational value about the effects of autism then that's truly amazing. That doesn't make it good comedy, though. Anyway. The most common criticism that I've heard, and also the reason why I personally don't like BBT, is the shit writing. There's nothing funny about the dialogue most of the time, the characters are just regurgitating random pop culture references and science/tech terminology without any setup or punchline for an actual joke. The producers insert a laugh track after every goddamn line of dialogue to make it *seem* like there was a joke in there, probably in a cynical attempt to make you insecurely laugh along so nobody notices you didn't "get" the joke that wasn't even in there to begin with... Now, to be clear I'm not saying BBT has nothing else to offer. There are some genuinely good skits every now and then, but there's just way too much of this "obscure reference, followed by a laugh track for no reason" style of lazy writing in between. It's insulting to the viewers intelligence, there's nothing funny about just saying "emulator" or "Higgs Boson" if you have the faintest clue what they actually mean. And the better bits usually have nothing "nerdy" about them, it's just basic situational comedy that could be used in literally any other show to the same effect. Ultimately, there's nothing clever about the show. It's a show about nerds, but not *for* nerds. Just compare it to Futurama, which has surface level comedy and storytelling that anybody can enjoy regardless of their nerd cred. It doesn't just throw around technobabble to *seem* nerdy (in fact it mocks this, years ahead of BBT), it manages to *be* nerdy by including jokes that actually require extensive knowledge on nerdy subjects like computers, math and language. These are usually subtly hidden in the background so it doesn't interrupt the flow of the show for those who just want to enjoy the surface level comedy, but it's there for the people who are willing to pause the episode and convert a string of binary into text, or calculate a math formula, or learn a new set of alphabets, just to see what comes up... y'know... nerds. Now compare to BBT; "Sheldon said a word I don't understand, and the (fake) audience is laughing so it must be something funny... LOL!"

As someone with autism, I can easily say I agree with you.

Thanks Lily

15 secs in while making breakfast: Sheldon and autism are the topic? Oh, fuck. My little wacky brain's gettin' Hella shade, this morning!

This video is the best video or article that I have ever seen on autism. And that includes what they show us in my social development class.

Just a heads up of some good news: Atypical season 2 came out and although they were all side characters, they did introduce more autistic characters in the form of a support group at Sam's school :)

Holy shit, this video really opened up my eyes! I suppose now is the first time I actually comment on a Lily Peet video (though I love the Glass of Water series to death). I'm autistic (to be more specific, I have Asperger's Syndrome) and while I have watched only a few episodes of the Big Bang Theory, I never really garnered the interest of watching it more, particularly because of the overwhelming hate behind it. However, even though I listen to people's explanation on why they don't like the show or think the show is bad especially in regards to Sheldon, I never echoed their opinions around to others or grown a seething hatred of Big Bang, not just because I never watched much of it but also because I always felt like it was just the same points over and over again (misogyny, Sheldon being a "bad" representation of autistic people) and just making stuff up. It led to me being skeptical about the show, sure, but I never grown to full on hate it. And then I saw you had a clip of this video in your 2018 Back to Work video and I admittedly got excited about it because I wanted to hear about your thoughts on this particularly famous (or for some people especially on Tumblr, infamous) character. Upon this video being uploaded, I wasted no time clicking on it and after watching it twice, it has actually made me want to watch the show more (though you already gotten me to want to watch My Little Pony again). At this point in my life, I don't necessarily struggle so much with my disorder as much as I used to thanks to therapy and social personal classes in school and it has helped me a lot in developing and learning the social skills that I needed to be taught to me and get. As such, I never actually got why other autistic people (again, mostly on tumblr from what I noticed) would yammer on about how autistic people know more about autism than neurotypical people because.. I never automatically learned I have autism, hell, my parents didn't really know what it was about my behavior that made me so different from kids or why it was difficult for me to try make friends with others. I had to learn about social cues, how to hold an appropriate conversation, what's inappropriate to do in a conversation (like being mindful to one's personal space or volume control) from teachers who studied psychology and learned about autism and how it affects people and how to deal with it. Heck, I sometimes look up Asperger's Syndrome and read about it on occasion while avoiding Autism Speaks like the plague, and now, I ended up learning more from this video, which might end up being one of my personal favorite Glass of Water videos. So, thank you very much, Lily! :>

If the sexism and its consequences are played for laughs, couldn't that contribute to minimalisation? I admit that I have been caught on the train of hating BBT just because that was what was being thrown around a lot, but I'm never very comfortable when someone's sexist behaviour doesn't face more serious backlash. It feels as if its treated as a minor nuisance instead of a real thing that can harm women.

Hmmm, this has given me a lot of food for thought. On reflection (and having watched more recent episodes bc a friend had them on), I think my issue with Sheldon was that I'd only seen episodes /not/ acknowledging the work he had to do to adjust. I'm autistic, and because I was diagnosed as a child I managed to work to a point where I had worked on/through/adjusted things pretty early on. He sorta gave me the vibes that the people who like, don't want to work through things do, and I disliked him out of principle because I have a bad history with those sorts of people. But having more recently watched episodes where Sheldon has/does worked on adjusting makes me a lot more sympathetic to him as a character and him as a creation.

Thank you

hmm.. You made me think. Yeah, I must admit a lot of my opinions on TBBT are mostly based on others' reviews, maybe someday I'll take my time to make a careful analisis of it

Thank you for making this. I watched the show in class and thought it was very cleverly written (for a sitcom) and enjoyed it pretty much. Now fast forward a few years and suddenly there's an internet-sized hate circlejerk around it. I chose not to engage it because I knew it would be brainless propaganda. I had good judgement and this video confirmed I was right.

My reading of this character is that he's on the spectrum, but also...a giant effin' jerk.

Why do people fucking do that? They claim that this show supports Bad Thing A or this movie is a showcase for Bad Thing B, yet the characters are constantly and consistently punished for doing Bad Thing A or Bad Thing B.

I haven't seen all of the show, but I've seen enough to know that the people who complain about, have no idea what the hell they're talking about, and thank you, Lily, for expanding my knowledge on autism.

How do you feel about the argument that "The Big Bang theory is black face for nerds" as though nerds are a genuinely prosecuted race? It's one point I was kind of surprised to not hear you bring up.

at the 5:21 you said people liked Sheldon however in the Greater L.A . basin , how he treats people would have got him shot in the first season. Yes Pasadena is part of the greater L.A. basin. 7:24 yes true however a ass kicking will happen.

Nice job Lilly and happy new year I am very impressed with the autism and the big bang theory even though I may have seen the show only once I really never thought that Sheldon character was on the autism spectrum. now I have mild Asperger's and ADHD so I am on the autism spectrum as well. I have trouble with social cues as well as most people that have autism. So keep up the good work and also where did you find the picture with the mlp main six and each one with mental disorders cause I found that interesting because Rainbow dash and I have ADHD.

I actually love this video. And I always enjoyed Sheldon because we have similarities. Having High Functioning Autism it can be difficult to explain to others as an adult. I am much better with the written word than verbal talking. So I often don't say I'm on the spectrum unless something actually comes up- I.E. I have a meltdown and/or need to go into a quiet area for a little bit. My mom over time has learned how to teach me what is ok to talk about socially and not, like Sheldon's chart. Before we have company she pulls me aside and kindly tells me certain things she doesn't want discussed by people otherwise I'd just go on about it like Sheldon before he learns certain things can't be discussed with certain people. I actually started watching Big Bang Theory with my Dad years ago and it's been that way since even after my Dad passed on a few years back. Sometimes I have to have things explained to me a few different ways before I understand it too. I don't get the whole "People hate something because it's popular to hate" thing. My brother is that way. He doesn't like Big Bang theory because "repeat what other people have said" about it and so on. Anyways, this was a good video, and I really found it informative. Thanks for sharing :)

Across the street lives a family with two autistic boys, both of differing severities. One is super severe to the point of being unable to speak and the other being able to speak, but not very well. My mother had to watch the former come home from school one day. When he got home, he dropped his coat and backpack right at the door. My mother stops him and asks if that was where the coat and backpack went, and like the Teenager he is, he rolled his and obeyed her. Even if they are unable to speak, those who are autistic know a lot more than one might think. He knew two things in that situation: 1. That my mother doesn't know how his house his run and 2. People view him as a child and think he doesn't know anything. So he used these two things to attempt to get out of responsibility, to feign innocence. He was attempting to use everyone's low expectations of his ability against them and to his own advantage, revealing how aware he his. The latter is younger. but I've had to work with him much more than his brother. From what his parents told me, he adores me. I always make my attempt to acknowledge his existence. I give him high fives. If his parents aren't there I try to keep him in control. Constantly reminding him not to hit people, calming him down when he gets antsy. Those on the spectrum have different needs. Some are like the older brother and need more control than anything, others like the younger needs more acknowledgement.

Where the fuck was that post about bleach enemas from???