The Gender Equilibrium

Hello,

     The main characters of sitcoms have a major difference which is gender. Some have all men, some have all women, some mix, but rarely can we find an equal number of men and women in the same show. Yet, the number of females and males is crucial if you want to build better character interrelationships, not to mention if you want to portray equal rights between men and women (Twenty first century, dude, come on !).

Now the question is what does the number and choice of males and females entail. 

In my humble opinion, shows that succeed and are popular display what I call a "Gender Equilibrium". Obviously, you can't apply this equilibrium to every show, but it is nonetheless interesting to see how the balance between men and women can be spot on or off.

    Let's take a perfect example of a Balanced Gender Equilibrium : Friends. Three males, three females. Perfect balance of gender that triangulates (3 characters per sex) an ordinary male or female. I'm not saying that all men have a bit of Ross, Joey and Chandler and that all women have a bit of Rachel, Monica and Phoebe. No, what I'm saying is that each of the three characters per sex has a unique personality that male or female viewers can identify with. I believe that Friends, for the first time, portrayed six characters that you could relate to easily making the show popular for men and women. 

     Now let's take an example of an Unbalanced Gender Equilibrium : Two and a half men. Three main characters, all men. To make it work with so few characters that are all male you have to make their personalities very extreme and strictly opposed. For instance, Charlie is very sexually active while Alan is not. Charlie has no intention of settling down (some exceptions from time to time), Alan has a son. Charlie is stinking rich, Alan is broke. You may be wondering what is Jake's place in the balance. Well, with each episode, Jake gets older and older, that means evolves from an asexual kid to a horny teenager. So his character shifts from one side to the other of the two extremes which are his father and his uncle.

    Recap :

Balanced : Friends

Unbalanced : Two and a half men.

     Let's take a third example : How I Met Your Mother. This one is tricky.

The first time I saw the show I thought :

Two women Vs Three men

I was a bit surprised since HIMYM was following Friend's footsteps. But as the episodes went by, the real balance was revealed : 

Two women > Ted < Two men

Let me explain. Ted Mosby is actually the main-main character and the others are only main characters. The sitcom tells the story of how Ted meets his true love, the woman he will spend the rest of his life with. The Gender Equilibrium surrounds and helps him make his choices. The married couple (Lilly and Marshall) the ex-girlfriend (Robin) and the seducer (Barney). So the balance between genders in HIMYM works because in Ted's quest for the perfect woman he has three elements :

What he WAS (The Ex-Girlfriend)

What he IS (The Seducer) : Obviously not like Barney, but still trying to seduce any woman that could become his wife.

What he is GOING TO BE (The Couple)

HIMYM portrays the three oldest philosophical questions : Who am I ? Where do I come from ? Where am I going ?. The Gender Equilibrium manages to set-up the philosophical aspect of Ted's life while insuring an equal number of males and females. Ted is the balancing point of the Gender Equilibrium in HIMYM.

I'll add, just in passing, that he is telling the story to his daughter and his son : perfect balance.

So what does all this mean ? Since the main theme that appears in all sitcoms is relationships, a Balanced Gender Equilibrium will have a more open perception of the resemblances and differences between both sexes and, in my opinion, will make a more interesting show. Some sitcoms want to have a more profound aspect, some don't ; no judgement of quality. Also, if your Gender Equilibrium is balanced, then you don't need to make your characters extremely opposed, and so they will be a little bit more complex and subtle.

     There are many other examples of the Gender Equilibrium and I'm sure we'll get back to that topic in a future post.

Meanwhile, comment, share and subscribe to my blog !

Thank you,

TRJ