So much for respect
In the show How I Met Your Mother, the story follows a group of friends as one of the members, Ted, tells the story of how he met his wife to his kids. The show goes through many different relationships and dynamics through this group of friends as they all try to navigate life and love. Personally, I enjoy watching the show and I think it can be really funny, but all of the characters bring about a issue that can be controversial in some ways.
Ted is the narrator of the show. He is the one that viewers are waiting to find his wife.Ted is a serial dater. He is constantly dating someone and he is always on the lookout for the one because he wants to get married and start a family more than anything. Ted is in some ways a know it all. He is constantly correcting people and pointing out why they are wrong and he is always right. Ted is the most insecure character on this show even though he is successful and generally a nice guy. His insecurities bring out the worst sides of him which lead to his choices to talk down to people often. Ted also doesn’t have respect for others. In one episode, he asks out his dermatologist. She tells him no, but Ted goes on to essential force her to say yes. He continues to pressure her until she says yes, rather than respecting her decision in the first place.
Marshal and Lily represent the married friends on this show. They are in love and are best friends. They are typically on the same page and they make most viewers wish they had a relationship like them. They are the true relationship of this series and they make the other issues in the show seem smaller. Their relationships bring viewers back to the show. Robin is the on and off girlfriend of Ted. Robin is typically a strong character who follows her head and makes conscientious decisions that are normally very smart and good decisions. On occasion, she will make a dumb choice that will lead to some feelings being hurt, but overall she is a great character that most people love, including the other characters.
Perhaps one of the most controversial characters on this show is Barney. Barney represents the stereotypical player. He goes through women without any regard for who they are. He rarely has a serious relationship because he is constantly looking for ways to deceive women into sleeping with him. He even goes so far as to convince a woman that he only has twelve hours to live. He has little respect for women, as is evident by the way he constantly lies to them in order to get them into bed. Eventually, Barney begins to grow as he pursues a relationship with Robin and finally falls in love. At the end of the day, Barney’s character still has a lot of growing up to do. he fails to respect women and treats relationships like games, moving from one to another and trying out different tactics to achieve his goal of getting laid.
How I Met Your Mother is a funny series that has a lot of positive characters that make viewers laugh, but unfortunately it also has a couple of characters that can make certain episodes difficult to watch due to how degrading they can be, especially towards women. It provides a lot of character growth for many of the characters, which makes it easier to look past some of the issues that don’t get fixed through maturation.
