Feminist Critique: "The Playbook"

Popular Television show “How I Met Your Mother” aired its last episode last year, bringing its nine season life to an end. The sitcom follows Ted Mosby’s search for his soul mate. Ted is an architect living in New York City, and the other main characters on the show are his best friends: Marshall, Lily, Robin, and Barney. An episode midway through the series titled “The Playbook” concerns Barney, who has found himself in a predicament when Lily steals his “playbook” which contains all of the moves he has used to pick up women. While the episode seems to reflect and attachment to a “separate spheres” ideology, and appears to perpetuate some of the stereotypes concerning men and women, it really is criticizing the patriarchal structure of society by satirizing the stereotypes.

The episode most blatantly illustrates the “separate spheres ideology” and stereotypes of women through its portrayal of the women Barney is hoping to seduce. Of all of the women in the episode, none are portrayed as having professional careers(in fact, their careers are not addressed at all), or as being particularly career driven. Most are illustrated as naive and unintelligent. The two primary stereotypes that the episode focuses on is a woman as a sex object, or a seductress. The former of the two is displayed by the women easily falling for Barney’s schemes, and Barney’s treatment of them. Barney regards them as nothing more than potential sexual exploits; He is not interested in any emotional or meaningful connection to them. They are all attractive physically, and all wear promiscuous and revealing outfits to enhance their sexual appeal.

The former of the two is illustrated in the general demeanor of some of the women Barney is pursuing. The few that seem to have any kind of agency in the interactions between them and Barney, express that agency in their ability to sexually seduce him. They are shown as deceptive, and again, valuable only for their sexual appeal. Once Barney has slept with the women, he devises a way to get away, and, proving that he really was only interested in them for sex, never contacts them again.

Despite these alarming illustrations throughout the episode of various stereotypes of women, the show is ultimately challenging and satirizing these stereotypes, rather than reinforcing them. The primary, and prodigious way the show accomplishes this is through the reactions of the other characters of the show. All of them regard the playbook with absolute disgust, commenting several times on the sexism and chauvinism displayed by Barney, all scolding him. To further sophisticate the satirization, the show (a comedy) is full of jokes and comedy, further proving that the writers are attempting to approach these stereotypes as being ridiculous, not reinforcing them.

In conclusion, while I would not characterize this piece of culture as “feminist” per say, I would definitely conclude that there is more depth and complexity to its structure than may be initially perceived. The show doesn’t necessarily challenge the patriarchal structure of society, or stereotypes of women and men, as I believe a feminist work of culture should, but it absolutely does not reinforce any of the aforementioned issues. I think that this approach to dealing with stereotypes of men and women are particularly effective, and that other television shows and films should consider employing this approach if they wish to challenge stereotypes.