It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia is a comedy show on FX.  This show is very funny but also has the potential to offend many people in a lot of different ways.  It is about a group of people who  own a bar called Paddy's Pub.  They call themselves the gang and pretty much don't have any other friends except for themselves.  This is mainly because of the kinds of people that they are.  Each member of the gang shows varying degrees of narcissism, selfishness, laziness, lack of empathy towards others, dishonesty's, and greed.  This is probably why these people do not have any friends except for each other, because they are all equally evil.  All of them will easily dump any of the others for their own profit and personal gain.  In the episode "The D.E.N.N.I.S. System" one of the main characters, Dennis, shares with the others how he manages to sleep with so many  women.  He tells them that he does this by basically manipulating these women into thinking he is of value to them, sleeping with them, them never talking to them again.  This episode shines some light on to the anti-feminist nature of the show.

The best way to aid in the understanding of how this show undermines women is to explain the D.E.N.N.I.S System.  First Dennis starts by Demonstrating value.  To do this he makes sure that the woman sees his as something that she needs or has something that she needs in order to develop a conversation with her.  Then he proceeds to Engage Physically.  This leads him to ask her on a date but doesn't  spend too much on her because he is such a cheap guy.  Next he Nurtures Dependence by calling as an angry neighbor and making her feel like she needs him.  Then he Neglects Emotionally by continuing to prank call her but is not responding when she calls.  Nearing the end of the system, he Inspires Hope by showing up by her window and sleeping with her and letting her know that he is still there for her.  Finally he Separates Entirely.  In this final stage he leaves her, won't answer her calls, and avoids her at any and all costs.

This shows how anti-feminist the show is portrayed.  In this episode all that he is doing is objectifying the women that he is manipulating.  Dennis has used this system many times during the show and it always seems to work.  The fact that the men in this show are actually getting away with something like this is just so crazy.  How did we even let them show something like this on TV?  One of the things that I noticed while I was watching this episode was that I actually found this pretty funny.  I guess I just didn't understand how anti-feminist this show really was until I looked at it with a new critical lens.