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| Image: catversushuman |
Do you ever brood over things society
thinks are crazy? Or maybe you are even part of the craziness?
Remember Eleanor Abernathy from The Simpsons? The old lady with grey
hair surrounded by cats, also known as... the Crazy Cat Lady. She’s a serious
stereotype. An old spinster living in a squalid hovel, unable to express
anything but incoherent gibberish, cats circling around her, obviously
disillusioned. What we don’t get to see at first instance is that she is, in
fact, an intelligent person who had to face issues beyond her understanding.
She ran for mayor and addressed issues such as public education, health care,
and the economic situation in what was then Springfield. This may be shocking
news, but this year’s presidential elections in the US are interlaced with the
exact same issues. Those are recurring themes, and the caricatured depiction of
opposing political parties in a sitcom are often far more telling than in-depth
analyses in well-known platforms, such as TheEconomist or The New York Times.
(Though sometimes these analyses are on point and challenging.)
What I am taking aim at here is the
politics of stereotypes. An intelligent, ambitious young woman running for office fails to succeed in a male-dominated environment.
Eleanor Abernathy was forced to pull up short of the career she desired; she realised
that the world was not ready for her. And in a way, she was not ready to face
the world. It doesn’t make a difference if she communicates on important issues,
such as health care and education, or produces incoherent gibberish because no
one other than her cats is ready to listen. Not only is her character and the
insight it brings a satire upon American politics, but it also points to a sad
truth about women in positions of power, or a lack thereof. Now it doesn’t seem that crazy after all.
But about those cats: Why is it that
mostly women seem to be drawn to cats? Cats just seem to reflect their personalities.
We know that cats too can be moody,
picky, hard to please, belligerent, sneaky, confrontational, iffy, PMSy, cuddly,
hungry, know-it-all-ish, conceited, ladylike, and overall hard to read. They
communicate on a higher level. This might also be the reason why ‘crazy cat
lady’ is such a pejorative term. It is difficult to understand the complexity
of a split personality. Do be honest if you’re female; are you able to
comprehend your own mind at all times? Let’s admit as much that we are
difficult to handle, and our thoughts even more difficult to grasp. But Eleanor
Abernathy is not a good example because we don’t get to hear much besides her unintelligible
jabber. There is, however, an even better example that also challenges the
female part of the craziness and contributes to the notion of intelligent
awkwardness.
Sheldon Cooper.
Though male, he definitely falls into
the category of the crazy cat ladies. Sheldon is the embodiment of a cat lady.
His thoughts are too sophisticated for the average mind to comprehend, his soft
skills are woefully lacking, his love life is...well, let’s call him “romantically
challenged”. In season four of The Big Bang
Theory, Sheldon becomes infatuated with cats. Now, from earlier seasons we
know that he needs the “Soft Kitty” song to get better when he’s sick. The
lulling “purr purr purr, little ball of fur” seems to do the trick. Nothing
special here, everyone loves a good purr. But the writers took it a step
further in season four. Sheldon has an argument with his girlfriend and seeks
shelter and understanding in what comes closest to the mind and personality of
a woman – a cat. The only problem is that he keeps taking on more cats: until
we are confronted with the much loved stereotype of the crazy cat lady. Sheldon’s
vocabulary and body movement change so drastically in this episode that he even
passes for a lady.
Sheldon’s story here is that it marks a
noteworthy shift from the notion that only females seek loyal companionship in
non-human feline creatures. As Sheldon puts it, “Cats make wonderful
companions. They don’t argue or question my intellectual authority.”
Whereas cat ladies are generally portrayed as being
out of touch with reality, pop culture has recently begun to explore the more
sensitive and spiritual relationship between man and animal. Whereas up to now
it has only been accepted for the dog to be man’s best friend, society is
slowly becoming acquainted with the idea of a cat being (wo)man’s best friend,
without it sounding (too) awkward or inappropriately stereotypical.
It’s about
time.
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