In Brightest Day: Batman, Winnie the Pooh, OCD, and a Lack of Representation

I’ve wanted to write a post about how OCD is portrayed in pop culture for quite some time now—but to be honest, there really aren’t that many obsessive-compulsive characters out there. Off the top of my head, I can name the Riddler from DC Comic’s Batman and Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh. Rin tells me that Pearl from Steven Universe also suffers from OCD, but I don’t watch that show and therefore cannot comment on it. So that leaves me with the Riddler and Rabbit, which are not that many characters at all.

Unfortunately, despite being one of the more well-known mental disorders out there, OCD is sadly not that well understood by people at large. I think this helps contribute to the lack of representation—and what representation us OCD sufferers do get is normally not that great either.

In Brightest Day: Looking Again at Sheldon

A while ago, I looked at the character Sheldon Cooper of The Big Bang Theory fame. I argued that the writers have written Cooper to have Asperger’s Syndrome without actually saying he is Asperger’s, solely to avoid the problems that come with poking fun at a man’s disorder.

I’m not the only one who feels this way. There have been multiple articles, including one on Slate.com in 2009 (link), that noted that Sheldon shows characteristics similar to an Autism Spectrum case study. In the article, TBBT co-creator Bill Prady is noted as saying that Sheldon is not Asperger’s, but rather just “Sheldony.”

We’re going to play that card, Prady? Okay. Let’s play.

In Brightest Day: Sheldon Cooper

Unlike Stinekey, who took time in January to defend The Big Bang Theory in a very thought-provoking manner, I do not like Big Bang one atomic particle.

I think the humor is weak, the show is stereotypical, and the premise seems to mock geek culture as opposed to celebrating it. I may be in the minority, but I have my reasons for disliking the show.

And most of my reasons revolve around Dr. Sheldon Cooper.

Oh, My Pop Culture Jesus: Dear Fandom, It’s Not Always the Catholics

So, I have a little bit of a complaint here.

You see, I am a Catholic. In fact, not only am I a Catholic, but I actually decided to dedicate my life to the Catholic Church by studying theology. I am currently going for my Masters in Theology and further plan to go on to get my PhD. That means I have already dedicated about six years of my life to studying theology and I intend to keep doing so for the rest of my natural existence. Clearly, I care about my faith.

That being said, I am the first to admit when the Catholic Church does something wrong. Actually, because I am Catholic, I tend to come down harder on the Catholic Church and other Catholics for doing something wrong.

And I will come right out and say it—the Catholic Church’s stance on homosexuality is wrong. It’s not just kind of wrong, it’s completely and utterly wrong.

However, fandom, can you please stop making the Catholic Church seem like the freaking Westboro Baptist Church when it comes to homosexuality!

I have read a lot of fanfic and a lot of slash fanfic. Some are what you would call Alternate Universe, where instead of say Dean and Cas being a hunter and an angel fighting demons, they are both starting college and have been paired up as roommates—hilarious hijinks happen!

Inevitably, however, in slash fanfic set in our world a lot of authors tend to incorporate religion into the plot. After all, if one character has been taught their whole life that homosexuality is wrong and then realizes they are gay, well, that is a pretty dramatic and intense story. However, almost all of these fanfic have the uber-religious character be a practicing and devoted Catholic, which would be fine if they didn’t portray my faith like it was Nazism.