How I Met Your Mother and Philosophy Read Free

couple just because they’re somewhat annoying.
    The decision to ditch Ted and his job prospects for working in a dinosaur-shaped office building could be interpreted as a manifestation of this child-like attitude (see also “Little Boys,” in Season Three, which puts the Barney–little boy analogy in context).
    Without denying that this is part of the way Barney is portrayed, it would be difficult to frame selling a woman or the ‘Scuba Diver’ trick, which deliberately and with cold calculation plays with and exploits Robin’s feelings, as immature and therefore forgivable and in some way adorable childish gags.
    2. We’re Not Meant to Identify with Barney at All
    Here’s an alternative interpretation which may help us to escape the Barney Paradox. Maybe Barney was not conceived of as a protagonist of the series whom the audience was supposed to (or would be encouraged to) identify with. Married male viewers should identify with Marshall, single male viewers with Ted. Barney is there to laugh at.
    While this may have been the way Barney’s character started at the very beginning, this angle misses out on some of the most important aspects of Barney’s appeal and of his character in general. At the very beginning of the series (in the first couple of episodes only), Barney was portrayed as a loser—as the butt of every joke, quite similar to the Stiffler character in the American Pie franchise, which How I Met Your Mother has very rich ties to. Even his haircut was a bit similar to Stiffler’s. And he really was just someone to laugh at.
    So at least at the beginning, while Barney was depicted as an awful person, he was also depicted as a loser—not someone the audience should identify with. But this all changed very early on—maybe because the creator of the series realized the potential of the character. Barney would not have become as popular as he did if he had stayed this ‘dork’, as Lily addressed him in the second episode.
    3. Schadenfreude
    A somewhat different way to go would be to say that while we’re encouraged to have some kind of emotional engagement with Barney, this is by no means a positive emotional engagement. The emotion we’re supposed to feel towards Barney is that of Schadenfreude—the feeling of happiness at other people’s misfortune. We are not supposed to laugh with Barney—we’re supposed to laugh at him.
    This would be compatible with Barney’s popularity, as Schadenfreude is not an unpleasant emotion to have. There’s a long history of fictional characters whom we love to hate: from Tartuffe through Osmin and Monostatos to Dr. Evil. The idea then would be that Barney fits this illustrious list: the reason we like watching him is to see how he will eventually get what he deserves.
    Again, there are many bits from the show that point in this direction. There are many, many scenes where Barney’s misfortunes are supposed to provide the laughs. A quick list:
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  •    He’s thrown out on the street naked (“Naked Man”).
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  •    He’s forced to wear the ducky tie for a full year (“Ducky Tie”).
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  •    His attempt to take revenge on Marshall with the exploding meatball sub fails miserably (“The Exploding Meatball Sub”).
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  •    He’s tied to the mechanical bull for two full hours (providing a memorable scene with perfect comedic timing when getting off) (“Woo Girls”).
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  •    He gets repeatedly thrown out of the prom (“Best Prom Ever”).
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  •    He gets stung by a swarm of bees (“Burning Beekeeper”).
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  •    He gets beaten up by proud Canadians at a Tim Horton’s