Entertainment · Society

Silicon Valley (2014 – 2019) and Cultural Homogenization

Aaron "Sleazy" Elias

I recently rewatched Silicon Valley, a TV series that ran for six seasons from 2014 to 2019. There is a lot that is wrong with it, but the first three seasons have some pretty decent humor. My favorite character is Erlich Bachman, whose actor unfortunately got tired of this role and left. Rewatching it was more of an intellectual exercise for me as I found it quite fascinating how off-color a lot of the humor was. Plenty is hit-or-miss, and even if you find a lot of it tasteless or cannot relate to it, this TV show nonetheless captures the spirit of its time and also illustrates how much worse US cultural exports have become.

Let me walk you through a few of the themes, which worked a mere five to ten years ago but would nowadays be seen as highly offensive:

– Autism and Asperger’s as comedic devices. One of the main characters, Richard Hendricks, is on the spectrum and an extremely awkward character. The viewer is invited to laugh at him, not with him. There are two minor characters who are even more on the autism spectrum, that guy in the server room who is in love with his server racks, and a seemingly retarded Indian girl who does not say a single word. Today, such humor would be considered “ableist” and likely not make it past the censors.
– Female autism. There is a female character, Laurie Bream, who is not just socially inept but clearly autistic, yet quite good-looking for her age. (Autistic women in the real world tend to look like butch lesbians.) This character is not done well. She is a replacement for a male character that did not return for season 2 due to the actor having died. This is one of the more unflattering depictions of women as this character appears ruthless and unable to decipher social cues. In the real-world, you will not find this combination. Even though Laurie Bream is a male character in a female body, it is remarkable how unlikeable she is.
– Incompetent third-world coders. Dinesh is a Pakistani Java programmer and his white colleague Gilfoyle repeatedly makes fun of his “shitty code”. You find a lot of software developers of the brown persuasion in the tech industry and they have a reputation for substandard work, yet you would be called a racist if you pointed this out. A few years ago, however, this observation could be turned into a running gag on TV.
– Female careerism. Monica Hall is an unemotional investor. She mentions in passing that she got married and divorced within three years and is only after money. Even though she is seen working closely with others, nobody really seems to like her. This is even the topic of one of the latter episodes.
– Poor English as a comedic device/anti-Chinese stereotypes. Jian-Yang is a FOB who lies, cheats, steals, and does it with a hard-to-understand Chinese accident. We also learn about his “very corrupt uncle in China” who issues visas if the bribe is large enough. This character engages in certain Chinese practices like burning trash in the backyard. Given how much influence China has on the West nowadays, there is a chance that a character like Jian-Yang would have to be written out of a script.

The other characters are more in line with Hollywood standards. There is Russ Hanneman, depicted as a moron who somehow lucked into becoming a billionaire. Two of the main characters also end up with millions, quite accidentally, but get defrauded by a white accountant. When they seek help from the black district attorney, they lectured about their white privilege, and capitalism. Multiple white characters only exist as a laughing stock, such as Gavin Belson, who runs a major corporation. He is supposed to be the series’ main antagonist, yet he is clueless. Nonetheless, he somehow manages to talk his way out of every bad situation, which is surely how feminists think about successful men. There is also a complete weirdo, Jared Dunn, who is a sycophant and schizophrenic, yet somehow able to produce meticulous work.

I do not think that Silicon Valley is a particularly well-made TV show. Nonetheless, it serves as an interesting time capsule. We are only a decade away from the year 2014, but when I look at mainstream entertainment today, we may as well live in a different century. Nowadays, you cannot make fun of anybody but white men. Certainly, you could not mock immigrants or depict women in an unfavorable light.

15 thoughts on “Silicon Valley (2014 – 2019) and Cultural Homogenization”

  1. Coincidentally, that was also the approximate timespan of The Americans, a show not without its flaws but very good IMO. I mention this because, though it didn’t paint the USSR in a good light, it would be impossible to depict Russians as slightly sympathetic these days. Even though I don’t consume much media these days, I imagine all Russian characters must conform to the negative stereotypes: ruthless oligarch/mobster, abusive drunk, etc.

    Reply

  2. I loved the first season. It was loosely based on the founding of Apple. It’s connection between autism and tech innovation was great. Bachman was Steve Jobs. On the spectrum enough to code, normal enough to sell the idea.

    I think what killed this show was the death of the guy who played the VC of Pied Piper. He died of cancer before they completed the first season. He made the damn show. He exceptionally embodied the aspy genius that all the main characters possessed.

    After a few seasons I quit the show. It became a tired theme like Gilligan’s Island. In other words, the characters could never “get off the island.”

    Reply

    1. I share your opinion. The show got a lot worse after that guy’s untimely demise. This character did not work with a woman at all. Probably, the show should have ended after two or three seasons as it just became too repetitive. In the latter seasons, the side characters carried the show, such as Jian Yang.

    2. I actually didn’t stick around long enough to where Yang was a significant character. I noticed they were incorporating him more though. After losing the VC character, and the guy that played Bachman the show was toast.

    4. I like this scene, too. It is pretty cerebral humor, compared to what this show eventually turned into, with its shock humor. I particularly like that this scene is pretty realistic. I deal with people on the spectrum basically daily, thanks to working in tech, and you frequently have the problem that these people go off at tangents. Before you know it, a bunch of those guys figuratively jerk each other off, discussing hypothetical scenarios that won’t ever happen. This was wonderfully parodied in Silicon Valley as well:

    5. Lol I remember that scene. From the finale of season one. It only had 8 episodes but it worked to perfection. I think that episode was called “Optimal Tip to Tip Efficiency” haha.

      What a great first season. Did you think the Monica character was hot? I thought she looked pretty good at that yoga party now that I think back.

    6. Monica was still reasonably hot in the first season but her looks visibly degraded throughout the series. I think the actress was already in her 30s during the filming of the first season. In that sense, she mirrored the decline of that TV show.

    1. Office Space is one of my all-time favorite movies. I rewatched it a couple of weeks ago. While the movie is supposed to be satirical, it captures working for a corporation very well: clueless bosses, TPS reports, inane process improvements, cost-cutting via consultants, and a mentally checked-out workforce. Of course there are some exaggerations for comedic effect. I would not be surprised if Office Space inspired the TV show The Office.

    2. It’s incredibly accurate. Like being told over and over what you did wrong, even though you told them repeatedly how you would solve the problem. To them saying “what’s happening” ostensibly as s greeting, but insinuating your not working. To telling you they “need” you to work on your day off as an intimidation tactic.

      It was golden.

      Also Judge worked on the F-16 fighter jet. He got degrees in physics and mechanical engineering. On top of his comedic abilities. He’s a modern day Renaissance Man.

    4. Having an excessive amount of supervisors was also due to ZIRP. In particular, tech companies loved putting DIE hires into supervisory roles. However, this trend is reversing. Plenty of companies have removed multiple layers of management, apparently without any loss to productivity. Facebook/Meta is a prominent example. In Europe, Spotify was quite vocal about that, too. They had too many managers managing managers who managed managers. There is also a cultural problem in tech with its utterly infantilizing culture. You are supposed to have a one-on-one with your manager every week or at least every other week. In the most serious organization I ever worked at, we had no one-on-ones at all and once a year, you spoke to your manager about the work you have done and your plans for the next two to three years.

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