Two And A Half Men and mother/son relationship

[KungFuJoe]

First off...I LOVE this show. I actually just saw my first episode last week on a JetBlue flight...so this is new to me. The writing is spectacular and Jon Cryer is just...man...he MAKES this show work. The kid is great, too.

 

That being said, I was watching this last night and I realized that this show is more about "real life" than you might think...and actually hits upon some pretty prevalent relationship issues that plague a lot of men.

 

Alan Harper (Jon Cryer's character) has issues with not just getting a woman to date him, but even holding on to one he finds. He's pretty much the "beta" male that you might see described here. He's weak, not very attractive to women, has feminine traits, is overbearing, OCD, low self esteem, over thinks things, etc, etc. He's basically like a LOT of the "can't find a date" guys on this forum.

 

Charlie Harper has issues with commitment. He's scared of women...and doesn't want to be taken advantage of. His FEAR of women is actually written into the storyline so this is not something I'm "making up". He admits he's scared of women. he is like the alpha male. Older brother, stronger, successful and rich, good looking, doesn't overthink anything...hell, he just wings it most of the time, hooks up with women left and right, etc, etc.

 

What do they both have in common?

 

A selfish, uncaring mother who gave them no affection or attention.

 

Now, I know this is a comedy show, but there are some SERIOUS and REAL issues at play here. The creator of the show knew exactly what he was doing when he created the dynamics of the show.

 

The mother/son relationship might be THE MOST IMPORTANT factor in developing a man's psyche. Moreso than the father, although I'm sure them not having their dad around contributed to their conditions.

 

If a lot of the men here, who feel they fit the "pattern" of either Alan or Charlie Harper...looked at their mothers and how their relationships were with them...I wonder what they would find.

 

Just food for thought. I know my threads lately have had a similar pattern, but I just think this is something that is MAJORLY overlooked when it comes to trying to figure out why you have women issues, dating issues, commitment issues, etc.

 

Question for the women...if you subscribe to my theory (and it's not really "mine"...I'm sure there are lots of studies on this) that mother/son relationships are VITAL for a man's outlook on women he dates...does that catapult how men treat their mothers to the top of the list in terms of things you need to know about men before getting serious?