It's going to be... Wait for it.... Legendary!

Those fanatics of How I Met Your Mother know the character Barney Stinson.  Most people are able to quote him with, or at least recognize where it comes from: “Legend… Wait for it… Dary!”  On the popular TV show, aired on CBS, Barney Stinson is played by Neil Patrick Harris.  His reoccurring goal throughout the entire TV series is to have sexual relations with as many girls as possible.  He is always chasing after a woman, wearing a suit and/or playing laser tag.  He also always trying to get Ted Mosby, one of the shows only single men, besides Barney, to “Suit up!” with him and go talk to girls at the bar or night club.  Barney Stinson embodies a stereotypical white male who is convinced that he can get anything he wants and won’t let anything stand in his way.

Barney Stinson is always after a female in the earlier seasons.  He has a playbook that he talks about and whenever he makes an impressive attempt at gaining the interest of a girl, he adds to it.  Later on though, he settles down with their friend named Robin.  Ted had originally been in love with Robin, but that didn’t stop Barney.  I find it interesting because Robin is the only female on the TV show that is inherently independent and has a serious business job that she works very hard for.  Lily Aldrin (Marshall's girlfriend and then wife) is the only other reoccurring female character, and she embodies the aspects of being a slightly airheaded woman who is a nurturing kindergarten teacher, and then an artist.  It’s ironic that throughout the show, there are many airheaded women shown with Barney, yet he ends up settling for and marrying Robin, a strong-willed, intelligent woman.  It’s a good way to challenge the pre-determined and held up aspects of the TV show.

Throughout the TV series, Barney Stinson has this demeanor of being more “awesome” than everybody else; this is where his cockiness with women comes into play.  He is so convinced that he is God-like and hardly gets hurt by rejection, because it happens so seldom.  Ted comes in to balance out the cockiness of Barney Stinson with his uncertainty and inability to even ask a girl out.  Throughout the TV series, though, Ted Mosby gains more confidence and has more ability to be like Barney Stinson, though he never partakes in the action of “Suiting Up.”  

Barney Stinson embodies the idealistic “bro” male who is so dominant when it comes to women, that he has very sexist actions towards them.  I’m not sure if it is the best idea for our younger generations to observe the actions of Barney Stinson.  However, I am proud that they counteract this stereotypical male dominance and show to the viewers, who continued to watch the TV series, that Barney Stinson is capable of accepting and loving women, his mother being one of them.  SPOILER ALERT: Barney Stinson gets a random girl pregnant after he divorces Robin and gets back to his old ways of being a “bro,” and he learns the true meaning of love.  CBS does a good job of fixing their mistakes that they create when it comes to attracting audiences and Barney Stinson is a great example.

http://www.karanovic.org/courses/mca008/archives/1073  

http://rebloggy.com/post/gif-how-i-met-your-mother-himym-barney-stinson-neil-patrick-harris-return-of-the/12938205166

http://weheartit.com/entry/84261822

http://suitupbros.com/funny/22-awesome-barney-stinson-animated-gifs#

http://deadshirt.net/2013/07/15/7-lessons-other-shows-can-learn-from-how-i-met-your-mother/