How I Met Your Mother, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, brings truth about life and comedy together as they show their audience hope and happiness. The show, which first aired in 2005, has been severely underappreciated.
The main character, Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) sits his two children down to tell them the story of how he met their mother in 2030. He starts in 2005 by telling them about how he met their aunt Robin and goes on to tell stories from the next nine years all leading up to him meeting Tracy, his eventual wife and mother to his children. Mosby’s stories center around him and his four best friends: Barney, Robin, Lily and Marshall. The five of them navigate life, struggling through every challenge. Ted’s quest to find his wife starts when Lily and Marshall decide to get married. Ted felt like he was falling behind in life and realizes that he has never been in love.
The show not only tells the story of Ted Mosby looking for his wife — it also focuses on adult life and how people navigate it. The five friends deal with growing up, job loss, life as parents and looking for their passion. It shows that life isn’t a straight road. While some view life as college, job, love, kids and growing old, How I Met Your Mother shows that things are a lot messier. Going to college and getting a degree in a field doesn’t mean you will love it. And even if you have the love and passion for a field, you might find yourself in a job that you don’t want. The job you have might not fulfill values but you do it for the money. Having your dream job doesn’t mean you will find success. Navigating all of that is hard but How I Met Your Mother brings joy to life’s struggles.
This can be seen through the struggles that every character encounters. Lily, for example, has spent her entire life wanting to an artist. She was an art major in college and her dream was to become a studio artist. But life got in the way. She needed money to sustain herself and that led her to become an elementary school teacher. While she liked her job, her dream of being an artist still drove her to make many decisions. She left her husband Marshall to go to San Francisco to pursue art, an action that broke her relationship with Marshall for a long time. She led her family, Marshall and their son, to Italy to have a chance at art. This stopped Marshall from his dream of becoming a judge. Lily has had to navigate a balance between her dream and her personal life. And she does that while still seeing the joys of being a friend, a mother and a teacher. This can be said about Ted and his career as an architect, Marshall’s struggle between his job and his beliefs, and Robin’s dream of being a news anchor. Every character in the show has made tough decisions about their lives; but at the end of the day, they all gather around their table at the bar and have a laugh.
How I Met Your Mother always bring happiness to any topic they discuss. And while looking for the love of your life or waking up to a job you hate might be difficult, the show’s bright energy gives hope to its audience. You root for the characters despite their flaws and mistakes, and you find joy in whatever they do. Because of this, the audience connects with all of the characters on a deeper level. The lives these five people have led in the nine years that the audience gets to know them is a true reflection of everyday life.
Zula Baterdene is a freshman studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Let Zula know by tweeting emailing her at zb338617@ohio.edu.
