In Two and a Half Men, why is Alan Harper called a loser multiple times in multiple episodes by various characters?
After all, the difficulties in his life are only due to the divorce. Otherwise he had his own home. Also he is poor only because of the alimony, otherwise he is fine.
Answer
It's because the show constantly places him in line to be the hapless character for the sake of comedy.
The main activities which define this are
- Divorced and paid alimony
- Son doesn't respect him
- Lives at brother's place
- Controlled by his mother
- Berta (the maid) doesn't respect him
- Falls for the wrong women
Then through the episodes we see that he always encounters the unlucky situation and the audience becomes desensitized to the failures that happen even though it would be gut wrenching for this to be real life.
I would like to say it's a continuous vicious cycle of redefinition and strengthening of the definition of the name calling that pushes Alan to believe he is a loser more than he really is. And thus, it becomes more likely for future issues to continue to blow up in his face due to the negative setting he was previously in.
In reality, a person would be able to eject from this by getting help but as this is one of key devices of the show, Alan Harper must remain the loser.
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