Tue. February 12
An Irreverant Sitcom with a Traditional Take: NBC’s Community
With the season four premiere last Thursday, cult-favorite NBC sitcom Community is back. This is a welcome return since Harmon and his lovable band of misfits offer a refreshing critique of contemporary society.
The gang—Jeff Winger the ex-lawyer, Annie Edison the reformed Adderall addict, Britta Perry the world-traveling do-gooder, Shirley Bennett the black, extremely Christian divorcée, Pierce Hawthorne the retiree who wants something to do, Troy Barnes the jock in search of an education, and Abed Nadir the autistic pop culture guru—all find themselves in Spanish class at Greendale, a community college led by Dean Pelton.
The community college setting tees up the show’s critique of academia nicely. Abed took a course taught by a professor who has devoted his life to studying the ‘80s sitcom Who’s the Boss? (a dig at the hyper-specialized trivialities that pass for serious college classes today). By the end of the episode, Abed proved the professor’s thesis wrong in a single class period.
The Dean is another cue that Community isn’t standard Hollywood fare. He is the perfect caricature of everything that’s wrong with higher education. When Greendale needed a mascot, he and Pierce constructed the “Human Being,” an amalgamation of every race and ethnicity in the world (which led Jeff to observe that “not being racist is the new racism”). With a nod to the annual culture wars at Christmastime, the Dean dressed up as “Non-Denominational Mr. Winter,” crying “Ho, ho, ho, Merry Happy!” Community even poked fun at NBC’s self-righteous “Earth Week” by having the Dean issue a proclamation (using 5,000 paper fliers) declaring Greendale to be “Envirodale”—and then printing 5,000 more fliers when he realized that the name Greendale was already “Green.”
Britta, too, is a caricature of another creature frequently found on campus: the faux-crusader who believes she’s better than everyone else because she “cares.” With a friend locked away in a Syrian prison, she instigated her own series of protests to run afoul of campus security to show that she was doing something. In typical feminist fashion, she also dismissed Valentine’s Day as ritualizing “a connection between affection and candy so girls can learn the ropes of prostitution.”
Shirley’s character in particular separates Community from the rest of Hollywood. She’s a Christian, but she isn’t the constant butt of jokes. Community explores her faith in great depth. We learn about her past drunken orgies, but also see her forgive her ex-husband Andre who deserted her, even going so far as to give him her car. The show lightly mocks how judgmental she can be, but she’s not the shallow, one-dimensional Christian we so often see in sitcoms (like Marcia Langman from Parks & Recreation).
None of this contradicts the idea that Community merely reflects what The A.V. Club critic Todd VanDerWerff describes as Harmon’s belief that “that people are genuinely better off doing what makes them happy”; i.e., Harmon and Community are libertarian, blasé about decisions people make so long as they’re happy.
The way the show addresses sex and marriage, however, calls that into question. During one episode, for example, Dean Pelton decides to hold an STD Fair. In reward for her help, Annie will give the condom demonstration at the fair’s close. One problem: she’s never seen that part of the male anatomy. Shirley and Britta decide to help Annie better prepare for her role by breaking into the room where the demonstration dummy is stored only to be foiled by campus security. The three women are brought in for questioning by the Dean and the school psychologist. In typical sex-ed fashion, the school psychologist asks them to say “penis” in unison. Everyone says the word except Annie, prompting the psychologist to hone in on why she wouldn’t. Annie steals the scene by replying, “I don’t want to express myself, I like being repressed. I am totally comfortable being uncomfortable with my sexuality, and maybe, just maybe, if everyone were a little more like me, we wouldn’t have to have a STD fair!”
Marriage is another topic that Community treats in a very un-libertarian fashion. During the wedding rehearsal for Shirley’s re-marriage to Andre, Jeff—the “cool” guy who’s still dealing with his parents’ divorce years ago—drunkenly declares that marriage is a sham. Meanwhile, Britta (the feminist) has been re-thinking her opposition to marriage all day and stands up to prove Jeff is wrong by marrying him at that very moment. Their “vows” happen to be the litany of every caricature and half-truth about marriage (e.g., Britta: “I promise to put your dreams before mine”). Shirley and Andre’s ensuing conversation with Jeff and Britta ultimately refute those “vows”: marriage is difficult and shouldn’t be entered into lightly, but it’s important and worthwhile.
Community rises above the crowd by satirizing the excesses of liberalism and forcing its audience to consider a more traditional view of society.
Anthony Dent works for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina. Follow him at twitter.com/AEDent.
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Traditional?
Community is pansatirical – it’s not a conservative flagship sitcom and if it’s libertarian it’s only social, not economical; an important distinction considering that social libertarianism of the “do what makes you happy variety” goes against certain conservative beliefs, e.g. gay marriage and drug legality. It’s a form of liberalism in its own right.
Besides, look at Pierce. He’s certainly no liberal. Well-meaning he may be at times, but he’s persistently racist, misogynistic, homophobic and in general just offensive. And yet it’s not offensively portrayed because the show doesn’t take him seriously. He’s a nutter.
Sure, Shirley’s Christianity isn’t mocked, but neither is Annie’s Judaism, or Britta’s atheism. It’s not pro-Christian, it’s religiously neutral. The whole point of the first Christmas episode was that religion doesn’t matter, and Christmas doesn’t have to be a religious time for anyone (notice how Shirley abandons her Christian ideals of Christmas to support Jeff? moral: friendship and community > religion).
This is the thing. Community is a neutral show in terms of its beliefs, because that’s what social libertarianism allows. Social libertarianism arises naturally from a relativist outlook which is exactly what is implied in “people are genuinely better off doing what makes them happy”. It mocks systems that try to force conformity regardless of politics.
One last thing. “In typical feminist fashion”? What is that supposed to mean? Britta’s beliefs are mocked not because she’s a feminist but because she’s a person who deliberately takes on contrary beliefs to validate herself. If you’re going to try and argue that this is not a feminist show, then look at Annie and Shirley. Annie is constantly striving to better herself, and despite having crushes on other characters ultimately decides what to do or not do with her life based on herself and not a male counterpart. Shirley is, for most of the series, a strong single mother who is putting herself through college to better her life and make something of it without reliance on a male counterpart – she only ends up remarrying Andre when it’s as much on her terms as his. If you’re going to dismiss an entire social and political movement that is based, fundamentally, on the principle that an individual should be judged regardless of gender and ultimately has led to a healthier and fairer society than that of even 30 years ago, then at least don’t try and use Dan Harmon to validate you.
“Community is pansatirical – it’s not a conservative flagship sitcom and if it’s libertarian it’s only social, not economical; an important distinction considering that social libertarianism of the “do what makes you happy variety” goes against certain conservative beliefs, e.g. gay marriage and drug legality. It’s a form of liberalism in its own right.”
Conservatism is more nuanced than is often thought (many conservatives have opposed drug rights, for example), but I agree with you up to a point. Like I go on to say, “The Politics of Human Sexuality” seems support a more conservative view of sexuality (gay marriage aside). In one episode of Harmontown, Dan Harmon basically says the government should leave us all alone, but that doesn’t imply that society can’t enforce certain norms which is why I don’t believe that Community is a purely libertarian show.
I definitely wouldn’t say that Community is pro-Christian, but I think the religious neutrality of “Comparative Religion” that you point out is a vast improvement over how Christmas and Christianity as a whole is treated in pop culture.
I think we’re talking about two different types of feminism. I ought to have clarified by saying that Britta represents an extremist, Third-Wave kind of feminist, not the kind of feminism that originated in the 60s. To be sure, Annie and Shirley are strong female characters and I don’t think Dan Harmon wants to reinstitute societal norms from the ’50s (nor would I).
Community is one of my favorite shows. It’s extremely clever, brilliant, and hilarious, and I’ve thought a lot about the things you’ve written about it in this article. The characters feel quite realistic in their flaws but they all also have good qualities which come out in realistic ways. Jeff can be completely self-centered but then he’ll doing something selfless & loving, even for someone he doesn’t like. Just look at the Dungeons & Dragons episode. He had given Neal a nickname which wasn’t flattering & when he recognized how much it hurt Neal he participated in the D&D game, even though he thought it was stupid. Britta is the epitome of so many of those Leftist feminist girls you find on college campuses: all talk & guilting others but doing very little herself. I love that the show highlights the importance of being a part of a community. The 7 main characters are all very different people but they have formed a community despite that. We should be celebrating & encouraging what brings us all together, not what tears us apart. And just like a family, these main characters are mean to each other, fight, and then make up because they love each other. I’m so glad you’ve highlighted this show! It’s brilliant humor means rewatching episodes is the only way to get everything. I’m usually too busy laughing to hear everything the first time. I sincerely hope the new show runners will continue Dan Harmon’s brilliance, though I have my doubts.
Thanks for the comment! Sadly, I agree. But Dan has two pilots with Fox and CBS, so there might be something that captures the brilliance on TV again soon.
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