Upon further research into how Dan Harmon tells stories I realized that many of the inconsistent character arcs, romances, etc. in Community are, just, apart of his storytelling style.
Harmon stands out from most comedy writers in that he injects some reality into shows such as Community and Rick and Morty. Jeff, Britta, Abed (even though Abed is perfect no matter how you slice it), Troy, Shirly, Annie, and especially Pierce are all so flawed to make them all the more real. This is a storytelling technique that is consistently seen in Brandon Sanderson’s books. A character with a balance between personal strengths and weaknesses makes for an interesting character. The same could be said of the those in the Mass Effect games (the trilogy, not the flophouse that is Andromeda). Characters like Garrus, Tali, Liara, and Wrex have certain positive and negative personality traits and backstories that make for densely compelling characterization. In Community however, the people in the show are far more flawed than any of the characters seen in any Brandon Sanderson novel or Bioware video game. Now, admittedly, I haven’t read every Sanderson book or played every Bioware game, but I’m willing to guarantee that, even if I were to do so, the way they tell stories would still differ from how Harmon does it.
Harmon makes his characters flawed, not in the sense that they’re interesting people with their own individual quirks, but in the sense that they are not people you would want to meet in real-life. At all. There are a number of episodes that show just how toxic this group is. While it’s delightful in an entertainment sense, those same episodes don’t stray away from showing how negatively they’re behavior affects others. Sure, there are redemptive qualities to this otherwise dramatically dysfunctional friend-group, they honestly care about each other and there are positive aspects to their personalities, overall though, Harmon intentionally creates these hilariously flawed characters to capitalize on important, and kind of basic, themes. His plotting also plays a big part in it. He created his own story structure that I use quite a bit in my own writing.
So yeah, the storytelling in Community always felt a little janky to me, but upon learning about Harmon’s style, it started to make much more sense. As far as I know, his methods are taken to a whole new level in Rick and Morty. Community stands out among most sitcoms though because it’s not about selfish people getting better and finding something more meaningful than what they personally desired for eight seasons, it’s about people who are consistently selfish but care about each other and others enough to be the least bit good. Despite that fact, we learn a lot from them. And laugh quite a bit as a result of their frequent stupidity.
If you really want to understand more, or if what I’ve said here made no sense whatsoever, I’d recommend watching Wisecrack’s video on YouTube about how Harmon tells stories. They put it in much more perspective than I do and it serves as the foundational basis for this post.
Thank you if you stayed till the end of this post. The purpose of this particular post mostly serves as clarification for my, albeit, newly acquired understanding of Dan Harmon’s style in case anyone gets mad at me for goofing up in my Community review.
Well, I survived post-book depression (see my mistborn posts) now I’m back to review another obsession of mine. One with a little more humor. A different kind of humor.
Most sitcoms chronicle the odd adventures of a bunch of self-obsessed yahoos living in one or two apartments and can’t seem to keep a single girl/boy-friend, even if it’s someone from the apartment they’re living in. Then there’s others that break the mold and flip those tropes completely on their heads.
Community is a show that aired on network TV (no, not streaming, network, as in TV channels and channel-surfing) in, I believe, 2008 (plz correct me if I’m wrong). Unlike most fans of the show it seems, I didn’t actually start watching it until earlier this year, avidly anyways. About a year ago I think, I checked out the first few episodes and never proceeded further. I don’t know why but I’m not as big a TV addict as I once was. That may be because of how badly Flash, Arrow, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. soured my taste in TV. All of which got really bad after the first couple of seasons (except for S.H.I.E.L.D., that show lost traction immediately after the first season).
While I’m not as willing as I used to be to chance any dramatic TV shows, sitcoms have always held a special place in my heart as someone who loves to laugh. There were a few reasons I checked out Community beyond it being a sitcom, but I’m sure some of you are frothing at the mouth to know what I thought of the first 3 seasons, so let’s get into it.
WARNING: MILD SPOILERS AHEAD
BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL, IS GREENDALE
Yet again! No Copyright Intended!
The show follows an eclectic cast of characters with their own quirks that make them unique from each other. Each one is pretty much a stereotype that has been flipped on it’s head, making them feel more fresh and new. The jock with insecurities and his own passions outside football, the nerd whose developmental disorder not only makes him more nuanced and entertaining, but relatable and “cool”, the passionate and strong-willed blonde who’s actually hiding a lot of personal pain and self-loathing behind a curtain of passionate political anarchism. I think you get the idea.
While the series is told through the multiple perspectives of the core characters, it all starts with Joel McHale’s character Jeff Winger, who, after being exposed of having a fraudulent resume, is fired from his law firm and sent to Greendale community college to make up for the lack of education. Jeff is charismatic, self-indulgent, and narcissistic. Most of the time throughout the series he’s pulling strings to ensure he gets what he wants. Sometimes it works, sometimes he gets smacked on the head by a ceiling fan. However, upon meeting and befriending his oddball study group, he certainly improves from being the person he once was.
I love Community for a lot of reasons, the characters are certainly within those reasons as each one is truly unforgettable in their own way. Jeff is great but he is in a constant state of paradigm shift between selfish lawyer and good friend. His arc seems to be going somewhere in the first season, but right when you get into the second season it’s as if his growth arc was abandoned completely. Jeff has his moments, but more often than not he’s written as nothing more than “a k-niving son of a b&%ch”. That doesn’t make him the weakest character though, that credit goes to Annie in my opinion. Annie isn’t the worst character I’ve come across in any medium, she’s just one of the most unoriginal ones. Now, I realize that originality in fiction pretty much is non-existent at this point. When I say unoriginal, I mean to say the least subverted character in a show that’s all about trope subversion. Annie fits into the “happy go-lucky schoolgirl” stereotype almost perfectly. The only thing that makes her character entertaining is the fact that she’s a specific character trope in an environment far outside of a teenage rom-com. Her interactions with the characters and her roles in the eccentric storytelling makes her feel like something of a fish-out-of-water in a pleasing and satisfying way, not much is done to further subvert her archetype though. But that doesn’t mean she’s a bad character in any way. I like Annie, there’s just no investment. She can also be really annoying at times, I can’t stand it whenever she begins a sentence with “You Guys…!”
Now, my favorite, and probably the most beloved character in the whole cast, is of course Abed. As someone who struggles with his own form of autism, I can relate to Abed in so many ways. His fixation on pop-culture and social-awkwardness being the key traits that make me feel so equalized with him. But there’s also qualities about him I look up to. He has so much confidence in himself that he genuinely doesn’t care what other people think, he knows he’s weird and embraces that fact. While this leads him to think that he can do whatever he wants, he’s learning all the time how to be better. He learns from the others how to have empathy and how to be a good friend. No words can describe how refreshing it is to watch a character I can truly level with. As a matter of fact, Abed was the main reason I decided to get into the show anyway. Definitely a worthwhile decision. Along with that, I can’t get enough of his friendship with Troy. Those two are a match made in nerd heaven!
I enjoy Shirley and Pierce most of the time, but I don’t really think much of them. Shirley’s a fun personality for the others to bounce off of but she’s not very compelling to me, and Pierce is just a perfect storm of every type of ethnical, racial, sexual, and cultural discrimination you can think of (he has his moments though). Not bad characters, but the least interesting in my mind. Chang was all sorts of fun in the first season, but then you get the sense that the writers didn’t really know what to do with him. They do fun stuff with him, but I mostly enjoy the days when he was the groups psychotic Spanish teacher, at least then everyone knew his role and place in the show. Aaaaand, well, Dean Pelton is Dean Pelton.
You know what, to all my fellow Community fans…the heck happened to Duncan, the British professor! That’s something I genuinely wonder about.
COOL COOL COOL!
No Copyright! Do I have to say “Intended”, does it not count if I just say “No Copyright”?
I know, I know. I’m quite critical about the content I consume. But all things considered, this is a Good Show!
Dan Harmon (the show’s creator) really is a talented storyteller. In every episode, some cultural trope or stereotype is being flipped, spun, prodded, and more, in the most fun and entertaining ways. Whether these subversions are used for humor or character development seems to be inconsequential, you’re going to enjoy it either way. I love that so much about this show. Also, if you’re a fan of the show yourself, I highly recommend watching the blooper reals on YouTube. The cast seem to genuinely enjoy themselves and it’s super fun to watch their on-set shenanigans. However, I am aware of the problems that occurred behind the scenes, especially with Chevy Chase. I personally found those the problems they had with him to be disheartening.
All-in-all, this is a great show! And I probably watch a little too much of it.
Seth's Creative Cabin 