Parks and Recreation is silly, but still important
Parks and Recreation is a stepchild of Theatre of the Absurd.
From the wikipedia article:
"The Theatre of the Absurd (French: Théâtre de l'Absurde) is a designation for plays of absurdist fiction, written by a number of playwrights from the late 1940s to the 1960s, as well as the theatre which has evolved from their work. It expressed the belief that, in a godless universe, human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down. Logical construction and argument gives way to irrational and illogical speech and to its ultimate conclusion, silence."
I say stepchild because I think Parks and Recreation is Agnostic rather than Atheistic and so draws its conclusions from the starting point that we can't know whether or not human existence has any meaning or purpose so it's natural for us to swing between a sense of meaning and a sense of absurdity.
I also think that Parks and Recreation expresses the dominant themes of nihilism and practicality proposed for 'Reactive' generations by Strauss and Howe in their book _Generations_. There are certainly instances of other themes (notably Leslie Nopes' very civic-minded focus), but overall the characters are either self-involved or, if interested in helping others, work from more of what-can-we-make-work rather than an idealist/what-must-be perspective. I think the attitude of the show is what I'll dub 'Late-Reactive' in that it is a leading edge for the rising 'Civic' generation, who are expected to be focused on working together to make a better world through outward acts. Leslie is a very clear example of this, with her idealism being explicitly focused on outward acts. Also, in the latest episode I've seen, the character of April is called out on her it's-cool-not-too-care attitude and invited to take another job and begin doing something more with her life.
This show says to me that even though life is absurd, it doesn't have to be meaningless and even though we can't make life perfect, the effort in trying -- and in particular trying to help others and doing what we can where we are and who we're with -- is what matters.
We're all silly. Let's laugh a lot and get on with life.
From the wikipedia article:
"The Theatre of the Absurd (French: Théâtre de l'Absurde) is a designation for plays of absurdist fiction, written by a number of playwrights from the late 1940s to the 1960s, as well as the theatre which has evolved from their work. It expressed the belief that, in a godless universe, human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down. Logical construction and argument gives way to irrational and illogical speech and to its ultimate conclusion, silence."
I say stepchild because I think Parks and Recreation is Agnostic rather than Atheistic and so draws its conclusions from the starting point that we can't know whether or not human existence has any meaning or purpose so it's natural for us to swing between a sense of meaning and a sense of absurdity.
I also think that Parks and Recreation expresses the dominant themes of nihilism and practicality proposed for 'Reactive' generations by Strauss and Howe in their book _Generations_. There are certainly instances of other themes (notably Leslie Nopes' very civic-minded focus), but overall the characters are either self-involved or, if interested in helping others, work from more of what-can-we-make-work rather than an idealist/what-must-be perspective. I think the attitude of the show is what I'll dub 'Late-Reactive' in that it is a leading edge for the rising 'Civic' generation, who are expected to be focused on working together to make a better world through outward acts. Leslie is a very clear example of this, with her idealism being explicitly focused on outward acts. Also, in the latest episode I've seen, the character of April is called out on her it's-cool-not-too-care attitude and invited to take another job and begin doing something more with her life.
This show says to me that even though life is absurd, it doesn't have to be meaningless and even though we can't make life perfect, the effort in trying -- and in particular trying to help others and doing what we can where we are and who we're with -- is what matters.
We're all silly. Let's laugh a lot and get on with life.