feast your ear-tongues on these memory pops
Community: Documentary Filmmaking Redux
Without specific spoilers, let me just say that while Community certainly has its issues and I understand why people might stop watching it, if you enjoy meta in your fiction, if you enjoy stories about how stories get made and told, coated in layers of tasty pop culture references, then this episode is what you're looking for, even though if you haven't watched the whole show, the emotional resonances probably won't work. After a week in which it was announced that the show is being placed on some sort of indefinite hiatus (it's always been in danger of cancellation, and the fact that NBC is in terrible shape has probably kept it on the air longer than expected), it was a really excellent episode to air, because it was about how Greendale is an important place for the people who go there, because it provides a place for them to belong, which they often haven't found elsewhere. And it extends that metaphor out to the people who watch it, especially because it's not a big hit and so it speaks to the feeling of being a fan of something that not a lot of other people like, and how that can bring people together as a, wait for it, community.
For once, I feel like the analytic blah blah blah of the AV Club recap is warranted (and it doesn't hurt that someone linked Tim O'Brien's How to Tell a True War Story in the comments; seriously, if you haven't read The Things They Carried, I highly recommend it, completely aside from any connection to Community. It's one of my favorite books of all time. And it should come with a blanket trigger warning, because it is highly upsetting even if you don't have triggers.), because this episode did a lot of things right, in terms of parodying documentaries, giving the Dean a showcase and making us take him seriously as a person and not just a walking joke in a Carmen Miranda costume, and also being clever and funny and, in the end, a little bit touching.
I know how irritating it is when people keep telling you something is awesome when you just don't like it (in fact, that bothers me way more than people not liking the things I like - I have since grown out of it, but I was an alternative music fan in the 80s, before alternative became mainstream; I totally had the indier-than-thou attitude going on until my early 20s, so why should I be annoyed that people hate what I like? It just made me feel smarter than everyone else, and like I had a big secret no one else was in on), so I'm not telling you to watch Community if you've tried it and discovered it's not your beautiful cake for whatever reason, but if you haven't, and you have occasionally enjoyed smart, funny sitcoms, you might want to give it a shot. Since it'll be on hiatus soon, you can start at the beginning and catch up. (Though I still recommend skipping the s1 finale. I try to pretend it never existed.)
As far as spoilers go, Jeff in the Dean costume was the most hilarious thing I've seen in a long time. "I've made friends with bald people!" (I want the Fringe crossover now, where the bald people Jeff's met are the Observers.) And then Chang stepping in for him, with his Jeff wig under his bald cap! *dies* Also, the Troy/Britta hugs and then their crying scene. The perfect parody of NBC's notes on Ken Jeong with the Board's notes on Chang. Garrett in the motion capture suit! Annie snapping out of her Stockholm syndrome! Leonard! LUIS GUZMAN! Troy smiling and giving the thumbs up! The Dean's dark descent, and oh my god, the line about the ice cream dispensers. And then Abed stepping in at the end to save the day. Abed! ♥
While there are episodes I've liked better than this one, I think this ep was the perfect one to air this week.
Ugh, now I have to continue trying to synthesize 28 pages of notes into a five page document for my boss.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/396468.html.
people have commented there.
Without specific spoilers, let me just say that while Community certainly has its issues and I understand why people might stop watching it, if you enjoy meta in your fiction, if you enjoy stories about how stories get made and told, coated in layers of tasty pop culture references, then this episode is what you're looking for, even though if you haven't watched the whole show, the emotional resonances probably won't work. After a week in which it was announced that the show is being placed on some sort of indefinite hiatus (it's always been in danger of cancellation, and the fact that NBC is in terrible shape has probably kept it on the air longer than expected), it was a really excellent episode to air, because it was about how Greendale is an important place for the people who go there, because it provides a place for them to belong, which they often haven't found elsewhere. And it extends that metaphor out to the people who watch it, especially because it's not a big hit and so it speaks to the feeling of being a fan of something that not a lot of other people like, and how that can bring people together as a, wait for it, community.
For once, I feel like the analytic blah blah blah of the AV Club recap is warranted (and it doesn't hurt that someone linked Tim O'Brien's How to Tell a True War Story in the comments; seriously, if you haven't read The Things They Carried, I highly recommend it, completely aside from any connection to Community. It's one of my favorite books of all time. And it should come with a blanket trigger warning, because it is highly upsetting even if you don't have triggers.), because this episode did a lot of things right, in terms of parodying documentaries, giving the Dean a showcase and making us take him seriously as a person and not just a walking joke in a Carmen Miranda costume, and also being clever and funny and, in the end, a little bit touching.
I know how irritating it is when people keep telling you something is awesome when you just don't like it (in fact, that bothers me way more than people not liking the things I like - I have since grown out of it, but I was an alternative music fan in the 80s, before alternative became mainstream; I totally had the indier-than-thou attitude going on until my early 20s, so why should I be annoyed that people hate what I like? It just made me feel smarter than everyone else, and like I had a big secret no one else was in on), so I'm not telling you to watch Community if you've tried it and discovered it's not your beautiful cake for whatever reason, but if you haven't, and you have occasionally enjoyed smart, funny sitcoms, you might want to give it a shot. Since it'll be on hiatus soon, you can start at the beginning and catch up. (Though I still recommend skipping the s1 finale. I try to pretend it never existed.)
As far as spoilers go, Jeff in the Dean costume was the most hilarious thing I've seen in a long time. "I've made friends with bald people!" (I want the Fringe crossover now, where the bald people Jeff's met are the Observers.) And then Chang stepping in for him, with his Jeff wig under his bald cap! *dies* Also, the Troy/Britta hugs and then their crying scene. The perfect parody of NBC's notes on Ken Jeong with the Board's notes on Chang. Garrett in the motion capture suit! Annie snapping out of her Stockholm syndrome! Leonard! LUIS GUZMAN! Troy smiling and giving the thumbs up! The Dean's dark descent, and oh my god, the line about the ice cream dispensers. And then Abed stepping in at the end to save the day. Abed! ♥
While there are episodes I've liked better than this one, I think this ep was the perfect one to air this week.
Ugh, now I have to continue trying to synthesize 28 pages of notes into a five page document for my boss.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/396468.html.
people have commented there.