"Shirley you jest?" or why liking Shirley is STILL a struggle for me
In my first ever entry since my undergraduate (over three years ago) all of which are totally locked now (thank goodness!), and after perusing crackers4jenn's journal for ages, I've decided that having a journal that talks all about my pop culture/feminist/social justice/pop culture obsessions is a great idea! Especially since I like discussion!
Plus, Tumblr is getting too complicated for me.
So here's the context:
crittab wrote a story over at milady_milord about Shirley and Andre and it prompted a bunch of commentary from me about Shirley because I'm a talker (or a writer, in this sitch) and cannot keep my mouth shut (or fingers still). It prompted me to write this 'cause I want to know how to love Shirley Bennett, I really do. But Community's writers don't make it easy.
We'll start with the basics.
In 3.05 (Remedial Chaos Theory), Jeff says that Shirley can't have baking as an identity. Cool. So I guess it's alright if she's limited to mother and Christian? We see Shirley almost exclusively in the role of mother and Christian. In 1.12 (Comparative Religion), she uses her roles as a mother and a Christian to control the group and Jeff, in specific. In 1.23 (Modern Warfare), she opens the episode talking about her children. Shirley was pretty badass at paintball but the majority of her talking moments are about her role as a mother and her moral objections as a Christian. These are parts of her identity, I do not begrudge Shirley these parts of her. Certainly, in first season, it made sense to focus on them because we were only just beginning to know these characters who were amplifications of their surface qualities (and potentially, satirical caricatures). By season two, we saw almost all of the characters experience character growth. Except Shirley. Nope, not Shirley.
Instead, it feels like they tried to create a storyline for her by getting her pregnant (mother!) and her guilt/shame/struggles around who the father was (Christian! Mother!) but that turned into more of a Chang storyline and Shirley's actions and feelings, unless she was a talking point for other characters, served more as a catalyst for someone else's story as in 2.22 (Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts). So what am I saying? I'm saying that Shirley, over two seasons, had stuff happen to her but Shirley did not grow as a character.
Let's talk about Shirley's most significant storyline - her pregnancy and reunion with Andre. A few people have mentioned that they struggle with Andre. And I completely get that and respect it. I think, and I've said this before, that most people like Andre because we hear about his rather shitty actions but we never actually see his shitty action. We are introduced to Andre completely divorced from the context of his break-up with Shirley. On top of that, we are introduced to him being 'the good guy' and played by Malcolm Jamal Warner. Be real, who doesn't like Malcolm Jamal Warner? He's Theo Huxtable! Everyone likes him! This goodwill, I would theorize, is extended to Andre unconsciously. But anyway. We're introduced to Andre being a good guy; he's making up for his terrible behaviour, he's making Shirley happy, he's making sweet speeches to Jeff, and he's standing by Shirley even though she's carrying another man's baby.
Now, I won't even address how this essentializes biological ties over social or emotional ones (I do it too - and I fully recognize, acknowledge, and admit to it, I'm working on it!) and makes it seem like Andre is a good guy just because he chooses to stay with a woman he professes to love (and whom he deeply hurt) because she may or may not be pregnant with a baby that is not biologically his. Like I said, let's skip that part. I am sympathetic to Andre because of those things I've mentioned above but also because I think, in my head, Shirley and Andre must have discussed, worked things out, and made compromises off-screen. Otherwise, in the 1.5 years since we hear about Andre to meeting him... Shirley's forgiveness, from a subjective audience point of view, is hard to swallow. Even though it's not my place (or anyone else's place) to judge. I will also decline to address, at the moment, the problem of having a woman of colour be cheated on by a man of colour and an "out of wedlock" pregnancy. Dissecting the racial implications of the storyline choice is something for another day.
So what is important about Shirley's storyline? Well, she finds out about the uncertain fatherhood of her child at the same time as everyone else in 2.12 (Asian Population Studies). It was funny that Troy couldn't keep it in and the secret was eating him alive but in retrospect, the idea that Troy felt the knowledge should be kept from Shirley is pretty terrible. Pierce found out about it before she did! And then any semblance of control or privacy was taken from Shirley - this really personal news was revealed in front of everyone as a power play by Pierce. Yes, it reinforces Pierce's growing villainy but that's not really about Shirley, is it? So Shirley's story is not even about Shirley. In 2.22 (Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts), when Shirley's giving birth, the focus is on how Britta rises to the challenge and whether Chang is the father not Shirley's experience giving birth in a public classroom.
I see Shirley's despair over Andre in this episode being her way of coping - she's begun rebuilding this relationship with a man she loves and suddenly, bam! The huge piece of news is revealed in a traumatic way and she sees it as ruining all of the progress, all of the future potential, that relationship has made. I don't think it was great that the power was put in Andre's hands but I don't fault Shirley in anyway for her re/actions. I think Yvette Nicole Brown was fantastic in that episode. I know that it's been mentioned that Dan Harmon and the writers don't plan out the seasons ahead which makes me wonder if they ever intended on introducing Andre at all. I think they tried to create a storyline for Shirley and sort of made a mess of it, to be honest.
A lot of people really enjoy Shirley paired with Jeff, in part, because Shirley has new and different and interesting dimensions when she's paired with Jeff. Well, see, I don't mind them together but I don't love their pairing for that exact reason. Shirley shouldn't need to be paired with Jeff to be interesting. More over, we get glimpses into Shirley's past when she's with Jeff but we still don't see those revelations carry over into character growth... Shirley has limited interaction with ALL of the males in the group, not just Jeff. She's had two significant storyline with Abed (1.18, Basic Genealogy and 2.05, Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples). She's had none with Troy (which has been mentioned in the season two cast evals by Yvette Nicole Brown). As if two black characters interacting would make it all about race? She's had two storylines with Pierce too (1.03, Introduction to Film and 1.22, The Art of Discourse), the latter of which I would argue is more about the group than Shirley. Shirley is, perhaps, a tad overrepresented in storylines with Britta (maybe with Annie, too?) but she's largely left on the sidelines. Her having a family to get home to is a convenient way to write her out.
So those are the basics.
Don't get me wrong. Shirley has a few truly great moments - in Remedial Chaos Theory (3.04), 'evil' Shirley was the best part. Better than Troy, Abed, or Troy and Abed. Yvette Nicole Brown killed that! Shirley also looked fantastic in a negligee in 3.05 (Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps) and I would love to see more of Shirley as a woman, as a person. I think Shirley has tons of potential but you know what? I'll say it. Up until this point, I think Dan Harmon and the writers have squandered it. I want to love Shirley Bennett, I do, but I don't quite know how. There are aspects there, glimmers I see, that I think make her a fantastic character. But if they keep writing her into a corner of "Christian, mother, baker" than she's going to continue to stagnate and be something (not someone because I think she's been less developed than Chang, and possibly, the Dean) for the writers to work around as opposed to working with.
It's not even like her identification as a Christian or a mother is a problem for me. Those roles don't have to be abandoned. They're definitely relevant to Shirley. Having said that, not everything has to descend into "I'm a good Christian woman and I judge you!" or "Don't judge me, I did what I had to for my family!" It's not necessary for that to be all that she is. Shirley had some 'hard years' (2.10, Mixology Certification), what about that? Her gossiping and anger (1.04, Social Psychology and 3.09, Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism) destroyed friendships and people so why don't we go into that more?
This was really long... But I had a lot of stuff I needed to say!
P.S. I've written about Shirley on my Tumblr here and here and asked ktcosmopolitan for advice on how to love Shirley here.
Plus, Tumblr is getting too complicated for me.
So here's the context:
crittab wrote a story over at milady_milord about Shirley and Andre and it prompted a bunch of commentary from me about Shirley because I'm a talker (or a writer, in this sitch) and cannot keep my mouth shut (or fingers still). It prompted me to write this 'cause I want to know how to love Shirley Bennett, I really do. But Community's writers don't make it easy.
We'll start with the basics.
In 3.05 (Remedial Chaos Theory), Jeff says that Shirley can't have baking as an identity. Cool. So I guess it's alright if she's limited to mother and Christian? We see Shirley almost exclusively in the role of mother and Christian. In 1.12 (Comparative Religion), she uses her roles as a mother and a Christian to control the group and Jeff, in specific. In 1.23 (Modern Warfare), she opens the episode talking about her children. Shirley was pretty badass at paintball but the majority of her talking moments are about her role as a mother and her moral objections as a Christian. These are parts of her identity, I do not begrudge Shirley these parts of her. Certainly, in first season, it made sense to focus on them because we were only just beginning to know these characters who were amplifications of their surface qualities (and potentially, satirical caricatures). By season two, we saw almost all of the characters experience character growth. Except Shirley. Nope, not Shirley.
Instead, it feels like they tried to create a storyline for her by getting her pregnant (mother!) and her guilt/shame/struggles around who the father was (Christian! Mother!) but that turned into more of a Chang storyline and Shirley's actions and feelings, unless she was a talking point for other characters, served more as a catalyst for someone else's story as in 2.22 (Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts). So what am I saying? I'm saying that Shirley, over two seasons, had stuff happen to her but Shirley did not grow as a character.
Let's talk about Shirley's most significant storyline - her pregnancy and reunion with Andre. A few people have mentioned that they struggle with Andre. And I completely get that and respect it. I think, and I've said this before, that most people like Andre because we hear about his rather shitty actions but we never actually see his shitty action. We are introduced to Andre completely divorced from the context of his break-up with Shirley. On top of that, we are introduced to him being 'the good guy' and played by Malcolm Jamal Warner. Be real, who doesn't like Malcolm Jamal Warner? He's Theo Huxtable! Everyone likes him! This goodwill, I would theorize, is extended to Andre unconsciously. But anyway. We're introduced to Andre being a good guy; he's making up for his terrible behaviour, he's making Shirley happy, he's making sweet speeches to Jeff, and he's standing by Shirley even though she's carrying another man's baby.
Now, I won't even address how this essentializes biological ties over social or emotional ones (I do it too - and I fully recognize, acknowledge, and admit to it, I'm working on it!) and makes it seem like Andre is a good guy just because he chooses to stay with a woman he professes to love (and whom he deeply hurt) because she may or may not be pregnant with a baby that is not biologically his. Like I said, let's skip that part. I am sympathetic to Andre because of those things I've mentioned above but also because I think, in my head, Shirley and Andre must have discussed, worked things out, and made compromises off-screen. Otherwise, in the 1.5 years since we hear about Andre to meeting him... Shirley's forgiveness, from a subjective audience point of view, is hard to swallow. Even though it's not my place (or anyone else's place) to judge. I will also decline to address, at the moment, the problem of having a woman of colour be cheated on by a man of colour and an "out of wedlock" pregnancy. Dissecting the racial implications of the storyline choice is something for another day.
So what is important about Shirley's storyline? Well, she finds out about the uncertain fatherhood of her child at the same time as everyone else in 2.12 (Asian Population Studies). It was funny that Troy couldn't keep it in and the secret was eating him alive but in retrospect, the idea that Troy felt the knowledge should be kept from Shirley is pretty terrible. Pierce found out about it before she did! And then any semblance of control or privacy was taken from Shirley - this really personal news was revealed in front of everyone as a power play by Pierce. Yes, it reinforces Pierce's growing villainy but that's not really about Shirley, is it? So Shirley's story is not even about Shirley. In 2.22 (Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts), when Shirley's giving birth, the focus is on how Britta rises to the challenge and whether Chang is the father not Shirley's experience giving birth in a public classroom.
I see Shirley's despair over Andre in this episode being her way of coping - she's begun rebuilding this relationship with a man she loves and suddenly, bam! The huge piece of news is revealed in a traumatic way and she sees it as ruining all of the progress, all of the future potential, that relationship has made. I don't think it was great that the power was put in Andre's hands but I don't fault Shirley in anyway for her re/actions. I think Yvette Nicole Brown was fantastic in that episode. I know that it's been mentioned that Dan Harmon and the writers don't plan out the seasons ahead which makes me wonder if they ever intended on introducing Andre at all. I think they tried to create a storyline for Shirley and sort of made a mess of it, to be honest.
A lot of people really enjoy Shirley paired with Jeff, in part, because Shirley has new and different and interesting dimensions when she's paired with Jeff. Well, see, I don't mind them together but I don't love their pairing for that exact reason. Shirley shouldn't need to be paired with Jeff to be interesting. More over, we get glimpses into Shirley's past when she's with Jeff but we still don't see those revelations carry over into character growth... Shirley has limited interaction with ALL of the males in the group, not just Jeff. She's had two significant storyline with Abed (1.18, Basic Genealogy and 2.05, Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples). She's had none with Troy (which has been mentioned in the season two cast evals by Yvette Nicole Brown). As if two black characters interacting would make it all about race? She's had two storylines with Pierce too (1.03, Introduction to Film and 1.22, The Art of Discourse), the latter of which I would argue is more about the group than Shirley. Shirley is, perhaps, a tad overrepresented in storylines with Britta (maybe with Annie, too?) but she's largely left on the sidelines. Her having a family to get home to is a convenient way to write her out.
So those are the basics.
Don't get me wrong. Shirley has a few truly great moments - in Remedial Chaos Theory (3.04), 'evil' Shirley was the best part. Better than Troy, Abed, or Troy and Abed. Yvette Nicole Brown killed that! Shirley also looked fantastic in a negligee in 3.05 (Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps) and I would love to see more of Shirley as a woman, as a person. I think Shirley has tons of potential but you know what? I'll say it. Up until this point, I think Dan Harmon and the writers have squandered it. I want to love Shirley Bennett, I do, but I don't quite know how. There are aspects there, glimmers I see, that I think make her a fantastic character. But if they keep writing her into a corner of "Christian, mother, baker" than she's going to continue to stagnate and be something (not someone because I think she's been less developed than Chang, and possibly, the Dean) for the writers to work around as opposed to working with.
It's not even like her identification as a Christian or a mother is a problem for me. Those roles don't have to be abandoned. They're definitely relevant to Shirley. Having said that, not everything has to descend into "I'm a good Christian woman and I judge you!" or "Don't judge me, I did what I had to for my family!" It's not necessary for that to be all that she is. Shirley had some 'hard years' (2.10, Mixology Certification), what about that? Her gossiping and anger (1.04, Social Psychology and 3.09, Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism) destroyed friendships and people so why don't we go into that more?
This was really long... But I had a lot of stuff I needed to say!
P.S. I've written about Shirley on my Tumblr here and here and asked ktcosmopolitan for advice on how to love Shirley here.