FREE-FOR-ALL META COMMENT-A-THON

[upupa_epops]

Old news: lj is dead. Everyone is crazy busy, or they have other reasons not to be here. No one has time to read those huge meta posts we used to write once upon a time. But maybe we can all find ten minutes to do this:

FREE-FOR-ALL META COMMENT-A-THON!

Comments

[greenet]

In my view, a thing that defines Annie, Britta and Shirley's friendship is a constant negotiation in a way that's not really present when it comes to the boys' relationship with each other. There's a lot of focus on them understanding each other's point of view, and learning from each other, and I actually really like that. This begins very early in season 1 with the Guatemalan protest where Shirley and Annie go overboard in a way that Britta doesn't approve of at first, and this negotiation continues.

Other examples I really like are Britta learning how to go to the bathroom in a proper girly way (which can also be seen as problematic, in that it plays off a How To Be A Proper Girl Stereotype, but I like it anyway. I think that in this context, Britta acquires a skill that lets her not inadvertently hurt her friends and that's a pretty important life skill to have), and Annie and Shirley being security guards during April Fools because it allows them to bond (and because I love that particular buddy cop trope), and also Britta and Shirley's discussion about religion in the car during Annie's move.

So, this is not very detailed, but, yeah, to me, Annie/Britta/Shirley's friendship is built upon them learning to understand each other without losing what makes them unique, and that's awesome.

[eilowyn]

This made me so happy! Annie/Britta/Shirley is my favorite thing about Community. My dream endgame is Britta and Annie both dump Jeff, move to Key West, and have Shirley come all the time for get-out-of-a-house-full-of-boys time.

[hulga_joy]

Thanks for replying!

I'm very fond of those storylines myself. I don't even find the bathroom one that problematic because, while Britta learns to connect with her friends in a more "mainstream feminine" way, she ends up saying to Annie things she actually believes in, and that make Annie feel better about herself.
And I absolutely agree that something that makes the dynamic among the three of them so interesting is that they're all very different and learning to understand each other while essentially remaining themselves :)