The "Community" Effect
Hi. My name is Amy, and I'm a Community Addict. It's 3:03am on a Friday. I have work in 7 hours or so. And I can't stop watching Community. In the past three weeks, I have managed to go through 5 seasons of this show. Why? There are many possible scenarios. Perhaps I'm searching for the meaning of life in Community. Perhaps I'm like Abed and would rather live my life in TV shows and movie references than face the real world. Perhaps I miss college and want to relive what it's like to be a part of a tight knit group having crazy adventures. Or maybe this show is just amazing. Honestly, I think it might be all of the above.
My favorite shows and movies mirror life, usually presenting a lesson right when I need it. In sophomore year of college, I got through an unfortunate slump by marathoning How I Met Your Mother (see my ending rant here). And now that I've hit another slump, this is me trying to find my way out of it. I'm searching for the meaning of life in this show with the same fervor Abed searches for the answer to Nicholas Cage: good or bad. It's an obsession. It's an addiction. And I need help.
There are many amazing episodes in this show. The bits, references, and theme-based episodes are great for movie nerds like me. No show has ever made me want to actually play Dungeons and Dragons like this one. I've also never seen so many school wide games. Makes me wish I went to a community college to be able to participate in all these shenanigans. The show is also strangely self-aware (bottle episode, anyone?). With characters breaking the fourth wall, making references to references, it's all very meta. But on top of all the fun, there are some real human moments in it, which in my humble opinion, is what makes TV so amazing. That no matter what is happening in your life, you're able to find some part of some episode that relates and can help. After all, art is just an imitation of life, and really good imitation almost becomes the thing itself. So who knows? Perhaps Abed really does have it right and everything really is just a story in our heads.
So hopefully that means I'm not crazy for burying myself in this TV show about 7 quirky people, who put together seem like a recipe for disaster, and caring about them as much as I do. That means it's ok to tear up when Troy says his goodbyes as he sets off on his sailing voyage. That it's ok to put myself up there with them when the study group comes back after graduation with crushed dreams and a reality check. And that it's ok to consider Jeff's proposal to Britta as a message to me to not give in to the crappy spinoff of settling. As Jeff says, that's what people do to keep it all from being pointless. They settle. But I need to be above it. I need to have hope that my life, like Greendale, can be rescued from the clutches of corporate America and deli sandwiches. This is what this show has taught me in its 5 seasons (I haven't decided if I'm watching the 6th yet). I've learned that everything in life is a story. And oddly enough, whether you're looking for it or not, life is full of second chances, unexpected adventures, and rag-tag band of suspiciously diverse misfits just searching for a family. In other words, life is what you make it, and at the end of the day, you're never really alone.
My favorite shows and movies mirror life, usually presenting a lesson right when I need it. In sophomore year of college, I got through an unfortunate slump by marathoning How I Met Your Mother (see my ending rant here). And now that I've hit another slump, this is me trying to find my way out of it. I'm searching for the meaning of life in this show with the same fervor Abed searches for the answer to Nicholas Cage: good or bad. It's an obsession. It's an addiction. And I need help.
There are many amazing episodes in this show. The bits, references, and theme-based episodes are great for movie nerds like me. No show has ever made me want to actually play Dungeons and Dragons like this one. I've also never seen so many school wide games. Makes me wish I went to a community college to be able to participate in all these shenanigans. The show is also strangely self-aware (bottle episode, anyone?). With characters breaking the fourth wall, making references to references, it's all very meta. But on top of all the fun, there are some real human moments in it, which in my humble opinion, is what makes TV so amazing. That no matter what is happening in your life, you're able to find some part of some episode that relates and can help. After all, art is just an imitation of life, and really good imitation almost becomes the thing itself. So who knows? Perhaps Abed really does have it right and everything really is just a story in our heads.
So hopefully that means I'm not crazy for burying myself in this TV show about 7 quirky people, who put together seem like a recipe for disaster, and caring about them as much as I do. That means it's ok to tear up when Troy says his goodbyes as he sets off on his sailing voyage. That it's ok to put myself up there with them when the study group comes back after graduation with crushed dreams and a reality check. And that it's ok to consider Jeff's proposal to Britta as a message to me to not give in to the crappy spinoff of settling. As Jeff says, that's what people do to keep it all from being pointless. They settle. But I need to be above it. I need to have hope that my life, like Greendale, can be rescued from the clutches of corporate America and deli sandwiches. This is what this show has taught me in its 5 seasons (I haven't decided if I'm watching the 6th yet). I've learned that everything in life is a story. And oddly enough, whether you're looking for it or not, life is full of second chances, unexpected adventures, and rag-tag band of suspiciously diverse misfits just searching for a family. In other words, life is what you make it, and at the end of the day, you're never really alone.
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