BEFORE you give me hate comments, I would just like to explain that I don't mean communism, as in, the political movement. I mean communism, as in, being a fan of the show Community. I realize how it sounds. That's the whole reason I say it. Shock value. xD
Well, Community has officially become a new obsession. I still adore absolutely ADORE Whose Line, and Colin Mochrie and everyone else (Colin will never stop being adorable. EVER.) so don't get me wrong on that. But Community is just..... really incredibly awesome.
Here's Community in a nutshell:
-Ridiculousness/hilarity
-Pop culture references
-More ridiculousness/hilarity
-Identity
-Friendship
-Did I mention ridiculousness and hilarity?
And I may or may not have already ranted about my love for Abed. He's to Community what Colin Mochrie is to Whose Line for me. I love everyone else, but Abed will always be my favourite..... of course that has NOTHING to do with the fact that he's a filmmaker, and that he's obsessed with movies and shows all too easily. Am I the only one seeing connections here?
And it's pop culture references - at times they just have me in stitches. Inspector Spacetime may be one of the greatest Doctor Who spoofs I've ever heard of. And the action movie homage (Modern Warfare)? Epic. Amazing. The western homage (A Fistfull of Paintballs)? Even better. And don't even get me started on the second part of that episode, the Star Wars homage (For a Few Paintballs More). The fact that they dedicated the pilot of the series to John Hughes, using Don't You Forget About Me, and actual lines from the Breakfast Club is a brilliant and amazing foreshadow of just what kind of show this was going to turn out to be. Ending the chicken fingers episode with them sitting on the counter, as a reference to Sixteen Candles. Freaking yeah. The Law and Order episode? Made. Of. EPIC. And the documentary episodes? Sure, maybe not as much a pop culture reference as an actual study on the storytelling used in documentaries, but it was still awesome as HECK and very much proves that some flies are too awesome for the wall.
Pillows and Blankets has got to be one of my ultimate favourite episodes though. It was an actual documentary, not a study of one. A documentary about the essence of war when a fight broke out between Troy and Abed about whether or not to use pillows or blankets for their fort. It was, of course, a pillow fight. But it was more than that. It was a pillow WAR.
And that episode was so goshdarn awesome because not only was it HILARIOUS. Not only was it RIDICULOUS. It was actually also looking at Troy and Abed's friendship/relationship, because let's face it - Troy and Abed are wired differently. And eventually, they had to disagree on something. The way Abed studies everyone and uses that against Troy - and the way Troy replies with hurt disguised as scorn, saying things to Abed that people had probably been saying to Abed his entire life - and a few that only Troy personally was in the position to say.
Not to mention talking about how the rest of the study group act in a war zone - Jeff takes advantage of it, Annie tries to help everyone, Shirley kicks some serious booty and Pierce does his best to always be on the winning side. Oh, and Britta tries to capture the horror of war - by apparently taking pictures. To spread awareness? I don't know. Britta's kinda weird.
But enough about that episode. Community is awesome all the way around.
ABED WILL MAKE YOU CRY I SWEAR TO GOD. He is such a tragic character. He's hilarious and awesome, but so MISUNDERSTOOD AND YOU WILL CRY AND ROLL ON THE GROUND FROM THE FEELS AND YELL "NO ABED IT'S OKAY I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!"
Troy and Abed's bromance will make you cry as well. BECAUSE THEY'RE AWESOME AND THEY'RE BROS AND THEN ABED DOESN'T DO THE HANDSHAKE AND WHYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!?!
But the thing about Community is that, unlike a certain other sitcom claiming to be a nerd's show, Community celebrates nerd culture rather than making fun of it. I can't explain it very well, but it was very well explained in this post on Tumblr, so here you are:
And all that was said there is true, and that is why a show about such average and not-particularly geeky people is such a geek's show. It's a big fluffy hug saying "you're not alone". In fact.......
Virtual Systems Analysis - Annie: (to Abed) "You're afraid you don't fit in, you're afraid you'll be alone. Great news. You share that with all of us. So you'll never be alone, and you'll always fit in."
Now, that's quite a forward way of putting the theme, but that was an absolutely heart-breaking episode. The Abed ones usually are. Abed had been convinced for the majority of the episode that, in order to put other people's needs before his own (Annie had been rather heatedly preaching "empathy") he needed to eradicate himself from other people's lives. So he had become every other member of the study group and told Annie that Abed didn't exist. Meanwhile, the Abed that is actually Abed is shackled in his middle school locker - where he apparently spent the most part of his middle school years. Because "this is where people put people like me when they finally get fed up with us."I nearly burst into tears the first time I saw that scene.
But enough about that. Every episode of Community is brilliant in its own way and amazing and fantastic. Let's establish that and move on.
So, for my birthday, I got these things:
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| First season DVD box set of Community. It literally reads like a yearbook, with notes from all the characters all over it. It's really awesome. |
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| Greendale Community College T-shirt. Go Human Beings!!!! |
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| Troy and Abed in the Morning mug. 'Nuff freaking said. |
Aaaaaaand a whole bunch of figurines from the claymation episode of season 2 (Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas). For thos who care, the figurines were Troy Soldier, Ballerannie, The Christmas Wizard, Snowman Chang, Britta-bot, Jeff-in-the-box, and Teddy Pierce.
I love being a communist, hah.
