The philosophy of « The Take/Wisecrack »(the point in your kind of entertainment) I think that would be nice ☺️ And as always nice video I love you girls. You ´re the best!
I was shocked when I found out he has a wife and kids, since I’m used to Abed’s aversion to indescribable emotions that occur in relationships with children and spouses
The first episode annoyed me with the "ass burgers" joke. It was funny when south park did it, but the way Community did it irked me as an autistic person.
Lucien Ramirez agreed! But I don‘t think that he is written with the intention to make the audience fall for him. It is Jeff who is portrayed as the good-looking womanizer, and whereas Troy doesn‘t fall into that typical trope, it is also implied that he is conventionally attractive. For example, both Jeff and Troy have romantic relationships with the women in the group, whereas Abed doesn‘t (except for his little adventure with Annie). It also is repeatedly implied that no „normal“ woman would ever get with Abed (which is why the group tries to teach Abed how to approach women in one episode). I think that the writers didn‘t intend for people to crush on him, but that makes me crush on him even more.
I agree, even though Abed isn't portrayed as being the quintessential "Ladies' Man" type, akin to Jeff, he's still adorably attractive and intelligent in a cute, quirky way. 💗
Cora B untrue, women being into abed isn’t a joke, he really is an absolute stud and his stoicism only contributes to that. do you not remember the end of that same episode you quoted?
Everyone hates season 4, but one of my favorite Abed moments is when he’s locked in the phone booth at the Inspector Spacetime convention, but is completely calm because “for the first time in his life he knew someone would come for him”
I think season 4 is good but most of the other season are great which is why people think season 4 sucks. I dont mind season 4 myself there are some great episodes.
If season 4 of community was in most other sitcoms it would be seen as a good season. But with it being a community season the greatness of the others & it feeling hollow compared to the others make it an actively bad season
I don't think Community would've been the show it is today if it weren't for Abed. Having a character like him gave the show a platform for all the meta jokes and parodies that made it Street's Ahead from other shows during that time, which is why we're still talking about it today. I love Abed. Thank you for making this video!
Funny thing, before Chevy Chase started acting like a primadonna dickhead Abed was supposed to be the coarse one who everyone begrudgingly spends time with despite having complete disdain for. In those original drafts, back when the late great Fred Willard was being eyed for the role of Pierce, he was a soft, harmless jolly old cook who just loved learning.
I have seen several celebrities in public situations. Danny Pudi is the only one I felt the need to approach and thank for his work on Community. The character Abed really helped me learn some things about myself and I honestly feel like a better person for having watched this show.
That’s a really awesome experience with a show, I’m glad you feel genuinely improved from watching it. I hope you were able to convey this to him when you met him; I’m sure he would get tons of “Look it’s Abed! Cool cool cool” which is ok, but probably gets old. I bet he would’ve really appreciated hearing how his work touched someone on such a personal level.
Thank you for doing Abed! I’m so happy that Community is finally getting the attention and hype it deserves. I used to love watching this show in middle school and would beg people to watch this show.
Same, I used to beg my friends to just watch at least one episode and they didn't even try, but now that it's on netflix (and they're stuck at home) they've binge watched it and absolutely loved it. If only they listened to me back when I was showing it to them.
Real_Slim_Shady Absolutely! I think we all have a bit of Abed in us! Honestly, when I was in middle school watching the show, I connected to Abed most because I would love pop culture and there were times when I felt closer to the shows I watched than the people in my life. It got better, but Community holds a really special place in my heart because it got me through a really difficult time.
I'm autistic and Abed is my closest friend. I wish I could just live in the show and play with him and Troy. I wish I knew people I could relate to like that in real life. That's why they make my life less lonely.
Excellent analysis. Abed was the first character I ever really identified with, despite he had, on paper, absolutely nothing in common with me (different age, gender, ethnicity, religion, social background). He got through to me a lot more than other characters that were seemingly more directly targeted at me. What I loved about Community was precisely that; besides the brilliant meta-references and the clever narrative structure, the true success of the show, for me, was the creation of beautifully real, complex characters which both proved and disproved many societal assumptions about overused stereotypes and connected to the audience in a new way. Troy and Abed's friendship is one of the best examples of how you create a fictional friendship audiences truly care about. I would also love to see an analysis on Pierce - he was such an interesting character! I also really hope one day you'll do a series on "Buffy" and its characters... It would be super interesting to see how you approach it. :)
Omg BUFFY! (I’m curious are you Autistic/ADHD - because I know Abed is very coded- and also I relate a lot to him sooo). Buffy is my favourite show ever- I think a Xander analysis would be especially interesting! Like I can talk forever about his dynamics with other characters and his sabotaging every relationship goes back to what I’ve analysed to be a Fearful-Avoidant attachment style because of the clues we get of his upbringing. This comes with the “fun package” of a fear of inferiority and abandonment so you push everyone that gets close to you away because you fear you aren’t good enough and are unloveable and you are so scared of that you normally prove people right by sabotaging the relationships. This fits so well with Xander. We see that he fears he isn’t good enough (The basement in Restless further shown by Spike exposing that weakness in the Yoko Factor when he says Buffy and Willow said he should join the army even though I don’t like that scene because it’s stupid XANDER would believe SPIKE but I get it drives the plot forward) . The fact we never see him initiate the relationships ever unless he has to. When he’s with Cordelia he is fine when it is physical, but she’s the one who moves it forward- he gives her the necklace which I mean they were still secret but when people find out about it he gets more and more scared and starts sabotaging with willow- her own dismissive avoidant attachment style is also interesting to talk about. When Cordelia starts being cute and romantic he can not handle it and that’s when we get the events of lovers walk. With Anya it’s the same. At first it’s just for sex and he’s fine. But Anya initiates the relationship, Xander only proposes when the world is about to end. And all it takes is a demon and he runs away from the wedding- Why? Because his worst fears are realised and so he self sabotages out of fear- by literally running away. Not to mention him not taking rejection from Buffy well AT ALL- which is also a sign of a fearful-avoidant attachment style.
My friend and I always thought that Abed was. really the main character on Community, and Jeff seemed like the main character because we were viewing the world through his perspective
Community was a perfect meshing of characters: Each member of the study group played a crucial role in what made it entertaining. Pierce created conflict Jeff created resolution Troy kept them accessible Annie gave them goals Brita gave them someone to neg Shirley made them a family And Abed’s para-social relationships allowed them to do their parodies and pastiches.
I agree on many of your points, but what made Community so much more complex than other sitcoms is that the characters were so much more than purely mechanical plot devices. Most sitcoms have character archetypes and purposes, but Community legitimately made their characters real. Jeff is terrified of rejection and being hurt by people due to unresolved conflict with his father, leading him to never really try at anything or commit to relationships because, at least that way, his failure wont be due to not being good enough. Britta seriously hates herself, because she's made a point to educate herself as much as possible on world events, and tries very hard to understand the scope of how awful the world is, but realizes she can do nothing about it. She has almost no self-confidence, and tries to spend time helping others to distract herself from her own problems. Annie feels as if she must be the best at everything, or it's not worth it. In high school, she pushed herself as far as she could and then went further, severely damaging her mental health and leading to a pill addiction. She constantly strives to beat everyone at everything, even when she wants to do something else. Pierce sucks severely, but hes also a very lonely man. Nobody ever really put in the effort to teach him that hes not better than everyone else, so that's how he behaves. Hes racist, sexist, and homophobic, and these behaviors led him to alienate others. Now that hes old, he has nobody who really cares about him, since hes never cared about anyone else, and doesn't know how to cope with the loneliness. Shirley just wants to take care of everyone, but she thinks the best way to do that is to make everyone just like her. She loves everyone, but she hasn't expanded her narrow view if life, so her misguided way of showing love is to be judgemental and disapproving of other religions and viewpoints. Her belief in a God is integral to her personality, so she thinks people who don't believe in the same things have something missing. She tries to help them, but doesn't realize they don't need help, just acceptance. Troy is afraid of growing up. He still acts quite childlike, because that behavior aligns with his interests and involves no risk. The reason he left football is because the pressure was too much, and he wasn't ready for his decisions to actually have impact. As a teen, he could rely on his popularity and coolness to get him where he needed to be, so adulthood, where those things don't matter as much, is frightening. Abed loves people, but he doesn't understand them. His autism has led him to be alienated from many social circles, and the study group were his first friends. All he wants is connection and acceptance, but he doesn't understand others emotions or the ways they express them, so he turns to tv and film. Through television comparisons, he finds ways to express his feelings to his friends, and even understand theirs. When he has emotions that he cant or wont process, they can manifest in movie or tv related delusions that allow him to simplify everything so he can understand it, but these can go too deep and harm him. He assumes everybody will hate him eventually, so he does what he can to be liked for the time being. He abhors change;it scares him. Change means loss of the comfort of routine, and a new situation to have to learn to cope with. So basically, the thing that makes Community so strong is that its characters all have one or two very strong personality traits that manifest very well in comedic episodes , and serve as useful plot devices, but the characters also have depth and flaws and complexity, which manifests very well in character driven episodes. The best episodes are a combination of comedy and character relationships, like Geothermal Escapism, Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas, Dungeons and Dragons, and Remedial Chaos Theory. Sorry for the long comment.
Yeah when I first started watching Community and saw Annie, I was like 'oh Pete Campbell's wife in Mad Men!' Her character in Community plays a much bigger role, whereas Trudy Campbell is more of a side character.
When Abed wants to woo a love interest he acts like himself, not Don Draper. That was the whole point of the episode. He only acts as Don Draper because the group. Don't think he's capable of wooing someone with his usual personality.
I literally just finished re-watching all of Community on Netflix about 2 weeks ago. You're making me want to re-watch it again in just 4 minutes of watching this video. Abed I swear is the soul of Community. I mean, every character is incredible. But I love Abed.
I’m autistic and I’m EXACTLY like Abed (although I’m a lot more emotional and not very confident). Everything I know about humans and social interactions, I have learnt from shows and fiction books. I noticed this when I comforted my grandmother after her brother passed away by channeling the Doctor when I was 13. I think I have said “I’m a student of human character” and studied people by comparing them to fictional characters multiple times in my life, fiction is simply how I interact with the world. I began watching Community because my friend told me there was a character who was exactly like me, I find it so refreshing to see representation like this out there, I love this character so much.
Had tears on my eyes wacthing this video. Community had so much heart and keeps getting better over time. Abed is definetely one the best sitcom characters of all time. There is just so much love in this show
I have never understood why abed didn’t become a staple character in American society. I’ll never understand it. He was so clever. Just so perfect. I LOVE YOU ABED
I kinda thought the reason Troy and abed clicked was because he was so worried about being cool in high school that he just stopped caring at Greendale and unleashed his inner geek, and the barrier between geeks like abed and jocks like Troy was gone.
As someone who is on the Spectrum, I have to say - you make me feel known and understood. This video so eloquently and graciously describes exactly what the process is like, no matter at what level of Abed you may be living. I'm saving this link. It's fantastic. 😎🤘
I feel like Community is a show that many people have a para-social relationship with, we all have a lot of the characters traits within us, and the more realistic situations they're placed in are often ones people have experienced themselves. I find shows like this can be very helpful in making us more empathetic, because often I'll get mad at something Jeff does, but then realize I've done similar things, but because I'm the main character in my own story wasn't as easily able to see it. Seeing your personality traits and actions of tv characters can give us a different perspective on our similar traits and actions. The metaness of this show often makes me consider how people would consider me or the things I do if I were a TV character and it helps me want to be better and want to visualize how I could improve as a character, and rid myself of some of the frustrating traits that I dislike in some of my favorite TV characters.
What Annie said to Abed in that locker hit me hard...I cried just realizing how much I let my anxieties consume me out of my fear of not really fitting in anywhere.
I’m also somewhere on the spectrum and I also sometimes use fiction to read social cues. I don’t necessarily transform myself into a character like Abed, but I do follow the things people say in movies because I know how things played out there and figure the same will happen in real life. This is why I’ve always identified with Abed a lot, even though he isn’t nearly my favorite character in the show. Great video, it was very informing!! Can’t wait for the others!
I just started Community since it came on Netflix and I was pleasantly surprised to see Abed. He is probably the fist middle eastern character I've seen who is well developed and has a personality beyond being muslim. As a Middle Eastern person it was really refreshing to see.
I didn't realize that I used "parasocial" relationships to try out being more confident. It is one of the reasons I love D&D. I could try out different ways of reacting without the social risks.
Abed was the „extra“ or guy in the background in the first few community shows but became the lead. Without Abed community wouldn’t have been the perfect weird show.
This validates my feelings about why media and pop culture is so validating to me I really do relate to Abed analyzing characters i do that in real life especially in Middle school and I would pretend that by posing I would be in Degrassi i would envision promos about my life like a Degrassi promo or other tv show in Middle School and I still have that high fantasy pop culture world in my head because it taught me so many of the tv tropes and social commentary that gave me insight into the world and what was wrong with this toxic society I have very varying points of view. But I think its important to not demonize fandom even though we do i have before its complex. But it gives validity and can change people lives. I try to group people up into character tropes or stereotypes like on TV or in films but I also realize i want to look at people as individuals I have a lot of worlds in my mind that I love and I cherish my imagination. I just really connect to Abed even though I have only sporadically watched the series since I was in Middle School when Community came out and would watch it when it was on sometimes but I loved this. I had prejudices and didnt give the show its dues im still processing my life but I wouldn't have survived this world without Tv and that is not a bad thing and it shouldn't be made to be seen as a bad thing. I believe that everyone can process things differently in life sometimes not in healthy ways but it all has to do with perception and social values. I know i'm writing an essay but this video really has me thinking. I have to stop taking what everyone else thinks about something and I just need to listen to my thoughts and not from what the critics say. Thank You Abed you are a treasure and thank you to my friend Eliana who re-introduced me into the past of this show and gave me a whole newfound love and respect and appreciation to the genius of Community
Poor Dani Pudi, such a talented actor yet played a character SOOO damn iconic that it will forever cast a shadow on anything else he tries to do WDIT: Sounds like Annie made this video
Oh man did I ball my freaking eyes out when Troy left! I love Community, and I love everything The Take does. It is so uplifting to hear these ladies, and their, well, take. Does anyone know if the narrators are the writers, or if not who writes the brilliant content? I would love to shower them with praise and adulation 😍
Abed was always the one to catch you in the feels. I wish I could watch this show for the first time again, laugh, and cry like I did the first time, but I'm glad I do have the memory of it all. What a wonderful show
Started watching Community for the first time right after it got on Netflix and can honestly say that it is one of the best shows I've watched, not the most consistent but definitely one of the few I hold so dearly. I cannot even imagine how old-time fans must feel if I felt this way one week after finishing the show.
As an Asperger myself Abed has help me to acept myself, i reemember when i first watched community in my teens, i was very scary to be percebed as not normal, i even didn't want to Talk about Aspergers syndrome or other neurodivergencys and only want to hang out with my neurotypical friends. But when i started to watch comunity It help me a lot to acept myself, i remember that the same year i assisted wih my mom to a informative event wiht profesional talks about Asperger.
what is actually meta is the fact that this channel is high key forming a parasocial relationship with philosophy and abstract ideas through theoretical essays on why the characters behave the way they do and what meaning the writer takes from how they perceive the way that character behaves
I love how each member of the Study Group represents one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Abed is Gluttony, for his overindulgence of Pop Culture, Britta would be Lust, Troy is driven by Sloth, as a means to get out of doing work, Jeff is obviously Pride, Annie is Greed, since she's driven to win for the sake of it, Shirley is Wrath, in how passive aggressive she can be, while Pierce pretty much epitomises Envy. 😈
This was a really well made essay. Each point from the narration was immediately backed up by video examples that were very much on point. And to top it all off, the main thesis seems to be that I don't need to feel so bad about watching this damn show over and over again. Thanks!
Abed is the best character in the whole show!! Also...please make more videos like this about all characters from Community as you did with F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
I am in the autism spectrum, and seeing Abed was the thing that made me realize it (Fun fact: The same happened with Dan Harmon) The Parasocial Relationships are so common in us autistic people that in the RAADS test in of the questions is quite literally "You tend to use TV and Movies situations to help you in real life"
Congrats on 1 million subscribers, The Take!!!!❤️❤️❤️ I love your video essays so much and you have grown my interest for analyzing film! ❤️ So happy to be one of the million who is subscribed to you! So much love for this channel and your hard work! It doesn’t go unnoticed! ❤️
