Is Community A Postmodern Masterpiece? | Idea Channel | PBS Digital Studios

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Here's an idea: Community is a postmodern masterpiece.
Though the TV show Community has never achieved huge ratings, it has a passionate cult following, including us here at Idea Channel. The show plays with genre and narrative in such a creative way that it brings to mind the cultural and artistic theory of Postmodernism. Previous TV series have been self-referential and culturally reflective, but none so successfully as Community. The show flips traditional expectations so consistently that it questions their importance in the first place. And it has brought the word "meta" into the cultural vernacular, to boot.
Special thanks to @Beerandnosh for the opening line and other community joke references
Links:
Liam Dryden talks about shipping real people:
• Why Do We Ship Real Pe...
Vice - 3D Printing Guns Documentary:
• Video
The Jobs Act - CROWDFUNDING
www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-11...
Sources:
Jean-Francois Lyotard - Post-modern Condition
Christopher Butler - Postmodernism, a Very Short Introduction
Nicholas Zurburgg - The Parameters of Post Modernism
Roland Barthes - Image, Music, Text
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php...
scrawledinwax.com/2010/04/05/l...
Music:
Roglok: vimeo.com/musicstore/track/21166
Level 5: Room for the Homeless www.jamendo.com/en/list/a10132...
Clockwork - Titan (geometry remix) / clockwork-titan-geomet...
Chiptune - Kenzalol / kenzalol
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17 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 1,7 тыс.

@SeseelLybon 10 лет назад

Post-modern or not, it's a masterpiece anyhow.

@Marsziasz 10 лет назад

I agree, but these are quite interesting thoughts about the concept of the show.

@santiagobauza4257 4 года назад

@caporal pistachio I guess you perfectly described the difference between Community and Rick and Morty. Not saying one's better than the other, but both are tackled in very different ways.

@Fahaditty 4 года назад

Santiago Bauzá it’s good to see other people returning to this RU-vid channel as well :)

@wordplay1527 4 года назад

Streets ahead

@belpop 10 лет назад

I give this video 5 MeowMeowBeenz.

@CRydon200 3 года назад

This video is streets ahead

@nataliemcmullen7741 10 лет назад

DREAMATORIUM NOT IMAGINARIUM OMGGG

@KUbballer049 10 лет назад

This wrinkled my brain

@justTheDoctor 4 года назад

THAT wrinkled my brain

@UnknownGunslinger 7 лет назад

So if Jeff is the lawyer who doesn't practice law, Britta is the inactive activist, Troy is the athlete who hates sports, Annie is the ruthless innocent, Shirley is the mother whose family we barely see, Abed is the heart of the group yet is socially dysfunctional - Who is Pierce? Just an old guy? I'm seriously asking :)

@Ashogo 7 лет назад

Ivo Sotirov Well, he's an old guy who's been attending community college for the past decade...

@UnknownGunslinger 7 лет назад

Arthur Lance Every other character has a duality of character. They have defining characteristics that are opposite. I cant think of what Pierce would be?

@jeremyreff5976 7 лет назад

Ivo Sotirov he's a member of the group who is not considered a member of the group

@sanityisrelative 7 лет назад

Jeremy Reff He also is a wise old man who isn't wise.

@waterdragondelta 6 лет назад

Ivo Sotirov A mistake. An amalgamation of the modern human. OUR FUTURE. (I suggest you all commit!)

@Deadmeet100 10 лет назад

"I watched an episode of Community, it's not that good" You have to watch more than one episode.

@janet444 9 лет назад

Definitely. A friend of mine watched it once or twice but didn't like it. I showed her the pilot and then she got it. I think it helps if you start from the beginning.

@lamecasuelas2 9 лет назад

I like Community a lot, but i don't love it, so does that mean i don't think is a masterpiece?

@nakenmil 9 лет назад

lamecasuelas2 Maybe? Who knows.

@lamecasuelas2 9 лет назад

Enthused Norseman i mention that because what everyone thinks is good or bad is a completely subjective thing, and in order to consider something a masterpiece you have to really, really like it.

@strtg3y3r 9 лет назад

HUGE fan of the show, but I totally agree, I had to watch at least the first five episodes, the show really took off as all the characters got their development, and now, I can never stop watching this show every year. I'm starting my fifth re-watch of the show as season six slowly approaches.

@BigCowProductions 9 лет назад

Well it's a masterpiece one way or another.

@Thatll_Do_Pig_ 7 лет назад

Community is post modern as far as being self referential, but their is a lot of feeling underlying to meta humor. There is sincere messaging. The contradicting characters have real values and care for each other. If anything it's a masterpiece of the "New Sincerity"

@franciscofarias6385 5 лет назад

Yeaahhhhhh, a masterpiece of the post post modernism (we gotta find it a better name, along the lines of "new sincerity")

@bfish89ryuhayabusa 4 года назад

Metamodernism

@Eilowyn 4 года назад

But isn't it's sincerity in the face of cold meta-humor another binary contradiction that defines the show? Family Guy has meta-humor, but it lacks genuine feeling, so the contradiction is in how both sincerity and meta-narratives are the engine the show runs upon.

@Eilowyn 4 года назад

@caporal pistachio Meta-narratives are part of the postmodernist movement. Postmodernism is the movement that acknowledged meta-narratives and decided to put meta as an idea in play. For example, Modern Warfare is a postmodern pastiche of every action movie ever, therefore breaking down the meta-narrative of the action movie. Meta is self-reflexive, acknowledging that it is playing on every action movie trope ever, but the postmodern part comes in when we see these tropes in a new form, i.e., a paintball game.

@swardist 9 лет назад

Did I just see the Donnie Darko rabbit tell me to take the red pill in an internet video about Community?!?!

@SOSMisterMoo 10 лет назад

Community is the biggest and most effective way to make us think how we perceive life in the context of our culture. If we end up hating our culture and criticizing it or if we love it and worship it is up to us. The show is uninterested on purpose to make us reflect on that.

@scrooge1913 4 года назад

Community is now on Netflix and I have finally watched it. Revisiting this video is crazy weird. RIP Idea Channel, you have been all but forgotten to the shifting landscape of time and culture. Also, Long Live Mike Rugnetta.

@autumnson Год назад

Every time i come back to one of their videos, having learned many more things, i realize how densely pack with ideas and inspiring this show was. One of the rare channels that actually asks you to think

@karsonmabou8448 6 лет назад

Can I just say the way Season 5 ends fits with the intro by “The 88”. They all just slowly leave one by one.

@Etomia 9 лет назад

Thank you so much, I'm writing a uni essay about Community and postmodernity, and so my lecturer showed me this. :D you're totally streets ahead :P

@DarkAngelEU 9 лет назад

I once read somewhere that the show is metamodernist (no pun intended), which makes sense considering it's more self-aware, rational and even optimistic (or naïve?) than most postmodern things. Yeah it's a remix but everything is and always has been, pure art is a farce and that's the problem with postmodernism as well: it's too critical/cynical to sustain itself which why the arts are becoming more classical but that's something completely different than just a tv show that is probably one of the best designed since the Fresh Prince (you read that right, I love that Smith)

@AkichiDaikashima 10 лет назад

Community is one the best TV shows ever made, arguably the best sitcom ever.

@lewisgrace3596 10 лет назад

There's no argument...it's the best

@MrGustoRocha 9 лет назад

Most definitely, I cant think of a better or.

@KJR42391 9 лет назад

Beyond being Postmodern, I just love how funny this show is, and the character interactions are amazing! I watched the first episode, right after it aired, and right away I knew it would be my favorite show of all time. I love every season, EVEN season 4, and while I feel it's pastiche/parody element, along with the continuing story lines of Greendale being saved, are getting a little tired, it continues to be one of the funniest, best written and challenging shows on TV.

@ChaoticComrade 9 лет назад

If you pay attention to everything Abed says, he seems to be fully aware that he is in a television show. At one point, Jeff even says "he thinks his life is a television show", and they mock Abed for thinking everything was made of clay during the Christmas episode. Abed even narrates or pushes the episodes to fall into the molds of a stereotypical metanarrative.

@trentt.1079 9 лет назад

Big Bang Theory is good, Community is just streets ahead. Thank goodness Yahoo picked them up for season 6. #6seasonsandamovie

@camishokrian7476 7 лет назад

big bang theory is an awful show lmaooooo

@123rtXd 6 лет назад

If you try watching BBT without the laugh track, the show becomes absolute garbage. Plus it is the worst stereotype of "nerds"

@123rtXd 6 лет назад

Agreed, can't believe I used to think it was any good.

@AliFareedMC 5 лет назад

@@123rtXd Before watching community I was watching The Big Bang Theory And i know Chuck Lorre's Approach to Sitcoms is outdated while trying to use pop culture to appeal to current generation Playing with stereotypes And laugh tracks Using Girl next door lol While with community Dan Harmon approach Is Postmodern

@JS-ri8qc 4 года назад

BBT is not good

@jeffmcarthur5617 5 лет назад

Community is a post-modern masterpiece. But I'm commenting because of something else. At the end you talked about Fire Walk with Me, and I have an interesting story about that. I was a freshman at NYU when that came out. We walked out of our dorm to go see that, and as we did my roommates called on people in the streets to join us. As we walked to the cineplex (this was 1990) people from the university and the neighborhood joined us. (NYU has no real campus. We made up most of Greeenwhich Village) people just started joining us, both from the college and from the neighborhood. By the time we got to the cinema, we had a crowd who had joined us. We ended up filling most of the screening and the next. It was really an amazing time.

@georgerinotv673 7 лет назад

One amazing example of postmodernism in Community is the clip show episode where it pokes fun at other sitcom clip shows by having scenes that never actually happened, which adds to the comedy of it.

@thru999 10 лет назад

Community is my favorite show

@stillonline100 10 лет назад

his dean puns sound scarily accurate

@AtticusFresh 11 лет назад

You, my friend, hit the nail on the Chang. I thought the same thing when watching this video. Whether this show is being meta or postmodern it's biggest strengths are the heart, hilarity, and the richness of the characters. If it didn't stand on it's own in those respects we wouldn't be having this conversation.

@kirstenswartz1814 10 лет назад

I love when you talk about Roland Barthes. His theory here reminds me of Ezra Pound's logopoeia, or historical rhyme. Pound defined logopoeia as the dance of the intellect among words, pointing out the referential qualities of language. Basically, Pound believed that each word has a layer beyond its straightforward meaning and auditory qualities; words carry and build upon their past uses and thus endlessly reference other works. Historical rhyme involves restating past events, literature, art, etc. in new contexts, weaving seemingly disparate moments in time to create a commentary on the present. Seems to me that Community engages in these highly referential, critical practices. I think Community is a postmodern masterpiece! Great idea!

@viniciusferreiradasilva8348 7 лет назад

Isn't the idea of a postmodern "masterpiece" contradictatory in it of itself? Or could that be the very thing that makes it a masterpiece? Which, in turn, would make iit not contradicatory in the fact that it's contradictatory... I am so confused right now.

@sallyrose4044 4 года назад

just glad it was kept alive as long as it did, something i'd binge constantly

@DarthMagister 4 года назад

Community is just a masterpiece. My friends and I talked about that show a lot when it was airing. And now we're talking about it again, with it being on Netflix now.

@lukasewing 11 лет назад

Oh my God. That was a flawless Dean impression right at the start. High five

@lewisgrace3596 10 лет назад

Can you please do MORE Community stuff??

@joaosoares-rr5mj 8 лет назад

my favorite series of all time

@Sam-lf3hn 8 лет назад

same

@haniblecter 10 лет назад

Im certain of Community's place in the world, but I'm absolutely certain that the writing of that segment was incredibly awesome.

@lofimichelleeeo 11 лет назад

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! I heart you idea channel. Once again you magically made a brilliantly awesome mini-lecture of some of the most interesting ideas from my college courses. Where do you find the time to compile all those photos and gifs that are random yet oh so perfect everytime?!

@Thebeginingisner 9 лет назад

everything is a post-modern master piece...with enough argumentation.

@alexmarx2927 4 года назад

if you don’t watch community your streets behind

@nickzardiashvili624 6 лет назад

I like that someone does a breakdown and analysis of Community, cause it's a very clever show. That being said, I do disagree that Community is a postmodern show for two reasons: 1. Community is more concerned with meta-fiction than postmodernism and not all meta-fiction is postmodern. In fact it predates post-modernism thousands of year, including works of Plato, 1001 Nights, Cervantes, Shakespeare and many more. 2. Not everything that doubts reality or objectivity is postmodern. That kind of doubt or perhaps even disdain for objectivity is an important part of postmodernism, but it does not have a copyright to it. Overall, great video, mate!

@mythirdchannel 11 лет назад

I'm just super excited that you did an entire video about community :)

@DarkAngelEU 10 лет назад

postpostmodern is obviously METAmodern, it's first signs are upon us

@kasparasvarzinskas2020 10 лет назад

I would agree, furthermore I see Community more like metamodernist work or New Sincerety, also, the literature example in this video Infinite Jest by D.F. Wallace is also much more metamodernist than postmodern, imho.

@DarkAngelEU 10 лет назад

Kasparas Varžinskas I heard New Sincerity a few times before but the things described to belong to this wave don't tell me its clear motives. Could you explain to me what New Sincerity is?

@kasparasvarzinskas2020 10 лет назад

DarkAngelEU Well I guess it was best described by same Wallace as a new cultural wave which denies irony and searches for the forms of sincerity which were abandoned when postmodernism took the place. I'm just an enthusiast for this stuff, but I guess the bottom line of New Sincerity is coming back to what actually postmodernism distanced and avoided by the means of irony - thrive for proximity and honesty.

@DarkAngelEU 10 лет назад

Kasparas Varžinskas Oh cool, so I guess it fits my theory on truth :) I'm a student photographer and lately I've been thinking alot about how philosophy has changed societies as it is the highest form of art (besides painting imo). Greeks and Romans had truth in the mind, what you could think of was true. This is reflected in their myths and art, truth was an ideal. After that, especially in the middle ages, truth became a fatalism or sheer acceptance: the Lord had written your path and there was no way you could change it. If you were born a farmer you shouldn't dream of becoming a scientist. In art it kinda shows people just the way they are, those denying their fate die and the rich are being portrayed as the only ones that matter for they are denizens of God. Modernists saw at truth as a construction because of industrialization, Cartier-Bresson is a good example who mixes construction (framing) and fate (the decisive moment) to show this change of thinking. However after WWII truth became a product, you could buy truth with a tv. Make-up changed your appearance, we have come to the point that truth is so fake we don't even know if we'll ever find it. We're blinded by the light, it has become too bright so we choose to hide behind small screens that only show small rays of truth, only a filtered truth. Sorry for the long text but I believe this is what drives humans and always will drive us for living until tomorrow: a search for truth. A search for actual enlightenment. If you ask me, it can only come from experience and the memories out of those. Lemme know what you think :)

@ej5364 8 лет назад

Wow, I love pretty much EVERY show you mentioned. I didn't know what "postmodernism" was and I didn't really understand what "meta" meant til I watched this video. I almost want to rewatch it now! Thanks for the video! Subscribed :D

@pinkerhero Год назад

this is the ONLY thing, or at least the first, that helped me fully grasp what postmodernism is for my cultural studies class, thank you so much PBS!!! (i have seen the show but i would've understood this anyhow)

@PanAndScanBuddy 11 лет назад

You know how when somebody says something that you didn't expect, that is so weird that you're left speechless, and all you can say is "What's wrong with you?" I'm feeling the opposite. This is awesome. What's right with you?

@talsteiner3610 3 года назад

this aged well

@ryukdluffy 10 лет назад

In other words, Community is the Deadpool of shows.

@CarmineMarie 9 лет назад

WOW. You just wrinkled my brain. o.O

@pavementthetypingbear5709 9 лет назад

but funny

@Courier_333 6 лет назад

No cuz deadpool is still a generic superhero movie

@nickzardiashvili624 6 лет назад

I've heard that before and I thoroughly disagree. Deadpool simply breaks the fourth wall, whereas Community does much, much more clever stuff. They play with the rules of the genre, play with fabula and syuzhet, have a character impose the the rules of the genre on reality, have the reality impose the rules of the genre on characters, explore complex framing devices and much more.

@TylerWitucki 4 года назад

This guy is so hyped up I can't tell if he is breathing in and exhaling while he's talking a 100 WPM

@ptl763 11 лет назад

Living in England, I'd never even heard of 'community' before this. I then proceeded to watch the first episode, which then led me to watch every episode in a couple of days. And it was brilliant.

@a.i.l1074 8 лет назад

You showed 'Infinite Jest', some people list Wallace as 'post-post-modernism'. Welcome to the 21st century, it's hilarious

@jetcore4598 10 лет назад

My brain

@RhapsodyAfternoon 11 лет назад

I think the third season had some of the show's best episodes. "Digital Estate Planning" is my all-time favorite.

@Rhodon506 11 лет назад

This is a wonderful analysis, awesome work!

@darwin4219 9 лет назад

Man that show went downhill. Dan harmon getting fired is equal to, if not worse than the cancellation of firefly. As far as cinematic calamities go.

@Treent77 9 лет назад

Luckily he came back :D

@MrDrewwills 9 лет назад

I still have no idea what post modernism means.

@naomhmarie7932 8 лет назад

+Zenith Wills no one does, it's impossible to define as it is a series of somewhat truths as opposed to an absolute truth :D

@gregwashington6891 8 лет назад

+Zenith Wills I call it a generational bandwagon full of limelight seeking philosophers and drunks exploiting the past.

@damhanmclaughlin9647 8 лет назад

+Greg Washington Is it ok if I quote you in my thesis?

@fredfreddy8684 6 лет назад

In historical theory, it means roughly...We don't understand the context of historical evidence, so history writing is bunko. Post-modern history writers assume evidence means whatever they want. Some of it is funny. In history, it's not a large school of thought anymore. In science, it mostly falls down because applied sciences show us the principles work...like your car keeps on working for years & wouldn't if physics were based on bunko.

@CliveStaplesL 11 лет назад

I have to say, the first one of these videos I watched, I was kinda put off by you. It could have been the rapid speech, or the way you moved your head around all the content put up in the back, but now. I just... I don't know, I mean...I think this is the coolest RU-vid channel around. It's my goto, gotta-kill-eight-minutes kinda place. And I thank you for that.

@hairyhulkvideos 11 лет назад

For me, shows that come on when I go to sleep or wake up on the channels I like to watch will be unexpected pots of gold. Community, Seinfeld, some of the many shows I have discovered by waking up and it simply being on my TV.

@foxybox11 9 лет назад

Community is so streets ahead.

@acdc14terrace 9 лет назад

Season six will be streets behind then.....

@BeC00L123 10 лет назад

I didn't know the lyrics of Community's theme song until I watched this video.

@lewisgrace3596 10 лет назад

Took me ages to find actually make out what they were saying

@meowtwobeens 3 года назад

You used jacksfilms' twilight jacob I'm so happy

@captspaulding100 5 лет назад

Community is the best tv show ever! This video is streets ahead!

@sonicloyalfan 10 лет назад

If there really is no objective truth then the statement "objective truth does not exist" would then be an objectively true statement but if an objectively true statement exist in the universe then that would make the statement "objective truth does not exist" wrong, but if it is wrong then no objective truth in the universe exists thus making the statement "objective truth does not exist" objectively true. I have just created a logic that proves then disproves itself simultaneously, a paradox. since paradoxes cannot exist there must exist some objective truths in the universe and the statement "objective truth does not exist" must be completely false.

@miguelo8363 10 лет назад

Im agree to disagree...

@maxsmolinets 10 лет назад

That bring us to the question: Nicolas Cage - good or bad?

@belpop 10 лет назад

Migue Lo Easy, Paradox. We're on the same side here.

@andylannister5071 10 лет назад

Migue Lo It's "Let's agree to disagree."

@tsjasmine28 10 лет назад

The statement "objective truth does not exist" would be a subjective opinion, if someone said "Brahman is the god of all creation" it may be true to that person; however someone else might say "Brahman does not exist" which would also be true for the person believing it, thus truth is subjective. Absolute truth is unknowable, because one would need to be omniscient in order to know truth from untruth.The concept of truth is contingent on mind, without mind there is no truth and therefore no objectivity.

@trellmcgee249 10 лет назад

Forgive my ignorance, but postmodernism sounds sort of like deconstruction with a focus on being critical.

@davejacob5208 10 лет назад

well, i guess it IS.

@usernothere900 3 года назад

Community Easter Eggs and Details: ru-vid.com/group/PLfBt5gG2lF1GuW2bx5Tz08U9ZxKBA5IXo

@JustMoukou 11 лет назад

I was already sold the moment you use "Dean" as a pun.

@Kamonster 10 лет назад

BRONYS AREN'T A PROBLEM!!! THEIR A BLESSING.... ALL GLORY TO THE NEW LUNAR EMPIRE AND PRINCESS LUNA!!!!

@OnSergLine 9 лет назад

You are completely wrong with ur understanding of what postmodern is. Community thank fucking god is not a postmodern art. And it is very, very good.

@General12th 9 лет назад

OnSergLine Then, pray tell, what is postmodernism? I like his definition just fine.

@katiemaybekatie7022 8 лет назад

OMG!!!! There was an Are You Being Served GIF and I just lost it!!!! Love that show and it made my day that it was referenced!!!

@stopmakingeyesatme1290 10 лет назад

I love how Community's genius is being recognized. You can often almost hear some of Jeff or Abed's lines being spoken by the theorists you learn about in contemporary theory classes.

@joelproko 9 лет назад

Meh, I really dislike the postmodern worldview. It results in ultimately not being able to say anything.

@joelproko 9 лет назад

I mean, if there were no truth, nothing could be discussed, because there would be no way to know whether the other even understands a single word you're saying. "You can test it", you could say, but would your results be true? Anyway, I refuse to believe that there is no objective truth. It might be impossible to know all of it and people might see different parts of it, but it must be there. As an aside, I also dislike the elephant simily (the one with three blind people touching an elephant and claiming it is like a snake/wall/tree depending on what part they're touching), because the people using that simily usually use it to claim that some conflicting views (religions, for example) are actually describing the same thing and thus the person using the simily is essentially insinuating that they can see but others are blind. Who are they to claim that it's one "animal" and not two or three different things, when they themselves are just as "blind" as everyone else?

@AkichiDaikashima 9 лет назад

joelproko I think you can, you just need to embrace the idea that no one cares about what you have to say. It's kind of liberating when you think about it. I mean, look at Ulysees.

@joelproko 9 лет назад

Bradley Bradley But that's speaking to empty air, not a discussion.

@sigma2253 8 лет назад

+joelproko You are absolutely right. You can't prove that anybody can understand anything of what you are saying - which contradicts the definition of truth, or not? (by the way, you can look at the 'chinese room' thought experiment, which tackles this problem a bit, but within an other context [turing-test]). And that is kinda the point: real, universal truth can't be proven. Even science acknowledges that.

@LorenzoMarie11 8 лет назад

+Sigma Which is where I think the importance of truth arises in its existence as a cultural aspiration, rather than a physical reality, What I mean by this is that while Truth may not technically exist, the concept of truth can be highly motivating--motivation which is necessary for any kind of high-quality thinking, discussing, and indeed, culture. What happens when people stop aspiring to truth is that the quality of their thinking and argumentation deteriorates, and with that deterioration, we lose the capacity the capacity to think, account for variables and so. So, while truth might be impossible, the belief in truth is necessary to have anything resembling well...intelligence. Or, at least, intelligent thought. The philosopher Wittgenstein recognized this when he realized that aspiring to truth is the most important aspect of it--not whether you reach it or not.

@rosesfall5200 9 лет назад

That comment about Glee? Pretty snobby. Seems to me to be contradictory to the sort of anti-elistism/freedom post-modernism represents. And I don't even like Glee

@rosesfall5200 9 лет назад

***** How is what I said snobby?

@jacqsprat44 7 лет назад

Yup, really snobby - elitism

@sanityisrelative 7 лет назад

RosesFall I took the crack about Glee as a reference to Community more than anything else, as one of their running jokes is bashing the "glee club", which in itself is the community writers taking a shot at the show Glee since it was one of their direct competitors.

@BulbaBryan 7 лет назад

oh no he's snobby, somebody do something

@magneto44 6 лет назад

Glee is garbage

@imrankikkbria 11 лет назад

This show is amazing! Been watching the first season and it is absolutely astounding! Thank you!

@kleerude 11 лет назад

I think you nailed it with your comment about Community being built on contradictions, the biggest of which is the contradiction of a show that dissects, remixes, and examines our culture to an almost clinical degree and still finds it full of goodness and good intentions (epitomized by Jeff's S3 finale speech… "I'm lying when I say there is no truth…")

@Eziokilla9595 9 лет назад

It's bracingly postmodern, not necessarily a masterpiece.

@iwantaoctosteponmyneckbut3545 4 года назад

Honestly, I think it's more meta-modernist than anything else. Episodes like Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons parody old-school Christmas episodes and fantasy, but the characters grow and change through these parodies, sometimes in service of pretty interesting themes. Hell, he former episode's thene is about the importance of giving things meaning even when they don't intrinsically have any, and the show's best episodes add meaning to its post-modernist deconstructions. It's a lot like BoJack Horseman in that way: it's an exploration of how to find meaning in a world that doesn't have any.

@rebeccadelamere-sanders2783 11 лет назад

I love this channel so much, but I must admit that some things/references go right over my head. BUT! This just makes me want to consume more creative works etc. so thank you so so much! I love this, and I live for this kind of thing.

@poeteaquatresous 11 лет назад

je t'aime tellement pour avoir fait une vidéo pareille sur community! merci

@jamespaulr9 11 лет назад

you killed it, dude. community is now a show about community.

@twoblueberries 11 лет назад

I really appreciate the tie to and break down of pomo here. Community is by far my favorite sitcom, partly because it is hilarious and also because of this exploration of expectation, and I think it is more than just a performance of disinterest. Even within pastiche episodes, Community asks us to identify with and see the complexity in each character/situation serving the particular pastiche as well as the season's story arc. It is not simply "us laughing at them" (cough* Big Bang Theory).

@FabFab14 11 лет назад

This was very well thought out and presented.

@crystalcleara.k.a.missyoko1430 5 лет назад

Watching this in2018 community still awesome and am rewatching it

@markman11111 11 лет назад

I think the commentary on Let's chips also plays into the postmodern theme of the show, considering they're in EVERYTHING.

@DaylnBryant 11 лет назад

Love these videos! Keep making more!

@jetsonjoe 11 лет назад

one of the best explanations of postmodernism i have heard in quite some time and for that i will subscribe to see what else is offered

@NerdySatyr 11 лет назад

I spent most of this video sat here going, "SAY WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?" *Confoozed*

@ijeremyoliver 11 лет назад

I feel validated when you link to videos I've already seen ...

@MrJonmccann1972 6 лет назад

"A joke really requires a hidden ground of grievance, for which the joke is only a figure sitting out front." Marshall Mcluhan.

@noahjohnamen 11 лет назад

I LOVE the Arcade Fire album in the back :D

@mikecunningham4682 11 лет назад

I took a break from watching Community to go on RU-vid. This is what I found. I cannot escape it.

@ScottOrKaze 9 лет назад

I definitely think Community is PostModern, I feel like it delves further though into an area of PostPostModernism/MetaModernism. I think the episode Paradigms of Human Memory is a good example. The scene that comes to mind is the Annie Jeff shipping scene, a direct homage to a RU-vid video Harmon saw. Already we have a parody homage based on an homage to a show. Harmon pays homage to an homage of his show. Then takes it a step further by parodying his homage with the Pierce and Abed ship. A parody of an homage of an homage to an original. The added absurdity is that this is a flashback episode, so we assume all seven of them are remembering all of the exact same moments between Jeff and Annie, along with close ups and the same Sara Bareillis song, as each other. The depth to that show is insane, and I think that's one example of many, that could prove Community's PostPost/MetaModernism.

@olleicua 9 лет назад

Even though subscription isn't a meta-narrative, the idea that I should only reject meta-narratives is a meta-narrative (one I've chosen to reject in fact) so I could reject subscription. As RU-vid's subscription interface gets closer to "here is what our AI thinks you should watch" and further from "here are your subscriptions these ones have updates you haven't seen", I continue to consider doing just that. However subscribing does seem to be a feedback mechanism by which I can let creators know I like their stuff and the world seems to be a loss right now for both a decent RSS reader and a decent way to get RSS feeds from RU-vid Channels so I'll conform for now.

@donkeydan3483 10 лет назад

It all makes so much sense now!

@soulhunter91 11 лет назад

I kind of always saw it like the average dad vs the average step dad. The dad isn't always the best dad, but he tries his best to teach you and help you grow. The step dad, in trying to impress you and make you like him, he throws goodies your way and doesn't exactly let you earn your gifts.

@procrastinator99 9 лет назад

That was a really good Dean impression.

@owgirl 11 лет назад

Liam Dryden also did an A Capella cover of the Community theme! (Which is linked in his video that is linked here, ironically enough!)

@qwertywithak9154 11 лет назад

I love the constant post-modern references throughout the video.

@onelesshipster5715 11 лет назад

Umm, did you just sneak a clip from Are You Being Served? into a video about Community?! Flipping brilliant. If someone were to ask me, "Hey man, what are the ingredients for pure, unadulterated RU-vid brilliance?", I would respond with, "Sneak in a reference to Are You Being Served? into anything relating to Community." You must have purchased my digital cookbook at Barnes and Noble... Well-played..

@morton_slc 11 лет назад

This video made me think about the Adventure Time video you made, and how we like Adventure Time because of the nostalgic-ness of the show. I think I like Community for similar reasons. It mirrors how I look back on Meta-narratives now. It takes these already established "story-norms" we learned from the tv and movies we watched as a kid and adds a splash of cynicism (which is something naturally acquired by simply growing up). Maybe this is why people can relate to Community so well.

@Rodermus 11 лет назад

I don't think I've ever read so long a comment before, but now I have a new book to find, thank you.

@Immakugleblitz 11 лет назад

Community is just amazing at showing how even though we put ourselves, and each other into categories (religion, lifestyle, etc) you really cannot define someone by these categories. Being an Atheist doesn't mean we hate religion and being a nerd doesn't mean we're bad at sports.

@nomMascot 4 года назад

I miss 2013~ Thanks again for this video

@petethespud 11 лет назад

Oh god, that Dean voice is friggin' heavenly...

@nancyboucher4014 11 лет назад

My whole shebang with the whole situation is that community is not the only show that employs meta narratives and self-referential post-modernist yadda yadda yadda, but it is the only one that does so *lovingly*, and in doing so, holds up a mirror to the audience reminding them that yes, the narratives we use to construct reality may be light as air, but we still keep coming back to them because they make us happy. A show about a make-shift dysfunctional family makes us very happy.