First off, let me say how happy I am that Community is not cancelled. I know it’s a small victory, just that the show is coming back, but in this day and age we have to take what little we can get. So Community is coming back later this season, likely in a different time slot (not up against Big Bang Theory) while a season 4 is not unlikely but also hasn’t been talked about. We have an interesting state of limbo here, but that’s not what I want to write about. Instead, I just want to examine what I think is the true ultimate goal of Community and where the show will finally end up (or where I think it should).
**SPOILERS** If you haven’t been watching Community (first off, what’s wrong with you?) I will be discussing topics from the last 3 seasons, you might want to watch the show first.
Community is the story of Troy Barnes. You can let that sink in if you don’t already see it. I’ll explain.
Clearly the way Community was structured in the beginning, and in most ways still is, is the story of Jeff Winger going back to school, getting a degree to go back to being a lawyer and all the crazy stuff happening along the way. That’s how it was marketed and promoted and it’s still a major plot of the show, I’m not denying that. But along side that is, what I think, a more interesting story. The story of Troy Barnes and the man he will become. And maybe a love he’ll meet along the way? More on that later.
When Community starts, Troy is a football jock whose career in high school ended after an injury during a keg party (an injury later revealed to be faked because Troy couldn’t handle the pressure of a talent scout at the “big game”). At this point he is a self-obsessed, arrogant stereotypical jock, still wearing his letterman jacket. He is what many of us are when we enter college; grasping onto who we were, using that to give us a sense of identity in a new environment, trying to carve out a new niche for ourselves as quickly as possible. But how many of us were the same person in college that we were in high school? We used the time and experience of college to become new people, to forge ourselves into what we wanted to be.
Troy begins hanging out with the study group and in each of them finds advice, understanding, kinship, freedom, respect, humility. Every character serves a purpose in developing Troy’s future. They have their own interacting storylines, but in most cases when they interact with Troy, some lesson is taught or character developed.
Let’s look at each one in turn, I’ll try to give a couple of examples, but so much of this show is subtle I can’t point out every moment.
Jeff:
Jeff serves as a mentor/big brother figure to Troy. Both of them had a prestigious life before Greendale (talented lawyer/football star). Both have/had troubled home lives. (Jeff’s father left at a young age/Troy has an incredibly strict grandmother and faced mounting pressure from playing football).
Much of the interaction between Jeff and Troy is in a brotherly, guiding way. When Troy turns 21, Jeff takes it upon himself to teach Troy what it means to be a man, specifically regarding going to the bar. When trapped in the KFC space simulator, Jeff clashes with Troy over who’s the leader but realizes that by taking charge when it was needed, Troy proved he was the right guy for the situation. This is a situation where Jeff learns a lesson as well, but his support of Troy in the end counts for more than it seems. By season 3, characters note that Jeff sees Troy as a “threat” but in reality, it’s like an older brother seeing the younger come into his own and realizing he has nothing to show him anymore.
Jeff is the mentor in that Troy learns some life lessons from him but really learns what not to do by observing him. Jeff is at Greendale because he took the easy way out and relied on trickery to get where he wanted to be. Troy did something similar with football in high school and continues to act this way in the beginning of the series. Through Jeff, he sees what his future could be if he doesn’t apply himself and work for what he wants. But Jeff does have real world experience, experience that will be very useful to Troy in the future. Troy respects Jeff, but knows that he doesn’t want to live his life the same way.
For the future of this relationship, I see it as an alpha dog situation. Eventually there will be a confrontation over something, a fracturing of the study group and a resolution where Jeff and Troy are on equal footing as head of the group/adults. Similar to the end of season 2 and the paintball war, but something more permanent. There is a possibility that Troy replaces Jeff as the focal point of the study group but that would most likely be a storyline based around the series finale.
Next up, Annie. I’ll try to write about her tomorrow, wrote a lot more than I expected here. Basically, I’m not saying this is what the show is about, it’s just how I see it now. You can disagree if you like, but thinking about it this way opens the show in a whole new way and I enjoy it more. Nothing wrong with that.
