2. Institutional information:
Country of origin – United States of America.
Number of seasons – 5
Number of episodes – 97
Original language – English (American English)
Created by – Daniel Harmon
Broadcast – NBC (Original channel)
Production companies – Universal Television, Russo Brothers Film and Dan Harmon productions.
Locations – Paramount Studios, Los Angeles and Los Angeles City College.
Running time – 22 minutes each episode.
3. Characters:
The characters of Community are typical of their surroundings, which is a college/high school. American high
schools are renowned for having many different social groups, such as “Nerds” and “Jocks” – all of which have
their own stereotypes. The characters of Community conform to these stereotypes exactly.
Character list:
Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) – Jeff is considered the main character in the series, and oozing with confidence. In
a lot of American television shows, those who appear to be confident are also egotistical and self centred.
Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs) – She is where a lot of the male gaze is aimed at (in terms of Jeff). She is the
stereotypical, confident and slightly rude blonde female that the main character falls for.
Abed Nadir (Daniel Pudi) – The “Nerd” of the group. Appears to be quite distant and difficult to relate to. In
some ways, he does appear to be an outsider in terms of social norms, but he is respected and appreciated
within the group of characters.
Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Case) – The oldest of the characters by quite some margin, he fits the typical,
comical belief that people of an older age find it harder to relate to younger people.
Troy Barnes (Donald glover) – An American football scholar who was forced to stop playing due to an injury.
However, he still fits the stereotypical image of a “jock” – usually found wearing a letterman jacket (A typical
piece of clothing that jocks wear).
Annie Edison (Alison Brie) – The youngest of the characters. Typically charming and kind – is looked out for by
a lot of the cast members.
4. Episodes to look out for:
There are a few particular episodes of Community that should be paid attention to because of their
postmodern features (which is mostly intertextual referencing).
Episodes with features of postmodernism:
Season 1, Episode 23: “Modern Warfare” – Jeff is seen to be wearing an outfit that is almost identical to that of
Bruce Willis in the film “Die Hard”. The episode is based on a paintball war that takes place in the school.
Season 1, Episode 16: Quotes from “The Breakfast club” are used by both Abid and Jeff. Intertextual
referencing.
Season 3, Episode 12: The whole cast have to become impressionists in order to pay off a debt. Jeff
impersonates Ryan Seacrest, which also links back to an episode from season 1 – where Troy calls him
“Seacrest” to express the visual similarities between the two.
Season 1, Episode 13: Jeff becomes the chief editor of the school paper and starts to give orders to students
that are similar to ones given by the commander in the film “Hawkeye”. Abid actually references the film by
pointing out the similarities.
Jeff and Bruce Willis – an uncanny resemblance.
5. Audiences and opinions on
postmodernism:
Postmodern television is an extremely clever strand of modern day TV. The idea that
the media are running out of ideas and originality is postmodern enough as it is
(Negative postmodernists believe this), but the solutions that are practiced in order to
make modern television even more entertaining are extremely postmodern as well.
Some audiences may like postmodern television because it is thought-provoking as well
as entertaining. Some interterxtual references are hard to spot so some audiences may
feel intelligent if they have noticed them.
However, some audiences may dislike the idea of referencing and parody – as they may
mock media texts that they are personally fans of.
