Advanced Analysis of Broadcast Television

Like Pierce being a father/mentor figure for Jeff, problematic as he may have been? Gone. Britta being a genuinely HELPFUL maternal influence to Abed and having complex struggles with femininity and her relationships with other women? GONE. Both of them being presented as deeply flawed people who at the end of the day had reasonable intentions and intricate redeeming traits? Say GOODBYE.

Idk- Pierce I have less of an issue with because between production's issues with Chevy Chase (and the issues members the CAST had with him) he kind of had to be messily booted and the problematic elements of his character would never have aged well.

BRITTA, on the other hand, was endearing and complicated and messy and genuinely a fantastically written female TV character until a lot of her complexity and agency was thrown down the drain for the sake of the "Britta's the worst!" bit (probably my least favorite running gag of the show and maybe the only one I DON'T like)

Reject modernity

Embrace tradition

Shirley is one THOUSAND percent an underrated character who deserved a better send-off from the show and more developed character interactions, but I will say she has a heck of a lot of depth and drama on the show that is often unappreciated.

In keeping with my trademark "listing random Community observations" posts, below is a list of Shirley facts that I don't hear discussed enough:

Her entire friendship with Jeff. I find it incredibly interesting because the two of them are the most candid versions of themselves when they're together: Jeff rarely bothers to conceal his basic insecurity around her (think: her coming with him to check out Blade, Britta's ex-boyfriend, at the carnival) and Shirley drops her "good Christian mother" pleasantries around him because he knows they're often insincere and finds whatever brutal honesty she has to deliver a lot more fun (think: the season 1 episode where they just shit-talk various people)

She's one of the only members of the study group who actually achieved what she came to Greendale to do: start a business. Because Shirley's Sandwiches was fabulous!! And well-run!! And she did that well before Abed went to LA or Troy went on his sailing trip.

She's a natural leader, as demonstrated in the sailing class episode where she captains the boat, but beyond that she's always been a motherly/guiding presence for the younger members of the study group (specifically Troy, Annie, and Britta)

She's really, REALLY good at fooseball.

I saw a post the other day saying that Jeff and Britta's relationship was important and reformative for both of them BECAUSE it was mostly platonic and allowed them to get over their habits of defining themselves by date/sleep with/etc., and I just realized that the scene where Jeff brings Britta flowers after her dance performance is a perfect example of this:

When Britta hears that Jeff and Slater are official, Jeff says, "You actually had a big part in that. I mean, if I can handle having a girl for a friend, who's to say I'm not ready for a girlfriend?" Britta is an important woman in his life who he has, at that point, no particular goal of sleeping with. Yet he still puts effort into their relationship (something he wouldn't have done before Britta), and applies that new outlook to dating Michelle by "making it official", i.e. committing to something other than hooking up.

The flowers, though, are my favorite part of this scene: earlier in the episode Britta says to Shirley something along the lines of "no woman can change Jeff Winger", and asks her sarcastically if she thinks Slater is getting flowers right now, among other traditional relationship activities. Then, after the performance, HE LITERALLY BRINGS BRITTA FLOWERS. Because she HAS changed him, even though they're "just friends"- note that Slater does NOT recieve flowers in this episode.

I don't think we talk enough about the fact that Jeff and Britta nearly got *married* THREE times?? And the fact that every reason they had for doing it is sort of ridiculous? Like we have:

dating as an act of vengeance on each other escalates into marriage (this one was SO in character let's be real)

at Shirley's wedding to Andre, their resentment about marriage leads to drinking leads to arguing leads to... getting married?

the realization that their time at Greendale didn't leave them with much of value because, honestly, it's a pretty crappy college, so they decide to get married so that they "leave the school with something" that matters

When Annie is talking to Dreamatorium Troy and she gives him the truth serum, all the word-vomit truths "Troy" says are actually just things Abed knows/believes are true about him, because it's actually Abed speaking. Just to recap what some of these truths are:

cried during About a Boy, because of the soundtrack specifically

stole a pen from a bank (was Abed there? or was Troy so genuinely bothered by that that he told Abed about it later?)

"can see why women find Clive Owen attractive, to the point where he may as well be attracted to him"- not a very straight thing for your best friend to know about you hmmm

more turned on by women in pajamas than in lingerie (he just wants to know they feel comfortable!!!)- I have to know when they discussed this/how Abed found that out

likes butt stuff (this is just common knowledge by season 3, seeing as it's a running gag, but still)

didn't get Inception, and is intensely bothered by that?? (I'm assuming they watched it together)