Robert Eastwood

Content Analysis Report

Content Analysis
The sitcom I have chosen for this report is the American sitcom Community. Community
was created by Dan Harmon and aired on NBC and Yahoo screen from 2009 to 2015. This
series has a cast of Joel McHale, Donald Glover, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole
Brown, Alison Brie, Chevy Chase, Jim Rash and Ken Jeong. It is set in a community college
called Greendale and uses meta-humour and pop culture references and often parodies
films and has TV clichs. Community received acclaim for its acting and writing and
appeared on loads of critics year end best of lists. Despite low ratings, it developed a cult
following over the years and fans are still hoping that there is a community film made
because in an episode from season 2, one character from the show shouted out 6 seasons
and a movie. Since then fans have been waiting for the movie as there has been six seasons
already.

Genre 1
Genre is a French word, which literally means kind, type or sort. In media, genre normally
refers to categories such as comedy, horror, sci-fi, fantasy or documentary. All media
products will fit into a specific genre.

According to production technology

Film
As the program I am writing about is a sitcom, there is no movie but the writer and maker of
Community, Dan Harmon has said that the Community movie is inevitable. There has not
been many sitcoms that had a film after they finished so even though Dan Harmon said it
was inevitable I would not be surprised if it does not happen as it has never really happened
before to a sitcom. An example of one sitcom that got a movie is The Simpsons, which got a
movie in 2007 and it was liked for their audience but I think Community is a different sitcom
all together as it is not a cartoon and is not as well-known as The Simpsons. Apart from a
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few exterior scenes shot at Los Angeles City College, the show was filmed at the Paramount
Studios lot in Hollywood, California during seasons one through five. For season six, the
series moved to the CBS Studio Centre, and featured exterior scenes from Los Angeles City
College for the first time since season two.

Video
Video is obviously used to make the sitcom, as you would watch any sitcom on a video. You
can watch a video of Community on a TV or online on a laptop or console or phone.

Audio
There is audio in Community with lots of music and sounds and actors and actresses talking.
A soundtrack for the first season, titled Community (Music from the Original Television
Series), was released on September 21, 2010 by Madison Gate Records. The track list
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includes the main title theme, "At Least It Was Here" by The 88; original songs and
incidental music composed for the show; and several songs were performed by the
characters (a mix of original compositions and covers).

Print

Community have been on the front cover of many newspapers and magazine, which are all
about TV. The example above shows when community won an award they were put on the
front cover of the TV guide.

Digital
In the United States, you can find the complete series on Hulu. Seasons 1 to 4 are available
on Netflix in Canada. All six seasons are available via the ITunes Store. It is no longer
available in the UK and Ireland on Netflix because the deal ran out in 2017. The entire series
are available on Stan in Australia.

Distribution Method
Television
Community started on TV on the American channel NBC. It had five seasons on NBC and
then for the final season moved to Yahoo. Sony, the shows production owner was involved
in talks with Hulu to renew the show for its Sixth Season. Talks with Hulu collapsed,
however, but Yahoo! purchased a 13-episode order and renewed the show in June 2014 for
a Sixth Season. Harmon said in a July 2014 San Diego Comic Con panel: "Community Season
Six - now you're watching the way you used to watch, only now it's legal," jokingly referring
to how many in its audience watched the show illegally on their computers. Community
aired new episodes exclusively on the online streaming site, Yahoo! Screen, in March 2015.

Cinema
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As the program I am writing about is a sitcom, there is no movie but the writer and maker of
Community, Dan Harmon has said that the Community movie is inevitable. There has not
been many sitcoms that had a film after they finished so even though Dan Harmon said it
was inevitable I would not be surprised if it does not happen as it has never really happened
before to a sitcom.

Radio
Community would not be on the radio but the actors and the writers of Community could
advertise the show on radio if a new season is coming out. They could also play the
Community theme song on the radio to advertise.

Internet
You will be about to watch Community on the internet as it is on Hulu and Yahoo which are
need internet to get on just like Netflix as you pay to watch things on Hulu and Yahoo and
that is where Community is now. If you do not have internet you will not be able to watch
anything on Hulu, Yahoo or Netflix. You could also find the DVD copies of Community on the
internet on EBay or Amazon.

CD/DVD
The first season was released in region 1 on September 21, 2010 in a four-disc set. The set
includes all 25 episodes plus bonus features, including commentary on every episode by cast
and crew members; extended versions of the "Pilot" and "Communication Studies"
episodes; outtakes; "Season One Cast Evaluations" featurette; "Season One Highlight Reel"
featurette; "Creative Compromises" featurette; "Advanced Criminal Law" alternative scenes;
and three mini episodes. The second season was released in region 1 on September 6, 2011.
The third season was released in region 1 on August 14, 2012. The fourth season was
released in region 1 on August 6, 2013. The fifth season was released in region 1 on August
5, 2014. The sixth season was released on DVD in region 1 on March 8, 2016. The complete
series was released on DVD in region 1 on November 15, 2016. Special features include all
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the features from the first six seasons. You will probably be able to buy these on Amazon or
EBay and they maybe in some shops.

IPod
Community does have some episodes with music in them so I could see you being able to
buy a Community soundtrack on your IPod.

Mobile Phone
Many phones have some form of app store and access to the internet. The internet can be
accessed through a mobile phone and so you will be able to download the Hulu app from
the app store, which you will be able to find Community on. If you cannot use the app store,
you can always use the internet on your phone to search for it on internet explorer.
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Home Computer
A home computer is very much like the mobile phone in that you use the internet to get on
to Hulu or Yahoo to be able to watch Community. You can go on EBay and Amazon to find
the DVDs for Community if you would rather not buy Hulu or Yahoo. In addition, you will get
extra content including commentary from the cast and extra scenes that did not make the
show and some bloopers. People could also watch Community on illegal websites so they do
not have to pay anything at all.

Hand-held Consoles
Other than a phone, there is not really anything that is hand-held to do with Community.
Hand-held consoles such as PSPs are not made to watch TV programmes on.

Genre 2
Content
The content of the sitcom is a group of people make a study group at a community college
and it is about their different adventures in the college and out of it with lots of cultural
references. The main character is called Jeff Winger and after he is suspended and disbarred
from a law firm; it leaves him with no choice but to join a community college to earn a
legitimate degree so he joins Greendale community college. He quickly becomes attracted
to his activist classmate, Britta Perry, and pretends to run a study group in order to spend
time with her. However, things do not go to plan when she invites Abed Nadir, a pop
culture-loving nerd, who brings other classmates along such as Shirley Bennett, a highly
religious single mother, nave over-achiever Annie Edison, former high school football star
Troy Barnes, and cynical elderly millionaire Pierce Hawthorne. Despite their differences, the
group soon become close friends.

Style
I found that whilst Community does not follow the archetypal technical conventions of
Sitcom, it still does follow some of its setups, tropes and ideas. It does not suffice as a
classical Sitcom, but it does lean on some of the genres conventions and has not yet passed
over the line where it would be part of a completely different genre. Instead, I state that the
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series fits the term New Comedy, as devised by Antonio Savorelli, not a genre but a term
representing the heightened use of metatextuality on four levels in Comedy. Thus,
Community suffices as a part of an evolved version of the Sitcom genre.

Symbolic
I do not think Community really has a symbol as it is a comedy and the reason for it is to
make the audience laugh. There is not really a story that is spread out over a season; mostly
each episode is about a new thing each time.

Cultural
Community is a show, which references a lot of pop culture from the past and present. Pop
culture references are recurring themes within the show used often by Abed through his
obsession with TV and movies. They are direct references to people, places, and things
within the culture as opposed to Meta references, which are often references that are
hinted at and alluded to but not directly stated. Dan Harmon is well known for doing this as
he also made the show Rick and Morty, which is full of pop culture references.

Changes over Time

As time goes by, audiences change. For example, there could be ideological shifts because of
cultural and economic change which will result in a change in what is acceptable or thought
of as interesting, funny or relevant. Changes happened in Community after season three for
sure, as there was a massive argument between the actor Chevy Chase and the shows
creator Dan Harmon, with a recorded message Chevy sent Dan being put on the internet.
When season 4 came out Chevy Chase was in it but Dan Harmon had been sacked and that
is why many fans of community say season 4 was the worst season. When season 5 was
being made, NBC decided to bring back Dan Harmon and Chevy Chase left the show for
good.
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Ideological Shifts
Dan Harmon said he had a plan of how to finish Community but apparently whatever the
showrunners for season 4 when Dan Harmon was sack did, ruin what Harmon had planned
and had to change what he had planned for something else for the last two seasons.

Obsolescence
I dont think Community ever felt obsolete or outdated during the first three seasons but
the four seasons because it was not as good as the other three made it feel a bit outdated
but the last two seasons made it more exciting again after a not as good season.

Spoof/ Parody
Community is known for its smart pop culture references and spot-on parodies of movies
and TV shows. The college comedy has taken on everything from Goodfellas to Glee and
hilariously made it their own. These spoofs are seen as disrespectful.

Community have had loads of parody episodes such as:

The Modern Warfare episode, which put the show on the map, with an homage to
action movies featuring an extreme game of paintball.
Epidemiology episode was about a virus, which turned people into zombies.
In the episode Cooperative Calligraphy the group stays in one room for the entire
episode looking for a pen; this is known as a bottle episode.
The episode basic lupine urology is a spoof of law and order as it has loads of the
music and the dun dun sound.
The episode contemporary American poultry is about how the characters turn into a
mob and dealing with chicken fingers as they are the only nice things at the diner
room.
Pillows and Blankets episode is an epic pillow fight made like a documentary in the
style of filmmaker Ken Burns.
The two episodes A fistful of Paintballs and for a few paintballs more uses westerns
and star wars as inspiration.

Pastiche
Pastiche is a copy of a genre and is usually done respectfully. However, are sometimes seen
as an inferior way of exploiting other peoples good ideas without giving full credit to the
source.
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Narrative Structure
Single Strand
A single strand narrative is when one story is told from start to finish. There is usually a
particular point, moral or otherwise, that the producer is trying to make or get the audience
to engage with.

Multi-Strand
Multi-strand narratives tell two or more stories alongside each other. These stories can
often cross over each other or offer an alternative reality. Community will sometimes have
this but most of the time it is one story in one episode with the group all being involved in
that.

Closed
A closed narrative means that the story starts in a certain place and will be resolved at the
end giving the impression that there is nothing more to add.

Open
An open narrative does not really have a clear beginning or end. This is like a soap as they
have a continuous narrative based on the lives of the characters within it. Community is
open as it follows the main characters lives through the season.

Linear
Flashbacks are often confused with true narratives, which are not linear, but the concept is
fundamentally linear. Although some films appear to open (very briefly) with the ending,
flashback movies almost immediately jump back to the very beginning of the story to
proceed linearly from there, and usually proceed past the supposed "ending" shown at the
beginning of the movie.

Non-Linear
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Cinema can only provide the illusion through broken narrative, a famous example of this
being the 1994 film Pulp Fiction. The film is ostensibly three short stories, which, upon
closer inspection, are actually three sections of one story with the chronology broken up.

Alternative Narrative
In works of interactive narration there is only one narrative but the method of delivery
requires the user to actively work to gain the next piece of the narrative, or have to piece
the parts of narrative that they have together in order to form a coherent narrative. This is
the narrative approach of some modern video games. A player will be required to reach an
objective, complete a task, solve a puzzle, or finish a level before the narrative continues.

Enigma
An enigma is a device often used in narratives. The producer of the text creates a riddle that
needs to be decoded and interpreted by the reader.

Climax
The climax is a turning point of a narrative work is its point of highest tension and drama, or
it is the time when the action starts during which the solution is given. The climax of a story
is a literary element.

Equilibrium
This means when everything is as it should be in a state of equal balance between powers of
any kind where equality of importance or effect exists among the various parts of any
complex unity.

Representation
Negative
Season 4 got negative responses from critics and fans because Dan Harmon left but
Community never really had a big fan base but had a loyal one and then people found out
how good community was after it finished.

Positive
Jonah Krakow of IGN gave the first season an 8.5 saying that "Community eventually
ramped up and delivered some amazing stories in the second half of the season. In The
A.V. Club's list of the 25 best television series of 2010, Community ranked second, stating
that the best episodes were "Modern Warfare", "Cooperative Calligraphy", and "Abed's
Uncontrollable Christmas". IGN named Community the best comedy series in both 2010 and
2011.

Of Social Groups and Social Issues

There are loads of different social groups including
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gender
ethnicity
social class
age
disability
sexuality.
You need to consider how each group is represented, whether they are positive or negative,
the impact these stereotypes may have and implications surrounding this and whether they
are portrayed differently in various forms of media.
Mass media representations of social classes rarely focus on the social tensions or class
conflict that some critical sociologists see as underpinning society.

Stereotyping
Stereotyping is an effective means of representing characters as it is linked to the way a
society tends to see groups or individuals and allows us to categories people according to
their tastes, consumptions, age, gender, way of dressing and more.