Community - Remedial Chaos Theory

About Community
Community is a television show on NBC created by Dan Harmon that has run for four seasons as of summer 2013. Recently, the show has been renewed by NBC for a fifth season. Community centers around a Spanish study group at Greendale Community College, coined "the Greendale seven," with often appearances from the dean of the school, Dean Pelton, and a Chinese Spanish teacher, Professor Chang. The seven main characters consist of Jeff, Britta, Annie, Troy, Abed, Shirley, and Pierce. The show has developed a cult following and is known for its plethora of pop culture references, multiple layers of remediation, and quirky comedy throughout.

About "Remedial Chaos Theory"
"Remedial Chaos Theory" is the third episode of season 3, but aired as the fourth episode on Oct 13, 2011. Troy and Abed have just moved in together in a new apartment and invite the gang over for a house-warming party. The episode goes on to split into seven different timelines, each with a different ending, when Jeff rolls a dice to see who has to get the pizza. As each character leaves one by one, the remaining members of the group display exactly what the missing character adds to the group. When one person leaves the group, the group becomes unbalanced based on what their character adds. For example, Abed diffuses awkwardness because he is so quirky himself and always is in control of his emotions. When he goes to get the pizza, he returns to an awkward situation where everyone seems very uncomfortable as a result of losing control emotionally. Britta and Shirley had a fight, Annie said Jeff reminded her of her dad after they kissed, and Pierce gave Troy a Norwegian troll doll that used to scare him when they lived together. "Remedial Chaos Theory" was nominated for an Emmy in 2012 in the category of Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. The writer of the episode was Chris McKenna, but it also had Dan Harmon's prints all over it. Community won one Emmy in 2011 for the claymation episode titled "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" in the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation category.

Knowledge Communities
Living in such a wired world, there are millions of internet communities for almost every imaginable interest. Everyone with a computer can access the web and discuss topics that interest them personally. The internet can be thought of as a collection of virtual clubs. These clubs can be centered around anything, including movies, pastimes, sports, companies, and even countries. Different platforms and websites, such as Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, and Tumblr, help to organize these clubs, making them organized and accessible. Knowledge communities are just like these clubs, except more information-driven. These communities are where people come together and create a massive hub of information about a particular subject. Many knowledge communities are found today on Web 2.0 websites - sites that allow users the "freedom to contribute" on a collaborative interface accessible by millions of users. Wikipedia is the quintessential Web 2.0 website. It is a vast, ever-growing platform with articles about almost all subjects. Although Wikipedia's credibility used to be questionable due to the ease of editing, today Wikipedia sites are the go-to place for information about a specific topic.

Knowledge communities are important because they connect people in ways once impossible. For example, someone who majored in Amphibian Studies in college can go online and edit the Wikipedia page with correct, detailed information based on her studies. Even professors who teach biology can collaborate with other specialized frog scientists to ensure accurate and thorough information all about frogs. Now, if a person were to see a frog on a hike, he can access Wikipedia's article about frogs, and learn all about the different species of frogs in his area. He has instant information about a topic he wants to learn about, a library at the touch of a button. The experts become both intraconnected with other expert and interconnected as the platform bridges the gap between the expert and the amateur. In terms of popular culture, knowledge communities also help new viewers understand long-running gags and provide detailed explanation of each episode in order to avoid confusion. Viewers are able to visit a knowledge community and read about what they just watched, which will enhance understanding and appreciation of the episode, especially shows with subtle humor. Knowledge communities also collect information strewn about the web. Many different sites have articles about the same subject, and knowledge communities gather these articles into an organized collection. Knowledge communities such as the one surrounding the reality TV series Survivor hunt across the web and the world for clues about spoilers regarding cast members, locations, and major plot points. While not every show and movie has a knowledge community obsessed with learning spoilers, they do often have websites that act as a scrapbook of all of the pieces of information about a particular subject in one place.

Interpretive Disputes
Interpretive communities are similar to knowledge communities but are more opinion-based. Instead of simply collecting pieces of information about a topic and sharing them among members, interpretive communities analyze and discuss the topic amongst themselves. By bouncing ideas off of each other and sharing interpretations, members of the community achieve a higher understanding, better appreciation, and more diverse views concerning the topic. In this case, the topic is a television show. The interpretive community surrounding the series debates everything from the intents of the writers of the show to the development of characters. But as the interpretive community discusses these subjects, they are actively shaping how significant the series actually is. As published in the Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism, "the interpretive activities of readers... explain a text's significance and aesthetic value." While the content of the novel Fifty Shades of Grey was less than commendable, the fan response to the book truly made it memorable and an important piece of modern literature. The sheer fact that James' novel has elicited such a huge public response is enough to lodge it in history - becoming a New York Times Bestseller was just icing on the cake. The content is no doubt horrendous, but readers' responses and simple discussion of the novel has given it life that few books achieve. Yes, the quality of a work is an important factor in its success. But truly great works have both quality and passionate fans who support the work no matter what.

Remediation
The idiom "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" is well-known today, and is also applicable to great works of literature and media. Remediation: Understanding New Media defines remediation as "the representation of one medium in another." Today, fans often draw inspiration from their favorite works and demonstrate their love for it through remediation of some kind. A good example of remediation is a song cover of a person's favorite band. While the cover will not sound exactly like the original, the person will interpret the original and add her own touch or perspective, creating something new. Fan art is another great example of remediation. Art comes in so many different forms and mediums that artists can get really creative with remixing a singular TV show cast, or character in a novel, into a different style, era, or even into a different work. These "crossover" creations are also popular, as they allow artists to express love for multiple works simultaneously. One of my favorite crossovers is a children's novel by James Hance titled Wookiee the Chew, who combines the story line and art style from Winnie the Pooh with characters from Star Wars, and does a phenomenal job creating something entirely new and different.

Community Wikia
Like many other shows with a cult following, Community has an extensive wikia page where fans collect information about the show, share opinions, even answer polls. The site consists of 470 pages and a small forum. The pages are divided into categories including characters, episodes, recurring themes, and "Explore!" which includes pages about the cast, crew, webisodes, and top ten lists. This knowledge community is different from other fan communities in that it combines every aspect of Community into one place. News about the show and crew are placed alongside plot summaries of every episode and polls about your favorite premier. Users can link personal "blog posts" about the show to the wikia in the right-hand sidebar, offering their opinions and more information they found on other sites. For example, Ultimateatomicbuster summarizes facts gleaned from the Comic Con interviews with the cast and crew about the then-upcoming season 4. User Qaryn replies to the post with a link to NBC's video of the panel. These two specific users edit the wikia page very often, and can be classified as not just fans, but "fanatics." There are pages for all 84 episodes, every webisode, every character and minor character, even for inanimate objects such as chicken fingers and a gallery of Dean Pelton's outfits.

Community Subreddit
Reddit is a news conglomeration site where users can submit text posts, links, videos, and pictures, which are then either "upvoted" or "downvoted" to determine the best quality posts. Reddit has many categories of "subreddits" where a group of people can post specifically about one topic. The Community subreddit titled r/community is a knowledge community similar to the Community wikia, but leaning more opinion-based. Users post everything from fan theories about where the show is headed, live discussion during the first airing of episodes, interviews with cast and crew members, and even pictures of themselves meeting the cast members in real life.

Jeff's Father
Much like the fans in Spoiling Survivor, many Community fans tried to figure out who was going to play Jeff's father in season 4. In an interview with Digital Spy, Harmon admits he has always imagined Bill Murray playing Jeff's father. But because Harmon was fired after season 3, the casting of Jeff's father was up in the air. Redditor Jakelshark asked the r/community fan base what their predictions were for the role of Jeff's father, and many users responded with their guesses. One user, Ranyilliams said "I always wanted pierce to turn out to be Jeff's father," but deadpansnarker disagreed, pointing out that it would be too internal and soap-opera-y. Medmedina007 takes the Bill Murray suggestion and runs with it. He pitches a "Bill Murray womanizer con-man type... I like to think that being a drunk was an excuse Jeff's mom told him so Jeff wouldn't go after him; because he left the family not because he was drunk, because he was afraid of settling down. I like to think of Jeff's dad as a Jeff who didn't find the study-group." If you have seen "Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations" (S4E05) then you know how right Medmedina007 was. Due to great analysis and interpretation, fans have a chance to accurately predict what will happen with certain characters and situations. While it may not be quite the intense information-digging and scouring of potential landscapes involved in Spoiling Survivor, it is just as difficult because the show is intensely complicated.

303 vs. 304
One of the many interesting aspects of "Remedial Chaos Theory" (S3E03) is the placement of the episode within the third season. It is the third episode of the season, yet was aired after the fourth episode, "Competitive Ecology" (S3E04). The opening of episode 03 poked fun at the non-chronological order of the airdates, as Troy and Abed's apartment is number 303 and the opening line is Britta asking "Didn't they say 304?" Alex Dayan, owner of the blog When Do I Laugh?, posted an article dissecting "Remedial Chaos Theory" and raises many interesting possibilities arguing what the incongruous ordering might mean in terms of the plot of the show. He argues that the timeline in which Abed goes to get the pizza is the true timeline that the show continues to follow, not Jeff's as the end of the episode seems to suggest. Dayan notes that episode 4 includes references to Pierce's Eartha Kitt story, Shirley's knowledge of Britta's marijuana use, and possibly to Abed finding a nickle in the hallway on the way up.

Fantastically enough, Dan Harmon personally responds to Dayan's theory (which seems very possible) on his blog. Unfortunately, Harmon squashes all of the deep insight fans were searching for behind the switched episodes. He simply says "It aired out of order because it was a bitch to edit. I'm sorry it's not more complicated than that, but I'm sure glad the explanation isn't more sinister." Harmon continues to explain that the true timeline indeed is the one where Jeff fetches the pizza. In Spoiling "Survivor," Jenkins describes Survivor's producer Mark Burnett to be the type to spread false rumors about the show's plot and outcome. The relationship between Burnett and Survivor fans is one of love but complete distrust. By spreading false spoilers, Burnett would increase the surprise factor when the show is aired, thus resulting in more buzz and publicity. Harmon has a completely opposite relationship with Community fans. They love, appreciate, and fully support his work, even to the point of despairing when he was fired. He explains he doesn't want to confuse fans, and would never try to confuse fans on purpose like Survivor often attempted. Harmon hints at the return of the "evil timeline," which is revisited at first in S3E12 "Contemporary Impressionists," in the tag of S4E10 "Intro to Knots," and then at length in the season 4 finale "Advanced Introduction to Finality."

Who is Jeff texting?
One of the most prominent relationships in Community is Jeff's relationship with his cell phone. In one particular episode, Annie exclaims "And who the hell are you always texting? Everyone you know is here!" the writers poking fun at questions fans always are wondering about. A fan even created a tumblr blog solely dedicated to Jeff's phone. The big question has never been answered, but sites like Reddit allow fans to debate theories in an organized fashion. Redditor becauseican95 poses the question to fellow r/community subscribers. Becauseican95 opens with his theory: that Jeff is constantly writing and re-writing a letter to his father, who left when Jeff was 8 years old. User enderdio disagrees, arguing "He isn't texting anybody, he is narcissistic and thinks that if people see him always texting then they will perceive him as more popular than he actually is." Bloify adds on afterwards "Or he's avoidant and wants to have a phone in front of him as a way of not engaging with the people around him." My personal favorite theory arises from abedcoolcoolcool, who suggests that Jeff is composing the motivational speeches that he typically gives at the end of every episode. Each fan has taken something they know about Jeff's character and used that knowledge to construct an explanation of his cell phone usage. Through their explanations, you can clearly see the different interpretations of his character. Users enderdio and bloify interpret Jeff as a cold, emotionless bastard who is bored with the company around him yet wants to continually project his superior popularity. Users becauseican95 and abedcoolcoolcool take a more heartfelt side, seeing Jeff's fragility when it comes to his father and his role as the group leader who rallies the troops and makes everyone focus on the big picture. To witness fans come together and discuss possible reasonings is something special, and it's interesting to see how creative people are. Often fan theories are so out-of-the-box and "I could never think of that!" that it's fun to read them and decide for yourself which ones make sense and are plausible.

Fan Art and the Six Seasons and a Movie Art Show
With the show teetering on the brink of cancellation, artists and lovers of Community gathered together to create an art show entirely composed of Community fan art. Most of the artists heard about the exhibit through friends, art websites such as deviantART, and word-of-mouth and are avid fans of the show. Jeff Victor, one of the artists that participated in the art show, describes fan art as "a way to communicate your love of something in your own personal way." He goes on to say "I'm not a filmmaker. I'm not an actor. I'm an artist, and this is my way of saying 'Hey, I really like this.'"

The mediums included in the fan art show spanned from prints and oil paintings to home-made action figures, board games, knitted dolls, and even a video game. Fans who had come to view the art thought that this gallery was so special because they felt a personal connection and shared inside jokes with the artists and the other members of the fan community. They would look at a piece and laugh, remembering the specific event in the show that was referenced. When cast members of the show arrived, they were quick to express their profound appreciation and admiration for the works that the talented fans had created. Dan Harmon himself even appeared to judge the costume contest, and jokingly laughed "No wonder I got fired." Harmon explained that he was surrounded by so much genius in the art show which was reflective of the small demographic that the show appeals to. One of the artists describes making fan art as doing what she loves, without fear of judgement, solely to express her love for the characters and the show. The organizer of the exhibit, Mark Batalla, says the intentions of the show was to "showcase the fans and their relationship to the show." Yes, there is an unfathomable amount of fan art across the web from thousands of artists. But the gallery show collected the fans and art in one room where they could directly interact and display their love for Community.

YouTube Presence
YouTube is another place where Community fans can gather, share their favorite montages, and discuss the show. YouTube user JackANapes1969 created the mash-up between Community clips and Childish Gambino's track "Freaks and Geeks." This video is special because not only is it perfectly-timed, but the rapper Childish Gambino a.k.a. Donald Glover plays Troy on Community. The video has a modest 380,000 views, and 99.4% of voters "like" it. The comments are riddled with references to various episodes, and are obviously posted by avid fans. MiniFlyGuy writes "Whoever disliked this just straight up Britta'd it!" and the original poster replied "They probably need therapy from a student therapist." Obviously these fans enjoy making references to the show that other fans will understand. The sense of community shared between viewers is so strong due to the complexity and the level of passion viewers have for the series. It's exciting to have inside jokes with so many people. By working in references to Community in other videos, like to the rap community that Childish Gambino is a part of, fans hope to expand its viewership and spread their love of the show. Also, the view count of Community-related videos give quantifiable proof that the show is well-liked and appreciated. Fans and fanatics work to support the show in any visible way possible because it is always so close to being cancelled.

At the brink of cancellation, fans all across the world rallied to help get Community back on the air. One YouTube user, amypudi, created a mash-up of many different Community fans explaining why they thought you should watch the show. This is an example of a community of die-hard fans coming together to support a show they love and to help save it from cancellation. While many of the fans included in the video gave silly reasons, like because "there is an Academy Award winner in drag in every episode," (referencing Dean Pelton, played by Jim Rash who won an Oscar for writing the movie The Descendants) many of the reasons were heartfelt and uplifting. The show includes "characters who become your friends," and one person claims Community got him through university. This show is different in that it takes the weird people and instead of laughing at them, it embraces them and shows the audience how wonderful they truly are. Many fans tend to be outcasts and labelled as "weird" but through a show like Community they can see how amazing a group of unlikely friends can be. One of the fans sums up the fanbase perfectly when she says "I watch Community because Community fans are a community."

Additional Links
Community Wikia

Community Subreddit

Community TV Tropes Site

TV.com Community Forum

Community Fan Forum