Hella Bella Metafiction

     Some of my favourite shows and movies are genre-bending and play with aspects of meta fiction. They're the kind of shows that step outside of the normal conventions of their genre and aren't afraid to laugh at themselves and acknowledge the flaws of their genre. One of my favorite examples of this is the NBC show Community. 

     Community is a fantastically genre-bending show that constantly steps outside the normal conventions of sit-coms. While one episode could focus on the group attempting to study for a Spanish exam the next could turn into a full-blown cop drama, taking on and making fun of all the tropes of the shows, even changing their opening credits and the show's atmosphere itself. It does this not just for crime shows, but also for Spaghetti Westerns, claymation Christmas films, zombie films and even Star Wars (but who hasn't done one of those?).
     All of this is also done with a healthy dose of meta comedy that the show is iconic for. This is done mostly through the character Abed Nadir, one of the members of the main group, known as the "Greendale Seven". He often communicates with others socially through pop culture references often talking about what they would do if they were actually all on a television show and speculating whether or not they are. This allows the writers to spray pop culture and meta humour jokes all over

Abed. Literally a human meta joke.

the screen to their hearts content. Abed even creates a show about himself and his friends that seemingly predicts the future because of Abed's ability to view their patterns and apply them with television tropes. One very large example of his and the show in general's love of meta humour is one episode in particular that focuses on Abed as he makes a movie about Jesus, which quickly derails as it becomes a film about film-making where god is the camera and the film-maker is Jesus, The episode continues to expand out until it's just one big meta joke, showcasing the writer's love for these jokes and foreshadowing a lot of the humour in later episodes.

     Overall, Community is a wonderful show that loves to laugh at itself and put cracks in the boundaries of what's expected of a genre and if I was trying to explain the concept of meta fiction to someone, I'd hand them a DVD of this show. It's one of the only shows I care to keep up with regularly because of it's originality, wit, self-referential humour and heart.

#sixseasonsandamovie