#so anytime people are like '[series] community thinks this and that' i go 'oh gee i guess i'm not a part of this community'

[satohqbanana]

That result from the latest uquiz I took said something about feeling at home with people other than family. It got me thinking about how, if you're a fan of something, you're considered a part of a community.

However, I find this notion untrue from the fan perspective these days.

When I become a fan of something, I don't necessarily feel belonging to a community. A community has its own set of soft rules, see? It's been that way for a long time, especially when I disengaged from a certain fandom I had been creating a lot for.

I also noticed that this applies to more than just the series I like. It's also with me in the sphere of broader communities such as being an artist, being a writer, and being a gamedev. I just feel so out of place next to everybody, detached from things they passionately care about, and struggling (and forcing) myself to like things and people that the community likes. There are people who say they like me and my works, but a lot of times I can't bring myself to say the same thing. I can't assimilate into the subculture enough to make me feel like it's a part of me.

And all I feel is just burnout, disgust towards myself for failing commitments, and devastating loneliness that feeds my impostor syndrome.

Perhaps that's why I feel so sensitive about community events such as Secret Santa exchanges, zine projects, and other activities. I try so hard to reach out and be part of a community - even going beyond my comfort zone - but the community, in some way or another, closes its door on me. I know that it's really nobody's fault, but I just can't help but feel like a true oddball.

I'm tired. I'm tired of feeling so alone.

[sportsandrec]

It’s Always Sunny is the Best Cartoon on Television

The show’s long tenure is a credit from its cartoonish qualities

In its twelfth season, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is continually putting out good television. They’re not stopping anytime soon either, with FXX already committed to the show through season 14. Not to mention the network’s big big brother Fox just started up a comedy starring Dee, err sorry, I mean Kaitlyn Olson playing a character almost exactly like Dee.

Seriously, you cannot convince me the idea for the Mick was anything other than someone watching Sunny and going, “What if we took Dee and made her the main character? But instead of having a bunch of guys her age shit on her, we’ll put her in charge of a family and have the kids shit on her!” Here’s the thing: it works. I’m loving the Mick. But here’s the much more incredible thing:

A company took a show running on its “Are we allowed to air this???” network and made a knock-off version for its major network.

That has to be about as successful as a show on a knock-off knock-off cable network can get. Does anyone remember when the show moved from FX to launch FXX? The show was so successful, they launched an entire network on its back. So on its way to being one of the longest-running live-action comedies on television, what is it that allowed the show to reach heights typically only reached by the likes of the Simpsons and Family Guy?

Probably because it is more like a cartoon than any other live-action comedy in history.

A bold statement? Sure, considering there is a lot of television out there I’ve never watched. However, I’m prepared to back up such a bold statement with uncompromising opinions masquerading as circumstantial evidence.

There are two major elements of a cartoon. First, there’s the ability to shed the limits of reality. In a cartoon, you have more leeway to commit unrealistic acts. People already see the characters aren’t real. In fact, cartoonists often add to that sense by giving characters odd noses, misfingered hands, or even a football-shaped head so big there’s no possible way it could have come out of a human vagina. These characteristics further remove us from the restraints of reality, so when something talks that shouldn’t or someone doesn’t die who should’ve, we’ve already accepted it as alternative fact. (sorry)

So where does Sunny fall on this scale? Um, have you seen the first episode of the twelfth season? (If you haven’t guessed by now there will be some spoilers in this article). Not only did the Gang Go Black, they went musical. It wasn’t the first time they’ve gone musical either. And I know, a lot of comedies sprinkle musical and other themed episodes into their repertoire.

Scrubs did a great job with themed episodes and fantasy sequences. That 70s Show was an entire series with a theme, and it used that setting to put its own spin on fantasies. Community is probably the closest to Sunny in the way it used themed episodes. (It’s no accident a former Community writer is now on the Sunny writing team). But in Sunny, when they do themes they go to a darker place than most other shows are willing to stoop.

There was an episode where they thought Mac was a serial killer. Then it turned out he was dating a transgender person. Then they were in the home of the actual serial killer who had 15 heads in his refrigerator. The killer came home and Frank fired up a chainsaw. They cut to credits, never addressing it in the next episode. Does that episode description sound like something from a sitcom or a cartoon?

The second element of cartoon television is lack of character development. People might make jokes about cartoon characters never aging, but it’s what gives show-runners the freedom to use the same characters successfully for decades. Every episode they hit the reset button. Yes, there’s callbacks and recurring story lines. But for the most part, everything that happened in a half hour episode will be completely forgotten by the time the next half hour airs a week later.

This is incredibly difficult to do in a live-action show. In Scrubs, medical interns get promoted. In That 70s Show, high schoolers graduate. Diddo in Community for college students. In Sunny, bar owners didn’t have to do anything. In fact, in twelve years they’ve done absolutely nothing. Absolutely. Nothing.

Oh, excuse me, in season 2 Frank bought the land the bar was on, placing him above Charlie, Mac and Dennis as owners and establishing him as part of the gang. So they made one change, and it was in order to write in Danny Devito - the biggest No Brainer of all time. Sure, they’ve crashed some cars and burned some apartments but nothing that would severely interfere with the half hour reset rule.

How did they do this? It’s because rather than develop their characters, they established them early on. When I try to get someone new to watch the show, I’ll show them the first episode and then I’ll show them “The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis” from season 4. It’s nothing against the rest of the first season, but when the gang solves the gas crisis the show embraces the caricatures most shows try to avoid. Yet, all of these character archetypes are done with the sadistic It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia twist.

Frank - the muscle

Network: “Okay, well you’ve got to have the father-figure.”

IASIP: “Okay… but what if he’s a shady businessman who hates being a father? What if it turns out he’s not the father at all? OOO! What if instead he’s the father of someone else in the show and he refuses to acknowledge it because he made the mother get a cheap abortion that didn’t take and he insists the mother is a whore and the father could be anybody? Yeah that’s good, write that down.”

Dennis - the looks

Network: “There has to be a good looking guy, the charming one.”

IASIP: “Right… oh, but what if we make him a sociopath? Like he’ll have these way too elaborate schemes to get women. And some of the girls will be way too young, it will be really creepy and gross. He could also imply girls will have sex with him because they fear what would happen if they didn’t! He’ll even fly off the handle every once in awhile so people will question if he actually is a rapist ! Yeah write that down.”

Network: “Are you talking about Trump?”

IASIP: “No no, you said good looking. He’ll still be good looking.”

Network: “Oh okay, that’s fine then.”

Charlie - the Wild Card

Network: “How about the dumb guy?”

IASIP: “Hmm… yeah but we still want him to be a terrible person. Maybe not as terrible as the rest of the group because he’s too stupid to be quite so terrible, but still pretty bad. Oh! And every now and then, he is like the master schemer!”

Network: “I don’t know, the dumb guy being smart for an episode has been done before.”

IASIP “Right… okay, well we’ll do it better by making him REALLY dumb. Like I’m talking full on illiterate. And he’ll be weird too. Real weird. He’ll be the one who survived the abortion for the father guy! And he’ll sleep on the same BED with that guy! No not bed, FUTON! And he’ll talk about ghouls and a Night Man and a movie about a giant nose on top of Dolph Lundgren’s body! Write THAT down!”

Network: “Perfect.”

(Notice how the network went from wanting the archetypes in the beginning to “this is gold, what else you got?” That’s how you do it. You write television so good you turn the demanders into beggars.)

Dee - the useless chick

Network: “We need a useless chick.”

IASIP: “Done.”

Mac - the brains

Network: “Alright, I think we’ve got a great framework here. But I still feel we need someone else, the man of action. The one who schemes and gets the group into difficult situations.”

IASIP: “Aren’t we using the good looking guy and dumb guy for that?”

Network: “Well the good looking guy’s schemes are mostly about getting women, so it won’t necessarily involve everyone. And you can’t have your dumb guy scheming too often or he’ll no longer seem like the dumb guy. You need another one. The passionate one.”

IASIP: “Gotchya… AHA! WE’LL MAKE HIM GAY!”

Network, disappointingly rolling eyes: “The passionate gay guy? That’s the best you got?”

IASIP: “Oh but don’t worry, he’ll be terrible too. He’ll be passionate about all of the wrong things. He’ll be racist and sexist, and he’ll say being gay is sinful. Meanwhile he’s hooking up with transgender people and constantly talking about men’s bodies in a sexual way. He’ll even have an exercise bike where he’ll cut a hole in the bike and there will be an object coming out of the seat towards his butt, but he still won’t come out of the closet.”

Network: “Gee, I don’t know I think at the end of the bike episode he would HAVE to come out of the closet.”

IASIP:  “… Yeah I think you’re right on that one. But we’ll leave it kind of open, where he might go back in the closet in a future episode. Oh, and the kicker will be that the rest of the characters, despite how terrible people they are, will have no problem with him being gay. It will show the homophobes that even the worst people we could come up with aren’t as bad as them.”

Network: thinking

Network: “Well, we love it. We’ll sign you up for 20 seasons.”