A Sense of Community

<p> Television's <I>Community</I> follows the shenanigans of a diverse group of traditional and nontraditional community college students: Jeff Winger a former lawyer; Britta Perry a feminist; Abed Nadir a pop culture enthusiast; Shirley Bennett a mother; Troy Barnes a former jock; Annie Edison a naive overachiever; and Pierce Hawthorne an old-fashioned elderly man. There are also Benjamin Chang the maniacal Spanish teacher and Craig Pelton the eccentric dean of Greendale Community College along with well-known guest stars who play troublemaking students nutty professors and frightening administrators.</p><p> This collection of fresh essays familiarizes readers not only with particular characters and popular episodes but behind-the-scenes aspects such as screenwriting and production techniques. The essayists explore narrative theme hyperreality masculinity feminism color blindness civic discourse pastiche intertextuality media consciousness how <I>Community</I> is influenced by other shows and films and how fans have contributed to the show.</p>