Should You Care for Comedy?

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that at this point most people have seen, or at least know the general plot of, the TV series Parks & Recreation. If not, watch out for spoilers I guess. That aside, the show is certainly a comedy in the modern sense - it's designed to make you laugh. However, it is also a comedy in the Aristotlean sense. Though the series focuses on a variety of characters and their rise from ordinary to less ordinary, for the purposes of this blog I will be directing most of my attention towards Leslie's storyline.

Leslie Knope begins the show working at a small job in a local parks department, and the show follows her movement to City council, then to National Parks administration, and finally ends with the proposition that she will run for Governor. She is more than deserving of the position, as demonstrated by her almost inhuman work ethic which runs throughout the show. She fits the bill of a traditional comedy perfectly - ordinary yet deserving person rises to the top. And I do think it's meaningful to see her succeed on screen. She is a woman in politics, something which we are desperately lacking in the real world - women STILL make up less than 20% of Congress - and to see that on screen, to know that it is possible is meaningful, especially to young girls aspiring to be politicians themselves.

This is certainly part of a bigger trend (think Hidden Figures, Black Panther, One Day at a Time) in which marginalized groups get to see themselves succeeding for once instead of dying horribly, or failing, or wallowing, or getting crapped on like they already experience in their daily life. When the hero is a white cis straight man, sure, a comedy might not be all that meaningful. But the world is not comprised solely of white cis straight men and to see a comedic hero be someone who does not fit that mold is both necessary and therapeutic for groups who rarely get to see that outside of the media, not to mention that the aforementioned white cis straight man is now forced to recognize that he is not the only one who can or will succeed in today's society.

Sure, Leslie ends up with Ben, has kids, and fulfills a rather traditional wife/mother role. But that does not negate everything she did for the rest of the show, nor does that mean she is not still a woman thriving in politics. The same thing is true for Pride and Prejudice. Sure, Elizabeth ended up marrying the rich guy and living in comfort, but that doesn't mean the reader's mind is suddenly wiped of the knowledge that she was and is an outspoken, confident, and self-aware woman. A happy ending does not erase everything that came before it.

All in all, Parks and Rec is just one small chunk of the contemporary comedic media. However, I do think it helps to make two important points. One, a nice ending does not negate the hardships that the character(s) had to go through to get there. Two, a comedic ending for a group that rarely gets them in real life is inherently revolutionary. So yes, comedy can definitely be meaningful. Tragedy certainly can be meaningful too, but a world with only tragedy is a world without hope, and hope is what truly pushes society forward.