Community: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of Pierce Hawthorne
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
- NBC and Dan Harmon's Community was an intensely funny and imaginative show - but it also brought a thoughtful, layered approach to its characterisation. In this video, we take a look at one of Community's most divisive and complex figures - Chevy Chase's character Pierce Hawthorne - and track his development across 4 (or, kinda 5?) seasons.
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Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:17 Season 1: Pierce 101
3:58 Season 2: Downfall into Villainy
8:04 Season 3: Curmudgeon and Punching Bag
12:07 Season 4: One Step Forward, Three Steps Back
14:23 Season 5: Death and Rebirth
17:03 Conclusion
#community #sixseasonsandamovie #videoessay
Community centres on Jeff Winger, a lawyer, whose law degree has been revoked, and is compelled to join the Greendale Community College. Students of diverse temperaments join his study group which leads to quirky and memorable encounters. Community is an American television sitcom created by Dan Harmon. The series ran for 110 episodes over six seasons, with its first five seasons airing on NBC from September 17, 2009, to April 17, 2014, and its final season airing on Yahoo! Screen from March 17 to June 2, 2015. Set at a community college in the fictional Colorado town of Greendale, the series stars an ensemble cast consisting of Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Ken Jeong, Chevy Chase, and Jim Rash. It makes heavy use of meta-humor and pop culture references, often paying homage to film and television clichés and tropes. - Zábava
Season 1 Pierce will always be my favorite. The guy who wants to be seen as this wise man with years of experience but also as one of the cool kids. His attempts at connection throughout that season were, by far, his best moments throughout the series for me.
I'm going through a rewatch of Community currently and seeing S1 Pierce made me sad knowing how things play out for him, both on screen and behind the scenes. They really did a great job of making him both reprehensible and sympathetic.
Honestly yeah I loved pierce season 1 the most a wise weird man
Nah. Season 2 and 3 Pierce was funnier. (Less 3 dimensional but funnier)
I’ve always seen Jeff and Pierce as alternate versions of each other. If Jeff had more money than he knew what to do with and got old… he would be Pierce. When Pierce pictures himself in his mind he pictures Jeff.
I always that season 1 Pierce was like season 1 Jeff when he was young. Successful, selfish prick that people gravitated to, but who was so entitled he never felt he had to put the work into building lifelong relationships. Obviously, there were generational differences, Jeff never went around calling people gay, but Pierce was the road Jeff was on he just didn't realize it.
As soon as Jeff loses touch with what's cool it's over for him, he'd totally come back to community College just to feel like he's impressing people again in his later years
After watching Harmontown, I feel like Jeff and Pierce represent the good and bad of Dan's personality. Jeff is always trying get rid of Pierce and Dan is always trying to get rid of his demons.
What a fascinating Dean-Dive into the character!
For real though, if you want to do more Community retrospectives, I've never quite landed on a satisfying justification for why Britta became such a punching bag after season one. I'd really love to hear someone smarter than me's conclusions on why she Changd the way she did
Not to claim that I am smarter than you but the real world situation is that Gillian just enjoyed playing a ditzier character. The in show reason is two-fold. One: Britta was always barely skin-deep since episode 2 and they merely planarized her. Two: the character hit a low point after the whole Jeff/Slater situation and spiraled. This is understandable, she put herself out there, got rejected and then spent the rest of the show trying to prove herself for things she clearly wasn't ready for, like her psychology degree. We always see her claim to be an expert at something but she never actually is shown putting in the work, and this is because she is trying to reclaim her self worth after being shut down by Jeff. The obviously went to far and I especially do not like how they rewrote her relationship with her parents right in front of us.
The best theory I've heard, it least the one that makes sense to me is that she's been smoking too much weed.
I always thought it was because s1 britta was too boring to act as for Gillian and not funny enough for the audience.
It was a nice Dean-construction of the character
Same here. Britta's character really started to feel empty - not just cartoonish, either. I liked how she became more lighthearted, but the other characters seemed to develop while she devolved into oblivion. I S2/S3 Britta was def my favorite, but S6 Britta was uncomfortable at times
I like their surrogate father son relationship dynamic you spoke of. I think the shaving scene was the best example of that. They didn't do anything mind blowing, they just spent time together, talked, and enjoyed each other's xompany. At the end of the day, that's something Jeff just never had
Also his relationships with Annie, Troy and Shirley
@@nicwinsteadart5330 Well, with an older male figure. That's the important caveat that differentiates them
I always had the suspicion that Chevy Chase hated playing Pierce, that he wasn't comfortable with the character.
Perhaps the best scene he had in the show was after the second paintball tournament when he gives the study group a little speech and says "I'm done with whatever this is."
That had an authentic feel to it.
Maybe the Pierce character was too close to the actor. Chevy Chase was always a jerk going back to his SNL days and diva behavior.
@@michaeladkins6
Yeah I thought that as well.
Chevy probably got tired of
playing a guy that had some echoes to his real life.
I think it's obvious that Dan Harmon and the writing team began writing Pierce differently as their personal relationship deteriorated.
@@byjackieolivia Yeah I had thought that myself as well.
Yes! That's the scene that comes to my mind the most too.
Pierce was from what I recall basically a man who had been looked down and ignored throughout his life . The episode where he watches the outtake from Hawthorne towelette commercial makes this clear.
This is why the group sort of mattered to him. He is shunned and. rejected yet again and he can't stand it.
Far too many people focus solely on his jerkism, like this video, without going into enough depth on the causes of his jerkism. You can acknowledge the reasons people are jerks without ignoring the fact that they're jerks.
I love the similarities between Jeff and Pierce. Being insecure and trying to hard and how that plays out differently for the two of them. It’s got me thinking about how each one of the OG main cast acts as a reflection of part of Jeff’s character. Jeff and abed both using movies and tv to escape reality as kids but Jeff moving away from that with age, Troy being the natural hero Jeff tries so hard to be, Annie being as cunning and ambitious as Jeff even willing to cut others down to succeed at times, Shirley and Jeff both being people who need to people please and manipulate others, and Britta and Jeff both being so superficial and having a lot of shared traits for that reason. It’s cool how they all show Jeff and aspect of his character which helps him to learn and grow throughout the series.
It also allows them to enable each other in the toxic parts of those traits which is entertaining as well.
Pierce was always interesting to me, especially considering the behind the scenes drama. I think you’ve encapsulated a lot of my thoughts on him and his treatment as a character, good and bad
Glad to see you talking about community. Its my favorite comedy show. Because of how original it is and off the walls it can be. It also doesnt try to hard to be relatable which causes a lot sitcoms to be boring.
Love to see some Community content. I did always find it interesting how Pierce would often spend a period of time as really antagonistic, but then cap it off with an almost contradictarily positive note, suddenly painting the buildup to that turnaround in a somewhat different light (not that that makes him any less racist, homophobic, etc...)
Personally, I'd love to see any more videos on this show. Community is a very character-centric show, so maybe more character deep-dives would be cool?
ok so you’re definitely a hamster right
@@PillarofGarbage CRAP WE'VE BEEN MADE
I think a lot of people don't remember/realise that, after season 1, Dan Harmon started to base pierce on Chevy Chases actually behaviours.
We spoke to the director, Jay Chandrasekhar, who was there when Chevy had his tirade. He cleared up a lot of confusion about how it ended, he also had some stuff kind of out of order but it's been nearly a decade. It's on 6 seasons and a podcast. I think it's still the latest episode. He wasn't fired because of the n-word. He was fired because of his reaction to having it public. To the best we can tell.
Having it?
@@EthanIrwiniamkingkong ?
So naturally this made me rewatch cooperative polygraphy, and you're right, it's a masterpiece, it's a turning point of the show. It may, actually, be the moment the show jumped the shark, despite your claim in another episode that it never did... it reaches a height and an intensity that it never could reach again. It's the only bottle episode of any tv show that I know that's endlessly rewatchable and at no point seems to drag.
Its weird to me, I feel like a lot of Pierce's best moments are those moments where hes really trying to be good. Like some of my favouritr momentd of his are with Gilbert where he is still obviouslt Pierce, but he is trying. He cares and he shows it.
I love how you casually dropped "duali-dean" 😂
Great analysis but I thought Chevy got fed up with the show because he was increasingly frustrated with how they were writing him as a caricatured bigot.
I would actually like to see both whole season retrospectives and more focused deep dives. But if I had to choose I think the latter would provide more content.
I always thought he was interesting, but I wish he'd been able to actually grow more. It makes sense that he's like that in the first seasons but having actually development would have been nice to see
I loved that you didn’t use this video to lambast season 4. As a newer viewer of the show (I didn’t get into it until around 2019), I actually liked a lot of season 4, and specifically the parts when Pierce shone.
This is fantastic! It’d be cool to do deep dives for each character
This was a great analysis! You really made me realise how different he was in Season One.
It was great when Pierce would whip out information like his quip about black hole Sagittarius A and surprise everyone. Almost like, hey, he's a person and has knowledge, but still sucks. It gave the character dimension before becoming a punchline. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Pierce fan, but other characters got to find their potential while he didn't. Which is fine, being that it's more realistic - some people don't grow. But he became a punchline so quick. Great video! Well explored!
Pierce was the biggest reason I watched the show when it first came out. My dad and I loved watching the Lampoon movies and this was a great show.
It was Chevy's actions that made me dislike him and feel mixed feelings about the character.
I was upset in the end how the show killed off Chevy, but once Elroy came in, I learned to appreciate the final moments we had with Pierce
Don't forget, Peirce is the one who brought "Streets Ahead" to the show
I think character deep dives would be a great idea, Britta would be super interesting to analyse like this I think.
I could see a video about the season's finales, what worked and didn't being fun.
Could be a fun idea!
Can we get a video on how PAINTBALL is used by community both narratively but also metaphorically, and maybe what it means for the show
The Vaughn tribute at the end 'awakened something' in me...subbed just because of that. Well done!
I really appreciate you making this video. I remember asking you for this character and you said yes.
Gained my sub for self-insert parody of Getting Rida Britta at the end. Really, for great character study of PH. Streets ahead!
I haven't seen any of your other videos (yet), but I love Community and your take on Pierce. A lot of people would've focused on the Chevy/Dan conflicts, so it's really nice that it was treated as a side note, while focusing more on Pierce the character. I would love to see more videos on Community. Going full into each character, season and episode would be great, and I'd definitely watch them.
That was beautiful! Pierce is definitely an interesting character, and some of the heartwarming moments he had with Jeff definitely contributed to making Community a comfort show of mine.
Time to subscribe, I guess!
Might be a little while until I get another Community video out but I promise more will come!
I absolutely love community and the fact that u are talking about it, I’d love to see more community content 👏👏
thanks for doing this video i love community so much love your ideas for more content with it
the song at the end is amazing...well done
Cooperative Polygraphy is so funny. It's such a good episode. I'm glad that's how they ended Pierce's character. I never hated him, I always saw his role as the show needing an antagonist. He was very flawed but I liked him for it.
Have enjoyed finding your Community videos. More please.
I know that in the play episode Pierce wanted to butter up Annie so she'll give him a bigger role but I still think it shows a softer side to him that isn't often explored. The important thing is that more caring side is there.
This was great! Please keep it up
I’ve been loving these community videos. The show is brilliant and the cast is perfect.
this was amazing , we'd love to see a break down of troy and abed (very obvious we know) or season by season retrospectives, honestly whatever you do we'll enjoy
I just found your channel, and I'm loving all the Community content. I'd love to hear your take on Britta over the course of 6 seasons. Thanks for the awesome videos!
Thank you! Stay tuned - a couple of Community videos planned for this month :)
Love the community vids!
The more under the radar stuff usually has freedom to experiment, and that's what I love, so keep doing these videos!! I loved this one.
I know im so late to this video, but i cant believe i rewinded 10 seconds just to make sure i heard "duali-dean" correctly. Great video, looking forward to watching a lot more (and more recent ones 😭)
I'd love more character deep dives like this, as someone who's made his own video essay about Troy's arc I'd love to see your take on it.
Hey! Just wanted to comment and say I love your Community videos!
17:11 took me by surprise. I loved this analysis! Pierce was very entertaining but also complex and not many appreciate the inevitable truth that there are lots of people like him
Great video
Longer retrospectives of the seasons and deep dives on each characters stories throughout the show please! 😆
The song worked you got me.
Man really said dualidean. Made me changry.
Love the character focus. Would like to see more like this.
Loved the slick “seemingly at random” choice of words
I really like how you explained all the different angles of Pierce also I like your puns, bro
When you said "dualidean" thats what got me to subscribe
6 SEASONS AND A MOVIE!
Great video montage, argumentation, and a nice mic. I shoudl've subbed earlier. Thank you, Pillar of Garbage!
You caught me off guard with that "dualidean". Nice.
Honestly surprised to find out a channel called Pillar of Garbage isn't a dedicated Community video essay channel :P
Great video tho, really puts the character in context
yes, please more on community!!! i love this video
Loved this! I’d love a video on the broader impact of the show slowly losing some of the main cast in later seasons
Omg the outro song!!!!!!! AMAZING 👏👏👏
Character deep dives would definitely be a great way to go
The more times I watch Community, the more I come to appreciate Pierce.
I'd love more character studies like this!
Any video you make on this show I will consume and appreciate post haste
omg, that outro 🔥
I loved the dynamic Pierce brought to the show.
Hello! I would like to see such deep dive of each character. I would also like to know more about the behind the scenes, such as the issues with Harmon and Chase.
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 Community rocks. Love your Community content! Thank you 😊
How can you not love his mom turning into a Transformers source of energy! Ha
I'd really like to see more episodes like this.
Good stuff
great video.
so your username IS from community, im glad I found your videos LIKE
Absolutely loved the ending music 😂
very very good video
Community is a great example of Flanderization in action.
season two pierce was the unseen hero, he always ended up making people realise the better in each situation through his antagonism.
Subbed because of the Outro 👍
I would love to see more community videos. I love this show and I hope we get that movie one day #6SeasonsandAMovie!!!
The mentions of season 4 make it sound like you don't hate it like others do id love to hear a defense of it
Subbing out of pure respect for the song. I legit have only seen one of your videos.
Thai is my all time favorite show, and I love content about it!
Very good
COMMUNITYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LETSS GOOOO. Loved the episode, would love maybe so review of remedial chaos theory
PLEASE do more character analyses for community. talk more ab the brittany thing
Awesome video! Vote for character deep-dives.
This video was streets ahead (I’m sorry someone had to say it)!
give us both specific videos and big retrospectives!
Rad you make some good points ill just go watch the show three more times all the way through.
A big reason pierce change was the relationship between harmon and chase. There was alot of fighting between him and aloy of others on set. Harolmon started to adjust his pierce character accordingly
Love that you snuck in a 'duali-dean' 😂
Wait.. did I hear “Duali-dean” at 16:27? Bravo…
Would be interesting to do analysis of abed and his impact on the group.
It is interesting looking at how the plot narrative vs the meta narrative. I wonder if chase's behaviour influence the heel turn or if that was planned
I think it might be interesting to explore the Dean. I haven't seen anyone focus on him. It might be interesting.
I love videos like this more than ones on marvel.
Good end song
I genuinely think that dismissing Season 4 as "The Gas-Leak Season" that the community does really overshadows how, despite the overall season being much messier than the first 3, Season 4 is at its best when dealing with Jeff and Pierce as characters. Genuinely, i think some of my favorite emotional Jeff moments come from Season 4's Thanksgiving episode as well as the graduation scene with Jeff and Pierce. Its the first (and sadly last) time we get those Season 1-esque shades of Jeff and Pierce's dynamic since Season 2, and serves really well as the last on-screen incarnation of Pierce and the main cast before he was killed
You should do a video about Shirley
This video is streets ahead.
Extra season and six movies!!!