The Eternal Darkness of Parks and Recreation

by Charity Erickson

My last On Pop Theology piece explored the newest addition to the McConaissance oeuvre, the seriously serious HBO show True Detective, and its struggle to say anything really meaningful about…anything. I received a small amount of (mostly warranted) pushback on social media, but there was one comment that simply went beyond the pale. One comment that bothered me to my very core. I was told that if I couldn’t handle the “weighty themes” of True Detective, that I should just go watch Parks and Recreation. 

This pisses me off. Not so much for the condescension (for which the commenter apologized), but for their gross misreading of Parks and Recreation. Because under the bucolic facade of Pawnee, Indiana and Leslie Knope’s fiercely optimistic pursuit of parks excellence, we find a desperate world of thwarted desire, corruption, the futile pursuit of hopeless causes--and Aubrey Plaza’s lifeless eyes. This show is some twisted, messed up shit.

If you dare to plunge into the dark and debauched world of Parks and Recreation, here are ten episodes to highlight the show’s nihilistic despair: 

1. Rock Show – Season 1, Episode 6

Hapless troubadour Andy expounds upon the ultimate brokenness of the human condition, setting the doctrine of original sin to music in his song “The Pit:” “The pit/I fell into the pit/You fell into the pit/We all fell into the pit.” Look upon this work ye mortals and despair! 

2. Pawnee Zoo – Season 2, Episode 1

Leslie Knope comes under fire for performing the wedding of two gay penguins and highlights the conspiracy of control surrounding institutionalized religion. How can a belief system based on love separate one penguin from the mate of his (and the zoo’s) choosing?

3. The Stakeout – Season 2, Episode 2

Has there ever been a greater miscarriage of justice than the racial profiling of Tom Haverford? And by a government employee no less. For shame! 

4. Sweetums – Season 2, Episode 15

As Leslie attempts to introduce healthy snacks to Pawnee concession stands, this episode focuses on the issue of theodicy by asking us: “If sugar is so bad for us, how come Jesus made it taste so good?” 

5. Galentines Day – Season 2, Episode 16

You will fall in love with Chris Pratt. You will develop an agonizing and unattainable crush, and it will be emotionally debilitating. If you have never before actualized the total experience of human suffering, this will do it for you.

Except for that, this episode affirms all that is true and beautiful in the world. Sorry. I really do try to be a hateful cynic but sometimes I just can’t deny the weepy feels that rise up from the very core of my soul. Oh god. *sniffle* I just hope he’s happy. *sob* 

6. The Fight – Season 3, Episode 14

This is where things get real. This episode is raw and risky; never before on television have we seen something so honest and viscerally disturbing as the hangover everyone suffers the morning after imbibing Tom Haverford’s Kahlua-style liqueur, Snake Juice.

This drunken, debased romp achieves its Sodomesque pinnacle when the manliest man of all, Ron Swanson, is shown strutting his stuff while wearing a woman’s hat--a hat extravagantly embroidered with gaudy, retro beading, no less. God will judge! 

7. Li’l Sebastian – Season 3, Episode 16

“Who are we? Where are we going in life? What is the meaning of all of this? These are questions that Li’l Sebastien never had to answer. Because he was a horse.” Enough said.

8. End of the World – Season 4, Episode 6

Armageddon is nigh! And how do the godless citizens of Pawnee respond? With lavish parties and the scandalous playing of flutes. Over the course of the episode, characters deal with regret, disappointment, and the cold and ever-near embrace of death.

It is my favorite episode of the series. 

9. Ben’s Parents – Season 5, Episode 6

The beautiful Rob Lowe cries for twenty-one minutes. For part of that time, he is also eating shrimp cocktail. What devilish monsters would do this to Rob Lowe?! 

10. Ann and Chris – Season 6, Episode 12

Nothing gold can stay, folks. Nothing gold can stay. *a single tear*

Charity Erickson and her husband live and work together in the north woods of Minnesota. Check out her blog for more of her writing and follow her on Twitter @CharityJill.

You can follow On Pop Theology on Twitter @OnPopTheology or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OnPopTheology. If you'd like to support what we do, you can donate via the button on the right of the screen.

Image Credits:
http://parksandrecgifs.tumblr.com

http://www.buzzfeed.com/bookishbelle/100-parks-and-recreation-gifs-to-celebrate-the-s-fm17

     

You might also like:

• On Being Too Serious (Or, Why True Detective Sucks)
• Les Revenants and the Christian Imagination
• The Things That Keep Us Apart: A Review of Disunity in Christ

God Loves Honey Boo Boo Too

by Jonathan Harrison

Yesterday TLC premiered the Great Babylonian Whore of reality television: Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, which in my opinion doesn't deserve italics. Look on ye trailer mortals, and despair:

 

(dear Lord did she say "you better redneckognize"?)

Within the short time of thirty seconds, viewers are subjected to a distilled version of Toddlers and Tiaras, Jackass, The Beverly Hillbillies and Full House. While yours truly has too much self-respect to research the show any further, I'm pretty sure a great number of people will watch the Boo Boos on a weekly basis, and TLC, probably unbeknownst to the Boo Boos, will make a hefty wad of cash off the eccentricities of, let's hope, a lower-income family.

I know what you're thinking. "Jonathan. What has this to do with theology besides it being a disaster of biblical proportions?" Well. I'm not really sure. Shows like HCHBB tend to destroy everyone's faith in humanity, and I can't tell if that's because people can't a believe a family like the Boo Boos exist or that millions of people watch families like the Boo Boos on television and enjoy it.

Personally, I'm more shocked at the latter. Read a book or something people. Stare at the wall. Get a hobby. Volunteer somewhere. Get another degree. I don't know, maybe talk to your freaking grandmother in the nursing home for goodness sakes. That generation defeated Hitler. What have you done lately besides watch the reality show equivalent of the Great London Fire in slow motion? Yea.  That's what I thought.

Wait.  Where was I?

Let me try again. I tend to watch shows like HCHBB and think that Jesus came from Galilee which was more or less thought to be hicks-ville, and Galilee probably had a few families like the Boo Boos.

Of course, I then come to the conclusion that the people of Galilee were probably hard-working people and didn't teach their children to say "A dolla makes me holla" or some other inanity.  The people of Galilee probably had some self-respect, so I'm not even going to try to make that comparison.

I also see examples of shows such as HCHBB and wonder how much of a transformation Jesus or God would make in these people lives, but then I realize that the Boos Boos probably have a better church attendance track record than yours truly, and this realization makes me slowly raise my hand to the bartender at the end of a bar who, while drying a Collins glass with a pristine white rag, acknowledges my summons and gives me the slightest of nods.

He knows me. I'm a regular here. A regular at this bar built on the despair caused by reality shows, humanity, and the existence of The Learning Channel, which, ironically, has become a channel hell-bent on the dumbing-down of America.

I stare at the mirror behind the bar. I've gotten older. I've gained weight. I did not think I would ever be this way. I did not think it would ever happen to me. Floyd, that's his name, asks if I need a cab. I make no noise. Outside it is raining.

Jonathan Harrison just started a kickstarter college fund for Honey because she's probably going to need an education worse than any of us.  He writes over at driedhumor.wordpress.com occasionally.  He also writes a blog on Library Marketing but is not going to post the link because he knows none of you want to read that.