With Blood On Their Hands

[redbrunja]

One of my favorite exchanges in Community, despite not liking the episode it comes from much as a whole, is this one:

JEFF* 
I just dragged a screaming, crying man out of a library with his pants down. No. Martinis are for Hawkeyes. I'm the same uptight jerk I was last semester.

ABED
Jeff, what's your favorite episode of M*A*S*H?

JEFF
The one with, uh... the army.

ABED
That's what I thought. If you'd ever actually seen the show, you'd know that Hawkeye didn't just bed nurses and drink martinis. He also had blood sprayed on his face and barked orders when the choppers came in. If he didn't, people died. He was a leader, Jeff. That's your job.

It reminded me of Joss Whedon talking about what it takes to be a leader, and that leaders are people who do the hard things that make them less human in order to make whatever needs to happen, happen. And can I just say that I love him forever for making the majority of the people who are placed in the conundrum - be worse person to be a better leader - are women? Adelle deWitt, I  ♥ you so fucking much.

*It took me an embarrassing amount of time – as in, days – to realize why Jeff was wearing a hawaiian shirt throughout "Investigative Journalism."

Comments

[mistaria.livejournal.com]

Okay, I seriously love that as well. Especially more relevant since I've actually watched some M*A*S*H (one of my step moms favourites).

I definitely agree with you on Whedon and I definitely agree with what he said about leaders. Kind of makes me think of Dumbledore, actually.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I've watched a little bit of M*A*S*H, but the way that show keeps popping up in my life seems like a sign that I should watch some more.

I definitely agree with you on Whedon and I definitely agree with what he said about leaders. Kind of makes me think of Dumbledore, actually.

Honestly, I feel like Dumbledore is a failed example of that trope, if that makes sense. He was so idealized for so long that I don't get the proper sense of... his humanity being lessoned, I think is what I'm trying to say.

[mistaria.livejournal.com]

I found him to be a bit of a bastard at the end but I would agree that the majority doesn't share that view... And that he was idealized for pretty much the entire series...

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but it's hard to overcome that prior six books of idealism + the fact that the tone that Dumbledore turned out to be exactly right in the end...

[wakeupnew]

I screamed at the Hawaiian shirt and Abed's army green shirt, but that's probably because I'm pretty sure I've seen every single episode in the 11 season run. All the M*A*S*H references were genius. I loved that exchange (that subplot was basically the only redeeming factor of that episode for me; why Jack Black why).

[mistaria.livejournal.com]

True.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I know, sans the M*A*S*H subplot, this episode really seemed like it didn't know what it was doing. And it was a total was of Jack Black.