Abed's Uncontrollable Unconscious: The Use of Liminality in Community

Abed’s Uncontrollable Unconscious The Use of Liminality in Community Freddy-May AbiSamra Columbia College Chicago (2017)

“Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” is an episode that exemplifies Community’s use of liminality by centering on Abed’s delusional episode and thus exploring his relationships with each character, bringing him, and the group, out of his delusion and into a deeper understanding of community and themselves. Liminality is used in folklore studies and psychological theory to mean any transitional period, often ritualized. For example, the American concept of adolescence is an unusually long liminal period, in which people are neither children nor adults, but the liminal state is crucial to them becoming adults. A liminal state allows an individual to explore the depths of their unconscious and experiment until they ascend to normalcy and maturity. Abed’s journey through his winter wonderland is textbook liminality, as he explores the depths of a delusion in order to emerge a new man with a new outlook on his role in in life.

“Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” is entirely in stop-motion; unlike, for example, “Intro to Felt

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Surrogacy,” which starts with normal filming and then has the Dean introduce the puppet concept, or “Contemporary American Poultry,” in which Abed states that he’s always wanted to be in a Mafia movie before that style sets in, the episode begins in stop-motion and then we find out that it’s from Abed’s point of view. In contrast to “Felt,” rather than the whole group going on a journey together, the whole group will follow Abed on a journey. This episode is unusual in that it begins with Abed having already begun his descent. But given the previously established pattern, why bother giving us exposition of pre-descent Abed in this episode, instead of taking advantage of the full 22 minutes to live in that liminal space and really see into his mind?

“In this liminal world, his relationship to each character is represented by how they let him down.”

In the episode, Abed is inexplicably seeing everything in stop-motion, and Britta and Jeff take him to see Duncan to figure out what’s wrong with him. Abed insists he doesn’t need therapy, but later Britta and Duncan trick Abed into a group therapy session using “Christmas-nosis.” Abed and the group enter Planet Abed, a Christmas wonderland where they go to find the meaning of Christmas, for Abed is convinced that finding the meaning of Christmas will break his delusion. One by one, as each group member fails him in some way, we get a snapshot of their relationship to Abed—and it’s notable that in this liminal world, his relationship to each character, for much of the episode, is represented by how they let him down: first Shirley is ousted by Duncan for making Abed’s journey all about herself. Then Jeff is eaten by humbugs because of his inability to be sincere. Abed himself asks Britta to leave because she tricked him into therapy against his wishes. Pierce leaves of his own accord after finishing cookies; he only wants something for himself. Annie and Troy are the only two who don’t let Abed down in the episode, getting left behind of their own choice in order to help Abed move on in his journey.

The more characters leave, the more alone Abed becomes, and the deeper he descends into his unconscious. Note that despite Duncan’s early attempts at examining Abed in the Cave of Frozen Memories, Abed doesn’t begin to show he remembers the traumatic event of the morning until he’s alone with Annie and Troy, who then have to let him go to make the rest of the journey alone.

Then Pierce comes back because Christmas at home is depressing—again, his motivations are selfish; when he is a good friend, it’s usually incidental due to his own needs. It is revealed that Abed’s episode is a result of him finding out that his mom can’t come see him on December 9th this year. At the end of the episode, the group all comes back to support Abed in defeating Duncan and upholding Abed’s, and society’s, delusion of the meaning of Christmas, showing him that new traditions can be made with the study group instead of his mother.

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The psychological concepts at work here are literalized by having Duncan and Britta deliberately pushing Abed into liminality as a form of therapy. According to Amanda Riter’s “Modern Heroism,” the hero in a Community episode is the character who goes on a journey into their “basement,” their unconscious, their darkest mind. The hero is most often Jeff or Abed, and in some cases, Troy, Annie, and Pierce (Riter). One of the many things that sets Community apart from many sitcoms is that often, episodes will have just one storyline instead of an A, B, and C; there is one hero, and the rest of the group rallies behind that hero to go through a psychological journey with them. This is important because Harmon believes that the audience must venture into the realm of the unconscious with the hero, so that they too can face their unconscious at the same time (Riter). The rest of the group represents the audience and helps the audience be carried along on the journey. However, it is arguable that while Harmon (and Jung) believe that an individual must descend into the unconscious once in a while, Harmon inadvertently gives the audience an easy way out by guiding us through these characters’ journeys: we get to experience the catharsis with no true consequence or fear for us. Sure, I cry when Abed explains that his mom always comes on December 9th, but she wasn’t here today so it must be December 8th. But I don’t read a note from my mom saying she’s not coming home for Christmas. “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas,” like many Community episodes—and arguably all TV—leads the audience on a wrenching, but ultimately safe, emotional journey.

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In this episode, Harmon’s ideas of healthy psychological exploration directly clash with Duncan’s.

Duncan is in favor of examining Abed’s delusion to an extent, in order to discover the root of his psychological issues, but not in favor of enabling it; he chastises the group for doing so, and in the end, they shoot him with their magical Christmas weapons, destroying the voice of reason in favor of maintaining a delusion. Harmon sees it as important for individuals to face their unconscious (Riter), while Duncan insists that it is unhealthy for his friends to enable Abed’s state; but as the study group always does, they support him in his descent so they can be with him when he comes out. Harmon seems to agree with Jung, who sees “coming to terms with the fantasies of the unconscious” as an important part of initiation or maturation (Miller 107). The liminal episode is described as the death of one psychological state leading to the birth of another (Miller 106), which applies perfectly to “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” as well as many Community episodes: in “Christmas,” Abed’s young self who associated Christmas with spending December 9th with his mom dies, and a new self who replaces his mom with the found family of the study group is born. The self-awareness of this episode’s narrative structure is notable: Abed is sure that he needs to find the meaning of Christmas to break free from his delusion, which is exactly how this structure works, with the meaning of Christmas being a lesson about community and relationships, just like in all Community episodes when the hero learns something about his place in the world.

Another episode, “Remedial Chaos Theory,” explores the group dynamic by removing one character in each potential timeline, and seeing how the group functions without that character. Because Abed is the primary actor who sets the alternate-timeline sequence into motion by calling it out when Jeff rolls the die, he is set up in a way as the lynchpin of the group. It is he who starts the alternate-timeline sequence and it is he who stops it from occurring, by pointing out Jeff’s trickery and saving the group from chaos. In a way, Abed is the trickster of this episode, which then serves to examine each character’s relationship to the group. In contrast, “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas”—and we can see from the title that Abed, in such control in “Remedial,” will lose it here—explores the group dynamic from one character’s perspective, by removing characters one by one until he is alone, and then the group realizes they have to come back for him. This episode explores one character’s relationship to each other character, in contrast to RCT. Both episodes make the same point by tackling it from different angles: the only way for the group to survive the depths of their unconscious, the most dangerous and existential questions of reality, is by staying together.

Some key scenes in “Remedial Chaos Theory” and “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” can be tied together, based on what they say about Abed’s relationships, the characters’ roles in the group, and the death-and-rebirth represented. In “Remedial Chaos Theory,” in the timeline in which Abed points out Jeff’s trickery and Jeff goes to get the pizza, everyone ends up being the happiest with Jeff gone. In “Christmas,” Jeff leaves early on because of his inability to be sincere, and the song 4

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Annie sings for his passing says how useless he was to the group, nothing but a “haircut in a box.”

In “Remedial,” the group enjoys themselves without him and he returns, happily joining them as they welcome him. In “Christmas,” as previously mentioned, a reverse process happens in which Abed becomes isolated, and Jeff leads the entire group back to join him, forcing him to show sincerity.

When Jeff is forced to confront his selfish, sarcastic nature and instead be selfless and sincere, good things happen for the group.

Shirley’s storylines in each episode are interesting to look at side-by-side. In “Chaos,” Shirley is trying to bake pies to gain love from the group because it’s all she does, and the group is trying to avoid enabling her by not eating any pies. In the timeline where Shirley gets the pizza, her pies burn because no one takes them out of the oven. In “Christmas,” Shirley leaves because Duncan says she’s making it all about her, when she is concerned that Abed imagines her as a naked baby. Here, Shirley breaks Harmon’s rule that the whole group must follow the hero on his spiritual journey; but is her behavior really selfish, or is the rest of the group consistently neglectful of her needs? The message about Abed’s relationship to Shirley is perhaps more telling of Harmon himself ignoring Shirley’s character development, writing her out of the Christmas episode so early and arguably leaving her one-dimensional in “Remedial.” But nevertheless, she becomes a part of Abed’s journey.

When Shirley descends into the unconsciousness with Abed, she has to face being represented

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in Abed’s mind as a baby, the very opposite of what Shirley is (a mother—clearly identified in “Remedial” as well as the rest of the show), and returning with the acceptance that however Abed sees her, they’re family. Shirley’s baby form can be interpreted as a direct representation of the “rebirth” theme in Jung’s liminality theory.

Similarly, it’s unclear whether Pierce’s storylines show more about Pierce or about Harmon’s feelings towards Chevy Chase. Both stories exemplify his selfishness. In “Remedial,” the timeline in which Pierce goes to get the pizza results in no major consequences, and even leads to tender moments between Troy and Britta and Jeff and Annie. In every other timeline, Pierce disrupts something by trying to give Troy the troll doll as a mean gesture, a selfish thing to do at Troy’s housewarming party. In “Christmas,” Pierce’s only interest is eating cookies, though he does come back at the end because Christmas is depressing alone—so while his motivations are selfish, he does participate in Abed’s journey by descending into the unconscious (for Pierce, this is having eaten all the cookies and having no one to go to) and emerging with the lesson learned.

“The only way Abed successfully comes out of his liminal state is when they all return, united, to support him.”

In “Remedial Chaos Theory,” the prime timeline ends with them all together, laughing and having a good time. In “Christmas,” after characters disappear one by one, the only way Abed successfully comes out of his liminal state is when they all return, united, to support him. Harmon’s particular structure of these single-storyline hero episodes shows that he has his own addition to Jung’s belief that an individual must descend into the unconscious to discover themselves—he believes that a community must descend with them to help them through the journey. Abed freezes into a literal block of ice when Duncan forces him to confront the fact that his mother isn’t coming for Christmas.

It is only with the help of his friends that the ice melts and he is free.

“Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” is one of the most explicit examples of this psychological journey through the unconscious, showing us both the actual inside of Abed’s mind and the literal journey through it, and directly addressing the fact that this is intentionally a psychotherapeutic experience.

Interestingly, the episode discredits Britta and Duncan’s attempt to therapize Abed while still showing Abed going through therapy, just perhaps not in the way they would have expected.

Abed’s journey to find the “meaning of Christmas,” which Duncan and Britta see as a distraction from finding his inner turmoil, is actually not a red herring: the meaning of Christmas—and the

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meaning of Community—is that despite our deepest insecurities and loneliness, stability is ultimately to be found in a supportive group. The imaginative, animated romp through Abed’s unconscious— singing, claymation, and all—brings the audience along through this state of liminality, emerging with a greater understanding of Abed’s role in the group, and the meaning of community itself.

image credits © NBC works cited “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas.” Community. NBC. 9 December 2010.

“Contemporary American Poultry.” Community. NBC. 22 April 2010.

“Intro to Felt Surrogacy.” Community. NBC. 11 April 2013.

“Remedial Chaos Theory.” Community. NBC. 11 October 2011.

Miller, Jeffrey C. The Transcendent Function: Jung’s Model of Psychological Growth through Dialogue with the Unconscious. New York: SUNY Press, 2012. Google eBook.

Riter, Amanda. “Modern Heroism.” A Sense of Community: Essays on the Television Series and its Fandom. Ed. Ann-Gee Lee. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, Inc., 2014.

Kindle.

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