Parks and Recreation: the Ron Swanson Revolution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULAfBllREZs

-Ron Swanson

"Parks and Recreation" airs Thursday nights at 9:30 on NBC, following "The Office." It follows a standard half hour sitcom format about the Parks and Recreation Department of small-town Pawnee, IN. The show stars Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, Deputy Parks Director, whose naive optimism often works against her. In this week's episode, however, her hard work ethic was displayed as she fought the flu to make a crucial speech at a town hall meeting in an effort to save the Parks Department, which is under the guillotine--an immediate allusion to our sinking economy and the scramble to stay afloat. Knope proposes to reinstate the town festival to stimulate business by enriching community interaction.

The show is filmed like the "The Office," a scripted reality-style parody in which the characters act as though they're regular people, aware of being filmed, without a laugh track. Most scenes are filmed in studio and phony interviews are staged with the actors like a reality show. This makes it very different from other sitcoms, though very much like "The Office."

Advertisements during the show consist of Glide floss, Toyota cars, Pizza Hut,  Merci chocolates, Geico insurance, etc. which lines up well with the target audience of middle class working people between 25 and 55.

Sterotypes are ultimately what make this show funny. Not racial stereotypes, as the show somewhat lacks diversity--one of it's weaknesses--but particularly concerning politics. Leslie Knope plays an upbeat, aloof progressive who won the homosexual vote in the town by marrying two male penguins at the zoo. She is constantly at odds with her mustachioed, staunch libertarian boss Ron Swanson, played by Nick Offerman, who openly professes his loathing for all government, including his own job, and whose ringtone is a shotgun blast.  A major strength of the show is that the episodes often end with Ron softening up to Leslie's ideas for park programs; the writer's effort to portray "reaching across the aisle," a major issue right now, especially since the Arizona shootings.

Ron Swanson has become a breakout character because of his neolithic stunts like grilling steaks and bacon inside his office, and his classic conservative Man's Man one-liners, like--on nutrition "fishing is for sport only; fish meat is practically a vegetable."

JJ and I engage with this show by watching weekly--and by quoting Ron Swanson. For instance, after this episode my fiancee read from her cousin's Facebook page: "Capitalism: God's way of determining who is smart and who is poor," and I instructed her to reply with another Swanson quote. Her cousin is very conservative and though he is usually laughing with Ron Swanson and I am usually laughing at him, we are both laughing (crossing the aisle on issues).

We hadn't analyzed this in depth before this assignment, so this was a great learning experience. It was very interesting to consider the commercials in terms of the target audience, and also to analyze the show and some of the references behind the writing, like bi-partisanship. If  I were from a foreign country I would probably interpret this portrayal of U.S. culture as being confused but earnest, and conflicted but good-hearted.

Critics have been harsh on the show, particularly Amy Poehler's main character Leslie Knope, accusing her character of being flat and unoriginal, but Rob Lowe has been a great addition to the cast this season and Ron Swanson has been well-recieved as a supporting character. I will admit that this show is an acquired taste and I wasn't impressed during the first season, but it worked it's way back into my diet because of it's time slot after "The Office." Now I believe the writers have found their stride and improved the substance of the show. Though I must point out that complaining about beefy substance in a sitcom is like complaining about fish meat not being filling enough--it's practically a vegetable.

"I was born ready. I'm Ron f***ing Swanson."


Thanks to YouTube for all the above clips.