For those of you who have no idea what Community is, I’ll briefly introduce it, then we’ll be able to focus on the best character of the show… I mean, my personal favorite, that is Abed Nadir.
Community is an American sitcom created by Dan Harmon in 2009. It ended in 2014 after more than a hundred episodes. The TV show follows 7 very different people who attend the same university and happen to find themselves in the same study group… The rest is history. There is Jeff, an ex-lawyer who had been practicing without a law degree; Britta, a young activist who’s pretty lost in life; Annie, a perfect student who’s been expelled from her previous college for her drug addiction; Shirley, a former stay-at-home mom; Pierce, an old millionaire with his very own cultural standards; Troy, an ex-quarterback and last but not least… Abed!
Abed is at the heart of the show as he fills his classmates’ days with countless (and very funny) references to pop culture.
As Abed says about his own life story “I was kinda raised by TV.” In other words, he has a massive obsession about pop culture and follows the maxim “Life imitates art” … literally. His understanding of social clues is almost entirely based on cinema. Since he doesn’t seem to recognize other people’s emotions, this particular knowledge happens to be a wonderful tool in order for him to act in an appropriate way. Abed often runs to his friends and say “I need help reacting to something.” He connects more easily with people when they remind him of a specific character.
He puts all the fun in Community and we can’t thank D. Harmon enough for the incredible episodes when we’re allowed to follow Abed’s thought process; ending up in hilarious and brilliant situations that mix up reality and movie scenes.
Through his way of functioning, we can infer Abed’s deep empathy and loneliness, facing a world that sometimes lack understanding towards him. Indeed, his way of interacting with both other people’s and his own feelings enlightens us on the possibility that he has an Autism Spectrum Disorder, more specifically Asperger’s Syndrome.
Even if sometimes, his unique configuration causes him trouble… (for instance whenever there are changes in the group’s routine, it plunges him into psychological distress) Abed leads his life in a totally autonomous way.
Actually, this ASD he might have is not even a topic on the TV show: it is never explicitly mentioned nor diagnosed. Everyone knows him for his unique personality and values it: he’s depicted simply as a human-being with his resources and differences.
On another level of analysis, what’s interesting is that the cinema industry often tried to give representation of what people with Asperger’s Syndrome may feel/act like… And it was never convincing, quite stereotyped and robotic. Actual people with Asperger’s Syndrome don’t recognize themselves at all in those portraits. On the opposite, Abed has become a real icon for them, by giving an authentic and not exaggerated representation of what it’s like to live with these specificities. Moreover, his unique friendship with Troy (who is a neurotypical person) is moving and profound by their devotion to each other and common passions. It is also important to mention that Abed offers representation for people of color with Asperger’s Syndrome, who cumulate two social stigmas and therefore suffer from increased risks of being discriminated against.
I thought it would be nice to end this article with an anecdote: it is actually by reading fans’ feedbacks that Dan Harmon realized Abed’s character could be identified as someone with Asperger’s Syndrome. He put a lot of his own personality into Abed’s traits, and therefore began to wonder about his own way of functioning. Eventually, he decided to require professionals’ advices and was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome.
As a conclusion, celebrate Abed for his humanity and his exceptional creative impulses! Celebrate yourself for your own uniqueness! And of course, have a good laugh by watching an episode of Community.
Words I have learned:
Neurotypical: neurotypique
To enlighten: éclairer
Autonomous: autonome
To take a plunge: se lancer (expression)
Blogs and articles I have read: