Community/Recap/S1/E03 Introduction to Film

Britta upon finding out that Abed's dream is to be a film maker helps support him financially. However Abed's behavior becomes increasingly erratic leading to a confrontation between Abed, Abed's Dad, Britta, and Jeff. Meanwhile Jeff convinces several members of the study group to join him for an easy A course in Accounting, but is stymied when he must either 'seize the day' or risk not only failing the class but also life.

The Community episode "Introduction to Film" provides examples of:
"Pierce: Those are both for me."
 * Batman Gambit: See Enforced Method Acting.
 * Bilingual Bonus: The Arabic Abed and his dad speak? It's real, albeit with an accent (Abed's is thicker). The text for "And I think the wrong person just left" in Abed's film, however, is a bad translation, confusing the Arabic words for "left" (the direction) and "left" (as in, left the room). This could in itself be a joke.
 * The Blind Leading the Blind: Troy showing Abed how to krump--and then Jeff showing the two how to krump.
 * Cool Teacher: Prof. Whitman tries to be this. Depending on your taste he may or may not be successful.
 * Deconstruction: Mildly, of Jeff; as Whitman notes, his every action is precisely calculated to make him appear laid-back, indifferent and relaxed, which just serves to prove how ultimately uptight and incapable of truly relaxing he really is.
 * Enforced Method Acting: Abed's first student film has him so he can capture.
 * Fake Nationality: Abed and his dad as Palestinians, or as any kind of Arab: Danny Pudi (Abed) is half-Indian and half-Polish (and grew up speaking Polish), while Iqbal Theba (Abed's dad) is Pakistani. The Arabic they speak in this episode, however, is real.
 * Fake-Out Make-Out
 * First Kiss: Invoked and subverted.
 * Homage: While Jeff is trying to seize the day under the mentoring of Prof. Whitman, Abed is having his own Dead Poets Society experience in the form of his father forbidding him to study film (as with Neil and his dad in Dead Poets Society).
 * I'll Take Two Beers, Too!: Pierce to Troy, with two cans of Brand X Cola

"Britta: Raising him means letting him follow his dreams. Abed's Father: Dreams are for sleeping! Britta: You don't know that! Abed's Father: It's clinically proven! Britta: So's polio! Abed's Father: You lost me!"
 * Metaphorgotten:

"Abed: My dad says all media is Western propaganda that negatively stereotypes Arabs.
 * Later, Abed's dad makes a seemingly Anvilicious speech comparing Britta and Jeff's involvement with Abed to the Iraq War. It turns out that they had misinterpreted it; the "speeches" he was talking about were Jeff's, and the "guided missiles" were the ones in Britta's bra.
 * Mood Whiplash: The goofy Vanity Plate at the end of Abed's student film.
 * Psychologist Teacher: Professor Whitman both parodies and plays this trope seriously. He's an accounting teacher convinced he's in Dead Poets Society. However, he's also savvy enough to realize that Jeff's just trying to coast and has no real idea how to 'seize the day'.
 * Race Tropes

Troy: Then he should see Aladdin; Jafar was a Badass.

Shirley: Isn't Abed's dad a hardcore Muslim? They're not as understanding as Christians; you could get your head cut off with a salami sword.

Annie: Shirley! That's the most racist thing I've ever heard."

"Whitman: Had I not already cried at the sunrise this morning, I would be weeping right now. Jeff: What does that mean?! Whitman: What do you mean, Jeff? What does your life mean? How long does it take you in the morning to make it look like you have bed-head? How many sweatpants-sport jacket combos did you try before you found the one that said "I don't care?" Seize the day, Jeff! For real! Go running naked in a hailstorm! Kiss a girl in the middle of the day! Fly a kite, but do it for yourself! Or you won't just fail my class; you'll fail life."
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Whitman lays one on Jeff when he informs Jeff precisely why he's likely to fail the class:

"Abed: 9/11 was pretty much the 9/11 of the falafel industry."
 * Shaped Like Itself:

"Jeff: Hey! Troy sneezes like a girl! Troy: How about I pound you like a boy... that didn’t come out right."
 * Shout-Out: A particularly meta one, when a disgruntled Jeff wearing rainbow suspenders, exclaims "Shazbot!" after a run-in with Professor Whitman, who thinks he is Robin Williams' character in Dead Poets Society.
 * Syncro-Vox: How Abed has Jeff and Britta play his parents.
 * Take That: To Dane Cook
 * That Came Out Wrong / Un Entendre:


 * The line becomes Hilarious in Hindsight in conjuncture with Donald Glover's 'Bro Rape' Derrick Comedy sketch.
 * No need to go so far. After all, Troy is into Butt Stuff.
 * Unfortunate Implications: In-universe. Upon seeing Jeff's "seizing the day" kite-flying attempt, Whitman points out that it's not only unconvincing and sloppy but also, given the age difference between Jeff and some of the girls he's roped into joining in and then running up and hugging him afterwards, "unwittingly creepy."