Parks and Rec

this is one of few shows that have unlikable characters in every goddamn corner. only Ron is the saving grace.

the Parks and Rec and Office had two opposite approach to character personalities. For the Office, creators manufactured facade of terribleness around their characters. Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute are obnoxious and crazy. Pam and Jim are just bored and apathetic. Stanley is working for his retirement. The terrible office bitch, also known as Angela. And so on. However, the show gives them dimension and a sense of "perhaps they are good people" as the show progresses.

Parks and Rec? They went the opposite. Leslie Knope is a hard working female office worker who wants to make the world a better place. She is the righteous crusader and everyone around her is corrupt and incompetent aka the town councilors. Everyone in her department loves her and appreciates what she does. Anne is also great and is above every man's league except that guy who i forget is "perfect male" persona. Unlike the Office, each passing episodes demonstrate deficient qualities of Leslie as a council woman who does everything in her power to get what she wants and nothing less, nothing more. She acts like a child when she doesn't get what she wants. Anne, on the other hand, resorts to "since I can't find a right man, I just want to find myself first" and make a baby by herself.

All in all, these are some of the worst fucking terrible characters I've ever seen. I hate them but I watch it for other characters.

Grimmlokk_sl said:

Was any of that a coherent or compelling argument in your head before it ended up on our screens?

Click to expand...

A++ post. will read again.

khalid_sl said:

I couldn't disagree more. Leslie doesn't do everything to get what she wants. In fact, she continually stops doing what she wants and does the right thing. As for Anne, she doesn't think she is better than any guy. In fact, her problem is she gets "taken over" by the personality of her boyfriends.

It is almost like you watched a completely different show than the one I have seen.

Click to expand...

Exactly. Lesile is an infallible character. She is a perfect government employee. She is a perfect human being. And the town council and the whole town is beneath her. That is her facade. The show sets her as a martyr who gets thrown down by her crazy town aka Recall Lesile election. That is what I wrote. And she does in fact throw childish tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants. I couldn't care less if what she does is the right thing. A character can desire a right thing or a bad thing. That's not what makes it good, relatable character. It is when a character does something that is unexpected of them (outside of their principles/norm behaviour) because of either deep bond with other characters and so on. When you build a character around a perfect facade, there is a little room for any connection with the character. I just rolled my eye when she "Jammed" the whole park plan instead of waiting because she wanted Anne to stay.

Anne doesn't need to think that she is better than any guy. She can't find any guy that is right for her and she cannot settle. There is no redeeming quality which comes with her character.

Come on now, I love April.