The Media on Community

I've read several books lately, some I've yet to finish, touching on the topic of community. I'll have more reviews soon enough. In the meantime, I thought I'd list some movies and television shows portraying community. It's been a reoccurring theme for me lately, so I thought it worthy of a series. Here's part 1.

Movies and Shows About Community

1. About A Boy. I love the last line in this movie. The titled boy that this movie is about (one of them since there's two) mentions that family is bigger than a couple in love who makes babies. You need more people to help you than that. You need a community. Good point, weird kid.

2. Lars and the Real Girl. The fact that this movie is so far-fetched makes me sad. A town accepts a guy's inability to connect with real people and goes waaay beyond comfort levels to help him. This film could be shown in churches, but it probably won't. This also makes me sad.

3. Friends. "I'll be there for you." As worthy of an eye roll that is, it's true friendship summed up fairly well. They can be shallow and judgmental at times, but they suffer, giggle and live most of their lifetimes together. For ten seasons.

4.The Lord of the Rings series. It's fun explaining to people that one of the benefits of the extended versions of these movies is extra scenes of, among other things, hobbits eating. Extended scenes of people hanging out! Yay!

Yet, the fact of community is that no matter how unpleasant the oncoming conflict is, we aren't going it alone. And there will be quiet funny moments.

5. Rent. Another group of friends, only most of them happen to have HIV. There are still funny moments in this movie and there's some excellent singing. It's not depressing because they are living together, not dying together.

6. Horton Hears a Who. Not to give anything away, but there's a scene where the town of Who Ville is threatened because no one believes in them. They band together and scream "We are here!" Sometimes, in desperation, a community is a group of people raising their voices together.

7. As Good As It Gets. It's not just about the meanie becoming nice to get the girl. A lot of it is us as the audience seeing the villain of the movie as a person. When he shows kindness, even for bizarre reasons, we have hope. We sympathize, if only for a moment, with the unloveable.

Let me know if I missed any.