“I watched season four. I guess I already knew this, but apparently, I’m a genius … I think I feel pretty comfortable in expressing that [season four] wasn’t my cup of tea … it’s not somebody doing what they do … it’s very much like an impression. An unflattering one. It’s 13 episodes of people doing ‘DURRRPY DURPY DUR I’m Dan Harmon DUUUR.’ ... It’s like flipping through Instagrams watching your girlfriend just blow everyone.”
—Dan Harmon Talks at Length About Season 4 of ‘Community’ | Pajiba
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of his comments.
“I'm not going to be a jerk about it. I know there were some great writers working on that show who bled with me for seasons one, two and three…the worst thing I can do is fart in their direction at all. [...] I don't think it would be very Community of me to negate anything. Season three was weird, season two was weird, season one was weird; they're all weird. So if season four was weird in a different way, season's five job is to reveal that all four of those weird things add up to some weird hip-hop dance that when you put it on a loop, you go, 'Oh, I get it!'”
—Dan Harmon, being a better human than some of his so-called fans.
On my boyfriend, Dan Harmon
After falling down a hate filled tumblr-rabbit hole this evening, I would like to join the current discussion about my boyfriend, Dan Harmon.
Dan Harmon is the most kindhearted, sensitive and passionate person I have ever known. His passion is the reason why Community has more heart than any other sitcom on TV and why its fan-base is the most devoted. His passion is the reason why Joel Mchale fought to get him rehired for Season 5 and why several writers and crew refused to return for Season 4 out of loyalty to Dan (including now co-EP Chris Mckenna).
In Dan’s office is a giant white board with the names of every writer who has handed him a script in the last month in hopes of joining the writing staff for Season 5, a large portion of them being fans. He included every name on his board no matter how green a writer is because he loves people who love Community. I guarantee, there is no other Showrunner who gives fans more time than Dan Harmon. Watch any interview with him and you will feel how much he cares.
Even if Season 4 of Community had been the best season of Television in Television history, it would have been painful for Dan to watch. HYPERBOLE WARNING:It would be like watching home videos of your kids with new parents after they had been taken from you. You probably wouldn’t choose to watch those videos, even if you knew the parents were taking great care of your kids. Months ago, before he was asked back, Dan told me he could never watch Season 4 because, no matter what, it would be too hard and he didn’t want to discuss his feelings publicly and hurt the people who worked on the show or its fans.
Dan’s weekly show, Harmontown is an unplanned, unproduced, improvised podcast featuring Dan and his friends chatting and playing D&D. Sometimes Dan talks about humanity, sometimes he talks about writing, sometimes he talks about farts; but mostly he talks about whatever is on his mind and sometimes those things are dark. If this show description sounds boring or hurtful to you, you do not have to listen to it and I promise, no one will make you listen to it. It is produced and released exclusively for people who listen to it on purpose. There is a reason why it is not enjoyed in transcript-form.
Unlike the articles I read today would lead me to believe, the mood at last night’s Harmontown was light, heartwarming and revolved mostly around the theme of FATHERHOOD, not hatred for Season 4 or anyone involved in its writing or production. Dan tried to articulate the unique feeling of watching his project in the hands of other people. He wasn’t saying it was the end of the world or comparable to rape, or that he’s not excited about Season 5. He was expressing his very understandable feelings that were consuming him the day he watched Season 4. He did not want the audience to leave the show with hatred for the S4 writers or Community. Side note: I also made jokes about Season 4 at Harmontown that I regret. I am friends with several writers on Season 4 and I know they worked their hearts out. I was also swept away by my defensive feelings and I feel bad about that.
Now…
This “rape joke controversy” is misguided, unfair and I believe started with an entertainment reporter who wanted more traffic on her magizine’s website. She used the word “Rape” in a headline so she could get more sweet, sweet clicks. THAT’S vile.
Dan didn’t say the word “rape” because he thinks rape is funny.
Months ago, when Daniel Tosh made a rape joke it was undeniably wrong because he joked about his audience raping a female heckler to teach her a lesson. That’s different than using an analogy to express the extremity of one’s feelings. OBVIOUSLY, Dan could have made a better analogy that didn’t include this painful buzz word, but as someone who was actually at the show, spends the most of her time with Dan, I assure you: Dan was not making light of rape. Kids are abused and murdered everyday and if he had said “It was like watching my kids being abused and/or murdered” no one would think that Dan was making light of abuse or murdering kids, they would think “wow, his feelings are really strong and maybe he’s being a little dramatic”. I mean, really. Come on. If we are going to change the tide of this “rape culture”, we need to be smarter. To the tumblr “Dan is a rape-joke making monster coalition”: I get that it’s fun to hate someone and to have such an identifiable reason to hate him, but your hatred is monstrous and HEART BREAKING.
I hope that for the sake of creativity and love, you… the internet and fans of Community will see how much Dan loves Community and understand that he is a human being. I know he is excited and thankful that he was asked back for Season 5. I watched him cry today at the thought that he hurt fans of the show and that was without him seeing any tumblr hatred. He just wants to do his show and make people happy.
Love,
Erin McGathy
Dan and Me at last year’s fantastic Community Art Show
