Relationship Spotlight: Troy Barnes & Abed Nadir (Community)

 

This friendship is such a no-brainer, it’s taken me this long to get around to it.  Like so many Community fans, I was won over by these two during their Spanish rap in the show’s second episode.  After that scene, they only grow in awesomeness and awwwsomeness (“homing pigeon” still makes me think of them,) earning a well-deserved claim to one of my favorite TV friendships of all time.

 

The basic building blocks of the Troy-Abed friendship is not unlike many memorable sitcom friendships between men; Abed is geeky and neurotic while Troy is much more obviously cool.  This is the same general template from which J.D. and Turk from Scrubs, Cory and Shawn from Boy Meets World, and Chandler and Joey from Friends, among others, are cut.  As with the other examples, Abed is somewhat more prominent a character than Troy, which makes sense.  A lot of TV writers and, let’s face, a large portion of many fandoms, probably identify more with the geeky, neurotic character than the cool one (plus, such characters are easier to write conflict for.)

 

Troy and Abed take a different tack, though.  While all these relationships place the primary focus on the geekier characters, with most of them, there’s a sense that the cooler character is there partially to show him the ropes – to coach him on talking to women, being more masculine, fitting in with the “guys,” etc.  Though it’s obvious that both care deeply about each other, there’s this slight power imbalance, this idea that the geekier character should be grateful to the cooler character for being friends with him.  But with Troy and Abed, Abed is the clear instigator in almost everything they do.  He spearheads a lot of their silly and/or nerdy pursuits, like Kickpuncher marathons or extended sessions in the Dreamatorium.  Troy frequently defers to Abed – when the study group is being wooed by Greendale’s glee club coach in season 3, Troy even tells Abed, “You know I’d do anything you did” – and, after some reluctance in the early episodes, begins to embrace his own geeky side.

 

And so, they have fun.  They enjoy being weird and goofy, building forts, making costumes, and watching Inspector Spacetime.  They’re not without drama, most noticeably in season 3 when Abed stops being his and Troy’s natural leader and starts dictating what they do, but for the most part, they’re a blast.  They’re also entirely in each other’s corner.  Troy looks out for Abed when his aspie-ish tendencies are causing him distress, and to the extent that Abed expresses his feelings, he expresses them for Troy.

 

Something else that I really like about Troy and Abed is that the show usually avoids the bromance jokes that are often so plentiful in guy-guy sitcom friendships.  They’re incredibly, at times almost ludicrously, close, but the show doesn’t frame it from a “ha, ha, they’re acting like a couple!” way.  I’m not a fan of excessive bromance jokes, partially because it suggests that male intimacy is inherently hilarious, and partially because there are already enough romances on television, and there’s no reason to use romance tropes to convey friendship.  So, I really appreciate that Troy and Abed’s relationship is tight and incredibly important to both of them while still being written distinctly as a friendship.