S2E3: I like people! Places! And things!

The real treat was the camera crew we met along the way

Jun 06, 2024

Hellooooo everyone, thanks for tuning in! It’s been absolutely beautiful here in SF this week, but it’s honestly fucked up that it’s only ever beautiful here on the weekdays. Give me an 80 degree Saturday, for the love of god! Park It will be on a brief hiatus for the next two weeks while I take a liiiiiittle summer vacation and promptly park it on a beach. To say we’re stoked is an understatement.

But that’s next week! For this week, we’re on season 2, episode 3: Beauty Pageant.

Our gal Leslie gets invited to be a judge of the Miss Pawnee Beauty Pageant and a jealous Tom weasels his way into a judgeship as well. April, upon learning that the winner of the beauty pageant gets $600, also decides to enter. The beauty pageant is basically everything you’d imagine with these 3 fools involved. Leslie’s asking questions like “Alexis De Tocqueville called America ‘The Great Experiment.’ What can we, as Americans, do to expand upon that experiment?” and grading people on metrics like “knowledge of HERstory” and “the Naomi Wolf factor.” Meanwhile, Tom’s holding bra-size guessing competitions and swaying everyone’s vote towards “the hot one, Trish.” Hijinks of course ensue, and “the hot one” ultimately wins, much to Leslie’s chagrin. Her sponsored victor, Susan — a history major at IU and classical pianist — loses the 74th annual Hunger Games and Leslie gives an impassioned little eulogy:

“This isn’t the first time that Susans have lost to Trishes, and it won’t be the last. Susan and I will continue on until the women in Pawnee will be judged, not by the flatness of their tummies, but by the contents of their brains. And Trish, I may not have voted for you, but now is a time for us to come together. I hope you honor this crown with dignity and a devotion to—”

She’s cut off by Trish (the winner) loudly cheersing and ripping tequila shots with the other judges. Susan and Leslie: you’ll get ‘em next time.

This week, I wanted to focus on a character we don’t see as much in the show, but who’s no less present: the camera.

In mockumentary-style sitcoms like Parks and Rec, the camera (and the faceless person behind the camera) plays a huge role. It’s easy as an audience to forget that the characters aren’t just talking heads speaking directly to viewers. They’re actually, in the show’s world, participating in the recording of a documentary series, so each video is intended to be them filming confessionals to a camera crew.

Most of the shows in the Parks and Rec family don’t break the fourth wall very often, and many of them only do it as they’re finding their bearings. It’s a great crutch to lean on, an easy way for characters to explain motivations and opinions without needing to do the plot work of teasing these out organically. In P&R pilot, you’ll notice in the credits sequence Ron speaking directly to the camera crew while giving them an office tour: “I’ve created this office as a symbol of how I feel about government…did you guys get a grant to do this?” "(“This", of course, meaning filming the show itself.)

But the camera crew becomes so intertwined with us as viewers that sometime it’s incredibly jarring to remember that there’s supposed to be a person between us and Leslie. In “Beauty Pageant,” there’s a moment where Leslie’s talking to the camera and its gaze slowly drifts over the something slightly to the right: our “hot one” winner Trish, bent over in a dress and heels, while Tom not-so-subtly stares at her ass. Leslie notices the camera drifting and scolds “hey, hey! Over here!” and gives whoever’s behind the camera her trademark bulldog-angry stare before the conversation proceeds, the camera person chastised.

It’s a weird moment!!!! Not only did we fully forget that there’s a person Leslie’s talking to, but now that person is creeping on hot Trish??? Instead of filming Leslie’s talking head?

It’s a whole new can of worms, and raises a lot of questions about how we as viewers are supposed to view the show and the people in it. I always forget that it’s not just me, Bailey, sitting on my couch with a glass of wine, watching Leslie Knope be herself. And I also always forget (whenever I do remember the camera crew) that it’s not just me, Bailey, here with the wine, watching Leslie give an interview to a faceless camera. No — it’s actually me, Bailey (forget about me?), watching Leslie give an interview to a human camera operator. Aka a potentially biased camera operator.

AND !!! Not to FURTHER complicate things!! But it’s: me (Bailey! Wine? Couch?), watching Leslie (interviewing), talk to camera person (biased), but Leslie’s ALSO biased because she’s interviewing. This isn’t Leslie as her true self. This is Leslie as she wants to present herself to the actual human following her around and filming her.

I was just reading an interview with Randall Einhorn, a director who’s worked on The Office, Parks and Rec, and Abbott Elementary, about the mockumentary style and he reiterates the same concept: “Einhorn says every character has a different relationship with a camera — think about Jim's signature looks on The Office and how he is implicitly confiding something in the camera operator and the audience.”

It sends my brain into soup mode a bit, thinking that we only really know all of these beloved characters through the lens of another human, who’s viewing them through the lens of a tripod.

It also makes me kind of seriously love the moments when the characters call out the camera, or actively block it from their privacy. This happens in the season 3 finale of Abbott Elementary. [If you’re not caught up, spoilers!!!!!] The episode ends with Janine and Gregory FINALLY doing something about all of their sexual tension and crossing the will-they-won’t-they threshold. But as they’re making out and the camera person is clearly filming, Gregory and Janine both look at the camera, caught in the act. Gregory moves away from Janine and slowly backs the camera person out of the house, and when he can tell the person’s still filming through the window, he closes the blinds. And SMIRKS about it.

From a technical level — it’s frustrating. We obviously only see what the camera sees, and we’ve waited 3 seasons for this!!! And it’s a finale cliffhanger! But as a human, I’m always cheering. Absolutely kick this weird person filming you out of Janine’s apartment! You two have to make up for lost time!

Same thing when I remember that Leslie’s calling out a literal human for ignoring her interview and looking at Trish’s ass at the beauty pageant, it really makes me cheer. Tell ‘em Leslie!!

High highs (NOT low lows):

The first ever Jerry hate in this episode!! Leslie accidentally orders a shit ton of flowers and doesn’t get any for Jerry
When Leslie learns April signed up for the beauty pageant: “That is exactly why I decided to become a judge. So that awesome girls like you who aren’t …. you know … classically hot, can be rewarded for their intelligence and savvy.”
April Ludgate now, being rewarded for her intelligence and savvy
I LOVE the sequence of Dave (tough that it’s Louis CK) trying to ask Leslie out, and then he sees a framed photo and mistakes Madeleine Albright for her grandmother, and immediately turns him down
The fact that the pump up song for the Beauty Pageant is “Right Round” by Flo Rida (ft. Ke$ha)??? We are SO in 2009
Which reminds of the time that my dad ran into Flo Rida in an oxygen bar in South Miami Beach in 2016 and he texted me this photo without any context:

Lmao totally forgot about the period of time when Andy is living in the Pit
I do love the moment at the end when Dave (Leslie’s love interest) comes back because she’s decided to give him a second chance and he’s memorized the names of all of the famous women on the wall:
Dave: “Hey, will Sandra Day O’Connor, and Michelle Obama, and Condoleezza Rice, and Nancy Pelosi…are they gonna join us?”
Leslie: “No, they will not be joining us.”
Dave: “Well good, because I don’t happen to agree with Miss Pelosi’s views about the Troubled Assets Relief Program.”
Leslie: “Hmmmm.”
Dave: “I looked that up to impress you.”
Tom’s method of flirting with girls is to give them all copies of the keys to his house, and I love the scene when he walks into the key maker’s shop and he’s absolutely a regular

Another week in the books! Tell your friends and tell your mom to subscribe. See ya after my summer vacation!