The sitcom “Community” is well-known for its wide array of eccentric characters that is almost completely character driven. However, the character Britta Perry is often overlooked in the variety of absurd characters and even more absurd storylines.
Britta Perry plays an interesting role in the study group and her overall character interestingly changes over time.
Of the original Greendale study group, almost everyone seems to have their own set character archetype, and the show’s writers don’t stray far from the roles that the viewers are first introduced to.
Jeff is the leader of the group, he’s a narcissistic playboy, Annie is a nerdy preppy girl, and Troy embodies the opposite personality, a jock who peaked in high school. Abed is film-obsessed and socially unaware, Pierce is also socially unaware but in a bigoted way, Shirley is a former stay-at-home Christian wife and mother who is conservative in her own way and Britta is a social justice warrior.
The writers play up these absurdly obnoxious personality types to such an extent that this group becomes lovable to its viewers.
However, all the other characters excluding Britta are shown undergoing some type of growth as the show goes on. Britta, on the other hand, seems to spiral into a more absurd version of herself as the show goes on.
She starts as this serious, morally upright activist who sees through Jeff’s shallow intentions when he tries to hit on her. She is portrayed as one of the more mellow members of the study group.
Just a few episodes into the first season, however, she realizes that her activism has been nothing but performative. After that point, any attempt that Britta makes to enact change in the world just usually devolves into an absurd situation.
Her potential relationship with Jeff also becomes more of a comedic element than an actual plot point. As Jeff’s first impression of her wears off, so does the notion that she is some stoic, unachievable dream girl. Later in the show, he even remarks that Britta seemed smarter than him when they first met, indicating that the opposite showed itself to be true as time went on.
Britta and Jeff go on to serve as foils to each other. Jeff is somewhat of an anti-hero, he claims to not care about the rest of the study group but always ends up helping them. Britta, on the other hand, jumps at any chance to help her friends and always ends up messing it up.
As she becomes less serious, the rest of the study group begins to take her less seriously as well. At this point, it’s clear that the writer means for Britta to be more of the butt of a joke than a deep character. One of the running bits in the show is telling someone they “Britta’d” something when they mess up.
Surprisingly, though, this shift in character mends amazingly with the study group’s dynamic. The study group continually takes hits at Britta, but it never becomes tedious or makes her severely unlikeable to viewers.
At her core, Britta has always wanted to help others, which is one reason why activism was such an important part of her past and overall character.
As her focus shifts from activism, she finds a more tangible career path in psychology. As a psychology major, Britta is free to keep helping others in a new, goofy way that is still true to her character.
Although entertaining, this attachment to her character stunted any potential growth on her part. Any new developments in her life were either shallow or intended to be comedic. Even her relationship with Troy seems to serve as more of a plot point for Troy and Abed’s relationships than the couple’s.
Britta didn’t even get an ending. During the last episode of the show, it’s evident that the study group has been changed by their time at Greendale. Jeff has come to terms with the fact that he’s aging, Troy left to go sail around the world, Annie got a job working for the FBI, Abed got a job at a film studio in LA, Shirley is taking care of a detective somewhere and Pierce is dead, which is kind of the perfect end to his character.
Britta’s psychology career has shown no indication of taking off, she is still working at a bar by the last episode. She is forever doomed to stay at that same point in her life in the memory of the watchers.
In all fairness, “Community” as a whole is nothing if not absurd, and part of the allure is how beautifully exaggerated the characters’ personalities are.
Britta was one of the few study group members that never left Greendale, another element of her unwavering character.
She lasted six seasons without any growth and never got the Pierce treatment, which is somewhat of an accomplishment. In all her silliness, she was a valuable part of the show, and her stagnant position allowed for some great growth from other characters.
Funnily enough, Britta’s stagnation served as a comparison and a stepping stool for countless other characters even though she never got the chance to have that type of arc.