Although you may not notice it at first, through it’s narrative and characters Parks and Recreation portrays many different cultural views and larger meanings.
For example, in the seventh episode of season 3, the town of Pawnee has their annual “Harvest Festival”. At this festival, they introduce a character to the show named Lil Sebastian. Lil Sebastian is a town mascot of sorts, he is a mini horse that is beloved by the whole town. At the Harvest Festival, all of the people are trying to see the mini horse. They even have shirts saying “I met Lil Sebastian at the Harvest Festival”.
Ben Wyatt, a man new to Pawnee working with the city manager is confused what the big deal is with the mini horse. But Leslie Knope explains to him how much everyone loves him. This narrative shows how something can bring a community together. In this case, Lil Sebastian fosters a sense of community and unity for the town of Pawnee. This narrative also comes back into play in the finale episode of season 3. In this episode, Lil Sebastian passes away and the town is devastated. But the parks department comes together in order to plan a memorial service for him. Andy Dwyer, who just works as a shoe shiner in the City Hall Building, even writes a song to perform at the memorial service. This episode emphasizes the impact that this mini horse had on the town and how much the people of Pawnee came together around him. The show definitely nurtures a sense of belonging and community identity. This is just one of the instances where the town unites through different situations.
This narrative revolving around Lil Sebastian also encourages some characters to be a part of the public sphere. For example, in the beginning, Ben Wyatt was confused why everyone loved the mini horse so much, but he began to understand and take part in this community of people uniting around Lil Sebastian. He starts to understand why it is such a big deal to everyone and he wants to become a part of it. In this episode, they also frame other cultural values. For example, Joan Callamezzo from the Pawnee media shows up to the festival and searches for negative stories that she can report. She ends up trying to report that the festival was cursed. This is just a representation of our cultural view that there is much spin and negativity in the media, whether there are negative things going on in the world or not. This is not the only example, but it shows how characters in shows can represent larger views from society rather than the storyline of the show alone.
(Andy's Memorial Song - 5000 Candles in the Wind)
