History Recap / CommunityS1E23ModernWarfare

** "Look who I found wandering the [[Series/{{Star Trek}} Neutral-Zone]]"

* WholePlotReference: The plot of "Modern Warfare" can be construed as a WholePlotReference to several movies. ''Film/BattleRoyale'': A schoolmaster forces his students into a competition where they have to finish each other off one by one. He also enters a ringer who wishes to enter for fun, and one who has played the game before. At the end, the last man standing breaks into his ivory tower and finishes him off. Which is also a very similar premise to ''Film/TheCondemned'', ''Film/TheRunningMan'', and ''Film/DeathRace'', if you replace school students with prisoners...

* EvilCostumeSwitch: Not that he wasn't '''already''' kind of evil to begin with but Senor Chang changes to an outfit similar to that worn by ''Film/TheKiller'' once the Dean gives him the go-ahead to take out the remaining players.

** Jeff firing the paintball gun in the Deans office is very similar to a scene in ''Film/{{Rambo}}''.

* WillTheyOrWontThey: Discussed about Britta and Jeff. The resolution of TheyDo is sarcastically teased by them, then they play it straight and have sex in their hide-out in their usual study room in the library.

* AlmostKiss: DoubleSubverted with Jeff and Britta -- they do the lean in while mocking the FlorenceNightingaleEffect, and do a silly smooching act. Then they do it again, and ''[[CoitusEnsues there]]'' [[CoitusEnsues we go]].

-->'''Abed:''' To be blunt, Jeff and Britta is no [[Series/{{Friends}} Ross and Rachel]]. Your sexual tension and lack of chemistry are putting us all on edge. Which is why, ironically - and hear this on every level - [[IncrediblyLamePun you're keeping us from being]] ''Series/{{Friends}}''.\\

** Chang's entrance to the study room is straight out of a Creator/JohnWoo movie... minus the DisturbedDoves. Thwy didn't have the budget for them.

** If you focus on Jeff's perspective, he lives out ''Film/DieHard'' almost scene for scene, being caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. The way he's introduced to the war is also similar to how ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' begins.

--->'''Dean:''' There will be a prize for last man standing, ''(sotto voce)'' or [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad last man in a wheelchair]] without paint on him.\\

*** Chang's paint bomb plays out like the end of the movie.''

** Chang's paint bomb plays out like the end of ''Film/{{Predator}}.''

* DiscoDan: "Post-ironic [[TheSimpsons Disco Stu]]" and his GangOfHats.

* DeaderThanDisco: Invoked. The first scene features a guy roller-skating through the hallway in an orange tracksuit and an afro, and Jeff comments that the guy's a tool and isn't going to bring disco back. He does.

* ThePowerOfTrust: Played with; the nature of 'The Prize' means that everyone will eventually turn on each other in order to get it -- however, as with the study group, most of the people who make it furthest through the game do so by forming 'packs' with other people they trust to watch their backs. In keeping with this, throughout the episode whenever one of the group tries to betray the others it usually backfires on them (Troy [[LaserGuidedKarma immediately gets shot]] when he suggests turning on the others to Shirley, and Britta's attempt to betray Jeff is scuttled when he reveals her gun is empty).

* TurnCoat: Pierce has no quarrels offing his partner Starburn so he can switch over to Jeff's group and save his skin.

* CampfireChacraterExploration: The group sits around a TrashcanBonfire and discusses what each of them would do with the award.

* BulletTime: In a style similar to John Woo movies, Chang and Britta's shootout. Complete with two paintballs colliding in mid-air.

* IfWeGetThroughThis: "What are you guys gonna do if you win priority registration?" As soon as Shirley mentions her kids, you know she's out the game.

* MacGuffin: Priority registration. Parodied with the [[SeriousBusiness seriousness]] its being pursued.

* MoreDakka: Chang's paintball machine gun is ideal for letting of steam.

** Jeff has one as well when he confronts the Dean.

* OminousAdversarialAmusement: Parodied when Chang opens his jacket to reveal a paint bomb after being tagged by Jeff.

* PostApunkalypticArmor: To increase the post apocalyptic feel of paintball Greendale, Troy wears this. Other characters do as well to a varying degree (see ScavengedPunk).

* ArtisticLicense-Safety: Nobody is wearing proper face protection or even goggles; in Real Life, paintballs can knock out teeth or even blind if shot into someone's face.

** Chang's entrance to the study room is straight out of a Creator/JohnWoo movie... minus the DisturbedDoves. WordOfGod says they didn't have the budget for them.

** Jeff taking off his shirt right after claiming they shouldn't resort to cheap ploys in a RealitySubtext reference to the viewer hook of Series/{{Glee}}.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: The Chinese song that plays over Chang's big entry was sung by Jing Ke (? -227 BC), a Chinese assassin as he was sent to assassinate the King of Qin, who would survive and later become the Emperor of China. Jing Ke sings, "風蕭蕭兮易水寒，壯士一去兮不復還." The lyrics literally translates to: "The winds blow, river freeze. The hero fords, never returns!"

* StereotypeFlip: Chang takes a break from this to embrace being a Creator/JohnWoo-style GunFu badass.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: The Chinese song that plays over Chang's big entry was sung by Jing Ke (? -227 BC), a Chinese assassin as he was sent to assassinate the King of Qin, who would later become the Emperor of China after surviving the assassination attempt. Jing Ke sings, "風蕭蕭兮易水寒，壯士一去兮不復還." The lyrics literally translates to: "The winds blow, river freeze. The hero fords, never returns!"

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: The Chinese song that plays over Chang's big entry is a song sung by Jing Ke (? -227 BC), a Chinese assassin. The song was sang by Jing Ke as he was sent to assassinate the King of Qin, who would later become the Emperor of China after surviving the assassination attempt. Jing Ke sings, "風蕭蕭兮易水寒，壯士一去兮不復還." The lyrics literally translates to: "The winds blow, river freeze. The hero fords, never returns!"

* LaughingMad: Chang is laughing madly before his bomb goes off.

* DefensiveFeintTrap: The Chess Club ambushes people by having one member step into a room then immediately run out, where three more wait outside the door. Right before they fall into the trap, Jeff realizes that "He's a pawn..."

* WholePlotReference: The plot of "Modern Warfare" can be construed as a WholePlotReference to several movies. ''Film/BattleRoyale'': A schoolmaster forces his students into a competition where they have to finish each other off one by one. He also enters a ringer who wishes to enter for fun, and one who has played the game before. At the end, the last man standing breaks into his ivory tower and finishes him off. Which is also a very similar premise to ''Film/TheCondemned'', ''Film/TheRunningMan'', and ''Film/DeathRace'', if you replace school students with prisoners... If you focus on Jeff's perspective, he lives out ''Film/DieHard'' almost scene for scene, being caught at the wrong place at the wrong time.

* BerserkButton:
** Shirley's age issues crop up again when she comments on how Jeff and Britta are no [[Series/{{Cheers}} Sam and Diane]]:
-->'''Annie:''' ''[Perplexed]'' [[PopculturalOsmosisFailure Who are Sam and Diane]]?\\
'''Shirley:''' ''[Losing it]'' Okay, ''we get it!'' You're ''young!''
** Jeff and Britta's UnresolvedSexualTension and constant bickering is seen to have become this for the Study Group, with two instances of the other members of the group nearly eliminating the two of them from the game because they're just that sick of it.