For the last semester, I have been thoroughly researching the critically acclaimed television show, “The Office”. This show has a unique style to it in which they present humor by using satire based off of stereotypes and mocking real life corporate issues as the primary basis of their show. The office uses satire to touch on issues like sexual orientation, gender, race, body image, etc.

The Office is a television series that began on March 24th, 2005. The series was a remake of the original British television series, “The Office” in which Ricky Gervais plays the “british Michael Scott”. The series did not do too hot, as it only ran for two seasons until its end date on December 27th, 2003. The american version of The Office, however, has remained on Netflix’s top trending category list for a number of years now. The series is known for it’s documentary-style narrative in which the characters are aware of the cameras that are filming them at all times, all while engaging and keeping the camera crew as apart of the staff. The camera crew is supposed to represent the audience, in which the characters are actively engaging with us in order to make us feel closer to the show itself and the characters of Dunder Mifflin. The show takes place in a dull, average looking office building in which average looking every day people are sharing a work space for. This is supposed to give off the asethetic of, “what could possibly happen in an average looking american work place that’s worth making a documentary about?”. The satirical irony of this being that chaos goes on all the time lead by mainly Michael Scott, the dim-witted regional manager always keeping things interesting. The genuine purpose of the show being that you can always find meaning in the most unexpected places, even in a small workplace in Scranton Pennsylvania where this hilarious chaos took place for nine seasons.

As mentioned before, the Office was an adaptation of the british broadcasting company by american television show writer Greg Daniels, who worked on shows like the Simpsons and Saturday Night Live which also present lots of satirical humor. The series initially received low ratings upon debuting, but became the highest-rated scripted series on NBC by its second season. The series has won four Primetime Emmy awards and several other awards.

For my critical analysis, I will try t0 use evidence in order to describe certain stereotypes that I believe are presented by Michael Scott in a satirical fashion in which playing on exaggerated ideas reflective of actual societal issues. This is done by using a certain narrative and production style in which we, the actively engaged audience, feels apart of the show whenever Jim gives us a concerned look about something Michael has touched upon involving western stereotypes(gender, sexism, race, body image).

The episode “Diversity Day”, season 1 episode 2, is a perfect example of how the Office uses exaggerated stereotypes in order to bring awareness to substantial issues. Corporate sends Mr. Brown, the leader of the diversity training taking place at the branch, to lead a seminar on diversity. Coporate’s reason for the diversity training was 100 percent due to Michael Scott’s inappropriate jokes concerning racism. The entire episode Michael consistently mentions that he loves diversity and wants to celebrate it, when ironically he is sabotaging the whole entire seminar by making it more inappropriate. In the episode, Michael makes everyone play the headbands game in which each staff member put a certain race on their forehead while the other staff members used stereotypes as hints in order to help them guess what they were. Instead of celebrating diversity, Michael makes each staff member say demeaning things about different races in order to learn more about them. That is the beauty of the humor of the office. Michael is supposed to be the voice of ignorance while Jim, who we as the audience are supposed to relate with the most, is the voice of reason. The zoom-ins on Jim’s face represent the message that is actually being given to the audiences of the series, while it is not clearly verbally mentioned. Michael Scott time after time will display ignorance with genuine confidence, all while we an audience are aware that everything he says should be taken with a grain of salt and not seriously.

The categories I have chosen to analyze are race, sexual orientation, gender and body image and how they are portrayed in the Office. I will use specific examples from the first season that will prove my point further.

Gender

Right off the bat in the pilot episode, the series starts off with Michael talking to Pam after the opening scene and right away Michael is shown harassing Pam solely because she is a woman. Pam is introduced and Michael immediately addresses the camera, “This is our receptionist Pam, and if you think she’s cute now, you should’ve seen her a couple years ago!” (Season 1, Pilot). Michael makes it obvious that he does not take Pam seriously, only priding her on being “the most attractive in the office” which he mentions multiple times throughout the series. Michael prides himself on respecting women all the time, meanwhile all the women in the office feel clearly violated by him.

Sexual Orientation

In episode 5, Basketball, Michael is quoted saying: “Just try not to be too gay on the court. And by gay I mean, um, you know, not in a homosexual way at all. I mean the uh, you know, like the bad-at-sports way. I think that goes without saying.” This quote alone accurately depicts how Michael will say things that relate directly to prior stereotypes of our society. Michael will consistently state that he supports homosexuality, while his actions and dialogue are ironic of that. Throughout the series, one of the employees at Dunder Mifflin(Oscar) comes out openly as gay, in which a substantial amount of episodes are written purely around just Michael Scott trying to be politically correct around him and failing miserably. Oscar ends up receiving a paid vacation by corporate because of how much prejudice Oscar endures from Michael.

Race

Above I dove more into the Diversity Day episode, which is a perfect example of how racism is used for the exaggerated stereotypes in the office’s narrative structure. Michael is infamous for trying to be politically correct to the minorities around the office. The staff members who are picked on the most are Oscar, who is constantly pointed out by Michael for being Mexican and homosexual. “Is there a term besides Mexican you prefer or is it too offensive?” (Season 1, Diversity Day). The next being Stanley, who is the only African American employee in the office. The last being Kelly, who is Indian. Even in the first season, it is made known that these three staff members are unique to the rest of the Caucasian staff because of Michael awkwardly addressing it.

Body Image

Each cast member is used strategically to be portrayed as unique and central to the storyline. Three characters are pointed out consistently for being over-weight by Michael, which are Stanley, Kevin and Phyllis. Michael and Dwight, Michael’s oblivious and loyal follower, are shown being cruel about the three staff member’s body weight.

All of these characters are significant to the narrative structure of the show. The exaggerated societal stereotypes are represented by the staff members and the issues that arise with these stereotypes are represented by Regional Manager Michael Scott, who is supposed to be setting a good and moral example for his company. The satirical irony of the show is what makes the Office unique. I have enjoyed thoroughly analyzing this show because it gave me more insight on what is in between the lines of the script. It made me find more meaning in the show that I had not already known about even being a huge fan of the show before starting this course. I hope everyone can come to understand and appreciate the narrative structure of the Office just as much as I do.

The second episode of the second season of The Office, which was written by B.J Novak(who is Ryan Howard, one of the main characters) is called Sexual Harassment. The title of the episode is tied in with the theme where Michael Scott, the boss of Dunder Mifflin paper company thinks that he is being targeted when upper-level management requires sexual harassment training. Todd Packer is introduced, which is a reoccuring character that occasionally shows up to the office and distract the entire staff with crude, sexist and offensive jokes. Todd Packer is Michael Scott’s best friend, that used to work with him at Dunder Mifflin. He is also essential to the theme of this episode particularly because right off the bat he is introduced as a sexist pig that just loiters in the office distracting the staff from their work. The show does an amazing job with making the stupidity of both Michael Scott and Todd packer hilarious. The way the staff reacts to Michael’s crude jokes is a huge element of comedy that makes the show so entertaining. Michael isn’t supposed to be funny, and neither is Todd Packer. What’s funny is how they humiliate themselves or say something that makes you cringe, and the staff’s reactions to it confirm this.

Michael Scott idolizes Todd Packer, which is not a shocker considering Michael can be sometimes just as crude. The episode begins with Michael claiming he was the “King of email forwards” because he sends inappropriate emails that he finds hilarious around to the staff, who does not.

The episode goes into Michael spreading chaos in the office when he is concerned that the sexual harassment training is targeted towards him, even though the training only pertained to an upper-level management scandal. Michael becomes angry that Jan cuts off his email forwards as well as his “retirement from comedy” as he announced to the entire staff.

I believe that the entire episode was the show’s way of pointing out that Michael’s behavior and jokes to the staff can be sexist as well as inappropriate. This is never clearly stated verbally, but I felt that this episode addresses that what Michael says is ignorant.

I feel that although the point of Michael Scott is to establish the idea of an ignorant boss that the entire staff does not respect. That is the realism in the show, as well as the asthetics of the average looking office with a diverse group of people. What adds to the hilarity of the show is the extremity of Michael’s ignorance that leads to chaos in a normal office setting.

Pam’s reactions to Michael I feel are what makes it most obvious that Michael is ignorant(besides the content of what he says being the obvious indicator). As the receptionist, Pam does a lot of things for Michael, almost taking care of him sometimes. I feel that she does care about him, and treats him like a child when trying to get him to do work or when he asks her for advice. Pam is targeted in the Sexual Harassment episode, because she is considered to be the “prettiest in the office” stated constantly by Michael. Her mother was visiting her at work that day, and she had to clearly state to the entire office that everyone needed to watch what they said around her on Sexual Harassment training day.

The show makes Michael Scott sound ridiculous enough to be funny, even when its about topics like sexual harassment. The entire staff knows that Michael is crude about his jokes, and I feel that this episode addressed that. There are moments when Michael is shown as a caring boss though, and this is addressed throughout the series when he consistently refers to the staff as his family. Michael relies on his staff for emotional support because he really doesn’t have anyone else.

The television show “The Office” aired on March 24th, 2005 on NBC.  The show is targeted for a wide range of audiences, based on if you enjoy the type of comedy that surrounds the mockumentary style approach.  The first season of the Office only includes six episodes, the show did so poorly in ratings that they were going to cancel it after the six episodes were shot.  Finally, the show was renewed for a second season and a lot of things were changed. A lot of the characters had boring personalities, and the plot was based a lot off the one season of the Office(U.K.).  After the second season was released, the show had more originality and life to it and a lot more of the staff’s characters became significant, whereas in the Office(U.K) only a few of the staff members were really considered significant.

The Office portrays the lives of the average american worker in a small scale paper company called Dunder Mifflin.  Dunder Mifflin is placed in a small office building in Scranton Pennsylvania, where the show is catered to make their office setting look as normal as possible, with a very abnormal manager inflicting chaos any chance he gets.

Michael has very significant roles, but the one he is infamous for is being the ignorant regional manager of Dunder Mifflin that tries his best to be politically correct, but fails miserably.  A perfect example of this would be Season 1, episode 2: Diversity Day. This is personally one of my favorite episodes because it really depicts how small minded Michael Scott is to Diversity. Michael Scott generally represents the ignorance that lies in racism and sexism.  Michael makes it clear that he considers women to be equal to men, but through his actions and jokes towards the female staff, you can tell that Michael does not truly believe this. When it comes to race, Michael likes to “defy” stereotypes, even though no one will be thinking of stereotypes when say talking to Stanley, but Michael always has to point out that Stanley is different.  The staff recognizes this, and does not respect Michael for this. This shows how Michael is considered to be the ignorant manager that no one looks up to or takes seriously.

I can personally relate to the two main characters Jim and Pam, who are young and not sure about the future.  They are both struggling to find out more about themselves and find something more meaningful in their lives, but the show demonstrates how much they actually care about the small Scranton office because of the relationships between the staff and the memories made.  

The theme song of The Office, is one of the most infamous opening songs to a television series in history.  When it starts playing, immediately most people who hear it will immediately associate it with the series. Although the show ended years ago, the song is still relevant to our culture.

The Office has been notorious for their comedic “mockumentary” narrative structure. The camera angles, facial expressions and significance of the camera crew being considered another character in the show is what separates The Office from being like any other television series. You’ll see the characters being interviewed by the camera crew to support the story line that they were participating in a documentary about the day in the life of an average american work place. In Episode 22 of Season 1(“Casino Night”), the subtle build up throughout the show of the Jim and Pam romance is finally addressed. Throughout seasons 1 and 2, Jim and Pam’s subtle flirting and romance in the office is not directly addressed until Jim confronts Pam about his feelings for her. They constantly deny in their interviews that they’re friendship is purely platonic, but as viewers we know from just feeling the sexual tension between them from watching how they interact.

Jim and Pam’s relationship was crucial to the narrative structure of the show, and is what guides most of the plot lines to each episode after Casino Night.

Based on Aristole’s theory of narrative structure, Aristotle emphasizes that, “unnecessary people and incidents should be omitted from the story’s plot”. This theory is crucial to the plot of The Office. Every character has their own background, unique personality and significance to the show. Some are prioritized more than others, but each has a crucial role that adds life to the small, dull office building in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The characters that appear on-screen the most are Michael, Jim, Pam Dwight and Ryan. Although viewers of the show know and appreciate the other characters and their significance to the show, they are the only characters that appear in the introduction.

Roland Barthe discusses five codes of Narrative Theory. One of these codes is referential code, which discusses intertextuality. Michael Scott is notorious for his many intertextual references, in almost every episode he is seen quoting other comedians.

Another code I would like to discuss is the Proairetic code. The Proairetic code is the code of any actions of the characters in the show and the cumulative actions that constitute the events of the plot. This is essential to each character in the story line because for nine seasons, with the exception of Steve Carrell(Michael Scott) leaving after the seventh season, all of the characters that starred in the premier of the show has had a critical role in guiding the plot of each episode. All of the personalities that are introduced to these characters are carried out through the nine season. Each character has a unique personality trait that they are known for. Here is a list of the characters and their specific traits that are utilized in writing each episode of the Office:

Michael Scott:

Position: Regional Manager of Dunder Mufflin

Unique Traits: unintelligent, obsession with his superior Jan, bad jokes, no filter, makes it difficult for his superiors to respect him, romantic, rushes every relationship, thinks of the office staff as his family, lonely, intertextual references

Love interest: Jan, Carol, Holly, Donna, Pam’s mom

Dwight Shrute:

Position: Assistant TO the Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin

Unique traits: Dedicated employee, will do anything to please his boss, never misses a day of work, Beat farmer, Battle Star Galactica mega fan, bear enthusiast, mustard work shirts, obsession with getting Jim fired, Karate, Volunteer firefighter, hiding weapons in the office

Love interest: Angela

Jim Halpert:

Position: Salesman

Unique traits: Known for not taking his job seriously, “Class Clown” of the office, “hot guy” of the office, notorious for his pranks on Dwight

Love interest: Katie, Karen Fillipelli, Pam

Pam Beasly:

Position: Receptionist

Unique traits: artist, helps Jim to conspire against Dwight, “hot girl” of the office

Love interest: Roy, Jim

Ryan Howard:

Position: Temp

Unique traits: sexually harassed by Michael, temp that is not taken seriously, attends business school, on and off relationship with Kelly

Love interest: Kelly

Although the first episode started in 2005, there is still a lot of appreciation and love for the sitcom ‘The Office’. The show aired on NBC until 2013, yet has been popularly streamed by many Netflix users and makes a consistent appearance on the Netflix trending category list. The show is an adaptation of the original BBC series, “The Office”, by the American producer Greg Daniels. Only containing six episodes, the first season of The Office received mixed reviews and because of this, almost went off the air. Fourteen years later, people are begging for a reboot. The camera angling, dialogue and overall production of the show has viewers hysterically laughing at what should be a small, dull office in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Steve Carrell addressed viewer’s concerns about the reboot when he hosted Saturday Night Live. Carrell emphasizes that there will be no reboot because the show would not be the same in today’s society. The jokes may be taken as “over the line” and it would be hard to recreate the show with all of the same cast, or even an entirely different cast. Since I was assured that there will be no reboot, I have taken interest in why it will not even be considered regardless of how much fans want it back.

The first episode starts off with Michael, the main character played by Steve Carrell, is introduced. He is the branch manager of the Scranton branch of the paper company, ‘Dunder Mifflin’. Off the bat Michael is introduced as the dim-witted, distracting and naive boss who goes over to the receptionist who is talking to a coworker, Jim. Michael refers to Jim as “Fat Halpert” doing a word play on his name “Jim Halpert”. The scene goes quiet and Pam and Jim look at Michael in confusion, but does not question him about it. Just from those seconds of footage you can tell that Pam and Jim have been dealing with Michael’s unconventional management for a while now as well as not finding Michael’s jokes funny. This introduced the idea of Michael being a superior in the office, yet no one taking him seriously.

Michael, as well as the other actors, talk to the camera a lot because the show revolves around it being a “documentary” about office life. Although it is an adaptation of the British original sitcom, Greg Daniels tends to incorporate ideas, beliefs and values that Americans would find more culturally relevant. A lot of the show based their comedy on popular events and issues that were being discussed outside of the show around the time they were filming, as if it were being discussed about in a real office. This type of comedy can be considered sensitive to those it affects in our society today.

I would love to think of a world where an Office reboot would be possible, but with the show being fourteen years old now it would be almost impossible to get the same directors, producers and cast together in order to recreate it. Even having the same cast, the show revolves around dry humor towards sensitive topics in the media. Although I would love to see a continuation of my beloved Office, I think it is only right to leave it as it is. A lot of movies in this day in age have done sequels or remakes, and I feel as though for some of these movies it doesn’t do it justice. One example of a television series that I feel should have not been rebooted was ‘Boy Meets World’. Boy Meets World aired on NBC from 1993 to 2000, but like The Office, was popular even after it’s time. I remember coming home every day from high school and watching Boy Meets World at 2:00 on MTV. Because of how long it has remained popular, Disney Channel decided to do “Girl Meets World”, a continuation in the form of a children’s show. At first I thought this was a great idea because they were using the same actors, Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel to be the television parents. After watching a couple episodes I could tell that today’s Disney Channel had ruined yet another aspect of my childhood. The show was cheesy and not at all what I had expected of a reboot. I expected the show to be PG rated based on the television station it was airing on but was disappointed in how different it was from the original show.

Overall I do agree with Steve Carrell, The Office was something special that needs to be left and appreciated in the past. Sometimes making a reboot of a show can either become successful or disappoint fans who had admired the show or film for years.

Hi my name is Alyssa McGuinness. I started this blog for my Analyzing Television course at Plymouth State University. I am excited to be taking this class, because in the first assignment we are able to analyze one of my favorite shows, Broad City. I can’t wait to dive deeper into the messages that televisions will give off. Some of my favorite shows are Black Mirror, Friends, Broad City, Sex education, parks and recreation. I also have watched The Office quite frequently, which is why it is the Television show I have picked to discuss.

I feel that The Office has a sort of humor that some may deem to be “stupid humor”, as my grandmother would refer to it. I feel that as the show progressed to the second season, I felt a connection with the characters in the office due to how much of a part each of them had in the show. I feel that the filming is perfect, I automatically almost die laughing whenever the camera frames to Jim’s responses to anything Michael or Dwight says. The way they come up with hilarious scenarios in their small Scranton office in Pennsylvania. All while keeping it subtle and showing characters reactions.

I love studying film and television, and I’m excited to jump right into the coursework for this class. I am excited to analyze Broad City, as well as for their new season to come out that I saw the preview for the other night.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton