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.
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