What The Office Does Right That 30 Rock Does Not [TV Correspondent Tryout]
By Guest Contributor Joi Foley
It took me awhile to get into The Office. Straight up, I thought it was a bunch of racist BS. Every time I caught a rerun, I always turned it off in disgust, and spent at least a half hour ranting about how I couldn’t understand why people loved such a horrible show.
Somewhere in the middle of its sixth season, the show appeared on Netflix. Tired of constantly being told “you don’t watch The Office? OMG, you’d love it!” at parties, I decided to sit down and watch it straight through. My plan was to arm myself with specific instances of the show’s immaturity and lack of true humour, so that the next time someone pulled that shocked face like I had just admitted to being the reason we don’t have universal healthcare in this country, I would be ready.
The first season seemed to drag on forever, and it’s only 6 episodes long. I felt no love for Steve Carell’s character Michael Scott. I found him to be not only ignorant, but also self-absorbed and childish. The second episode, “Diversity Day”, includes one of the most painful-to-watch scenes anyone could ever put down on paper:
Why would anyone want to watch a show with this character as its lead?
But I was determined to understand the show’s popularity, so I kept watching. I began to realize why it made me so uncomfortable; it’s in fact the show’s greatest strength. The Office, unlike other shows that deal with this topic on a regular basis, is not interested in teaching white viewers lessons about race and racism. It is interested in providing its POC viewers with a catharsis, a chance to see their daily experiences validated by mainstream media.
We often talk about how important it is for POCs to see themselves represented on TV. Obviously, this means more than just seeing a brown face in a boardroom scene, or not having characters of colour constantly portrayed as villains. We want ample screen time and good dialogue given to well-rounded characters who are beyond stereotypes, and reflect a true experience of their community.
This is the brilliance of The Office. Its documentary style allows for reaction shots that are directly to the camera so they can be shared with the audience. The workplace setting gives the writers numerous opportunities to address real-life situations of racism, like wage gaps and “unintentionally” offensive theme parties. The ensemble cast creates spaces for anyone watching to fit themselves in and feel vindicated when a character like Michael Scott gets his comeuppance.
The season 3 episode “Diwali” exemplifies the show’s form. Where it really stands out is in the subtle ways it fulfills both sides of the “what we want to see” coin: it presents a relatable experience for Asian-American viewers, and provides a smart, non-exoticised picture of Indian-American culture for viewers who may not have any frame of reference for it.
The episode begins with Michael lamenting his employees’ lack of knowledge regarding Indian culture. He decides to hold a staff meeting to provide them with more info about Diwali:
This should seem fairly obvious and familiar to most of us. Michael is putting pressure on Kelly to literally educate their white colleagues about her culture, and is taken aback when she describes Diwali as one would any other holiday, instead of as some mystical, magical experience.
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