The Office: An Epidemic

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Imagine you are on any dating app. Swiping left and right, you see a good-looking person, just your type. Their face is stunning, they seem fun and exciting, and their body isn’t too bad either. You are excited for this prospect, so you check their bio, but to your horror their tinder bio is “Looking for the Pam to my Jim.” You have no choice but to swipe left. It is not just people on Tinder who are obsessed with the Office. It is your classmates saying it is the best show of all time, it is your friends who talk about “Scott’s Tots”, it is your teachers having a Dunder Mifflin poster in their classroom. It is an epidemic that is destroying the world. I am here to say the Office is not a good show.

The most important part of a comedy show is that it is funny. The Office describes itself as a critique of the realities of a toxic office workplace, but rather it becomes what it set out to critique. The Office relies on cringe and offensive humour to get a laugh. Women are harassed, abusive relationships are normalized, people with disabilities are mocked, and self-worth is based on physical appearance or money. The great thing about comedy is that you can make offensive jokes and take risks, but most importantly it has to make people laugh. Dark and inappropriate jokes can be done well but the Office misses the mark most of the time, so it is not funny, it is insulting. What also makes the show really bad as a comedy is that it does not stay consistently funny over the years. It drags on with the same jokes, they assassinate characters’ personalities, and worst of all the plot lines are re-used and cliché. Good shows get better over time and stay funny. It is acceptable to have one off season, but four bad seasons out of eight is unacceptable.

Another tragic aspect of the show is the characters. The characters are not captivating, yet we have been brainwashed into thinking that these characters are memorable and interesting. Take Pam; dry as toast, yet she is seen as the best female lead. Michael is the star when he is really a sad, pathetic man, who does nothing but create chaos. Dwight is a weird snitch with a beet farm and his office relationships only inspire discomfort. The golden boy Jim? He complains, makes a face, and we are all supposed to laugh and swoon. There is little growth from them all and they stay in this stagnant mediocrity. With so many faults, why do people still cling to this show?

Ultimately, people, I think, like the Office because it is safe and comfortable. It reminds people of an easy and restful time where the funniest thing ever was Dwight and Jim playing juvenile pranks on each other and Kevin’s spilled chili. This show is a safety blanket for people afraid to grow up and find other types of humour. It is time that we as society move on from the Office and turn to shows that have more substance. There are comedies that don’t get the same amount of attention and love that the Office gets that are genuinely worthy of it. Arrested Development, Community, Curb your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock, Derry Girls, Veep, It’s Always Sunny, and so much more. Watch other shows and stop basing your personality on liking the Office. Saying it’s your favourite show tells me that you do not have anything interesting to say, you probably only listen to Top 40 radio music, and you probably say doggo. Broaden your horizons, change your Tinder bio, and update your watch next list on Netflix and you will see that the world is so much more than the Office.

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Imani Theodore
By Imani Theodore

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