I wrote my final paper for class on the cultural representations in The Office and what those portrayals project to viewers. I originally intended to include a discussion about Grey’s Anatomy as well, but to stay within the assigned page count, there was a last minute change of plans and only The Office ended up in the paper. I love this show and have always thought of it as being relatively diverse, but when I actually stepped back and watched the show from a more critical viewpoint and compared the portrayals of the minority characters to some of the stereotypes discussed in the literature review, I was a little surprised by how many stereotypes there actually were. It seemed like a lot of the minority representation came through guest roles rather than main characters, which I guess I never really paid attention to before and I honestly never really read too much into some of the personality traits associated with characters like Stanley and Oscar for example, but they make a lot more sense now. I don’t know if it is the fact that the stereotypes are a bit shielded by the comedic aspect of the show, but for some reason, I did not pick up on the level of stereotyping until I was actively seeking it out.
What do you guys think? Do stereotypes come across as being less significant when they are used in comedy or do people just not realize what they are seeing?
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I think with a show like "The Office," the viewer just takes whatever there is at face value, even if it is a comedy. With a show like "South Park" or "The Chappelle Show" or other shows that blatantly show stereotypes, we are more aware because that is the format. I love "The Office" and I never considered that guest appearances would show more stereotypes! It just goes to show you that even when you think you're paying attention, sometimes because of the time or place we were raised, we miss thigngs. I'm glad you explored that in your paper! It must have been a very interesting paper to write.
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