Assignment 1-3-2: Journal Article Analysis

             In the article “I Was Just Doing a Little Joke There”: Irony and the Paradoxes of the Sitcom in The Office, Eric Detweiler discusses the different forms of irony in The Office.  He also compares The Office to a few different television shows such as Arrested Development and Seinfeld.  Whether you’ve seen an episode of The Office or not, everyone has most likely been exposed to the type of irony used in The Office.

            “The premise of The Office is this: a television crew is making a documentary about the typical American workplace, recording the everyday events that transpire at the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company” (Detweiler, 2012).  Detweiler describes a few of the cast members from the show and gives examples of the use of irony through these characters.

            One character Detweiler describes is Jim Halpert, “an affable prankster in his upper twenties, is a Dunder Mifflin salesman and the ironic center of the show” (Detweiler, 2012).  In most of the episodes of The Office, Jim constantly makes eye contact with the camera, sometimes shaking his head or raising an eyebrow, in order to spell out the ironic situation to the audience.  “As Jim is purportedly in a documentary, he is aware of the camera.  Given that he is often the only Dunder Mifflin employee aware of the ridiculousness of his coworkers’ actions, he seeks to extend the in-joke beyond himself through a commiserating glance” (Detweiler, 2012).

            Another character Detweiler describes is Pam Beesley, the secretary at Dunder Mifflin and Jim’s confidante.  Pam has the typical “woman’s job” on The Office and is constantly being told to take notes at meetings and staff gatherings (Detweiler, 2012).  “’Female characters are shooed  or shamed away from writing for academic or other public purposes’ (38).  This also holds true in the case of The Office, but only in a certain way.  Pam, as a secretary and receptionist, is employed in a job historically marked as female in both sitcoms and the ‘gender-segregated workplace’”(Detweiler, 2012).  Although people view Pam as just a secretary, she also has an important role in the show as Jim’s accomplice.  “Key to their relationship is the fact that Pam can keep up with Jim’s irony, detachment, and sarcasm.  Jim provides opportunities for Pam to use literacy ironically” (Detweiler, 2012).

            Another character from the show that Detweiler describes is Michael Scott, the office’s boss.  Michael tries hard to be well-liked by all of his employees, and sometimes goes too far with his jokes without realizing he does.  Most of these inappropriate jokes are made during staff meetings, and responses from Jim and Pam are always seen; Jim will usually look at the camera, shocked and open-mouthed, and the audience feels that they are part of the joke and understand Michael’s mistake.  While his irony is usually not intentional, Michael is a very ironic character in The Office.  “Michael, in contrast to Jim, is often unintentionally rendered ironic by his situation.  When, for instance, he hits an employee with his car right after stating, ‘This is going to be a very good year,’ the irony of the situation is beyond his control”(Detweiler, 2012).

            While so much irony is unlikely to happen to someone, The Office lets the audience sit back and enjoy a laugh at this ridiculous amount of irony.  I’m sure we all have a boss or co-worker that may act the same way and this show takes everyday office activities to the extreme to make us laugh.  “It ridicules the everyday, but does not drive the viewer to turn off the television (or the salesman to quit his job with the paper company)” (Detweiler, 2012).  I believe this article does a good job of describing the show.  I’ve seen a few episodes of The Office and have laughed so hard that I’ll get funny looks from my family.  While it deals with everyday situations, it makes you realize how ridiculous some things can be.  I liked how Detweiler describes each character; all of the main characters are an important part of the show and I don’t think that the show would be the same if one of them weren’t there. 

References

Detweiler, E. (2012). “i was just doing a little joke there”: Irony and the paradoxes of the sitcom in the office. The journal of popular culture, 45(4), 727-748. Retrieved from http://olinkserver.franklin.edu/search~S0?/tjournal of popular culture/tjournal of popular culture/1,1,3,B/l856~b1119754&FF=tjournal of popular culture&1,,3,1,0.