Postmodernism & The Office

 The Office and Postmodernism

For this week’s blog post, I decided to watch the video titled, The Office & Postmodernism. The Office is a fly-on-the-wall mockumentary parody about modern American office culture. The Office (US Version) airs in March of 2005 and instantly became a massive hit. The office looks at the lives of the works at Dunder Mifflin, a paper supply company located in Scranton Pennsylvania. The show is centered around Regional Manager, Michael Scott, played by the Emmy award winner, Steve Carell, is a single, middle-aged man who serves as an extremely boastful tour guide for the mockumentary. While at first glance, one might not notice the similarities between postmodernism, and the Office – it quickly becomes apparent after taking a closer look. For example, The Office utilizes three different styles of postmodernism, the style of filming, the use of intertextual references, and its presence on the internet. This is formally known as re-articulation, which is defined as the bringing of elements of traditional documentaries, such as single camera set up, and the feeling that a real story is being told. A Mockumentary, which is the style in which The Office utilizes, takes these ideas and elements and provides ironic humor. This is done by the practice of hyperawareness, which is frequently utilized throughout the show in different forms. The Office's use of intertextual references is one of the key elements of its postmodernism. The Office frequently makes references to different popular culture references from other TV shows and films, such as Battlestar Galactica, The Apprentice, and Lord of The Rings. These references are used to provide humor, as well as to push the story forward. These intertextual references are emblematic of the hyper-consciousness of postmodern popular culture, and as such creates an ironic knowingness in the audience as the views know what they’re referring to. Finally, The Office's presence on the internet through their website is a perfect example of postmodernism. In addition to the content created on the TV show, the creators developed a website that provides additional content for the audience. On their website, they have blogs supposedly written by the characters on the show, as well as games, videos and episode guides. It also offers online-only videos such as web-episodes and music videos that add an additional layer of content for the show. As a fan of The Office, I never realized the use of postmodernism throughout the film. While this concept is widely popular nowadays, the idea of watching an episode, then going online to experience even more content is a prime example of postmodernism. Overall, the office illustrates postmodernism with its use of intertextual popular culture references, mockumentary style, and their vast variety of Office related content available online. 

Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lzrZtEedgw&t=0s&list=PL8YtsooGljrlPkr7Ija54C6TtpCElse9j&index=16