Despite the headline I want to make clear
that I love The Office. The US
version—the UK one is funny but too filthy and too full of horrible people. It
is so coarse that it leaves you feeling dead inside. The US one continued the
trend, already started towards the end of the UK series, of lightening up the
tone and of making the characters more sympathetic. By the time Michael Scott
left (season 7?) he was a thoroughly sympathetic character, meant to be liked
and capable of being liked by the audience. Lightening up the show was a
necessary move because it made it possible to endure nine seasons.
Anyway, the US Office is one of my very favourite television shows; second only, I
think, to Freaks and Geeks. Nevertheless
The Office is a highly Political
Correct show. A few observations...
Undoubtedly the favourite sin of the
creators of The Office is adultery. They
harp on it from every possible angle with all different characters right
through the series. Jim and Pam are the big one at the beginning, with Pam
engaged to Roy but carrying on a highly inappropriate friendship and flirtation
with Jim, leading to them falling in love and so on... They never sleep
together while she is with Roy, which is good, but the whole romance is coloured
by Pam’s engagement. Indeed the thrill of adultery is part of the intensity of
their romance. Then Jim is with Karen and in love with Pam, etc.
And even after Jim and Pam get together,
adultery gets suggested a few more times; for instance the gratuitous attempted-seduction
of Jim by Cathy (during one of the worst episodes of season 8), and Pam’s
strange relationship with the cameraman in season 9.
Erin and Pete: essentially a revival of the
Jim and Pam plotline, Erin is dating Andy while falling in love with Pete. Like
Jim and Pam they never commit formal adultery but again, the adulterous
situation is part of the emotional grab. Here it starts to seem like adultery
is just a cheap trick to make the romances more exciting.
But it is not just that. Consider the other
characters and it becomes clear that the writers have a veritable obsession
with adultery. They just cannot leave it alone.
Michael: while Michael and Jan are dating
it is strongly implied that she cheats on him with her executive assistant,
Hunter. Later Michael finds out that the women he is dating is married; he
intends to go on dating and sleeping with her but eventually feels guilty and
breaks it off. But not before meeting her husband and privately gloating about
making him a cuckold.
Stanley: serially cheats on his wife, and
his co-workers are fully aware of it after season 3 or 4. He shows no remorse
for it and after the episode when it is revealed nobody troubles him about it.
In season 8 and 9 it is revealed that he even cheats on his mistress, being
essentially a compulsive adulterer—while in Florida (the same horrible episode
as the Cathy situation) Stanley seduces multiple women and takes them back to
his hotel room; he says to Jim at one point, when he thinks Jim is going to cheat
on Pam with Cathy, “Careful Jim, it gets easier and easier.”
Phyllis: one episode has her worried that
her husband Bob Vance will cheat on her with his secretary.
Angela: cheats on Andy with Dwight for a
whole season, while lying to Dwight that she is not sleeping with Andy, finally
breaking both their hearts. Then cheats on her Senator-husband again with
Dwight. Then it turns out the Senator is cheating on her with Oscar. In the end
it is revealed that her son (conceived during her engagement to the Senator) is
Dwight’s child.
Oscar: has an affair with Angela’s husband
the Senator. Then after the Senator reveals publicly that he is gay, he
abandons both Oscar and Angela for another man he has apparently been having an
affair with.
Darryl: has an adulterous flirtation with
Val while she has a boyfriend. This is revealed when his text messages are read
aloud, and the boyfriend accuses him of sleeping with Val. Darryl continually
hits on her even while she goes on dating her boyfriend, even in front of him.
Ryan: dates Kelly through much of the
series without any apparent intention of fidelity. When Erin arrives on the
show he makes many passes, even straight out telling her that he wants to sleep
with her even though he is with Kelly.
Kelly: in the later seasons when she has
finally broken up with Ryan and is dating a physician named Ravi, she is
constantly tempted to get back together with Ryan and actually makes out with
him at one point. In the series finale she abandons Ravi and runs off with
Ryan.
This covers all of the main characters! Watching
the show, after awhile it becomes clear that the plot is very often driven by
adultery, to the point that it seems like there is never a time when there is not an adulterous situation going on
with one of the main characters. First it’s Pam and Roy, then Jim and Karen,
then Andy and Angela (and also Stanley), then Ryan and Kelly, then Angela and
the Senator, then Erin and Andy...
And it is very interesting how this played
out morally. Actual physical infidelity, having sex with someone other than a
spouse, is not exactly approved: when
Michael finds out he is dating a married women they try to make him break it
off, and in the end he does out of guilt. Stanley’s adultery is initially
upsetting to his co-workers. But the rule is that adultery is not so serious as
long as it is done by likable people. Hence the only affair that is really condemned is Angela’s cheating on
Andy (and also, through dishonesty, cheating on Dwight). When that gets
revealed it is treated as a serious matter and does visible harm to both men.
But Stanley’s adultery is treated lightly and never criticized again after it
first comes out; and the emotional adultery of Pam and Jim, Erin and Pete,
though it has some consequences, is never really questioned. Even Oscar’s
affair with the Senator, though it does show Oscar in a bad light, is relieved
of guilt somewhat; and in a way Angela comes out of it looking worse, because
of her hypocrisy—she is very angry at Oscar even though she already cheated on
the Senator with Dwight—and because of how she reacts, hiring a hitman to whack
Oscar.
What is the difference that makes Angela’s
cheating on Andy the worst of all, and the others not so bad? Above all, why is
Angela condemned but Stanley humoured? Stanley’s behaviour, by any reckoning,
is much worse than Angela’s: he is married, and she is not (when she cheats on
Andy); he has a daughter who must be harmed in many ways by his actions, while
Angela does not; he is utterly self-righteous about it, while Angela at least
shows some regret.
I think, sadly, the difference is just that
Stanley is a likeable character and Angela is not. In fact the treatment of
Angela as a character is one of the worst Politically Correct aspects of the
show, worthy of another post.
The other difference, I think, is that the
victim in Stanley’s case is offscreen, not one of the characters on the show,
while the victim in Angela’s case is one of the main characters. And so we get
the message: as long as we don’t know
the person being injured, it’s not such a big deal... and that seems to be the
way the characters treat it. With Andy they know him and see the consequences,
so it’s important. But they aren’t friends with Stanley’s wife, so why worry?
It’s his business...
Sadly, I have seen just this attitude among
people I know. Adulterers are evil if they hurt your friends. But if a friend
is dating a married man, well, it might not be ideal but I want her to be
happy...
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