This post is about another one of my favorite prime time shows, The Office on NBC. For anyone who has not seen this show, I will provide a brief description of it and tell why I love it so. The Office is a clever and seemingly candid show about a hilarious office staff, run by Michael Scott (Steve Carell), who is the Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. A documentary style television show where the characters can interact with the camera, this show has been going on for five seasons, and it is as successful as ever. This show discriminates against very little, therefore calls for awkward situations and ridiculous behaviors/shenanagins.
Although the show itself shows extremely few biases in its production and marketing, the characters in the show are supposedly “unscripted,” therefore we are able to openly witness the biases of each character and how they interact with others on a daily basis. It is through their expresssions and obvious beliefs that we see certain elements of gender communication and stereotypes. Dwight Scrute is one of the most honest and (in my opinion) one of the funniest characters on the show. He practices, without a doubt, the most traditional beliefs when it comes to work ethic, women, family, and overall culture. He is not a womanizer or chauvinist in his own mind, however he looks down upon feminism and believes that women should all dress and act the same. He views females as mates, not equals, and made an utterance last episode that proved my point. During the occasional “staff meeting,” Dwight tries to take control and exert unauthorized authority over Michael. Michael allows it because he considers Dwight a friend, but he will only tolerate him until a certain point. During the most recent episode (Season 5, Episode 24), Dwight jumps in front of the staff during a meeting being run by the human resources representative. They are discussing Casual Friday, and Dwight decides to proclaim “Women are forbidden to wear pants…” before he is cut off my the supervisor. This shows us that he wishes to live in a traditional society where all women wear skirts and “dress their gender.” As previously mentioned, he does not believe that women are equal to men. However, I believe that Dwight would agree with the mindset of radical feminism mentioned in our textbook that states “All forms of oppression are a result of male patriarchy; women are caregorized as an inferior class; and the promotion of aggressiveness in men leads to the sexploitation of women.”(Gamble and Gamble, 2003, p. 405) I am aware that it may sound contradictory for Dwight to agree with this while practicing such behaviors and attitudes; however, just because he agrees with such statements does not mean he thinks that they are wrong or immoral in any way. He believes that that is how things should be between the sexes, and he will promote such ideologies indefinitely. Not only does Dwight practice such behaviors in his everyday life, but he brings sexist attitudes into the workplace for other employees to encounter. These stereotypes constitute some “external barriers to career advancement by women,” just like sexual discrimination sometimes exerted by Michael (not initially allowing Pam to become a salesperson because he was used to her stereotypically female job as a receptionist). This is also demonstrating the concept of glass walls, which “segregate women into positions because of their sex; thus, positions that require traditionally feminine skills such as secretarial and clerical roles…” (Gamble and Gamble, 2003, p. 276)!
Daniels, G. (Writer), & Gervais, R. (2005, September 24). Season 5, Episode 24. The Office [Television broadcast broadcast]. Washington, D.C.: National Broadcasting Company.
Gamble, M. W. (2003). The Gender Communication Connection. Columbus: Pearson.
