Norms in The Office

          I have one all-time favorite show that I've faithfully watched since it started.  That would be The Office, so there was no way I was picking any other show to use as my example for this assignment.  However, I thought to myself, the office isn't a political show, so how am I going to find some examples within the show to go along with James Curran's points in Media & Democracy?  Well, I found that relating some moments and characters from The Office to public norms (not necessarily political norms) as they were discussed in chapter four would not be so hard after all.  Curran states that, "Public norms generate shared understandings about what actions are appropriate and inappropriate" (72).  This is exactly what The Office does in the clips that I've found online.  That is actually a big part of what makes the show so funny is the way it plays on particular public norms; whether it be mockingly following them or crashing over the norm-line at one-hundred miles an hour.
          The book had some examples that it focused on, so I decided to run with those.  The first thing Curran talks about in relation to public norms is the way gays were portrayed in the first half of the twentieth century.  There was strong social disapproval of gays, and this was reinforced with negative portrayals in films.  This worked out perfectly with my example of The Office because Oscar Martinez plays a gay man on the show.  The show decided to 'out him' as gay in the second season and I found a clip from that episode.  In this clip you see Michael, the boss, being extremely insensitive to Oscar because he is gay.  This would be a similar way people would have acted back in the early twentieth century.  However, in today's society, gays are becoming more and more accepted.  This change was majorly seen around the 1980s.  The book states, "For the first time, there were also screen portrayals of gays and lesbians as 'ordinary'" (72).  This is how The Office also went; however, I could not find a clip depicting that.  With the exception of a few episodes, the characters on The Office treat Oscar with respect because he is just a regular human being.  This reflects the way we (the majority) as a society see gays now.
          The second big thing that Curran talks about regarding norms is gender differences.  These gender norms have been in existence since the beginning of time.  The ones I'm talking about would the ideas that women belong in the house and men are to be the breadwinners of the family.  This was true for the longest time, and is still the way things go to an extent.  The Office uses this norm to create humor in several cases.  I found one clip of Dwight talking in which he highlights several stereotypes about women during a sales presentation.  They use Jim's character for disapproval (his wide eyes and shaking of his head) of the things that Dwight is saying throughout that entire part of his presentation.  I also found another clip from Dwight as well, talking about the NBA vs. WNBA.  For some context, since the clip barely gives enough, all the people of The Office are having an open discussion about how men are being given opportunities that the women aren't.  This was true for this particular instance on the show because Deangelo Vickers (Will Ferrell's character) becomes boss and is outwardly sexist.  This is an extreme example playing on our social norms, but it still happens.
          Gender norms and sexism are certainly still an issue in the workplace; however, it is not nearly as prevalent of a problem as it was years ago.  You can actually sue for unequal opportunities in the workplace between men and women.  According to Curran, it has generally become accepted across our society today that men and women are equal in the workplace.  The Office also portrays this ideology in another clip.  Basically I just want you to ignore most things in the clip except for the fact that Nellie (Catherine Tate) is the boss of the whole office.  She is a woman and she is the boss.  This would have never been accepted a while back, but now it isn't even questioned.  It's crazy how social norms that have existed for hundreds of years can be broken down in such a short amount of time.
          The Office is a very unique show, and the more I was forced to think about it, it actually uses public norms to create humor.  The show is constantly either crossing the line and challenging norms or it's mocking them in a way.  I've found some clips that perfectly portray the way gays were viewed, and the way they are mostly viewed in todays society.  Another big part of the norms section of chapter four discussed gender norms.  This is all about the opportunities that are afforded to men and not women.  Curran stated that it used to be unequal, but it the gender gap has actually gotten significantly smaller; almost to the point of there being no gap at all.  The Office also had many examples of existing and non-existant gender gaps which went along with what Curran has stated.  The Office is my favorite show and I'm glad it worked so well with Curran's points about public norms.