Wednesday, May 22, 2013

What We Learned From “The Office”: Intro & Pt.1

Watching The Office (U.S. version) was a fun activity and a fond memory for my wife and I, during our engagement and our first few years of marriage. Every Thursday night, we’d gather with housemates, co-workers, grad school classmates, and/or family to watch the unfolding love drama of Jim & Pam and the antics of Michael Scott. We sometimes even took turns hosting and providing refreshments. 

And now it’s over. I’m still processing that a story I enjoyed for so many years is done. There’s a few gleanings to share.

Yes, I know that the content of The Office is not family-friendly. The dialogue, mostly, kept the ratings in either TV-PG or TV-14, but its caricatured portrayal of the Midwest, suburban, middle-class work life struck a lot of cords. Recently, actors were interviewed and remembered scenes as early as the second season where they thought the dialogue and story were too real to be from a script. The Office is, arguably, the mockumentary with the most balance between realism and comedy, and it illustrated a lot of truths about our culture. Some of these truths we Christians need to understand. Others we need to celebrate. (It’s mostly my fellow Office nerds that will better understand things from here).

#1: Great Marriages Enrich Lives
Of course, I had to put Jim and Pam’s story up front here. Their romantic tension and drama was likely the biggest reason people kept coming back for the next episode during the first three seasons. I can’t help but notice, though, what their relationship revealed about marriage. Pam’s and Jim’s marriage isn’t perfect, but they viewed marriage covenantally and strived to be faithful. As their relationship matured (seasons 4-9) and they continued to be faithful to each other, loving each other, investing in each other and inspiring each other, both characters improved in their self-confidence, general joy and contentment. And that’s what covenantal marriage and biblical love do.

Before Jim and Pam started dating, Pam was an insecure, timid, loneliness-fearing girl (who joked about sleeping with Dwight to get a Saturday off), stuck in an unending engagement to a live-in boyfriend who didn’t treat her right, to say the least. As Jim’s girlfriend and eventual wife, she was much more outwardly self-confident, vivacious and professional, and she developed into a good wife, loving mother, art school student and shepherdess of the office.

Similarly, Jim was a gawky, sardonic and slightly unprofessional and awkward guy-with-a-crush who wanted out of the paper business. Once he was in a loving relationship with Pam, he became more gracious and efficient in the leadership of the office and his household. Jim dressed more professionally, and was able to pursue his dream of being a sportswriter (which he was willing to, at the same time, wholly sacrifice for the sake of his marriage).

Jim and Pam’s love story went from the most followed subplot to, perhaps, the most debatable. Some people think it should have tragically never happened. Others wanted more drama and rough patches for the marriage (e.g. Jim cheating on Pam with Kathy during Season 8). Yet faithfulness, selflessness and love in a covenantal marriage, as evident in Jim & Pam’s relationship, (after all, the show did quote 1 Cor. 13:4-7 in a crucial moment during the 9th season) helps to strengthen the marriage to survive common experiences (wedding planning, parenthood, family/in-law issues) and potential rough patches (e.g. threats of unemployment, long distance, etc.) with little to no drama. It’s inspirationally boring, and seemingly not good for ratings. But it was almost always evident that Jim and Pam’s marriage was benefitting to the two of them, their family and even the office. The list of examples goes on.

Next: Good Management is Key

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