Analysis

            In the article “I Was Just Doing a Little Joke There: Irony and Paradoxes of the Sitcom in The Office”, Eric Detweiler examines the aforementioned sitcom and compares it to others such as Seinfeld, Arrested Development and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in regards to the way the shows use irony as a vehicle to convey jokes to the viewer.   The Office is a sitcom based around a fictional paper company and the employees of mainly its Scranton, Pennsylvania office that are followed day in and day out by a TV crew.  A documentary or mockumentary as it is called because it presents a fictional subject in the form of a documentary.  Detweiler examines in particular the way in which ironic humor is translated to the viewer.

            Most television sitcoms operate on the premise that the viewer watches the lives of the characters unbeknownst to them.  The office, on the other hand, being a mockumentary, the characters know they are being filmed and eventually watched by a viewer.  This allows the characters to break what Detweiler refers to as “the fourth wall”.  This an instance in which the characters look directly at the camera, seemingly looking at the viewer.  This is one of the vehicles in which The Office delivers its humor.  The punch line of a joke or the irony of a situation is conveyed to the viewer through a glance toward the camera by one of the characters, most often Jim Halpert.  In fact, all of the characters look directly at the camera at some point, often having a confession type moment in which they explain their thoughts or actions directly to the television crew in private. Detweiler more specific implies that the character of Jim Halpert is the key delivery of most of these jokes, signaled by him smirking, nodding or furrowing his brow to the camera. 

            Being a mockumentary instead of a normal sitcom, one thing absent is the proverbial laugh track.  This absence makes it necessary for some kind of mark when a something humorous happens.  A laugh track reminds audiences that something funny just happened and gives them the signal to laugh as well.  This is replaced in the office by the look into the camera as mentioned in the previous paragraph.  All the characters in the office look into the camera at one time or another, much of the time signaling to the viewer it is time to laugh or that something humorous or ironic just happened.

            The main point of this article seems to be the way The Office delivers irony in the form of comedy.  I have seen all but the last season of The Office so I understand the point Detweiler is making.  Actually, I think it would take the average person watching just a few episodes of this show to pick up on it as well.  Detweiler does a good job of conveying to the reader his point, but I believe he over-analyses the show.  The Office is merely that, a show meant to entertain as many people that will watch it as possible.  The Office is extremely funny, cleverly written and all the characters were cast very well.  In fact, only one main character left the show before  its finale, which happened in the ninth season.

            I don’t think the article is necessarily important any more than this paper is important.  It was probably written as an assignment for school or work, which made it important for the author and whoever else assigned it. It has not given me any different perspective of the show, but only has made me want to watch some of my favorite episodes again and finishing the series by watching all of the last season.  Some may get more out of the article than I did, or may not pick up on the show’s delivery of irony through simply watching it. 

References

Detweiler, E. (2012). “I Was just Doing a Little Joke There”: Irony and Paradoxes of the Sitcom in The Office. The Journal of Popular Culture. 45(4), 727-748