As I have previously mentioned, The Office is my favorite show of all time so hopefully I don’t go off on a tangent in this blog post. The Office is shot as a mockumentary, which is essentially a documentary crew coming in to this paper company to observe what it’s like having an average job in the paper business and eventually turn this footage into a television show. Along with recording basic dialogue, the characters also get interviewed and asked questions. One thing the characters in the show have to be careful with is how they are under constant surveillance, they know they are being videotaped while they are at work, but it is revealed in the final season of the show that there is a lot more secret footage than they anticipated. Along with being under constant surveillance, often characters feel the need to self-regulate their actions so that the cameras don’t record it.
One scene I would like to refer to is the season 2 episode “The Dundies” which involves some Jim and Pam drama, a plot which the series revolves around. In season 2 Pam is engaged to a warehouse worker, Roy, and after having a big fight she gets drunk at The Dundies and her and Jim hit it off having a great night. When the night is about over in the parking lot Pam thinks she is alone with Jim and says “can I ask you a question?” Of course Jim responds that she can until she realizes the cameras are on the two of them where she says “I just wanted to say thanks.”It is almost certain that Pam was going to ask Jim something romantic, maybe about his feelings for her? Foucault mentions in his article that one “must never know whether they are being looked at at any one moment; but they must be sure that they may always be so” (Foucault 555). In this case, Pam is ready to delve into what their friendship truly is, but instead the cameras are present so Pam must self-regulate her actions to make sure she doesn’t say anything that could land her in trouble. Pam did not realize the cameras were on the two initially, but she realized that the crew could be filming, and unfortunately for Jim, the cameras were rolling which forced Pam to subvert from what her question really was.
While all of the characters fall under Foucault’s theory, one that stands out to me is Stanley. Stanley starts out as a laid back old man, but later in the show in season 6 it is revealed that he is having an affair. Originally this is spread through Gossip, but there are other points in the show where the cameras catch him talking about his affair or film him with his “side woman.” Stanley does not realize that since the documentary crew is filming him all day for nine years that very little of his life is private. Stanley tries his best to self-regulate his actions, but unfortunately the supremacy that the cameras hold is just too much because keeping a secret like this is too difficult. Later, in season 8, when Stanley is on a vacation in Florida to help another store, he is shown driving around in a convertible wearing typical clothes one might see a vacationer wear in Florida. At this point, he is not discreet at all about his motives as he tries to pick up other women while Jim is right there in the car with him. Eventually, Stanley realizes that he is too far gone and does not care that he is under surveillance by the cameras and he’s being recorded hitting on other women.
The last example I’m going to bring up is Jim and Pam’s lack of self-regulation. In the episode “Job Fair” in season 4, Jim closes a big deal and Pam comes back to the office and sees Jim celebrating by drinking a beer with a couple other salesman. Pam acts in excitement and kisses Jim until they realize they are, like always, under surveillance. They then shake hands as a means of congratulations until Jim says “screw it” and they start kissing again because Jim doesn’t care. Jim and Pam both don’t care about self-regulating their actions because they are aware of the fact that the documentary crew has been capturing their romance for years at this point. While initially they are hesitant, they simply don’t care about self-regulation when they have been under watch for 4 years at this point.
There are so many examples that can be used from The Office, or Parks & Recreation, but with The Office, since the employees spend nine years under surveillance they start to get used to it. While they do find out that there is a large amount of disturbing “secret” footage where they thought they were not being recorded, eventually that anger is let go. Especially in the series finale where Jim thanks the documentary crew for allowing him to be able to watch how his life unfolded, how he found love, how he became a dad. In some cases, surveillance can become so commonplace by nature that eventually people just don’t care about trying to perform for the cameras, which is exactly how members of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch eventually start spending their days at work.
Meaning and Pleasure2014 