Ethnocentric Comedy
Ethnocentrism: Using your own culture's standards and values filter onto other cultures (Brummett, 2018).
The "mockumentary" The Office uses satiric comedy to address issues of diversity, more specifically cultural diversity. A specific example of this can be seen in Season 3 Episode 6, Diwali. Michael Scott urges the whole Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin to support their co-worker Kelly and attend the local celebration of Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights.
​
While this may come off as a kind gesture, Scott told everyone that it was a costume party, even though he knew it was a cultural festival. Him and his girlfriend Carol showed up in costumes
(see images below).
​
​
Michael Scott & Carol dressed in "costumes for Diwali celebration
Ryan, Kelly, and family in traditional Indian dress for Diwali celebration
As per Brummett's definition of ethnocentrism, an individual is ethnocentric when they use their own culture as a way to view another. In the Diwali episode of the Office, Michael is clearly viewing Hindu, Sikh, and Jian culture through the eyes of his own. Michael does not interpret Diwali for what it is, a festival of lights, which celebrates "the return of deities Rama and Sita to Ayodhya after their 14-year exile. They also celebrate the day Mother Goddess Durga destroyed a demon called Mahisha" (What is Diwali?). He does, however, interpret the Diwali festival as a costume party. He views this cultural celebration through the standards of American culture.
​
Those who celebrate Diwali participate in a 5 day celebration, filled with food, and fireworks, often celebrate in brightly colored sarees and long silk kurtas (Nalawade, 2016). Michael interpreted this traditional dress for something much different, a costume because that is what some within American culture would see a saree as.
Elements of a Comedic Environment
Situation-Based Ethics: "Comic heroes tend to make up the rules as they go along"
​
High-Tolerance for Disorder: More random, seem to be improvise, leaves loose ends
When Comedy Meets Ethnocentrism
The elements of a comedic environment listed above play a key role in the creation and depiction of the character of Michael Scott and these two elements play a key role in Michael Scott's ethnocentric tendencies.
He often makes up rules as he goes along, without really considering what he is saying. The Diversity Day episode of The Office is a clear example of how ethnocentrism merges into a comedic environment. Within the episode, Michael Scott creates his own diversity training for the team and in turn, promotes ethnocentric messages within a comedic setting. Michael Scott is the epitomization of "situation-based ethics." He often makes up the rules for things as he goes along, especially during Office activities. In Diversity Day, he literally creates his own Diversity training and comes up with the rules for it on the spot.
Creating thing up on the spot, improvising, and just general randomness are also key contributors to the "high tolerance for disorder" aspect of Michael Scott. Most of what comes out of Michael's mouth is improvisation. In the show he states "Sometimes I start a sentence and I don't even know where it's going. I just hope I find it along the way. Like an improv conversation. An improversation." While this sentence completely describes Michael, it also shows his high tolerance for disorder, which is an element of a comedic environment.
​
Michael Scott's high tolerance for disorder explains his ability to just speak whatever is on his mind, no matter the consequences. Michael says some very offending things throughout the series and we as viewers often wonder how or why he said that. The high tolerance for disorder, and his tendency to improvise during conversation contributes to Michael's spreading of ethnocentric messages.
​
Michael Scott's ethnocentric messages are often depicted using cultural stereotypes. The situation based ethics and high tolerance for disorder elements to the comedic environment plays a role in these stereotypes because Michael often decides when these stereotypes are appropriate or not, he also tends to leave loose ends with the chaos he typically creates.
Stereotypes in Media
Racial, gender, and sexual stereotypes are portrayed in popular culture daily. The Office is no exception to this statement. This popular television show often utilized stereotypes in their scenes.
​
The entertainment industry has targeted racial stereotypes for years, since the years of blackface entertainment and the portrayal of Jim Crow characters (Blackface). Since then, racial stereotypes have evolved, but the portrayal of them in media still continues.
​
"Stereotypes in the media can maintain unjust, harmful, and dominating understandings of race by influencing the way individuals interpret media texts" (Gorham, 1999).
Stereotypes in The Office
Michael Scott tends to push stereotypes onto those around him. They are often left with no choice but to give into Michael and push these stereotypical messages out to their viewers.
By pushing these stereotypical views onto those around him in the show, Michael Scott is also pushing the stereotypes onto the viewers. According to Gorham (1999), showing racial stereotypes in media not only maintains the stereotype itself, but it also pushes the stereotype onto whoever is viewing the media. This can be harmful as it can spread the stereotype even further.
​
Since The Office is such a popular show, portraying racial and gender stereotypes as well as looking at specific groups in a culture-centric way is harmful because it continues to spread these messages onto the viewers. Steve Carell, who plays Michael Scott on The Office was even quoted as saying that the show would likely be too offensive to be made today (Rutz, 2018). Seeing Carrell admit this indicates the clear level of offense brought on by these stereotypes.
Obvious Meanings
On the surface, Michael Scott is just a goofy character who sometimes says something offensive. When he does say something offensive, chaos typically ensues. However, Michael's offensive words are often skimmed over and just seen as "Michael being Michael." The implications of Michael's actions are never discussed and his impact on the real world is often not considered.
Hidden Meanings
By leaving the types of messages shown up above, Michael is still perpetuating this ethnocentric and offensive belief. While saying "You don't call retarded people retard. You call your friends retards when they're acting retarded." is meant to be a good thing (in Michael's eyes), he is still pushing that message out into the world. Viewers of The Office are hearing these messages and thinking "I can talk like that because Michael Scott does," even though it is not acceptable to use the word "retard," in any context within our society.
​
As per parasocial interaction theory, television viewers often feel connected to the characters they are watching on television. This imagined relationship (on the side of the viewer), often leads them to be influenced by who they are watching on television (Brown, 2010).
​
The sheer influence television and media have on our society pulls out this hidden meaning of Michael Scott's character. While he is a character within a comedy, the messages he perpetuates to the public have this outright ethnocentric tone. This ethnocentric tone that is pushed onto members of our society, each time they sit down to watch it. While the tone of the show is overall comedic, the impact it has on society is anything but comedic.
​