Michael Scott: Office Caricature or All Too Real?
I love The Office. Love it. I’m not at the point of obsession (you people know who you are), but I do look forward to my weekly fix of Dunder Mifflin and often find myself doing what E affectionately calls “the shriek laugh” during each episode. But last night, Dunder Mifflin Infinity actually got me thinking beyond Schrute Bucks and Pretzel Days:
Michael Scott: Business to business. The old fashion way. No blackberries. No web sites. I would like to see a web site deliver baskets of food to people.
We all watch scenes like this and laugh, but is it really that far off from reality? I know I’ve had professors and met professionals who may not sound as inane as Michael Scott usually does, but they would definitely agree with his views on technology. There is still such a widespread level of denial surrounding social media, new media, Web 2.0, Web 4.0–whatever you want to call it–and it’s simultaneously laughable and sad.
In my new media in public relations class (look out for us at Podcamp!), we recently discussed how one of our biggest potential challenges going into the workforce will be to persuade our managers to abandon the type of thinking that Michael Scott champions in The Office. There are so many amazing, evolving, exciting tech tools at our disposal–and if we take the time to understand them and harness them, we’ll find success (or at least more of it).
We all know people who are resistant to change, so it’s a worrying thing to be on the cusp of graduation (December 2007, woot!) and feel like I’m about to walk into a world where most people will make faces when I talk about what I believe in. I can only imagine what Michael and Dwight would have to say about me…
Michael Scott: Everyone always wants new things. Everybody likes new inventions, new technology. People will never be replaced by machines. In the end, life and business are about human connections. And computers are about trying to murder you in a lake. And to me, the choice is easy.
Um, just for the record, I know plenty of people with computers, blackberries and GPS systems, and none of them have ever driven into a lake…
Do you know a Michael Scott?
4 Responses to “Michael Scott: Office Caricature or All Too Real?”
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Great post Amanda, sorry I missed you at the breakfast on Wednesday. The Office always speaks so inherently to the poor management we must go through at some point in our career (unless we are super smart or super lucky). I once had a boss who literally said to me “The Internet…it’s a fad.” I can’t even imagine what he is doing today while I Twitter away ;)
“Fear of moving forward only allows you to walk in place.”
/kff
I thought of this episode when I was discussing Death of a Salesman in my Images of Masculinity course. Michael Scott is Willy Loman, favoring the Old Way of Doing It over today’s Confusing Technology. As I think about it now, how weird is it that both of our heros drove their cars into inaminate objects (and in light of how FUCKING lame the character of Michael Scott has become in the last two seasons, how unfortunate is it that they didn’t *both* meet their demises?)
Think a lot about analogues - email is a lot like postal mail, only faster. Streaming audio is like the radio - turn it on and the sound is there. Audio and video podcasts are like Netflix that you can keep without paying for them. RSS has no analogue that translates well, which is why it’s so damn hard to explain to people. Social networks are like clubs, only digital, distributed, and worldwide.
Some things are esoteric - you can only experience them - but the rest is just a question of framing it in a context that someone else will understand.
Amanda, great post. You mentioned a new media in public relations class. Can you tell me the professor’s name who teaches that class?