Business is always personal. It's the most personal thing in the world.
Oh, Joss, I love you, but every time TV makes me cry, somehow you're behind it.
I guess I got kinda excited about office_meta because I wrote a ton under the cut.
Structure: the Michael/Pam parallel
My favorite thing about the structure of the episode was the awesome parallel between Michael and Pam. In Drug Testing, the Pam/Michael parallel exposed the paraellel between Jim and Dwight in similar positions of power in their relationships with Pam and Michael. Jim was shown as blindly devoted to Pam as Dwight is to Michael, and we see exactly how costly that devotion is (Dwight resigns as volunteer sheriff’s deputy, a job he loved, and Jim passes up yet another opportunity to “tell [Pam] anything,” i.e., confess his feelings, so as not to disrupt her wedding/life). I loved how it showed Jim to be as ignorant as Dwight about the balance of power in their relationships - well, maybe not “ignorant” as much as “not caring” about it, because all Jim and Dwight want is the opportunity to love the other person in the relationship. Of course, this changes for Jim in Conflict Resolution and Casino Night.
I think episodes that draw parallels between Michael and Jim or Pam do a lot to normalize Michael in the eyes of the viewers, since we tend to think of Jim and Pam (and Ryan) as the only "normal" people in the office. In this episode, however, I didn’t think Michael was normalized-I think it showed us that Pam now realizes that she needs to break up with Roy once and for all, because he doesn’t understand who she is and his attempts to win her back have been all about him and not about her. She had the breakthrough she was waiting for, and now she’s got the motive and opportunity to make the changes she really needs to make in her life. Michael helped her see that, because he said he was proud of her, not her art - he’s proud of who she is, as opposed to what she does. Michael got it, and Roy didn’t. More on that below.
Theme: How Michael & Pam view themselves - who we are vs. what we do
The parallel structure also exposed similarities between Michael and Pam in how they view themselves. The theme of “who we are” vs. “what we do” really brought this home for me. Michael is the Dunder Mifflin Regional Manager. Pam is an artist. For them, it’s not just what they do as Regional Manager or as an artist. It’s who they are. Or, in other words, there’s no distinction between what they do and who they are.
Michael is the Regional Manager -- the Michael/Ryan storyline
Business is always personal. It’s the most personal thing in the world.
Ah, Michael. Regional manager of Dunder Mifflin. For Michael, being a manager - what you supposedly learn to be in business school -- isn’t about changing business models or competition or any of the things that the students asked him about. It’s about people. Dunder Mifflin and its employees are indistinguishable to him (which is why he goes to Pam’s art show). Right here - this is why I love Michael and there is nothing he can do that would make me dislike him. He can do the most cringeworthy and embarrassing thing imaginable and I would still love him, because everything he does comes from a place in his heart where what matters to him is PEOPLE. Of course, he’s also very selfish. I’m not saying he’s generous. But I’m saying that what matters to him, what’s important to him, isn’t the company - well, it is the company, but only because to him the company is indistinguishable from the people who work there.
Michael tells Ryan that a good manager “inspires people, and people will never go out of business,” and that business "is the most personal thing in the world." Ryan certainly doesn’t understand that, or he might have prepared Michael better for the class and understood why Michael was so upset and felt ambushed by the class. One of the things I love about Jim/Michael is that Jim really seems to understand where Michael is coming from. They have moments where Jim understands and/or sympathizes with Michael (the “rebound” conversation in A Benihana Christmas; discussing Andy as a yes-man in the producer’s cut in The Return). Pam understands and sympathizes with Michael from time to time too, as evidenced by her bird eulogy in Grief Counseling. I don’t know if Ryan will ever develop into someone who cares as much about Michael as Pam and Jim do, and if he does, whether or not he’ll show it, but he doesn’t show understanding or sympathy for Michael here.
Pam is an artist - the Pam, Pam/Roy, Pam/Jim, & Pam/Toby storylines
Your art is the prettiest art of all the art.
Being an artist, creating art, and showing her art - it’s not just what Pam does, it’s who she is. She’s not just showing her art, she’s showing HERSELF. Somehow Michael gets it in a way Roy didn’t. Roy thinks the show was about the art (“I’ve seen all the art, can I go?”). He distinguishes between Pam and her art, and Pam doesn’t. Michael understands this because he doesn’t distinguish between himself and his role as regional manager, and he doesn’t distinguish between the company and his employees. The company IS the employees for Michael. That’s why “all business is personal” to him. So this way of thinking about himself enables Michael to understand Pam on a level that Roy just doesn’t. And that’s why Michael’s “I’m so proud of you” meant so much to her, and Roy's "Your art is the prettiest art of all the art" didn't. Michael was proud of HER for who she is, not what she does. That’s what Roy doesn’t understand, and in a way Michael seems to understand subconsciously. In fact, Michael even calls her “Pam-casso,” showing us that for him, even her name (i.e., who she is!) signifies that art is who she is and not what she does.
Pam took a risk and put herself out there by showing her work. She needed someone to make it about her and her risk. She needed it to be about her as an artist, not someone who "does art." Michael did that for her, and it was such a touching moment.
Pam’s breakthrough was that her fear is holding her (and necessarily her art) back. What Gil said clearly resonated with her (just as in The Return, when Pam reacted with disbelief when Angela called her “brave” - it’s nothing she doesn’t know deep down, but she needed to hear it).
Becoming “Fancy New Beesly” wasn’t about moving into her new apartment like Jim teased her about, or about new clothes and new hair, despite the fact that some of the things she did were necessary. However, she never made the break final with Roy, and new clothes and hairstyles are fun but they’re cosmetic changes. She didn’t do enough to address what’s really keeping her from becoming Fancy New Beesly- her fear. She hasn’t been honest with herself or with Jim (“I’m sorry if you misinterpreted our friendship”) and her fear has long held her back from leaving Roy even when she had pretty good reason to (indefinite engagement, his lack of support about the graphics internship - i.e., his lack of support for her and her dreams). Now she’s in a place in her life when she has both motive and opportunity to make necessary changes. Hooray for Pam!
Pam and Roy - well. This ‘ship is not long for the world. Clearly Pam’s reluctance in returning Roy’s “love you” spoke volumes, as well as her reaction of glossing-over Kelly’s excited, “You’re so in love!” comment. But she didn’t have a reason not to be with Roy at the beginning of the ep, so there she was.
Of course, Roy shoots himself in the foot with his insensitive, “Look! I’m here and brought another person, and no one else bothered to come!” And when he left the show, he made it clear that he didn’t understand why he was needed there, because for him the show was all about the art rather than all about her. He’d seen all the art, and her art was the prettiest. He thinks that’s what she wants to hear. Roy's bottom line is having her back in his life -- for him, the emphasis is on his life, not on her being back in it. So he was ready to leave, since he’d seen all the art. But Pam wanted someone to support her and who she is, not what she did. If Roy were interested in supporting her, rather than her art, he would have stayed.
Pam and Toby- Even Toby -- and who doesn’t awwwww! over Pam/Toby? -- Toby wanted to go to the show in order to express his interest in Pam, even though it wouldn’t have been appropriate to do so when she knew that he’d be missing his daughter’s recital. Now, it’s just a line, but even Toby made attending the show to be about “supporting the local arts.” Even though he didn’t mean it, and he would have showed up for her rather than her art, going to the show would have been all about him and his interests.
Pam and Jim - Not much to say here, except that Pam’s finally in a position post-breakthrough to do what needs to be done in order to (eventually) be with Jim. This was a necessary step in the Pam/Jim saga. Plus, I think Jim’s still in love with her, and he was so disappointed last week when she left with Roy, and he’s clearly willing himself not to be. I think his yawn as Roy leaves Pam’s desk saying “Love you, babe” was a set-up for the camera since he’s so camera-aware. He does/says the right things -- in the talking head: “I’m with Karen, she’s with Roy, whatever”; when Roy and Pam exchange “love you,” he yawns. But of course the way his face falls slightly at the end of his talking head belies his words. I’m interested to see how Jim responds to the true Fancy New Beesly.
I'm sure theres something to be said about Pam saying she's not "an impressionist, per se" and the old woman reassuring her she would be, someday, and Michael saying that she "nailed" the DM building and that her pictures were so good they "could be tracings" but I'm not sure what that's about.
Brilliant Things
Brilliant things Joss did that I loved
The shot of Michael in the car going to school - the focus is on Michael but we can see Ryan's face in the rearview. AWESOME. Much better than the camera smack-dab in the middle of the backseat that we’ve seen in other eps. Nicely done, Joss! The entire Dwight/Jim watercooler conversation -- one nice long shot of their conversation, then Jim turning around and walking away, looking back over his shoulder with his collar up. HYSTERICAL and the way it was shot made it so much funnier as Jim walked away. Everyone reacting to the bat -- Karen under desk, Angela's stop drop & roll (followed up by praying), and Creed kicking back & enjoying the show. I wonder if the stop, drop and roll was the stunt that Angela had to prepare for that she talked about in her blog? The shot of Dwight’s butt in Pam’s face after he jumped on her desk (and her reaction!)
Brilliant things the actors chose to do (or perhaps Joss directed them to do) that I loved
Jim shaking his head in the background as Michael is talking in the bullpen about how he’s going to be a visiting professor The student’s reaction to getting his torn-up econ book back -- OMG, if someone had done that to my Property book or my Fed Tax book in law school... I can't even. In college I probably just would have cried, but in law school I would have seen it as practical litigation experience. That's what going $100,000 in debt can get you, boys and girls -- empowerment for your day in small claims court! The student’s reaction to Michael’s losing the frisbee Kevin’s delivery of the line, “I’m a hero!”
Brilliant elements of the script that I loved
Structure and theme (discussed above) Michael using theme music to enter the classroom, tearing pages out of the econ book, throwing candy bars to/at the students (not just because it reminded me of my high school English teacher (a/k/a my Dad) who threw chalk at kids who weren’t paying attention in class). The callback to Valentine’s Day, where Dwight is helping Michael pack for NYC and Dwight hands him a passport - here, they’re packing for business school and Dwight hands him a book by Donald Trump. A vampire prank is a coincidence when Joss Whedon is directing? Come on! /GOB But… I loved it! Dwight taking charge of any situation - and the fact that he recognized animal droppings on the floor. It’s a testament to the excellent job the writers have done drawing Dwight’s character that viewers totally accept that Dwight would know something like that. Ebony tower! Bwaahaha! Creed calling goodnight to “Mary Beth” (not just because that’s my name!) The supply closet exists! Now I can believe svilleficrecs’s Canary is canon!
Etc. (Basically anything that is awesome)
The Ryan/Kelly tag - I wonder if moving Ryan to the back of the office has anything to do with (1) getting better use out of the third desk outside Michael’s office for when Andy comes back, so that Jim, Andy, and Dwight sit together, or (2) allowing BJ Novak not to have to sit through all of the scenes shot in the office bullpen so he can spend less time on set and more time doing the writing and producing stuff he has to do. Either way I guess it doesn’t really matter - it results in infinite comedic value to have Ryan sitting with Kelly in the back. That tag was awesome!
Bottom line: I loved Business School. It was subtle, emotional, funny, cringeworthy (oh God, Michael, theme music? Really?)... and completely gutwrenching. With one of the best.Tags.EVAH!
What did you all think?
I guess I got kinda excited about office_meta because I wrote a ton under the cut.
Structure: the Michael/Pam parallel
My favorite thing about the structure of the episode was the awesome parallel between Michael and Pam. In Drug Testing, the Pam/Michael parallel exposed the paraellel between Jim and Dwight in similar positions of power in their relationships with Pam and Michael. Jim was shown as blindly devoted to Pam as Dwight is to Michael, and we see exactly how costly that devotion is (Dwight resigns as volunteer sheriff’s deputy, a job he loved, and Jim passes up yet another opportunity to “tell [Pam] anything,” i.e., confess his feelings, so as not to disrupt her wedding/life). I loved how it showed Jim to be as ignorant as Dwight about the balance of power in their relationships - well, maybe not “ignorant” as much as “not caring” about it, because all Jim and Dwight want is the opportunity to love the other person in the relationship. Of course, this changes for Jim in Conflict Resolution and Casino Night.
I think episodes that draw parallels between Michael and Jim or Pam do a lot to normalize Michael in the eyes of the viewers, since we tend to think of Jim and Pam (and Ryan) as the only "normal" people in the office. In this episode, however, I didn’t think Michael was normalized-I think it showed us that Pam now realizes that she needs to break up with Roy once and for all, because he doesn’t understand who she is and his attempts to win her back have been all about him and not about her. She had the breakthrough she was waiting for, and now she’s got the motive and opportunity to make the changes she really needs to make in her life. Michael helped her see that, because he said he was proud of her, not her art - he’s proud of who she is, as opposed to what she does. Michael got it, and Roy didn’t. More on that below.
Theme: How Michael & Pam view themselves - who we are vs. what we do
The parallel structure also exposed similarities between Michael and Pam in how they view themselves. The theme of “who we are” vs. “what we do” really brought this home for me. Michael is the Dunder Mifflin Regional Manager. Pam is an artist. For them, it’s not just what they do as Regional Manager or as an artist. It’s who they are. Or, in other words, there’s no distinction between what they do and who they are.
Michael is the Regional Manager -- the Michael/Ryan storyline
Business is always personal. It’s the most personal thing in the world.
Ah, Michael. Regional manager of Dunder Mifflin. For Michael, being a manager - what you supposedly learn to be in business school -- isn’t about changing business models or competition or any of the things that the students asked him about. It’s about people. Dunder Mifflin and its employees are indistinguishable to him (which is why he goes to Pam’s art show). Right here - this is why I love Michael and there is nothing he can do that would make me dislike him. He can do the most cringeworthy and embarrassing thing imaginable and I would still love him, because everything he does comes from a place in his heart where what matters to him is PEOPLE. Of course, he’s also very selfish. I’m not saying he’s generous. But I’m saying that what matters to him, what’s important to him, isn’t the company - well, it is the company, but only because to him the company is indistinguishable from the people who work there.
Michael tells Ryan that a good manager “inspires people, and people will never go out of business,” and that business "is the most personal thing in the world." Ryan certainly doesn’t understand that, or he might have prepared Michael better for the class and understood why Michael was so upset and felt ambushed by the class. One of the things I love about Jim/Michael is that Jim really seems to understand where Michael is coming from. They have moments where Jim understands and/or sympathizes with Michael (the “rebound” conversation in A Benihana Christmas; discussing Andy as a yes-man in the producer’s cut in The Return). Pam understands and sympathizes with Michael from time to time too, as evidenced by her bird eulogy in Grief Counseling. I don’t know if Ryan will ever develop into someone who cares as much about Michael as Pam and Jim do, and if he does, whether or not he’ll show it, but he doesn’t show understanding or sympathy for Michael here.
Pam is an artist - the Pam, Pam/Roy, Pam/Jim, & Pam/Toby storylines
Your art is the prettiest art of all the art.
Being an artist, creating art, and showing her art - it’s not just what Pam does, it’s who she is. She’s not just showing her art, she’s showing HERSELF. Somehow Michael gets it in a way Roy didn’t. Roy thinks the show was about the art (“I’ve seen all the art, can I go?”). He distinguishes between Pam and her art, and Pam doesn’t. Michael understands this because he doesn’t distinguish between himself and his role as regional manager, and he doesn’t distinguish between the company and his employees. The company IS the employees for Michael. That’s why “all business is personal” to him. So this way of thinking about himself enables Michael to understand Pam on a level that Roy just doesn’t. And that’s why Michael’s “I’m so proud of you” meant so much to her, and Roy's "Your art is the prettiest art of all the art" didn't. Michael was proud of HER for who she is, not what she does. That’s what Roy doesn’t understand, and in a way Michael seems to understand subconsciously. In fact, Michael even calls her “Pam-casso,” showing us that for him, even her name (i.e., who she is!) signifies that art is who she is and not what she does.
Pam took a risk and put herself out there by showing her work. She needed someone to make it about her and her risk. She needed it to be about her as an artist, not someone who "does art." Michael did that for her, and it was such a touching moment.
Pam’s breakthrough was that her fear is holding her (and necessarily her art) back. What Gil said clearly resonated with her (just as in The Return, when Pam reacted with disbelief when Angela called her “brave” - it’s nothing she doesn’t know deep down, but she needed to hear it).
Becoming “Fancy New Beesly” wasn’t about moving into her new apartment like Jim teased her about, or about new clothes and new hair, despite the fact that some of the things she did were necessary. However, she never made the break final with Roy, and new clothes and hairstyles are fun but they’re cosmetic changes. She didn’t do enough to address what’s really keeping her from becoming Fancy New Beesly- her fear. She hasn’t been honest with herself or with Jim (“I’m sorry if you misinterpreted our friendship”) and her fear has long held her back from leaving Roy even when she had pretty good reason to (indefinite engagement, his lack of support about the graphics internship - i.e., his lack of support for her and her dreams). Now she’s in a place in her life when she has both motive and opportunity to make necessary changes. Hooray for Pam!
Pam and Roy - well. This ‘ship is not long for the world. Clearly Pam’s reluctance in returning Roy’s “love you” spoke volumes, as well as her reaction of glossing-over Kelly’s excited, “You’re so in love!” comment. But she didn’t have a reason not to be with Roy at the beginning of the ep, so there she was.
Of course, Roy shoots himself in the foot with his insensitive, “Look! I’m here and brought another person, and no one else bothered to come!” And when he left the show, he made it clear that he didn’t understand why he was needed there, because for him the show was all about the art rather than all about her. He’d seen all the art, and her art was the prettiest. He thinks that’s what she wants to hear. Roy's bottom line is having her back in his life -- for him, the emphasis is on his life, not on her being back in it. So he was ready to leave, since he’d seen all the art. But Pam wanted someone to support her and who she is, not what she did. If Roy were interested in supporting her, rather than her art, he would have stayed.
Pam and Toby- Even Toby -- and who doesn’t awwwww! over Pam/Toby? -- Toby wanted to go to the show in order to express his interest in Pam, even though it wouldn’t have been appropriate to do so when she knew that he’d be missing his daughter’s recital. Now, it’s just a line, but even Toby made attending the show to be about “supporting the local arts.” Even though he didn’t mean it, and he would have showed up for her rather than her art, going to the show would have been all about him and his interests.
Pam and Jim - Not much to say here, except that Pam’s finally in a position post-breakthrough to do what needs to be done in order to (eventually) be with Jim. This was a necessary step in the Pam/Jim saga. Plus, I think Jim’s still in love with her, and he was so disappointed last week when she left with Roy, and he’s clearly willing himself not to be. I think his yawn as Roy leaves Pam’s desk saying “Love you, babe” was a set-up for the camera since he’s so camera-aware. He does/says the right things -- in the talking head: “I’m with Karen, she’s with Roy, whatever”; when Roy and Pam exchange “love you,” he yawns. But of course the way his face falls slightly at the end of his talking head belies his words. I’m interested to see how Jim responds to the true Fancy New Beesly.
I'm sure theres something to be said about Pam saying she's not "an impressionist, per se" and the old woman reassuring her she would be, someday, and Michael saying that she "nailed" the DM building and that her pictures were so good they "could be tracings" but I'm not sure what that's about.
Brilliant Things
Brilliant things Joss did that I loved
Brilliant things the actors chose to do (or perhaps Joss directed them to do) that I loved
Brilliant elements of the script that I loved
Etc. (Basically anything that is awesome)
The Ryan/Kelly tag - I wonder if moving Ryan to the back of the office has anything to do with (1) getting better use out of the third desk outside Michael’s office for when Andy comes back, so that Jim, Andy, and Dwight sit together, or (2) allowing BJ Novak not to have to sit through all of the scenes shot in the office bullpen so he can spend less time on set and more time doing the writing and producing stuff he has to do. Either way I guess it doesn’t really matter - it results in infinite comedic value to have Ryan sitting with Kelly in the back. That tag was awesome!
Bottom line: I loved Business School. It was subtle, emotional, funny, cringeworthy (oh God, Michael, theme music? Really?)... and completely gutwrenching. With one of the best.Tags.EVAH!
What did you all think?