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Representation of Race and Ethnicity

 The show The Office is a comedy mockumentary sitcom show that aired from 2005-2013. Due to it being a relatively older show it does bring up and “joke” about races in a different way then what is acceptable today. 


The Office doesn’t necessarily mean these stereotypes are true, but as a comedy show they poke dun at and acknowledge them as true. Take this scene between Dwight and Pam for example.


This scene is a team building exercise being hosted in the office where everyone has a race on their forehead and other people must give hints to correctly identify what their race is. Pam brings up the stereotype that Asian people are bad drivers to which Dwight misidentifies the stereotype as all women being bad drivers. I believe the main purpose of utilizing this stereotype is as a joke to build onto the comedy factor of the show. 

Other than just racial stereotypes, the cast of The Office covers a pretty decent variety of races. The characters are meaningful and impact the stories in ways based on their cultural background. For example there is an episode based on Kelly Capore’s heritage called “Diwali” where the office members go and participate in Kelly’s racial tradition. There are also smaller examples of racial heritage playing into characters for example what Oscar Martinez brings to an office party


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