exporting importing The office

In the article the talks of the differences between the British and American “The Office”, shows that there is obviously a change within the shows. So yes The Office may have lost its britishness when it was switched to America but it had to be to identify with the national identity of its audience. Like in the article it echoes the findings of local preference by Joseph D. Straubhaar’s theory of “cultural proximity,” in which he states that “audiences seem to prefer television programs that are as close to them as possible in language, ethnic appearance, dress, style, humor, historical reference, and shared topical knowledge.”

 In Britain the class system is the source of comedy, usually when a character tries to move up from their status, but in America race plays a role in most comedies. Another big difference and how it may have lost its britishness is that American sitcom often invites people to laugh with its characters, while British sitcoms offer pleasure in laughing at the characters. So while trying to keep many similarities within the show, they have to change the show to fit to national identity so the shows would be successful within each nation. So while “The Office may have lost its British qualities it adapted American qualities to help it become successful in the way our society operates compared to Britain. You can see most of the differences in the Pub episode in Britain and the Basketball game in America. They value more of an intellectual focus while in America sports are a part of almost an everyday experience.  It’s these different qualities that make the show successful in both countries because of the concept of Cultural Proximity.

The office definitely promotes cosmopolitanism because it shows that ideas can be spread to more than just one culture. The ability for the show to succeed in both markets shows that the world does have things in common so they can produce the same show. It shows that we are all connected somewhat even though everyone lives in different locations and has different cultures just like the article showed you, that you can change some ideas but everyone is somewhat connected.