The Office: Making the Jump Across the Pond

     Globalization has made it possible for our world of media to bridge the gaps.  The Office is a television program that has proven itself successful despite the many transformations and adaptations it has gone under. The process in which the Office crossed the pond meant that content, humor, and style are all attributes that differed from that of the original British series. The early hype from the American version truly proved that a show can be transferred successfully across different audiences into a new system only if the production has the ability to function and adapt to new environment.

     Alexandra Beeden and Joost de bruin study the articulations of national identity within television formats with The Office being a primary model. The study brings into question just how important the ability to overcome national thresholds really proves to be. For many people, it was soon obvious that the show had shed itself of certain characteristics and specifically its "britishness". Although this could infer that the show would be severely altered in form, the move away from british structure was vital in establishing a new and growing American audience. The british production was often focused on intelligence, arrogance, and british reserve, mostly structured together by the performance of Ricky Gervais. Steve Carell introduces to us a difference by simply holding up a mirror to the processes of American business or "office" life and how we as the US have created our own distinct form of identifiable comedy.

     Alexandra Beeden and Joost de Bruin highlight the influences of national identity by suggesting "that the success of an adaptation may be linked to its ability to reflect and interpret its new context". It becomes ever clear to see media and television become vassals for the representation and construction of a shared sense of national belonging among culturally altered audiences.

     I believe that The Office leans toward the idea of cosmopolitanism simply because of the idea of multicultural co-existence that it brings to light. Although the show changed some things in order to prosper in a new system, it is important to note that much of the structure is very much the same if not very similar. The export or import of a televised production shows us that recycling an already proven series can prove to be beneficial, especially when one wields the ability and skill to adapt and prosper within various cultural settings.

Exporting/Importing The Office

The Office originally a British series, was successfully adapted for the American context. I think the show lost its “Britishness” once it came to the US. However it had to in order to become successful. Americans would not want to watch a show that does not pertain to them. In making the show more “American” it attracted a bigger audience and the results were worthy of the risk the American writers and directors took. 

In Alexandra Beeden and Joost de Bruin The Office: Articulations of National Identity in Television Format Adaptation they suggest that the adaptation of The Office was successful in the US because as they state “television format adaptations work through articulations of national identity, and suggest that the success of an adaptation may be linked to its ability to reflect and interpret its new context” (pg.3).

The role that national identity plays in the success of a cross-cultural adaptation is important. I think that because both the UK and US versions of The Office were written and directed by British and Americans respectively, the show was incorporated into their cultural sphere with no boundaries. As a result they were both able tot succeed.  As Alexandra Beeden and Joost de Bruin argue that “both versions of The Office use culturally specific humor, created from an ‘inside knowledge’ of specific British or American sensibilities; this includes references to people or characters from popular culture and institutions that carry connotations for those in the country” (pg. 14).

The way, in which The Office has entered into American society, humor and culture, after its success as a British sitcom, demonstrates that national identity is a fundamental piece of globalization in television.

Globalizing by Localizing The Office

Havens and Lotz (2012) discuss how media texts will be "localized" by overcoming cultural barriers that would otherwise not allow the text to flourish. This is how media texts are able to thrive due to the process of globalization. I think that this is exactly what The Office has done by its transition from British to American format, production, and styling. Beeden and de Bruin (2010) give sufficient examples of how the American version of The Office has lost its "Britishness," but they also discuss how the show kept to its British roots in some ways. For instance, they discuss how both versions of the shows are different from other typical sitcoms that are on television and that is how they are the same. The situations, the characters, and the humor are similar in execution, but the specifics of each are what make them either "British" or "American."

This is where I think that Havens and Lotz's (2012) term of "localization" comes into play. The British version's situations are similar in that it is a paper distribution company in an office workplace setting, but the mood of the settings differ. Beeden and de Bruin (2010) discuss how the British version has a sense of hopelessness in its bleakness, but the American version has an air of hope through its upbeat tempo and happy setting. They also point out how the characters in both versions almost mirror each other, but their attitudes and behaviors are tailored to appeal to either a British or American audience. For instance, if Gareth was supposed to be a volunteer sheriff's deputy, their wouldn't be much to identify with in Britain, and the same goes for Dwight if he was a member of the Territorial Army. Finally, Beeden and de Bruin (2010) point out that the humor of both versions are directed at class and race issues. The British version focuses on class where the American version focuses on race, but both touch on both. By the American version adapting all of these qualities to fit American television, the show is localizing to make the show more relevant to an American audience. This is arguably why the show did so well in America, and why other shows that tried to adapt from their British roots did not fare so well (Beeden & de Bruin, 2010).

      As for Havens and Lotz's (2012) concepts of globalization as cultural imperialism or cosmopolitanism, I think that it is overwhelmingly cosmopolitanism. Because the show is an American adaption of British television, I don't think that American culture values are being dominated by British ones. Rather, I think that it brings issues of class and racial misrepresentations to light. It allows for viewers to feel sympathy for those who are still being oppressed within those groups. It also allows those who identify with these oppressed groups to feel like their issues are being addressed by popular culture and gives them something to identify with. Again, I think that this has to do with localization and how the show is made to appeal to particular audiences.

Here is Ricky Gervais on the differences between the two, giving a good example of how localization played into the production process: