ANDY BERNARD AND THE OFFICE (US): BALANCE AND IMBALANCE

Or “NO COUNTRY FOR WEAK MEN”, to paraphrase Yeats.

THE OFFICE, A COMMENTARY ON MODERN LIFE

I have been watching The Office reruns for some time now. It’s great to revisit old favourites like this. Gives you a lot of insights you would not have had previously. Also, it is perfect if you wish to revisit one character’s trajectory through different timelines. When doing a character study like this in a novel, you would read it in its entirety once and then focus on the character itself by following important milestones in their lives by skipping forward or going both forward and backward at the same time. The same principle applies to the screen.

When I watched The Office for the first time, I hadn’t yet realized that it was a classic. It falls under the same category as some of the greats like ‘Yes, Prime Minister’, ‘Downton Abbey’ or even ‘Sherlock’. It is one of those shows that will always be talked about. And that is why I couldn’t stop thinking about it even after it was over. I got so involved that I started reading up on many of the lesser known threads and controversies that constantly kept popping up through the course of the show. For example:

1) Who is the real office bully? Jim or Dwight?
2) Is Toby Flenderson the Scranton Strangler?
3) Was Jim and Pam’s married life toxic?
But there was one very serious issue that I had practically overlooked the first time. The Office is a great commentary on the American dream, much like Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Despite the comic overtones foregrounded by the Falstaffian accountant, Kevin, the egotistical boss Michael Scott or the obnoxious salesman, Dwight, there were so many serious layers to it. And that is when I noticed it- noticed him. Andy. Andy Bernard.

Andy is a character who is virtually passed over or dismissed when it comes to discussions of The Office yet he is one character who elevates this show to the level of serious art. And that is why I decided to write this post.

Andy is so important as both a symbol and portrayal of the corporate dream or the American dream. He stands for so much and though his screen-life ends in a light-hearted tragedy of sorts with the former regional manager becoming a failed singer/musician, his life has many important statements to make. He is an example that modern life is a combination of bizarre or prosaic things that seem to add up into something meaningful just before crumbling down in front of our very eyes. Perhaps that sound dark. But it does seem to convey that there is a precarious balance to life. In that sense, it does sound reasonable or relatable and I hope the readers will agree.

To understand this better, let us take a brief look at the history of the all bosses of Dunder Mifflin. We’ll start with the inimitable Michael Scott played by Steve Carroll. Michael Scott needs no introduction and he absolutely defies description. If you haven’t watched the show, please watch it to know about Michael. There is no way Michael can be introduced here short of 10000+ words but I will try though.

Michael is the bumbling, erratic and quirky manager of Dunder Mifflin when the show starts. With a penchant for making inappropriate or simply bad jokes (his catchphrase being the grossly sexual and juvenile ‘That’s what she said’) and a propensity to get overly involved in the personal lives of his staff, he is a nuisance to his employees. He has a compulsive need to be liked and makes a complete fool of himself in trying to win over people. With no administrative skills or inspiring qualities, he still manages to make a place for himself in the firm. He even manages (pun intended) to command respect and loyalty from his staff. His staff do stand up for him when the need arises and he even receives true admiration and worship from his right-hand man and self-proclaimed ‘Assistant to the Regional Manager’, Dwight K. Shrute. It is easy to overlook the fact that Michael has a handy little bag of sleazy corporate tricks to use to get his way, because of the likeability of his character. But consider that Michael was prepared to let Dwight get fired over his bad idea, to use other people for his benefit thereby stealing credit, and to take advantage of his rank to get his way. Despite this, or perhaps owing to this, he was able to retain his position as long as he was a part of the firm. He has a host of other lovely qualities which we can disregard here as we are dealing with Andy in this post. (I had to add this because Michael is a personal favourite).

Dwight occasionally becomes the manager in the interim but never long enough to be a serious candidate until the very end. There are other managers who keep popping in and out including Jim but the next person to actually step into the shoes of Michael Scott in terms of power and autonomy is Robert California who becomes the manager, in a sense, though he is the CEO of the firm.