TESTING TESTING 123
Uploaded by mikewolf on Mar 22, 2013
Television shows don’t serve just one purpose. They are not just for our entertainment or to please our visual needs, but they serve as an escape while also acting as the bridge that unites families, co-workers, friends, foes, and more. A popular television show like The Office, for example has much deeper meaning than a 30-minute comedy NBC airs every week. It’s a television show I grew up with that leaves me feeling happy when I’m sad and is a time in which my family can break away from their busy schedules to sit and be together.
I notice some similarities behind the global popularity of Indian cinema and reasons as to why I watch The Office. One case in particular deals in the former Soviet Union. In Sudha Rajgopalan’s short essay, “Indian Popular Cinema and Soviet Movie Enthusiasts”, he discusses dark times in the former Soviet Union. World War II had come to an end, the environment was in shambles and Stalin had just ended his rule. The Soviet people needed an escape from the real world to a place were they could forget and be in high spirits. Indian films served as that escape. Indian films were filled with bright imagery with cheerful songs and dancing. The Soviet people could loose themselves in Indian cinema and flee their dreadful environment the moment they began to watch these films.
The television series The Office, serves a comparable role for me as Indian Films did to the former Soviet Union. The Office is a comedy about a “group of typical office workers, where the workday consists of ego clashes, inappropriate behavior, and tedium” (IMDb). It includes light and awkward humor in comical and often absurd situations. When I am in a bad mood, have had a rough day, or just want to relax I often turn to The Office. It is my escape from the real world. When I turn on The Office, my stress and anxiety are instantly erased and I am transported into an alternate world. I need The Office to act as a distraction the same way the people of the former Soviet Union needed Indian films to distract them in times of devastation and trouble.
This is not the only parallel I can draw from the points in Rajgopalan’s essay and this television series. The Office puts a spin on a significant commonality for a very a large...