“The Office” is an American television comedy series in which a camera crew attempts to film a documentary of a typical working environment, but it is fictional and scripted. Michael is the branch manager of an average paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The show captures the many humorous encounters that take place in the everyday lives of the “manager” and of the employees. In “Diversity Day”, episode two of the first season of “The Office”, Mr. Brown of Diversity Today comes to the office in order to lead a Diversity training seminar. This is necessary because there were complaints of Michael’s repetitive comedic, offensive performance. Michael, the boss of the office, tries to lead another diversity training session for his employees. Several directing and editing features work together in “Diversity Day” in order to overemphasize and showcase Michael’s lack of understanding and sensitivity towards racial issues.

The perspectives in “Diversity Day” play a huge role in depicting the uncomfortable, nontraditional work place. The opening of scene foreshadows the racially divided theme of the episode. Michael opens an office door, and the audience’s point of view is over-the-shoulder of Michael due to the documentary-like filming. A window separates Michael and Mr. Brown, an African American man. There is a clear racial divide in the office in “Diversity Day” due to Michael’s stereotypical way of addressing his employees. Michael seems to give special attention to certain employees due to their race. For example, Michael asks Oscar, a Mexican man, about his weekend solely with the intention of Mr. Brown witnessing. Michael intentionally exits his office at the exact time as Mr. Brown before Michael’s encounter with Oscar. Mr. Brown’s diversity session begins after this scene cuts. Later on, as Michael teaches his lesson to his staff, the viewer realizes how much he judges people by their race as Michael talks about why one shouldn’t. Michael is not racist, but he is simply oblivious. He strongly feels that his employees are his dysfunctional family, and he continuously acts extremely unprofessional and inappropriate in the workplace.

The composition of the scenes also adds to Michael’s insensitivity towards stereotypes. Mr. Brown has Michael sit down during his session. This allows Mr. Brown a sense of authority as he towers over the entire office.  When Mr. Brown tells everyone his name, Michael replies, “Oh, right! OK! First test… I will not call you that”. Michael understands that one shouldn’t refer to an African American as “brown”, but he craves to be the center of attention. After Mr. Brown replies, the camera pans from Michael to Mr. Brown and then out to showcase the staff, before the cut in which there is a shift to Michael’s confessional. The poor transitions help the viewer feel more present in the scene. Another example of composition is during Michael’s activity during his training session without Mr. Brown. He encourages stereotypes by instructing employees to treat each other based on what is written on the card of one’s forehead. The scene appears quite hectic at first as seen in the background of one of Michael’s confessionals. The chaos behind Michael allows the viewer to interpret the disastrous results of the activity. An additional element to note is that the composition within the frame almost always consists of an employee, Mr. Brown, and/or Michael. Episodes of “The Office” are around 21 minutes (on Netflix without commercials). This short time forces the transitions to be shorter.

The focus within each frame pushes the viewer to grasp the reality of Michael’s ignorance in regards to race. The confessionals provide the viewer with the thoughts and feelings of various characters because the point-of-view switches between them throughout the episode. The up-close and personal interviews impact how the viewer interprets the comedic aspects possibly based on his or her favorite character’s opinion. The frames often encompass solely one character in order to create the tense atmosphere created by Michael’s lack of sensitivity. At one point in the episode, Michael implies that “Mexican” has negative “connotations” during a conversation with Oscar. There is an extremely awkward moment created through the panning frame, but a phone call interrupts the scene. Another instance in which Michael is racially insensitive to one of his employees is when Kelly, an Indian woman, walks in during Michael’s diversity seminar. He attempts to imitate an Indian accent, and Kelly is speechless. She slaps him, and the camera man turns his attention to the other employee’s reactions. This documentary style of filming aids the creation of comedy. The focus switches from clearly uncomfortable individuals back to Michael, but the card activity continues. Pauses also serve to enhance the feeling of tension.

Episode two, “Diversity Day”, of season one of the “The Office” exposes Michael’s ignorant behavior in the workplace. “The Office” has a very unique style of comedy, and the episode is dominated by Michael who bosses should never behave like. Michael is remorseless, child-like, and intolerable. The “mockumentary” of basic office workers is quite bizarre due to the lack of management, which dominoes the actions taken in order to keep the paper company’s business thriving. Michael’s ignorance is showcased in “Diversity Day” with the intention of creating comic relief to this extremely sensitive topic. American comedic television has evolved overtime, and this mockery may not be acceptable by many viewers today.