“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 incompetent manager and his employees. In “Diversity Day,” episode two of the first season, Mr. Brown, of Diversity Today, comes to the office in order to lead a Diversity training seminar for Michael and his staff. This seminar is necessary because there were complaints of Michael’s repetitive comedic, offensive performance of a particular Chris Rock routine. Michael, a white man, then tries to lead another, more nontraditional, diversity training session for his employees. The awkward camera angles and composition of the frames work together in “Diversity Day” in order to overemphasize and showcase Michael’s lack of understanding and sensitivity towards racial issues, by making the viewer feel uncomfortable and embarrassed for him.

The camera perspectives in “Diversity Day” play a huge role in depicting the unnerving, outlandish work place. The opening scene foreshadows the racially divided theme of the episode with the literal separation between Michael and Mr. Brown, an African American man. 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 physically separates Michael and Mr. Brown. 

There is also 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 the interaction between him and Oscar. Michael intentionally exits his office at the exact time as Mr. Brown before Michael’s encounter with Oscar. Mr. Brown’s diversity session begins directly after this scene, demonstrating the extreme need for the session. 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. 

The composition of the scenes and the transitions between them also emphasize Michael’s insensitivity towards stereotypes. Mr. Brown has Michael sit down during his session, and 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 for the duration of his training session without Mr. Brown. He ultimately encourages stereotypes by instructing employees to treat each other based on what is written on the card on their 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. Notably, episodes of “The Office” are around 21 minutes (on Netflix without commercials). This short time forces the transitions to be shorter. These elements emphasize the chaos and how much is actually going on in the scene. As these compositions and transitions demonstrate, Michael is not racist, but he is simply oblivious, insensitive, and self-centered. He feels that his employees are his dysfunctional family.

The focus within each frame pushes the viewer to grasp the reality of Michael’s ignorance in regards to race by capturing each employee’s reaction. 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 their 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 uncomfortable moment created through the panning frame, and then 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 late 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 employees’ reactions. This documentary style of filming aids the creation of comedy because in trying to capture everything going on, the chaos of moments is captured as well. The focus switches from clearly uncomfortable individuals back to Michael, but the card activity continues. Not only does this demonstrate the employees’ uncomfortable reactions, but also when they continue to play it shows their being used to it. Camera angles and panning are essential to visual analysis in “Diversity Day” because they play a huge role in showcasing the awkward atmosphere in the workplace.

The episode “Diversity Day”, of the “The Office” exposes Michael’s ignorant behavior in the workplace through camera angles and awkward frame composition. The mockumentary directing style in this episode is a larger theme in the show itself. “The Office” has a very unique style of comedy; 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 adding comic relief around this extremely sensitive topic. American comedic television has evolved over time, and this mockery may not be acceptable by many viewers today. Through composition and transitions, the ambiance of and commotion in the office is emphasized.