The thing with comedy shows is that we live them, after re-watching them more times we cared to look at our syllabus in school. And The Office is one of those shows that has quite the fandom. While the UK show was the original, which has been remade in different languages and countries, it is, however the US mockumentary format that has garnered more attention than any of its remakes or the original itself.
The Office was also adapted in India, and well, it didn’t quite work for various reasons. And now, the show is in being made in Saudi Arabia. While it makes some fans happy, given the popularity of the show, there’s also uncertainty about how it will be treated. For instance, Oscar who’s a gay character in the show has an important arc, but we cannot be sure if the Saudi adaptation will represent the LGBTQIA+ community at all.
Since there have been instances in the past where films were given a tough time with their release, just because they had queer characters, there’s very little hope if Oscar will be treated like he is in the US mockumentary. This also happened with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, when the film was banned because of LGBTQ references, given that homosexuality is a capital offence in Saudi Arabia.
It’s sad that certain opinions and ideas hinder inclusivity in cinema and media, taking away the essence of characters. I mean, Oscar had an important role to play, specifically when it came to representation in the show – even if it meant schooling its own characters. To add on, it’s 2022 and we’re still not open to the ‘idea’ of representation in media, or just letting people be.
We’ve still got the US version to love.
