Natalie Young

## Introduction

When I hear the term literature the first thing that comes to mind are long, old books written by well known authors with difficult and powerful meaning behind them. One hundred years ago this definition may have been accurate, but the term is rapidly shifting to include other forms of literature. These will accommodate technology and include movies, television series’, video games, graphic novels, poems, albums, poetry, and a diverse sea of art. Although this list may not be as formal or obvious as novels, they meet the requirements of literature. Technology has advanced literature in itself and the creators’ consciousness. These new forms have the opportunity to express ideas and feelings, and connect them with universal issues or interests. It allows authors, artists, and producers to create meaningful works with the ability to be reviewed and analyzed. This opens the creators and analyst’s minds in a new and unique way, allowing their imaginations and knowledge to expand.

To understand remediation it is important to know the purpose of mediation, and how it affects our experiences. The Oxford English Dictionary defines mediation as “Agency or action as a mediator; the action of mediating between parties of dispute; intercession on behalf of another.” By acting as a mediary, you experience both sides of an argument in an unbiased way which helps to consider both parties points and reasonings. This allows for meticulous analysis of the subject and heightens our intelligence. Technology is a form of mediation as the information it provides makes it extremely easy to obtain knowledge about anything from anywhere in the world. Pertaining to entertainment and fan fiction, technology allows us to have a full understanding of any preferred form of entertainment. We can clear up any controversies or questions that may arise and access others opinions to grasp different ideas, which help us learn. To remediate is to take a form of literature and renovate it into a new form of mediation. This allows people to interpret, revise, and present a text in a different way than previously thought. It also suggests new ideas for fans to explore literature and technology which opens a door to creativeness by inventing their own perceptions or explanations about a text.

Infinite access to the internet and various forms of research and sources make finding and analyzing literature much easier now. It has also allowed many different forms of literature to arise and be interpreted. These new forms are shifting the authors and readers motives and driving forces for creating literature. New forms of texts allow authors to express themselves in more unique ways with the numerous different options they now have. It also attracts many more readers and viewers because of the broad spectrum of literature. Everyone can relate to at least one type of text. Fans are taking these forms of literature and mediums for communication to further analyze and understand them. The easy connection to each other is a great way to discuss any controversies, unclarities, or to build their own interpretations or ideas on a text. The fanbase of the TV series “The Office,” is strong and extensive.

## Interpretive Disputes

One of the most popular and loved things about The Office is the relationship between coworkers Jim Halpert and Pam Beasley. The cheesy, sweet, and innocent love shared by these two characters is adored and praised by many fans, but not all. Pro Jim and Pam fans think their long and complicated history appeals to many viewers as it contributes to the obvious implication that they should be together. Before their relationship begins, Pam is engaged to warehouse worker Roy, who I think all fans can agree is not right for her. During her engagement, Jim is still friends with Pam and flirts with her on a daily basis. Over the course of time they get closer and discover a strong compatibility between them as opposed to previous, and in Pam’s case, current relationships. The TV series shows how special their relationship to each other is even just as friends. An example of this is in an episode where Pam is upset looking for consultation and Jim asks Pam how her fiance feels about the situation. She replies “I don’t know I try not to bother him with stuff like this.” Jim sarcastically replies, “You mean like your thoughts and your feelings?” Pam gloomily says “Yea.” Despite being scared or uncomfortable, they are always honest with each other and supportive about their life and career choices. They are both dorks in the most compatible way, like when Pam uses her art ability and creativeness to make Jim a comic book as a gift. The show does not film them outside of work often, but they have many shared interests to keep conversation compelling, and the most obvious is them pranking coworker Dwight Schrute. When their relationship is a little rocky or they are fighting, they always compromise and work it out because they know in their hearts that they were made for each other.

A more unpopular opinion claims that Jim and Pam are not the perfect couple, or should even be together at all. These fans suggest that there is a lack of trust between the two, a major staple in any relationship. This reasoning includes the couple being okay with infidelity. Jim first kisses Pam despite her engagement and she kisses him back for a second, both of them knowing it was wrong. Later in the show, they discover an affair among a few coworkers and omit to tell Andy, who was being cheated on which could be interpreted as minding their own business, or that they approve enough of infidelity to not talk about it with others or themselves. Their insecurity and distrust is also portrayed by Jim when he learns Pam is making friends at her art school Eventually, Jim convinces Pam pursue her dream of art and attend art school out of town for three months, but portrays insecurity and distrust when he almost makes a surprise trip to her after learning about the new male friends she is making. He even surprises her by proposing at a gas station half-way between them after they decided to wait until after she got back to avoid being apart at the beginning of their engagement. In a show like The Office it is essential to the humor if you know all of the unique characters. Jim and Pam are the “normal” people who viewers identify with the most. For certain fans this is very disappointing because they are not the great couple everyone thinks they are. Their love is sickeningly sweet and forces sentimentality to cause a cringe worthy relationship. The self infatuation with themselves leads to a superior mentality over the other characters. Jim has the constant urge to prank Dwight, proving his arrogance and using the humor to entertain Pam. Another viewpoint shared among fans on the relationship is that the flame slowly died out after their wedding. The Halperts’ unreciprocated puppy love transformed into a happy couple that plateaued shortly after eternally binding themselves through marriage and two children.

People interpret the characters differently by themselves, and as a couple. It is easy for different opinions to arise in these interpretations because there are so many different important factors that go into a healthy relationship. Everyone has their own stance on what they want in a relationship, which makes dispute over them easy and common.

## Remediation

One form of remediation related to “The Office” pertains to the character Toby Flenderson, a coworker the office workers are not very fond of. Some fans have theorized that Toby is the Scranton Strangler, a murder who gets arrested in season seven and Toby serves as a juror on the case. The police find the strangler and follow pursuit in a high speed car chase throughout Scranton. The whole office watches, except Toby who is mysteriously absent that day. During the chase, someone calls Toby’s office phone, but the receptionist, Erin, was also watching the chase which means whoever was calling had to have known his extension number. Fans theorize that it was Toby calling the office to confess while driving the escape car. He also does not show up to their office party later that evening, further suggesting he is either fleeing, arrested, or hiding because of his crime. The police eventually arrest a different man for the murders, and Toby appears at work again like normal, but this could mean that he framed someone. When he shares the jury duty news with his co-workers he seems oddly excited to watch this case play out. This and the fact that he has a murder podcast called “The Flenderson Files,” suggests that he likes to talk about and is intrigued by murder stories. Later on in the season, Toby announces that the Scranton Strangler was found guilty and faces the death penalty. He also announces that he is “not so sure the suspect is guilty anymore,” and visits the strangler in prison in the last season, both suggest that he has a guilty conscience for this man and is seeking anxiety or stress relief. Two seasons after the strangler is convicted, Toby confesses to one of his co-workers, Oscar, that he has put an innocent man in jail, which obviously reflects on his guilty conscious. In late season nine, Toby visits the strangler in prison to confront him about the trial and his innocence, but the prisoner is outraged and tries to strangle Toby. The show depicts this as him really being the murderer and that Toby visited him because he believes he put the wrong man in jail. Contrary to this, fans think it was to confess himself to the murderer and he tried to kill him because Toby had framed him. These numerous examples that fans have found within the series depicts the remediation they have created. The show never says or suggests that Toby is the Scranton Strangler, it only offers coincidences that could raise question, and it obviously has. These fans have taken an idea within the plot and ran with it, interpreting this theory by reading inbetween the lines.

### Fan Art

Fan art allows the remediation of the way something or someone is depicted. They can take what everyone sees in the literature and turn it into something they see or suggest new ideas with their art. Communities behind this art can pool their works and learn new things from each other. Fans of “The Office” have created a whole world of fan art that captures the unique personalities of each character. As every character has a specific image and persona, the art of them portrays their own demeanours. Generally being everyone’s

characters, there is a lot of art showing Jim and Pam together, and Dwight and Michael. Since there is more art of them than the others, it suggests that fans pay more attention to them and enjoy watching the show for those characters. Fanart acts as a medium of expression so fans can depict what they enjoy or how they see something. It ranges in all different forms of art, physical and digital, which gives fans the ability to show their thoughts or feelings, rather than describing them. While there are numerous works created from the show, most of them are of the characters, showing their relationships, personalities, and features.

## Knowledge Communities

When people like something, they want to talk about it and discuss opinions with each other. In the age of technology, it is extremely easy to pool ideas and thoughts within communities. Fans of all kinds are doing this more and more to always have others to converse with and gather different information about a form of literature. These knowledge communities allow fans to expand their intelligence from the gathered knowledge. The purpose of collecting information from multiple fans is not to interpret but to understand and dive deeper into the ideas of the text. Henry Jenkins writes about a knowledge community surrounding “Survivor” called “Spoiling Survivor.” These members convene together to try and identify the winner of the popular show before the episode airs. They work undercover together and rely on others to achieve this shared goal. “The Office” series is already complete so fans cannot spoil any new information, but there has been talk about a revival season airing in 2019.

Regarding “The Office” knowledge communities, there are many available for and made by fans such as fanpop.com, or Officetally.com. They include posts and discussions on fan art, questions that arise, polls, linked professional articles, and more. The most recent discussion among fans is the rumour that NBC will be making a revival season. They have already uncovered that it would take place at Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch again, and would have some old characters along with new ones. What fans do not know is what the plot of the revival would be based on, but have theorized that it would be a where are they now story. An obvious question that comes along with this reboot is if Michael Scott would make a comeback to the show since his departure in season 7. Unfortunately, Steve Carell is set on not returning to the show and disappointing his many followers. As many devote fans are excited about a revival, some question if the new show could live up to the originals potential. Since it’s been identified that not all characters could come back, fans wonder if it is even worth trying without some important characters. They speculate that the show will only be enjoyable if it lives up to the previous seasons, but there is no way of knowing it will until it is watched. The necessity of a revival is questioned by all fans, and the sole fact that Carell would not be appearing is reason enough for some to leave the show at nine seasons. While many fans are excited to watch this beloved show again, there is a lot of doubt tied to it. Despite this, fans are still working together to find as much information surrounding this topic as they can, and will not stop until they find the answer.

## References

1. Jim and Pam are bad. https://screenrant.com/office-jim-pam-relationship-no-sense-problems/20/?v=8
2. Jim and Pam are Good. https://www.theodysseyonline.com/reasons-jim-and-pam-are-the-ultimate-relationship-goals
3. Jim and Pam are bad. https://www.buzzfeed.com/angelospagnolo/jim-halpert-is-a-bad-bad-person
4. Jim and Pam. https://www.reddit.com/r/DunderMifflin/comments/6nwho0/unpopular\_opinion\_on\_jim\_and\_pam/
5. 'Conflict Resolution" *The Office.* NBC
6. Class Presentation: Remediation
7. Scranton Strangler. https://theoffice.fandom.com/wiki/Who\_is\_Scranton\_Strangler%3F
8. Image. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/473440979572071441/
9. The Office revival. https://thepopbreak.com/2017/12/27/the-office-revival-do-we-really-want-it/
10. The Office revival. http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/the-office/links/40912058/title/office-revival-eyed-nbc-2018-2019-season