Wednesday, June 19, 2024

More Romeo and Juliet: A Shakespeare Allusion in Season Nine of The Office

"Moving On." By Graham Wagner. Perf. Rainn Wilson, Mindy Kaling, Ed Helms, Leslie David Baker, Kate Flannery, Lindsey Broad, and Oscar Nuñez. Dir. Jon Favreau. The Office. Season 9, episode 16. NBC. 14 February 2013. DVD. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, 2019.


Just when I think I've harvested all the Shakespeare The Office has to offer, I find another reference.

I've been keeping up with The Office Ladies podcast, and that necessitates rewatching the episodes they're covering. They're nearly through Season 9, and they are nearly to "Moving On" (so I don't yet know if they'll mention the Shakespeare).

In that episode, Andy has discovered that Erin, having broken up with him, has started dating Pete, and he behaves like a hurt animal—except that a hurt animal might not turn to Shakespeare to illustrate his emotions.


That moment, however indirectly, illustrates the common practice of reading our own lives back into Shakespeare. The trope of Romeo and Juliet as the quintessential lovers is the starting point, but Andy reads beyond the margins to imagine a former beau of Juliet—probably her boss—and his emotional state. As misguided as that is, it's not uncommon.

Links: The Episode at IMDB.

Click below to purchase the season from amazon.com
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).

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