In our current evolving landscape of modern work, the blurred lines of technology and human interaction has become a great theme for speculative fiction and comedic reflection. Over the weekend, our group has come together for a viewing of episodes from “The Office,” “The IT Crowd,” and “Severance.” As David mentioned during an earlier tutorial session, these sort of fictional works provides a great opportunity to look through a different lens to view the implications of technological encroachment on workplace dynamics.
I liked “Severance” the most out of the three, the fact that I love dystopian science fiction shows probably played a lot into this. It talks about the loss of personal freedom to corporate control. This speculative fiction, kind of mirrors real-world anxieties about the reach of employers into employees’ lives, which I have personally felt before, which makes it even more chilling. We see the potential of extreme violation of privacy by the workspace here.
Meanwhile, “The Office” and “The IT Crowd” approaches this theme with humor, and we were able to observe insights into the impact of technology on social interactions within the workspace. In “The Office,” the episode “Email Surveillance” humorously critiques the invasion of privacy through workplace monitoring. “The IT Crowd’s” “The Red Door” showed the social dynamics of workplace inclusion, and showing how easily individuals can become excluded or marginalized in a work environment.
These shows do more than to entertain, they use fiction as a medium to critique and reflect upon the complex problems faced in the modern workspace. As a group, there is much we can learn from these narratives, they challenge us to think more critically about the direction of our own project, especially in the field of how technology is redefining work.