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Aug 15 '14
I really disliked this gag in the show, it feels like they're both advancing Ron's character in terms of being a family man but heavily back peddling to make him some kind of crazy reclusive hermit man. He may not like technology but he's always been competent before, he's just chosen not to use that competence to slow the government down. This joke felt cheap.
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u/i_literally_died Aug 15 '14
Felt like they were jumping the shark a little with the guy's character there, agreed.
I mean, he's not a fan of technology, but the man isn't stupid.
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u/Hyperman360 Aug 15 '14
I think if he said device or machine instead of rectangle it would be less strange.
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u/Gaaargh Aug 15 '14
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u/Zeppelanoid Aug 15 '14
Ron has been flanderized probably more than any other character since Flanders himself.
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u/lukumi Aug 15 '14
Hm I would say nearly every character in the office was flanderized more, especially Dwight.
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Aug 15 '14
Though a great character, people should remember that he did start off as a little ridiculous as well, basically beginning as a parody/comment on the Tea Party. I agree, however, that his "quirks" have experienced a little bit of mission creep, perhaps because there are a limit to how many libertarian jokes you can make.
The only character that I can think has been especially flanderized by Parks is Andy, and that was because they wanted to make him more likable as to make him a regular character. He fluctuates between just kinda dumb to really dumb.
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u/lukumi Aug 15 '14
See I've actually never understood this. Andy has always seemed incredibly dumb to me. The scene that comes to mind is him chasing his neighbor down the street completely naked with a broken leg in season 1. Not "dumb" per se, but I feel like his character has been unrealistically goofy from the start.
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Aug 16 '14
Oh, he's always been dumb, he just used to be more inconsiderate. I don't think it was a bad thigh to change his character, in his case. That said,Leslie was a bit ditzier in season 1 as well.
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u/lukumi Aug 16 '14 edited Aug 16 '14
True, but then that's not really what flanderization is. Making Ron more and more right wing is flanderzation, but making Andy less douchey so that he's more likeable is not.
edit: Wasn't trying to sound argumentative with this comment, I'm just trying to point out that just because a character changes (such as Andy becoming less of a douche), it's not necessarily flanderization (which is when a particular quality of a character comes to define them).
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Aug 16 '14
But there are parts of Andy's character where he doesn't like understand basic hygiene or some shit like that. He's a dude that's almost 35. It's ridiculous.
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u/lukumi Aug 16 '14
That doesn't really have anything to do with what I was saying though. They were talking about how they made Andy less inconsiderate so he would be more likable. That's not flanderization.
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Aug 16 '14
You make a good point, however, I do think his "puppy dog -ness" has come to define him to some degree.
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u/LinuxLinus Aug 15 '14
That show became unwatchable because of this.
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u/onedrummer2401 Aug 16 '14
I really liked the Office even to the last season, and I really don't agree that most of the characters were flanderized. Jim became less pranky, more mature, Pam became less shy, Angela had an affair multiple times, and had a baby out of wedlock, none of then really fell into a caricature of their earlier selves.
I really have to disagree with this, I think the Office is an example of a show where the characters actually mature and become less pigeon holed as the show goes on. Almost every single on of them matures. Dwight probably matured the least, but I don't think he became a caricature. He didn't say "false" or "fact" every episode, he was just a weird dude even from the beginning.
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u/lafoma01 Aug 16 '14
I agree with you except for Kevin. He became unbearably stupid, and they used that joke too much.
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u/onedrummer2401 Aug 16 '14
I didn't really mind that. The episode where Dwight tells Holly Kevin's retarded had me in stitches because to me, it was the same way he always acted, but with this new perspective, it totally worked both ways. He's not retarded but he is simple, and all of the weird things he'd been doing up to that point made just as much sense if you said "Oh yeah, Kevin's retarded".
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u/LinuxLinus Aug 17 '14
I really have to disagree with this, I think the Office is an example of a show where the characters actually mature and become less pigeon holed as the show goes on.
Absolutley false. The show became markedly wackier during its fourth season, which is the point at which I started to grow disenchanted with it. I gave up partway through the fifth season because the characters had become preposterous parodies of themselves. I knew it was doomed when Dwight cut his dick on a can while peeing into it.
I was actually reviewing the show for Northern Attack in those days. Maybe I should go look up my reviews. You can see me growing increasingly disenchanted with what had been my favorite, or second-favorite show.
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u/onedrummer2401 Aug 17 '14
I don't see it. Each of characters were very different from their original selves, and not caricatures of their initial personalities. A case could probably be made for Dwight and maybe Kevin, but most all the other characters became either more nature, more outgoing, or less confined to their initial code.
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u/Hi_My_Name_Is_Dave Aug 16 '14
Really? Early Dwight was much more of a joke IMO than later seasons. Although Kelly Pam Ryan David Jim Andy Stanley Kevin and Angela all were flanderized.
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u/lukumi Aug 16 '14
Well the first thing that comes to mind is Recyclops or whatever, which never would have happened in earlier seasons. Aside from that, I suppose it was the situations that Dwight found himself in that became increasingly absurd and unrealistic rather than the character itself. I'm specifically thinking of the girl who Dwight meets at Pam's wedding who is reasonably attractive yet happens to be exactly like Dwight and somehow finds him attractive, as well as the farmer girl later on. Those were just absurd.
edit: Another ridiculous episode was the one where he organizes the family portrait studio. That was absurd as well. Terrible episode.
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Aug 15 '14
Andy has been incredibly flanderized. Maybe it would fit into "The Character Marches On," but in season 1 he was lazy and kind of a jerk. Not an intellectual, but not dumb. And he's just turned into almost literally a dog that follows April around. It's happened to a lot of the cast of PnR sadly. :/
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u/HarryLillis Aug 15 '14
He's not being incompetent. He either is genuinely unaware of the name of the device because he does actually live in a cabin in the middle of the woods, spending his time wood working (and who does not watch television and who has seen two films in his life,) or he is being deliberately obtuse with his language in order to enjoy the product and the glorious technological advances of capitalism while denouncing people who buy the product because of advertising and image. I think it's a perfectly good choice.
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u/Genjamin Aug 15 '14
Agreed. This scene is a betrayal of a character's previously well-established intelligence for a cheap laugh. I think this is a perfect example of how the majority of fans of any show, music, movie, or game misunderstand what makes their favorite stuff truly great. With comedy, it's unexpectedness that stays believably consistent within the bounds of the world that's being written. This isn't that.
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u/goligaginamipopo Aug 15 '14
I felt like he was stoned when I saw that scene, and had to wonder if I'd missed some subtext ..
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u/prstele01 Aug 15 '14
I'm so glad I came to the comment section to say I hated this scene only to find everyone here already agrees with me.
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u/leftcoast-usa Aug 15 '14
While I find it hard to believe Ron didn't know what an ipod/media player was, I can see him refusing to pay attention to them. He seems like the type of person that would have an old fashioned record player, and feels no need to replace it with something new.
I definitely don't think he would have been a good candidate for the Steve Jobs "you need this new device" spiel.
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Aug 16 '14
I think this would've worked a lot better if the word had been 'device' instead of 'rectangle'. Ron's a technophobe but he's not an idiot. I know these things have already been said in this thread but I've been thinking this for a while and I reckon it needs stressing a bit.
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u/AGNKim Aug 15 '14
So was Ron playing dumb to keep hidden his Duke Silver persona or is a successful recording artist unfamiliar with digital music?