6. It's The Best Mockumentary Since "This Is Spinal Tap"
Gervais has never hidden his admiration for Christopher Guest's semi-improvised scripts and how much of an inspiration they were while he and Merchant were writing their own material. And it's clear to see that the biggest influence is undoubtedly the seminal 1984 film This Is Spinal Tap. Just as many audiences failed to grasp the fact that it wasn't a real documentary, so Gervais must have cherished the news that The Office was (initially) similarly misunderstood. The mockumentary style fits the sitcom so perfectly that, much like the employees of Wernham Hogg, you quickly forget that the cameras are there. In lesser hands, the presence of a BBC crew would be a gimmick- too knowing, too self-referential, too much time spent literally playing to camera. These 'talking heads' would be forever throwing enough potential catchphrases our way in the hope that one of them would stick. Yet The Office never plays it this way. Instead, they're peering at us as we're peering in. Of course Brent loves being at the centre of attention, but then he's the first to accuse the crew of manipulating footage in order to portray him as a monster. Gareth is, at first, uncomfortable with its unblinking gaze- and the opening couple of episodes have a recurring gag in which Gordon, the maintenance man, strolls into shot only to be completely transfixed by the lens and thus stand before it like a deer trapped in car headlights. But mostly, the presence of the camera simply reminds each character that they're being watched. This works in two ways. It either brings out their inner entertainer (Brent) or it makes them feel self-conscious (Tim). But while Brent, along with other characters, will look directly to camera after delivering what they consider a joke, Tim will roll his eyes in our direction to distance himself from the above and to check that, yes, we saw/heard that, too. In this respect, the look to camera is the visual equivalent of a laughter track.