One of the co-creators, Jake Weisman, once described this show as "it is Fight Club if the guys never started the fight club"
It is both an astute description of the show, and it is also representative of the type of humour of the show. I am a huge fan of the US Office and I would go as far as to say that this is the only and true heir of that show. It is the only modern show that gets the ethos of The Office. In the sense that the Office, through the lens of corporate routine and workday shenanigans put the finger on a deeper spiritual malaise, which we can relate to, and which is typically postmodern. The outside shell is humour, but on the inside, it is all depression and sadness.
Corporate is different in the sense that it adopts mainly more stand-up-ish humour, whereas the Office relied on character humour. Although the characters are fun stereotypes and the performances are terrific, most of the jokes and fun comes from pointing out the million little absurdities of everyday office life. It is more an exposition of the surreal-ness of the inner workings of a global far-reaching corporation. By extension, in the same vein as Fight Club it is a commentary on capitalism. The only difference is that Fight Club promoted revolution and violence, Corporate argues that resistance is futile and that it is not the end of the world to submit to your new corporate overlords.
Corporate is also more thematically varied. It goes though the life of these mid-level executives to focus on different aspects of modern life. Workplace surveillance, popular discourse about TV-shows, the dichotomy on following your dreams vs. Making money. But also, more trivial concerns like being tired at work or how to get out of an endless mandatory meeting, or male make-up. It is precisely that juxtaposition of existential dread and inadequacy with our changing environment with petty concerns like where to get birthday cake; or how what swimsuit to buy, that makes this show fantastic.
Thematically but also tonally it is somewhere between The Office and Fight Club. Yet, there is also an undergoing dystopian commentary on technology and modern society. It has the broad humour and comedic editing of a sitcom, with the nihilism (and muted dark colour palette) of an existential drama. However the social commentary it gives would be closer to something like Black Mirror, but with biting irony instead of the bleak cynicism.
It is funny without necessarily being fun, it is bitingly sardonic against corporations while being a corporate product. It is well filmed, perfectly acted, has a fantastic soundtrack and is just delicious to watch. It is only really a shame there are only three seasons.
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