the office is a twine of music, experience, and memory
now that’s a thesis.
the office is a twine of music, experience, and memory.
now that’s a thesis.
alive inside is a super indie film produced in 2014 showcasing the power of music in treating alzheimers and dementia.
according to the movie, music doesn’t necessarily heal a patient, but it can help to kickstart memory. for example, one of the characters, an old guy named henry, is able to recall a few specific childhood memories after a few weeks listening to a playlist of his favorite songs.
the film doesn’t go into the science on why nostalgic music makes certain neural pathways fire, but it makes sense, in a way. music has always been a personal linking portal to visceral memories — a certain song plays when thinking about a certain relationship, a certain beat lingers in my head when recalling a family roadtrip, a certain lyric bounces around my brain when i look at my favorite book tucked inside its shelf. even stronger links to the past are the playlists made by a formerly angsty teen and the favorited albums loved by a confused college freshman — they are an archive to the past, no longer relevant to who i am now, but part of the equation of my humanity.
i can understand how a future, amnesia-riddled me might react to a rhythm from 2010 with a smile — even if in that state i have no idea the backstory.
there are certain things that are universal human experiences. think about the thrill of a first kiss or a burned finger on a hot stove.
then there are certain things that are intensely american human experiences. lining up at the dmv. eating a mcdonalds hamburger. watching election night in utter confusion. hotdogs. apple pie. thanksgiving. the yankees, lakers, and cowboys.
beyond that, there are age-specific human experiences. i’ll speak for my age group here. for people with the twenty four circles around the sun, the people born just after of millenialhood but too early to truly feel part of gen z, the list of age-specifc human experiences is long and interesting. we didn’t grow up with phones, but our late childhood was marred by a far-too-early entrance to the savage battle-zone of social media. we definitely hit up blockbuster when we were in kindergarten, but have now known netflix for the entirety of our teenage and young adult years. 2008 was definitely weird, but 2020 was the weirdest. america and presidents and democracy hold more in common with memes than reality — JFK’s speech about going to the moon and MLK’s speech about dreams and stuff like that, stuff that mattered, feels like ancient history from a different country: not something that happened when our grandparents were our age.
while the topic is hotly debated, it does appear that chewing gum improves memory. a study in the early 2000s somewhat proved this after a crew of gum chewing research participants scored twenty four percent higher on a memory exam than their non-gum-chewing compatriots.
the idea of chewing gum improving memory has always fascinated me. i was first introduced to the idea during sat prep in high school, where my teacher suggested that we study certain subjects whilst chewing different flavors of gum. mint for math, watermelon for english, spearmint for science, etc. then, when test day came around, ms. teacher suggested that we switch out gum flavors between sections of the test, as our brain would remember math better when chewing mint, or something like that.
i, of course, didn’t get to test this theory because, well, i didn’t study for my sats.
but it was a fun idea.
i guess this is still a blog about the office.
let’s try to tie it together.
the office is background music to my life. it has been with me for years and years, the epitome of streaming. the first time i watched the office i was probably in 2012 or 2013. the last time i watched the office was yesterday. as a 24 year old, that means the office has been one of my favorite shows for half of my life. its ebbs and flows are second nature to me at this point; comfortable, nostalgic, and easy. im pretty sure that if im old and memory-less and you show me an old episode of the office, my mood would improve because, i guess, the office is just ingrained.
and the office is also a universal shared experience for twenty four year olds in america. i swear, i bet watching the office has a 98% hit rate among people my age. it is a show about the silliness of corporate america, something my generation loves to discuss over zoom calls in hoodies (because we will never go into an office, most likely). but that’s not why the show is popular with us kids (young adults?). the office is snarky and funny and cringe, but it is also hopelessly optimistic, even though this optimism is hidden behind jokes about class, race, wage, and co-worker. the guys get the girls in the office, the minorities are praised and promoted despite some very awkward moments, and michael, for all his faults, turns out to be a pretty good guy.
and i dunno, but the thing about studying while chewing gum and then chewing that gum during a test to remember that thing is also relevant. there is a song by ajr that talks about this — each season of the office is kinda, sorta maybe burned into my brain and intertwined with a certain moment, just like how ms. teacher had hoped that the transitive property of equality would be easier to memorize thanks to grinding a mint flavored substance between my molars.
ajr puts it a bit more poetically tho:
I had my first crush in season two. She passed me notes and filled our hands with glue…She moved away I was on season three. It hit my heart so hard I'd hardly speak…The one where Dwight became the head of Sales, My eighth grade graduation wished me well…I lost my grandfather in season six. I watched my mom, she cried and held her kids…Now the finale's done and I'm alone…But who I am is in these episodes…So don't you tell me that it's just a show.
- kram
🔥🔥