Anatomy of a Shipper -- The Office

I love romance. Interestingly enough I'm not a particularly romantic person, but get two characters on a TV or movie screen together (or in the pages of a book, I'm really not picky) and I love it. I get all squishy inside.

For those not in the know, a "relationshipper", or "shipper" for short, is someone who focuses on the possible romantic or sexual relationship between two characters in a fictional medium. When referring to the character's relationship in this context it is referred to as the "ship". Now we've got the lexicon down, let me explain a little more.

The most often description of a shipper is that they are a person who would rather watch two characters making out for a half hour (on a show, in a movie, for chapters on end in a book) then watch or be involved in the whole of the show (or book, or movie) itself. For me this is not the case. Like many shippers I've turned to fan fiction to see if something good is there and most often I have been disappointed because I miss the other elements of the show (or book, or movie). Most shows work because they are a sum of their parts.

So, now I'm going to talk about a "ship" done right...and recite a bit of the shipper's mantra, "don't fuck it up".

The Office has finally come back after the evil writer's strike hiatus and on Thursday night they had an episode where Jim & Pam, the local ship, had a little conversation wherein Jim was teasing Pam about being evicted from her apartment, Pam was teasing Jim about just moving in with her boyfriend, and then Jim was not so quite teasing about it being fine with him, and then Pam was not teasing at all about needing to get engaged first and suddenly it was clear, Jim is going to ask her to marry him, and that's his intent.

Cut to what they call a "talking head" (for those that do not know, the show is done in a fake documentary style) where Jim interviews that he has already bought the ring and then shows it to the camera people.

Cut to Pam and Jim leaving for the day, walking down the street. Jim asks Pam to wait, gets down on one knee...and says he need to tie his shoe. She laughs while she tells him she hates him and they join hands.

Why is this a ship done right? This was the C storyline in the episode, this was not the main focus. When Jim and Pam are the main focus, it can get cloying. But this is a background conversation. It shows how serious these people are, how right they are for each other, and how happy they make each other. It's not about what they say, but how they say it. It's more subtle than that.

Besides, it's always nice to watch happy people. Writers tend to think conflict is required. But it's not all the time. The Office would be a boring show if it were simply about Jim and Pam, but, because it's not, the Jim and Pam story thread gives us a nice point of reference for the rest of the story.

The mantra "don't fuck it up" is very important here. I don't want manufactured conflict. These people don't have to have a perfect relationship but I want them, at the very least, to be pretty happy. There is a belief amongst TV writers that happy relationships don't happen. I don't think this is the case (maybe it is for TV writers). I think relationships change and grow and develop, but as someone who has been married for almost 9 years (and in a relationship with the same guy for 14) you still have fun with the person, you still laugh and flirt. And someone writing a ship in a TV show should never forget that.