MicroSex Office started from 2009. Season 2 was shown in 2010. In 2011, the season 3 is on show now. For the drama, it has good public praises. The ticket sold out in a short time. It needs to have additional performance. The drama is comedy which the audiences agree can reduce stress.
The setting of the drama is office. The things happen in office. It always happens. It is related to the love affairs between the colleges. It also includes the interview sections which has the massage. The whole drama has five sections which is Monday to Friday. Each section has own unique story. The story is representing the emotion of the labor. There are four transitions which separate into the five sections. Those four transitions are the interviews which is the solo performance of the performers.
The interviews are showing the some of the characteristics of different age group and the gender differences. In season 1 and 2, there are 2 interviewees which under 30 years old, an Indian man and a middle age man. However, in season 3, it changes two performers and the interviewees are two middle age interviewees and two young interviewees which aged at 25 to 35.
There is a solo performance of a land agent. For his interview, it is showing that the Hong Kong people is focusing on money more than everything especially dream. They need to show that they are better than others. They can do anything for finishing the task.
Another interviewee is showing the Hong Kong female’s (港女) hope to get marriage with rich man. Nowadays, part of the Hong Kong female use their beautiful appearances to attract the male. They just get a job which can help them to meet more rich man.
The rest of two interviews are very similar. Both of them are middle age period. For Aunt Hermione (妙麗姨), she was divorce with her husband. She needs to get income for family. For Chen Man (陳滿), he lost his business when he is a middle age man. In the interview which about hiring a guard, he shows his ability and life experience for proving he can be a good guard. These two are the example showing Hong Kong people can be success if they do not give up their hope. The image for middle age people is much hard-working and can overcome the difficulties. It is the contrast between two generations.
The drama does not showing the image of Hong Kong people only. It has the stereotype of the gender image in the drama. The use of stereotype plays an important role. The funny moments and the consensuses are based on the stereotype. In the drama, it is mainly stereotype the female. Here are the examples.
First, if the secretary is beautiful enough, her working abilities come second. In the drama, a role called Mercy is a secretary which has Princess Ailment. She can forget everything when she is working. She does not have many abilities and cannot handle the job like lost the document in washroom. The female can use their appearances to be their weapon to survive in the company. It constructed an image that the beautiful appearance is everything for female.
Second, it is still related to beautiful female. The beautiful females seek for job has aim which is marrying with a rich man. They do not have many special abilities. In the drama, the interviewee shows that she will have different reaction to a man, a sexy guy and a female. It is constructing that the beautiful female is looking for a rich man. She will not give up any chances for communicating to male. It seems that the beautiful females are only looking for marriage with a rich man.
Third, there is a stereotype on professional women. CK, a professional woman, has love affair with her employee. It is showing the unfairness on female status. In the drama, CK try to accept the approach of her employee, Jeremy. At the end, she still cannot be success. CK is a professional woman. She has higher status. She is on the top of the man. Nevertheless, she only can be success in career only. She cannot have love with other who she wants. It is constructing that the female can only choose bread or love. The female cannot get both. For the end of the section, it has a song, “If I ain’t got you”, also showing the female cannot live without man. It is the inequality between male and female.
The MicroSex Office is not just a drama on showing the funny things to you. It also includes some hidden massage which we need to think about. The young ladies who have b
eautiful appearances can have better treatment. In this drama, it is show the generation gap of the identity of Hong Kong people. It has the transformation of Hong Kong people’s identity. It also has showing the stereotype on female and male in the company. It is a kind of media representation that the female may have unequal treatment in the drama. It is not only for fun, there are some massages included and we need to think about.
Chau Ka Leung Henry (Ku)
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So happy to see you writing a review on “MicroSex Office”! I love “送水輝哥” so much!!! Though I haven’t watched the version of Season 3, I am sure that the show must be wonderful!
ReplyDeleteYou have pointed out a few sharp observations on the use of stereotypes, such as some typical features of Hong Kong people, as well as different categories of OL (either beauty-oriented or career-minded). In particular, it seems that women are facing lots of limitations in their workplace. The drama seems quite successful in representing a kind of dilemma enforced (both socially and personally) upon women.
In general, your review is very detailed and comprehensive. Perhaps you may focus on the images of a few selected OM and OL only, and explore different types of relationship involved (e.g., friendship and love affairs between colleagues). May I ask if “送水輝哥” still take a role in this Season? I think his character is very illustrative and remarkable too!
P. S. Have you watched “Let’s Get Wet and High(送水輝哥--純真傳說)?