Board 8 > Rate the Character Day 11: Michael Scott (The Office)

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Welcome to the most must-see recurring thread on Board 8. I'm scarletspeed7, and this is Rate the Character. I'll pick a category, you pick a character, and every day we'll rate one character. You are the raters, they are the characters, you rate the characters. Boom.

Yesterday, Boromir walked into the ratings with a average.

All ratings are on scale of 1-10. You may rate any previous characters you have yet to rate at any point; please post them in the thread. View your ratings here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P47gZ8N7QcS-ShXYjvteOnd_aCJbv3AcJdipiUChhAg/edit?usp=sharing

Today's character is Michael Scott, the longtime lead character on the U.S. version of The Office.



Current Top Ten:
1) Scarecrow (DC Comics) - 8.308
2) Tyrion Lannister (Game of Thrones) - 8.086
3) Severus Snape (Harry Potter) - 7.972
4) Darth Vader (Star Wars) - 7.806
5) Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy) - 7.258
6) Poseidon (Greek Mythology) - 6.889
7) Boromir (Lord of the Rings) - 6.739
8) Donkey Kong (Super Mario) - 5.976
9) Phil Dunphy (Modern Family) - 5.958
10) John Cena (WWE) - 4.778
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8/10

He gets really annoying with how childish he can be sometimes, but I love how he's written as a deeper character than you initially think. As you watch more, you see mostly little things, sometimes bigger things, that really show you just why he is the way he is, whether they happen recently or happened in his childhood, and it's actually quite sad. Main one I'm thinking of is the episode where the office finds out that Michael was on a children's show when he was younger, they all decide to watch it against his wishes and on the show, he said "I wanna be married and have 100 kids so I can have 100 friends. And no one can say no to being my friend." The entire office, along with the show characters, are stupified at just how dark of an implication that is. It's things like that that make you start to realize why Michael is so intent on making the office less of a workplace and more of a fun-zone.
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8
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I will score Michael an 8.8 out of 10
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10. Best sitcom character
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7/10

His shtick can be very hit or miss, but he's good when he hits.
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Stop being a Toby and vote.
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4

He has his moments of course, especially later on, but it's hard not to dislike him for much of the show. He's pretty unapologetically racist and sexist sand he's undeniably a terrible boss. In particular, the episodes where he tried to ruin the Christmas parties multiple times (once because he hated his gift and once because Phyllis was Santa) and also where he made the employees stay late to forge his signature because he didn't want to work turned me against him
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I declare... 9!
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I wouldn't say he's unapologetically racist. He tries very hard not to be racist.
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Johnbobb posted...

He's pretty unapologetically racist and sexist

Except he's apologetically racist and sexist. He constantly thinks he's promoting equality but his views are all skewed by a childhood defined by terrible parenting. Michael's only friend is Todd Packer and the only person who he looked up to as a father was freaking Ed Truck. He wasn't taught how to be a socially well-defined person. He developed on his own. Pointing out the racism and sexism as if he's intentionally trying to do what he's doing fails to recognize that he's just a product of his upbringing with actual good intentions. Even in his most despicable acts of racism or sexism, he's either trying to bring unity or just cover his own failures. Michael just doesn't understand how the world works.
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8
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LeonhartFour posted...

7/10

His shtick can be very hit or miss, but he's good when he hits.

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scarletspeed7 posted...

Even in his most despicable acts of racism or sexism, he's either trying to bring unity or just cover his own failures.

Pretty sure that's not the case when he tries groping female employees

And like I said, there are many moments I like him

But it's completely inconsistent, and the bad just kind of outweighs the good
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But that's not Michael being sexist; that's Michael having not been raised by anyone and still behaving with a childlike mind. It's sexist from the outside, but any cursory understanding of the character can understand that his interactions are built on base impulses and emotions that have never been tempered by a proper upbringing. I really believe that Michael is the ONLY consistently developed character on the show.
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This... Is actually a hard one.

I agree with the 'hit or miss'. I hate him a lot, I like him a lot, and he had a very emotional goodbye.

Let's go... 6.5.

Hi scarlet.
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Hi MI
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I have both liked and found annoying some of what I've seen of the show, I do not feel I've gotten enough of a package to rate.
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