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The IT Crowd: A review

The IT Crowd

The IT Crowd is a british comedy TV show revolving around members of the IT department for the company Reynholm Industries. It lasted for 5 seasons, running from 2006 to 2010 on Channel 4. Each episode is based around the odd (and comedic) situations that the characters find themselves in, usually resulting in them getting in trouble.

Aesthetic

The aesthetic of the show follows a very natural, realistic look to not take away from the comedic effect, and to focus the attention on the script. The introduction titles are based around the appearance of an 8-bit animation as a nod towards the ‘IT’ (Information Technology) theme of the show, along with electronic style music.
They use a classic style of filming with obvious use of the Rule of Thirds in every shot, which makes it easier to watch, once again helping to focus on the script and action rather than the appearance of the show.
The main set is in a basement, with the office covered in posters and clutter, making it clear that this area is unkempt and left to the IT department to look after, ensuring that the viewer knows the boss of the company isn’t particularly involved in their side of the company, particularly as he consistently gets their names and job roles wrong.

Political

The characters each pose a stereotype, the geeky character Moss (Richard Ayoade), Roy (Chris O’Dowd) the luckless friend, and Jen (Katherine Parkinson) the tech-illiterate manager. They are likely each a dramatized version of someone the viewer knows in real-life, which makes it funnier as the viewer can place themselves or their friends in the situations that the characters find themselves in. This gives an almost auteurist view of this section of the company, which makes it so relatable as we can see that the author was writing about people he knew.
The comedy in the show plays off from a lot of stereotypes. For example, in Season 1 Episode 2 ‘Calamity Jen’, Jen goes through the struggle of trying to wear shoes that she loves but are 2 sizes too small for her. This stereotype that women love shoes is quite popular in current media culture, and the comedy makes fun of this stereotype rather than enforcing it.

Psychoanalytic


Moss is a character that represents stereotypes about ‘geeks’ and because of this, is very socially awkward. Roy often must explain to him how he should be reacting to different situations, and he is viewed as someone quite ‘out of the ordinary’ but this is then turned on its head in The Final Countdown (Season 4 Episode 2) when it’s revealed that Moss is part of a group of people that are all like him. However, he seems less neurotypical than the other characters, as he’s particularly smart but less socially skilled. This adds another sense of relevance to the current times as neurodivergence is more accepted and acknowledged in media and society as a whole, and having this character represented, much like the stereotypes about women displayed in Jen, pokes fun at the stereotype rather than enforcing them. 
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