For those of you who are The Office and Parks&Recreation fans like myself, I am sure that you are familiar with the characters of Ann Perkins and Karen Filipelli. Although they are not the most popular characters on their respective television shows , I find that they are both similar in ways. Coincidentally, they are both played by Rashida Jones. By closely studying these two characters I have come to the conclusion that the writers of both shows wanted to keep the various character traits of Karen Filipelli alive through Ann Perkins. In addition to the similarites shared between both characters I also find that they are both very different. I will break down these ideas into separate sections for better understanding.
Ann Perkins: I find that Ann is a very loyal and caring person. As a nurse, she attends to all of her patient's needs without letting other problems get in the way. Also, she is seen as the one who listens to everyone's problems. At first glance, we see her as the young woman in the olive green jacket,purple t shirt and jeans who stands up and informs the Parks Department of the pit her then boyfriend Andy Dwyer fell into next door to her home. Later on in the first season , Ann becomes more involved with the Parks Department when her soon to be best friend Leslie Knope knocks on her door after inspecting the pit. Because of her new found friendship with Leslie , Ann begins to regularly attend Parks Department meetings in order to further discuss the potential development of the pit into a park . At these meetings , Ann is seen as the wise one since she contributes rational ideas in lieu of the off the wall ones expressed by other Parks Department employees. After some time passes, Ann gets into a fight with Leslie over the fact that an interview was set up for her for Public Relations Director for the Health Department. She fears that she will lose her job as a nurse and is angry that Leslie set up this interview for her without her consent. But then Ann snaps back into her loyal and caring self when she realizes that Leslie is using this interview to get them to spend more time together while still working within the health/medical field. She also still manages to work as a nurse part time. Once Ann starts her job as Public Relations Director , she starts to see Tom Haverford's true feelings for her as he puts more emphasis on his flirtatious comments. But Ann decides to not worry about her love life and stays focused on her career until she feels that it is the right time to move on in terms of relationship status. Based off of these characteristics , I find that Ann is a likable character and not boring like what the critics say.She has a good head on her shoulders and symbolizes the balance between the rational and irrational.
Karen Filipelli: Karen is a rather flat character meaning that she doesn't change much in terms of personality. She is introduced in season three as a Sales Representative at the Dunder Mifflin Stamford Branch working alongside Jim Halpert and Andy Bernard. As we see in the various clips regarding the Stamford Branch , Karen becomes friends with Jim Halpert which later turns into a relationship. But Karen still remains as the ambitious career woman that she always has been who prefers pantsuits over dresses and skirts. As her character unravels itself, we find that she is also sensible and a motivator. In the Diwali episode,Karen hangs out with Andy and Jim in the office while they are taking shots. In this situation, Karen acts as the sensible one by disposing of each shot. On the other hand in The Beach Games episode she is seen as the motivator when she cheers Jim on and when she encourages him to stop watching Phillies games and go out with his awesome girlfriend to dinner and a movie in an earlier episode. As the third season starts to wrap up, Karen hides her sensible motivator personality because she begins to worry about what will happen with her and Jim since they are both interviewing for the corporate position in New York City. After their interviews, Jim breaks up with Karen and leaves her crying in front of a fountain which is implied in the first episode of season four. Because of this emotional and unexpected event , Karen does not show up at work the next day. In other words, she disappears until she is found again at the Utica Branch as Regional Manager in Branch Wars. In this episode, she spots Jim in the parking lot and starts talking to him. When Jim comes into her office, she finds out that he is dating Pam and has therefore moved on with his life. She still feels a little uneasy over this and has not completely moved on with her life. However in the fifth season we see a slight change in character. We do not see the Karen who is sad over her breakup with Jim , she is married to a dermatologist and is eight months pregnant with his child. She also sees Pam and Michael again for a lecture series. During the lecture , she does not approve of the nicknames that Michael gives to her employees such as sugar boobs and therefore makes it clear that she wants to get things over with. At this juncture, she puts on her authoritative hat when she asks Michael to come into her office. After this episode, we see her appear for the last time in season seven's Threat Level Midnight, a movie directed by Michael Scott. In the movie, she appears as a bachelorette with other women from the office in a dance number . Right before the scene ends, Karen briefly comments on how she is in the movie years after working at Dunder Mifflin Scranton and then disappears for the last time.
Similarities: Based upon a close study of these two characters, I have found many similarities. Both Ann and Karen are sensible when it comes to decision making and work hard. I also find that they are both rational thinkers in comparison to others that they work with. Rashida Jones also puts a bit of her own personality into each of these characters . For instance, both characters are highly intellectual and witty like she is.
Differences: Despite the many similarities between Ann & Karen I have also found some differences. The first difference I noticed were their choices in fashion. As mentioned beforehand, Karen prefers pantsuits whereas Ann wears jeans,shirts , skirts and dresses. Their hairstyles are also slightly different. Karen's hair grows a little bit past her shoulder blades and slightly touches the tops of her arms and her bangs are parted neatly to the left side without touching her forehead. Ann on the other hand changes her hair every so often. During the first season she wears her hair a little past her shoulders with bangs. Later on she cuts her hair to shoulder length with her bangs combed neatly to the left side with the bottom portion dyed blonde. As well as hairstyle and fashion there are also slight differences in character. Ann is a loyal best friend and Karen more or less is not focused on being a loyal best friend she just tries to be friendly with everyone she works with.
