Kevin+Malone

= Kevin Malone =



Biography
**Kevin Malone** works as an accountant for Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, PA (now owned by Sabre). He originally applied for a job as a worker in the warehouse but was hired to an accounting position by manager Michael Scott. He plays the drums in a Police tribute band called Scrantonicity, later renamed Scrantonicity II. He loves M&M’s, Cup o’ Noodles, the number sixty-nine, playing poker (he once won the World Series of Poker Tournament) and anything that involves hot girls. He has been in a couple relationships, one to a woman named Stacey whom he was engaged to. She was the only woman to ever say yes to his proposal. He later dates a woman named Lynne, which he met at their Valentine’s Day mixer, who works in the Scranton business park where Dunder Mifflin is located. He is an excellent basketball player, though Michael doesn’t actually let him play for their sales team, but he can shoot better than anyone in the office, except Jim of course. He is a genuinely nice guy, though his feet don’t always smell too nice. He loves to have fun and joke around with his co-workers and is known to have a good inappropriate joke on hand at all times. Kevin is well known for being an excellent cook, and an excellent eater. He is innovative in the office, concocting dishes such as quesadillas from chips and spray cheese. When Pam becomes pregnant, he also starts cooking meals that the two of them can share at work. He also brings in his specialty one episode, which he calls “Kevin’s Famous Chili.” However, his food expertise comes with a price as is apparent when he receives the “Don’t Go In There After Me” Dundie award from Michael. Kevin can be very gullible at times, however he labels himself as a “textbook overthinker.” Don’t be confused though, he is not, and I repeat NOT, mentally challenged.

Kevin seems to be stuck in the genital stage of Freudian’s described psychosexual development, however at times it appears that he has regressed to both the anal and oral stages. The first stage, also known as the oral stage, occurs in infancy. In this stage, fixation occurs in the mouth and those in this stage are driven to satisfy needs of hunger and thirst. Kevin is obviously driven by his hunger, letting nothing get in his way of a good meal. In one episode, Kevin is spotted in the kitchen holding a popsicle in each hand. Angela walks in and says, “Two Kevin?” Kevin replies, “I didn’t eat lunch,” and Angela looks at him knowingly. He continues, “I didn’t eat //all// of my lunch.” Kevin is always hungry and is constantly looking to satisfy his oral desires. The next stage, or anal stage, is an area where Kevin spends a lot of his time. In this stage, occupants receive pleasure from relieving themselves of bodily waste. They also have excessive “potty talk.” Aside from Kevin’s anal fissures (I don’t care to know what that really is but he does reveal it is a medical problem for him), he is a master of t he anal stage. When Michael hides in his office in one episode Kevin announces, “He has to come out sometime…to go to the bathroom!” then snickers to himself. Angela then proceeds to get annoyed with his immaturity, as always. The phallic stage is Kevin’s most well known stage. This is the stage of overt sexual behavior that is socially unacceptable (in other words, Kevin in a nutshell). It’s very hard for Kevin to get through an episode without making some sort of sexual reference. Sex is always on his mind. When he first meets Holly, the new HR representative, he confesses to the camera, “I am totally gonna bang Holly. She is cute and helpful and she seems really into me.” In a later episode when he is talking to Lynne he just blurts out “Boobs!” He has very little self-control when it comes to this stage. He always sets the thermostat to sixty-nine…for obvious reasons. His computer is filled with porn, which he has made mention to several times. There’s no denying it. Kevin loves sex. He loves women. He loves the idea of having sex with hot women. However, Kevin appears to have never made it past the genital stage. He certainly shows no signs of latency (he cares very little about his work) and his genital stage won’t hold. He cannot sustain a mature relationship. Stacy broke up with him even though they were engaged. He and Lynne are no longer dating. As nice as Kevin is, he can’t stay in a mature relationship for very long.

 Kevin tends to be a very laid back guy. He never has anything particularly bad to say about anyone. He’s definitely one of the most loveable workers in the office. He manages the “teddy bear” personality pretty well. Though he is not always jolly, because he can be in a bad mood (particularly when no one comes to cheer on his band), he does have a certain happiness and complacency about him. He doesn’t hate going into work every day like Stanley does. He laughs at Michael’s jokes. He’ll poke fun at his co-workers (particularly Angela) then laugh it off and give Oscar a nice fist bump. He raises morale in the office. In one episode, a construction crew was filling the workers’ parking spaces. Kevin took it upon himself to get those parking spaces back. When he returned everyone cheered and gave him a pat on the back. The somatotype theory describes three body types that everyone fits into. They are either mesomorphs (athletic), ectomorphs (skinny, nerdy) or endomorphs (large, jolly). Kevin would be described as an endomorph. He is overweight but also good-natured, often acting as though he is still a little kid. In an episode where the office has a barbeque in the parking lot, Kevin is very excited that there is a moon bounce and quickly runs off to play. However, people don’t tend to mind that he acts this way. If Kevin were skinny would he still be treated the same, or if it were Jim who was acting like a happy child? His co-workers think it’s ok for him to be jolly because of the way he looks. Kevin isn’t the most attractive looking guy in the office. He isn’t just overweight but he’s also balding. Even though it’s in the opinion of many that skinny, attractive people are nicer and do more good than less attractive people, this usually isn’t the case. Unattractive people are actually nicer because they can’t rely on their looks to get people to like them. It’s not that the rest of the world is shallow; we just have a bias towards attractive people. Kevin is probably so nice and happy all the time because of his biological appearance.

It can be argued that Kevin’s gambling problem, which has been made apparent in numerous episodes, is due to his genes. Kevin isn’t very good with money. As we see at their casino night, Kevin goes all in on one hand and loses everything. Michael goes to Kevin for advice when he wants to make some quick bucks betting on horse races. One episode, in particular, is devoted to Kevin’s love of gambling when the entire office starts betting on things that happen there. Kevin expresses how bored he is “ever since March Madness ended.” Not much is given on Kevin’s background or how he started gambling. It never gets bad enough to a point where he legitimately has no money, however it is known that he has a serious problem. Kevin actually admits to having a gambling problem in one episode. He bets his friend at the Albany branch an entire month’s salary that Karen will be promoted. After announcing his risky move he pauses and says, “Oh no…I think I have a gambling problem.” He attempts to trick the bank into giving him a loan so he can pay off some of his debts by telling them that he wants to open up an ice cream store. Of course Kevin would tell them he wants to sell ice cream (yes, because he’s overweight and as mentioned before, loves popsicles). Even so, Kevin has a serious addiction and this can be credited to his biological make up. There is some sort of genetic effect that causes him to obsessively gamble his money away on everything, be it horse racing or the number of jellybeans on Pam’s desk.

Kevin might not be the smartest guy working at the office, but he is one of the nicest. He might make mistakes in his accounting but at the end of the day he’s just a caring guy who legitimately wants to find someone to be with him, he just can’t find the maturity to do so. However, his immaturity and child-like behavior make him loveable and a great addition to the office. Don’t be deceived by his weight. Even Michael says “he smells really good”, which makes a point to say that everything cannot be based on his physical appearance. Kevin has a tough time being accepted by women because of his looks and genital stage obsessions, but this isn’t to say that someday he’ll find someone who’s as youthful in nature as he is. As long as he has his friends, his band and his job, Kevin will continue to be a happy person. He’s someone who finds joy in just about everything (you would have to if your favorite movie was American Pie 2). Kevin is an essential figure in the office, bringing everyone closer together whether they see it or not…though I would never trust him with //my// money.

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Malone http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0009732/quotes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA1o-ralx5A&feature=PlayList&p=7A330990F8D41C82&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=31 Silverman, B., Daniels, G., Gervais, R., Merchant, S., Klein, H., Lieberstein, P (Executive Producers). (2005-2010). //The Office//: Seasons 1-5[Television Broadcast]//.// California, CBS. 

media type="youtube" key="_xfye5tG-Ow" width="425" height="350" media type="youtube" key="k7IVFea0yEc" width="425" height="350"media type="youtube" key="H9kNleS2q00" width="425" height="350"