Went to see “Yes Man” by Jim Carrey (I had some time to kill and it was the only movie that was starting, sue me). Before the movie, there were two trailers for “Marley & Me” and “Revolutionary Road”.
All three movies had their own respective plots, but all more or less played around with the same idea: work is a drag, and responsibilities are prohibiting you (the American male) from being free and realizing your true self. It’s the old “the mainstream vs. the avant garde” rhetoric that’s been a staple of Hollywood and American culture for decades now. Money and “career” eat at your soul, and only by letting go and embracing freedom, spontaneous whims and creativity can you truly be free – just ask William Whyte and “The Organization Man”.
Beware the Organization Man, for he wears a gray flannel suit and he has no soul.
Naturally, the truth about work life isn’t as dreary as movies would have us to believe, and the avant garde isn’t all it’s cooked up to be (if you can even call it that anymore). But the myth remains.
I’m wondering if we’ll see a decline in how often this myth is featured in American cinema. All three movies I mentioned were given a green light or shot during the end of the economic boom cycle. Life was good, jobs were aplenty and secure. People had the luxury to dream about a better life (and most of all, a better job). But now we’re in a recession and people are more thankful to have a job in the first place. Will Hollywood sense this or keep rolling out films that basically declare that your job stinks? If this recession is going to be as bad as some people speculate it will be, then its impact on contemporary culture should be quite imminent, and Hollywood is usually the first to smell a cultural trend.
I’m definitely keeping my eye on the list of upcoming movies.
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