I find it very ironic that Marya mentioned that fear she got when she watched Office Space. I believe I was watching it with her, and freaking out the exact same way. So I have to ask this question, why is that?
What is it about normal office jobs that freak us out so much? Many people go through their lives working in a cubicle leading perfectly respectful lives, and most of them; I would like to believe enjoy being there. So why is it, when I watch something like that, do I want to scream and vomit simultaneously? Ok...so Office Space is a venture from the norm by a long stretch, but it wouldn't be a comedy if people couldn't relate to it. So there must be a sliver of truth to it.
Personally, I can only tell you what bothers me about it by dissecting the movie. Mostly it's the fact that everything in the movie down to the last set detail is bland and dead. Nothing has a life of its own besides the characters who coincidentally feel dead inside. That's a harsh life. Have you ever stared at the sets in that movie? It's terrifying...and those are real places. People work and live in those places, but why? You have probably passed a business park or two with a corporation like Initech, and wondered what was inside, and who drove those nondescript cars in the perfectly paved black parking lot. Office Space just makes me look at these people like some kind of pariah, like they all have some kind of infectious disease that makes them insane enough to get up every day and work at any place similar to Initech.
What about Peter's cookie cutter apartment? Peter is his own person, he is a round and complex character but his apartment is so nonchalant and so pristinely bleak that it makes me wonder how he can even sleep there? Perhaps the most horrifying set in that movie to me was Tom's backyard. His whole house really. It's in one of those developments that spring up out of nowhere. They put them in the middle of fields and they were made by some contractor who wanted a house to look nice, but didn't care to put any personal touches on the design, so the houses all look alike. There are no trees in the yard except for those skinny buy-at-the-store kind that eventually die as soon as it snows, and everyone has the same basic front lawn and high fences in the backyard. There's also that water tower...I don't know what it is about that water tower behind Tom's fence but it scares the crap out of me. Perhaps it's because it's then you know that this little street Tom lives on was a product of cookie cutter development, and fuck with the ambiance...the land was cheap and easy to build on. Plus there is nothing beyond it...no signs of another house, or life for that matter. Just and empty field...and a fence built to block it out. Once again I have to ask myself who chooses to lead this kind of life?
There's also the matter of the people in the movie. Besides Lawrence, everyone in that movie hates their job, and basically their life. The only reason Lawrence does not is because he doesn't actually work in some establishment. He cleans up after it. Joanna is stuck in a place where it may seem fun to work at, but in the end is just the same pain in the ass job that Peter, Mike, Samir and even Milton have to deal with. Don't even get me started with Milton. Milton gets crapped on the most out of anyone in that movie obviously.
I physically cannot watch the birthday cake scene simply because of the injustice of it all. That's not comedy...that's torture. If I were Milton I would punch that stupid Chinese lady with those dumb glasses right in the fucking head she was supposed to pass the cake to Milton the red-head was supposed to pass to the chinese lady and the red-head was supposed to go without any cake. I can't believe that fat bitch told Milton he couldn't have cake...Pass the cake so everyone gets a piece...Fuck that. I would eat that cake in one bite and then eat half of the cake make-up off of that dumb bitch's face. I just ranted about cake for a good five minutes typing this. I apologize...but I hope you're seeing my point. This movie is a horror movie disguised as a comedy.
Anyway, what I am really trying to say is that Milton and Lawrence are the key characters to the whole movie, and Peter is just a better looking pawn to keep the story going. Look at it this way, Milton, fed up with the establishment, burns it down. Lawrence, who wants nothing to do with it, cleans up after it. Peter will be forever grateful to Milton for destroying it, and to Lawrence for helping him forget it. Joanna is even a small voice of reason when she flips it off. Peter will be forever grateful to her because they can relate to each other when they were unhappy in the establishment. They soon discover that by being out of the system, they can finally be happy with just each other.
Now I am not giving a big F-U to the establishment, but is Office Space? Is Office Space trying to show us the harsh reality of it all and what could happen if we all just didn't give a fuck? Or is it pointing out the mundane details of everyone's life and amplifying it to the extreme so that we may look at our own lives and ask if we are happy? I keep asking myself what kind of people choose to lead these lives and I think Peter and Mike explained it best:
[Peter, Michael, and Samir are chatting as they hang around the printer]
Peter Gibbons: Our high school guidance counselor used to ask us what you'd do if you had a million dollars and you didn't have to work. And invariably what you'd say was supposed to be your career. So, if you wanted to fix old cars then you're supposed to be an auto mechanic.
Samir: So what did you say?
Peter Gibbons: I never had an answer. I guess that's why I'm working at Initech.
Michael Bolton: No, you're working at Initech because that question is bullshit to begin with. If everyone listened to her, there'd be no janitors, because no one would clean shit up if they had a million dollars.
So essentially the reason why Office Space scares me so much is because these places do exist. People actually lead lives similar to Peter's world. People live in these houses with no view to anywhere but a vast and empty field. People work at these jobs where by going to it is reliving the worst day of your life every single day. These are normal people! These are people with lives, and families, and hopes and dreams. If I am going to grow up and lead a "normal" life, I want a view to something, and I want my house to say something about me. I don't want to be like everyone else. I don't want to know that the street that I live on is filled with people just like me, who lead the same life as me. It's like that house and that street would steal my identity. And that fucking water tower...would steal my soul. I would want my job to make me happy, and to be somewhere where I could be me, and by being me I could do something worthwhile. Office Space may be a comedy to most, but to me and apparently to Marya, it's scarier than most horror movies I have seen in my lifetime.
This post has become much longer than I intended, but I, too, have started my last semester of college, and just thinking about the future makes me sick. I cannot and will not submit myself to something that will make me feel like everyone else. Call it pipe dreams, or just plain stupidity, but I feel that my talents were not meant to be cubicled, and I was not meant to walk into my backyard and see nothing but a water tower. No, that day is the day I would know I have left the Earth and joined the ranks of hell. No, I am not being over-dramatic...it really would be hell for me.
Anyway, before I make myself completely pessimistic I am going to go live up the last of my college days...have a good weekend everyone.
Peter Gibbons: It's not just about me and my dream of doing nothing. It's about all of us. I don't know what happened to me at that hypnotherapist and, I don't know, maybe it was just shock and it's wearing off now, but when I saw that fat man keel over and die - Michael, we don't have a lot of time on this earth! We weren't meant to spend it this way. Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements.
Michael Bolton: I told those fudge-packers I liked Michael Bolton's music.
Peter Gibbons: Oh. That is not right, Michael.
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