can yall help me list some movies where people going to work and doing their jobs is central and not just incidental to the plot
imo work is an underrated and under-explored topic in film and tv. given that most people spend the majority of their lives at work, it's weird how foregrounded leisure is in media
looking for the opposite of the 00s workplace sitcom (office, mindy proj, parks & rec) where technically speaking they're at work but it's really just a fantasy and they spend every episode playing hide-and-go-seek in the office
bonus for more banal or common jobs, less interested in fascinating or unusual jobs that are inherently interesting. by no means limited to office jobs but on the working class to white collar spectrum
gonna start it off with some obvious ones:
- His Girl Friday (1940)- Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)- Office Space (1999)- Working Girl (1985)- Broadcast News (1987)- Horrible Bosses (2011)
― flopson, Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:08 (five years ago)
-Clockwatchers, 1997
― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:13 (five years ago)
Modern Times (Chaplin)
― herds of unmasked cletuses (WmC), Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:14 (five years ago)
Wrong board?
- The Shop Around the Corner (1940) ftw
― Spocks on the Run (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:15 (five years ago)
9 to 5 (1980)
― mookieproof, Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:15 (five years ago)
― herds of unmasked cletuses (WmC), Saturday, May 23, 2020 5:14 PM (fifty-two seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink
lol yup, whoops
― flopson, Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:15 (five years ago)
Repo Man
― Inadequate grass (morrisp), Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:16 (five years ago)
8 Minutes Idle (2012)Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)
― come out you melts and bams (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:20 (five years ago)
A fair amount of work stuff inYi Yi (2000)
― come out you melts and bams (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:24 (five years ago)
I can't move threads, it crashes the site. Maybe restart on ILE and paste all this into the new thread before it gets too big.
― herds of unmasked cletuses (WmC), Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:25 (five years ago)
The Front PageSpotlightBreathing (Austrian kid on probation works in a morgue)Monsieur Lazhar (teacher in Montreal)
― punning display, Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:27 (five years ago)
xp- thx. doesn't really bother me tbh as i use SNA
― flopson, Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:28 (five years ago)
ok
Norma RaeThe Last Laugh (1924)
― herds of unmasked cletuses (WmC), Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:29 (five years ago)
BrazilPrimer
― Maresn3st, Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:31 (five years ago)
Silkwood (1983)
― brimstead, Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:38 (five years ago)
Paterson (2016)
― visiting, Saturday, 23 May 2020 22:04 (five years ago)
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/714LSZTlh%2BL._SY679_.jpg
― Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Saturday, 23 May 2020 22:12 (five years ago)
The title is a give away.
― Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Saturday, 23 May 2020 22:13 (five years ago)
Blue Collar came to mind but I don’t remember how much actual working goes on
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Saturday, 23 May 2020 22:26 (five years ago)
It is hard to think of many that are about commonplace jobs where no torrid romances, criminal mischief or nuclear accidents arise to liven things up and become the real subject, not so much the work itself.
Was it Hitchcock who said that work is like movies without all the lively bits added in?
― punning display, Sunday, 24 May 2020 00:16 (five years ago)
Office Space
― Inadequate grass (morrisp), Sunday, 24 May 2020 00:34 (five years ago)
it's weird how foregrounded leisure is in media
no it's not
― budo jeru, Sunday, 24 May 2020 00:34 (five years ago)
xp (oh whoops, already said)
― Inadequate grass (morrisp), Sunday, 24 May 2020 00:38 (five years ago)
mb filmmakers just dont have the stones to represent the crushing toil of life as it really is
― flopson, Sunday, 24 May 2020 00:58 (five years ago)
There are def. movies that capture the rhythms and monotony of everyday work (like many named here), but usually they get into other stuff too, b/c who wants to watch 2 hrs of people working with nothing remarkable happening.
― Inadequate grass (morrisp), Sunday, 24 May 2020 01:00 (five years ago)
(then there are plenty of movies where the protags are technically “at work” at the fascinating/unusual jobs you mentioned — fighter pilot, male stripper, country music star, secret agent on her majesty’s secret service, crusading archaeologist, etc., etc.)
― Inadequate grass (morrisp), Sunday, 24 May 2020 01:07 (five years ago)
Sorry to Bother You
― herds of unmasked cletuses (WmC), Sunday, 24 May 2020 01:14 (five years ago)
I've long felt the same way about school in film/TV.
― Feel a million filaments (Sund4r), Sunday, 24 May 2020 01:18 (five years ago)
Australian sitcom Dreamland was p good satire of work in a civil service office.
― Feel a million filaments (Sund4r), Sunday, 24 May 2020 01:21 (five years ago)
Roma
― Piven After Midnight (The Yellow Kid), Sunday, 24 May 2020 01:23 (five years ago)
(not a hide-and-seek deal either iirc) xp
― Feel a million filaments (Sund4r), Sunday, 24 May 2020 01:24 (five years ago)
Groundhog DayNetwork
― that's not my post, Sunday, 24 May 2020 02:07 (five years ago)
― that's not my post, Sunday, 24 May 2020 02:09 (five years ago)
Support the Girls
― herds of unmasked cletuses (WmC), Sunday, 24 May 2020 02:11 (five years ago)
xp I already said Repo Man, guy
― Inadequate grass (morrisp), Sunday, 24 May 2020 02:23 (five years ago)
The Apartment (sort of)
― Inadequate grass (morrisp), Sunday, 24 May 2020 02:27 (five years ago)
Big (fantasy elements aside, a good office-politics movie)
― Inadequate grass (morrisp), Sunday, 24 May 2020 02:28 (five years ago)
clerks
― Kate (rushomancy), Sunday, 24 May 2020 02:29 (five years ago)
Gung Ho
― Inadequate grass (morrisp), Sunday, 24 May 2020 02:40 (five years ago)
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BY2Q5Y2ZlYzctMDk5ZS00OTY3LWIxMGItNjQzMDUyOTAxZmExL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjI3ODYyNDU@._V1_.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 24 May 2020 02:42 (five years ago)
Baby Boom
― Inadequate grass (morrisp), Sunday, 24 May 2020 02:48 (five years ago)
The Devil Wears Prada
― Inadequate grass (morrisp), Sunday, 24 May 2020 02:52 (five years ago)
Adventureland is actually good on the workplace, even if it's not the main thing in the film.
― clemenza, Sunday, 24 May 2020 03:00 (five years ago)
killer of sheepla classe operaia va in paradiso la noire de...
― donna rouge, Sunday, 24 May 2020 03:17 (five years ago)
the chambermaid (2018)
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Sunday, 24 May 2020 05:09 (five years ago)
Another Fassbinder,
https://www.berlinale.de/media/nrwd/filmstills/2008/retrospektive/5457_0001_IMG_FIX_700x700.jpg
― Is Lou Reed a Good Singer? (Tom D.), Sunday, 24 May 2020 09:27 (five years ago)
Hudsucker Proxy?
― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Sunday, 24 May 2020 10:02 (five years ago)
The Intern Empire Records
― Roz, Sunday, 24 May 2020 10:31 (five years ago)
Relevant recent monograph:
https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-process-genre
“Process genre” films are not precisely coextensive with films about work tho
― silby, Sunday, 24 May 2020 23:54 (five years ago)