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Working in an office, doing mundane tasks while dodging your petty boss and hating yourself for doing this on a daily basis is the greatest waste of a good life. So Peter Gibbons, our anti-hero in Office Space (1999) comes to realise.
Peter works as a programmer at Initech and every new day is the worst day of his life. His job is thankless and mundane. With the world in a spin over Y2K fears (how we can chuckle at this now), Peter has been tasked with updating bank software so that customers' savings don’t go AWOL as soon as the clock strikes midnight on 1 January 2000.
But he has no motivation to do his job because he has at least eight bosses who pester him daily on insignificant issues, in particular the much-reviled "TPS report". Peter's nemesis is the fatuous Initech vice-president Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole), who snaps his braces and parades around the office with his ever-present coffee mug, smugly passing on orders to his minions as if they are nothing but cogs in his wheel of drudgery.
At least Peter has equally pathetic co-workers in Samir Nagheenanajar (Ajay Naidu) who is perpetually frustrated by everyone's inability to pronounce his last name, and someone else who wishes he had some other name, Michael Bolton (David Herman). Also employed at Initech is the meek and mumbling Milton Waddams (Stephen Root) who is disregarded by everyone and bullied by the sadistic Lumbergh.
Peter's life takes a turn when he forced to attend hypnotherapy by his bitchy girlfriend Anne. The hypnotherapist puts Peter in a state of complete relaxation, where nothing will stress or worry him. But the obese hypnotherapist suffers a heart attack and dies before he can snap Peter out of his reverie. This turns out to be the best piece of misfortune ever to befall Peter. He wakes up a new person, with a fresh and unconcerned perspective on his previously oppressive life.
He realises that he can take charge of his life by doing what he wants – and that means dumping his cheating girlfriend, finally asking the waitress he's long had a crush on, Joanna (Jennifer Aniston), to go out with him, wear whatever he wants to work, ignore Lumbergh, break down his cubicle barrier so that he can have an unobscured view of the cityscape and beat the useless office fax machine to a pulp. Peter is also now able to do what every desk jockey has ever aspired to do – trash-talk his insipid bosses and tell them to shove their worthless jobs.
Peter then also devises a "fool-proof" scheme whereby he, Samir and Michael scam the company out of money that should go undetected. Of course, the prospect of a get-rich-quick scheme makes everything start to look that much rosier. But was the effect of the hypnosis the sole reason for Peter's cavalier spirit? I'd like to think not. Sure, it gave him the kickstart needed to give his oppressors the big "up yours" but once the ball got rolling, Peter gained greater confidence in himself and his potential - an inspiration to anyone (and there must be millions out there) who feel as if their lives are leading them, and not the other way around.
Office Space never did well at the box office but became a cult favourite over the years – due to the wry and biting humour in the all too familiar situations the characters find themselves in. The "TPS reports" that were the bane of Peter's existence have now become pop culture references to any pointless piece of paperwork. Can you identify what the "TPS report" in your job is?
The movie also inspired a new generation of everyman storytelling, particularly in the TV series The Office where the crushing humiliation brought upon workers by middle-management drones was portrayed in all its cringe-worthy glory. The Office makes watching the suffering of someone in a position so similar to our own rather gratifying.
But everyone loves seeing the underdog persevere and screwing over the establishment in the end. At Initech, however, the real underdog was Milton, and the fiery revenge he exacts on the company who took away his beloved red Swingline stapler and forced him to work from a cockroach-infested basement is one of the most glorious denouements to a movie that's closer to real-life than is comfortable.
Carpe diem, people. But that's another classic movie for another time...
- Shaheema Barodien
Choice Office Space quote:
Samir: No one in this country can ever pronounce my name right. It's not that hard: Samir Na-gheen-an-a-jar. Nagheenanajar.
Michael Bolton: Yeah, well at least your name isn't Michael Bolton.
Samir: You know there's nothing wrong with that name.
Michael Bolton: There was nothing wrong with it... until I was about 12 years old and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys.
Samir: Hmm... well why don't you just go by Mike instead of Michael?
Michael Bolton: No way. Why should I change? He's the one who sucks.
Get published on Channel24! Send us your movie, music and live gig reviews and columns and get published on Channel24. Send your articles to PublishMe@sa.24.com.
Peter works as a programmer at Initech and every new day is the worst day of his life. His job is thankless and mundane. With the world in a spin over Y2K fears (how we can chuckle at this now), Peter has been tasked with updating bank software so that customers' savings don’t go AWOL as soon as the clock strikes midnight on 1 January 2000.
But he has no motivation to do his job because he has at least eight bosses who pester him daily on insignificant issues, in particular the much-reviled "TPS report". Peter's nemesis is the fatuous Initech vice-president Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole), who snaps his braces and parades around the office with his ever-present coffee mug, smugly passing on orders to his minions as if they are nothing but cogs in his wheel of drudgery. At least Peter has equally pathetic co-workers in Samir Nagheenanajar (Ajay Naidu) who is perpetually frustrated by everyone's inability to pronounce his last name, and someone else who wishes he had some other name, Michael Bolton (David Herman). Also employed at Initech is the meek and mumbling Milton Waddams (Stephen Root) who is disregarded by everyone and bullied by the sadistic Lumbergh.
Peter's life takes a turn when he forced to attend hypnotherapy by his bitchy girlfriend Anne. The hypnotherapist puts Peter in a state of complete relaxation, where nothing will stress or worry him. But the obese hypnotherapist suffers a heart attack and dies before he can snap Peter out of his reverie. This turns out to be the best piece of misfortune ever to befall Peter. He wakes up a new person, with a fresh and unconcerned perspective on his previously oppressive life.
He realises that he can take charge of his life by doing what he wants – and that means dumping his cheating girlfriend, finally asking the waitress he's long had a crush on, Joanna (Jennifer Aniston), to go out with him, wear whatever he wants to work, ignore Lumbergh, break down his cubicle barrier so that he can have an unobscured view of the cityscape and beat the useless office fax machine to a pulp. Peter is also now able to do what every desk jockey has ever aspired to do – trash-talk his insipid bosses and tell them to shove their worthless jobs.Peter then also devises a "fool-proof" scheme whereby he, Samir and Michael scam the company out of money that should go undetected. Of course, the prospect of a get-rich-quick scheme makes everything start to look that much rosier. But was the effect of the hypnosis the sole reason for Peter's cavalier spirit? I'd like to think not. Sure, it gave him the kickstart needed to give his oppressors the big "up yours" but once the ball got rolling, Peter gained greater confidence in himself and his potential - an inspiration to anyone (and there must be millions out there) who feel as if their lives are leading them, and not the other way around.
Office Space never did well at the box office but became a cult favourite over the years – due to the wry and biting humour in the all too familiar situations the characters find themselves in. The "TPS reports" that were the bane of Peter's existence have now become pop culture references to any pointless piece of paperwork. Can you identify what the "TPS report" in your job is?
The movie also inspired a new generation of everyman storytelling, particularly in the TV series The Office where the crushing humiliation brought upon workers by middle-management drones was portrayed in all its cringe-worthy glory. The Office makes watching the suffering of someone in a position so similar to our own rather gratifying.
But everyone loves seeing the underdog persevere and screwing over the establishment in the end. At Initech, however, the real underdog was Milton, and the fiery revenge he exacts on the company who took away his beloved red Swingline stapler and forced him to work from a cockroach-infested basement is one of the most glorious denouements to a movie that's closer to real-life than is comfortable.
Carpe diem, people. But that's another classic movie for another time...
- Shaheema Barodien
Choice Office Space quote:
Samir: No one in this country can ever pronounce my name right. It's not that hard: Samir Na-gheen-an-a-jar. Nagheenanajar.
Michael Bolton: Yeah, well at least your name isn't Michael Bolton.
Samir: You know there's nothing wrong with that name.
Michael Bolton: There was nothing wrong with it... until I was about 12 years old and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys.
Samir: Hmm... well why don't you just go by Mike instead of Michael?
Michael Bolton: No way. Why should I change? He's the one who sucks.
Get published on Channel24! Send us your movie, music and live gig reviews and columns and get published on Channel24. Send your articles to PublishMe@sa.24.com.
