Up in the Air: a story of modern times.

Employed people in the working world fear unemployment. To be fired is the equivalent of a death sentence. Now imagine that your job is as the executioner of the working world...a corporate downsizing expert.

Up in the Air (2009) is a comedy/drama film depicting the story of  Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), whose work involves flying all around the country, giving speeches and help companies fire people. Naturally, a lot of interpersonal and communication skills had been implemented by Ryan to ensure, if not at least attempt to calm the ex-employee down and show them other options that would make them accept their current position more.



This film can be viewed in two ways: either it can be viewed as the story of how a corporate downsizer does his job and develop as a person...which shows us an entirely different narrative on how to survive in this progressing modern world.

Living in the 21st century is not easy. The world keeps progressing and progressing, and people need to keep up. The requirement for progress and work is so much some people can't handle it, and some people can't even allocate time to have a stable interpersonal relationship. This theme has been exploited in the film and through Ryan Bingham's personal philosophy: everything in life is a burden, be it personal belongings or relationships with family and friends, and those burdens should be cut lose to reduce stress and anxiety in life.

However, should we look closer, we can see that Ryan has been coping with this busy life with one of Freudian's (1937) psychological defense mechanisms: Rationalization. He had been rationalizing his busy life and inability to settle down and committing to a relationship (or even focus a little at his own family) with his personal philosophy of letting go of those supposed "burdens". This film showed how humans in this society cope with this busy life: we made justifications for it, and we continue to do what we should be doing for our own survival.

The second theme of the modern world discussed in this film is the impact of job loss in individuals.
The psychological impacts of losing a job isn't unfamiliar to Ryan, as he knew the best way to tell people they're fired is to have patience, understanding, and optimism. Unemployment would cause financial strain and loss of personal control to the individual, which subsequently causes symptoms such as depression, impaired emotional regulation and poor health (Price et al., 2002). However, as shown in the final part of the movie (where real life unemployed people discussed about their own unemployment), family and social support always helps alleviate the stress and pain that comes with it, along with the maintenance of the person's self-esteem (Linn et al., 1985).



The third theme is regarding dehumanization of employees in the working world. The film depicted this theme through the plot device: the videoconferencing layoff conducting method created by Natalie Keener (a new employee in the field and the film's deuteragonist). Dehumanization in workplaces or organizational settings are nothing new, and in fact are acceptable if it is required for the organization's own goals, and it always had the misconception of improving problem solving while no evidence had been provided to prove it (Christoff, 2014). The method of job termination depicted in the movie is not only disrespectful towards the one being terminated (as this is a big deal to them), it also can produce problems (for instance the inability to console or empathize with the subject) for the sake of cutting cost, effort and time for the company. The suicide of one of the employees Ryan and Natalie fired during their travels mentioned in the later parts of the film put the final nail at the coffin, providing the message that dehumanizing employees in workplaces isn't really a good idea, and may cause more harm than good.



This film being a comedy is actually quite sad. While Ryan finally understood the importance of family and committing into a romantic relationship, his supposed budding romance with Alex turned out to be just a form of escape for the latter, with commitment being out of the question (as she is a housewife with a family of her own). While Natalie got hired at another company thanks to Ryan's recommendation letter, Ryan himself got stuck to what he had always been doing since the beginning of the film, and his future fate left unclear to the audience.

This film, while a bit melancholic, is indeed a good overview on how the real world works, and spreads the message of how people should be more compassionate and respectful in the workplace for a much more harmonious and productive environment. It also discusses the importance of connecting with loved ones and family, no matter how busy your life might get.

Thank you for reading.




References:

Christoff, K. (2014). Dehumanization in organizational settings: some scientific and ethical considerations. Front Hum Neurosci. 8: 748. doi:  10.3389/fnhum.2014.00748

Freud, A. (1937). The Ego and the mechanisms of defense, London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis.

Linn, M.W., Sandifer, R. & Stein, S. (1985). Effects of Unemployment on Mental and Physical Health. Am J Public Health; 75:502-506.

Price, R. H.,  Choi, J. N. & Vinokur, A. D. (2002) Links in the Chain of Adversity Following Job Loss: How Financial Strain and Loss of Personal Control Lead to Depression, Impaired Functioning, and Poor Health. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Vol. 7, No. 4, 302–312.