The wonky-eyebrowed hero of Office Space ends up happily working as a manual laborer, after his company literally collapses. This embrace of working outdoors, with his hands, is supposed to counter the namby-pamby paper shuffling under fluorescent lights that defines office work. He has become truly masculine again, and has found authentic, meaningful labor.
However, he’s also embarked on a career marked by hourly wages and the uncertainty of future work. He has become contingent.
How far have we come from the lint-colored cubicles, the oppressively menial labor, of the decade before this one? This article from The Millions reflects on the contemporary American job landscape, where freedom comes at the cost of security.
