‘Up in the Air’— A matter of ethics
2010Peter Turner 2010-04Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 11 →
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SOCIALIST ACTION APRIL 2010 11 Beneath the scenes and dialogue of “Up in the Air” are profound messages. The film points out the hypocrisy in the ratio nales attempted by its central character (George Clooney plays a man who trav els around the country on contract to help various corporations fire their employ ees). It shows the personal hollowness resulting from his lack of ethics, and the shallowness of the satisfaction he enjoys from his unencumbered lifestyle. The self-deception of Clooney’s char acter breaks down when his working routine produces a tragic but predictable outcome. This is fostered by the human ity he sees and comes to respect in the re action of his apprentice, the ties to family and community he comes to understand during his trip home, and his realization that the woman he would like to share that with has already established it with out him.
The achievement of this film is that it draws a neat and orderly picture of a de humanized man and then demolishes it by the simple yet deeply important les sons of everyday life. Viewers can sense an underlying message and leave the theater dwelling on questions of what de fines us as people.
The answer the film provides is that we cannot escape our connections to our fellow workers, communities, families, lovers, and even strangers whose worth as more than the bottom line they initiate can never be avoided. No film in recent clear as “Up in the Air,” and that is its strength.
The film raises important issues that are ever present in basic social ethics: How do we define ourselves—as individuals and as social beings? Do we have respon sibilities to our fellows, those closest to us, and those who we meet in passing? Can we live fulfilling lives while remain ing aloof from the emotions that tie us to our social environment?
For us, as socialists, that has its most obvious application in our relations with our fellow workers, because as Marx pointed out, work is a primary social interaction. The nature of our work rela tions has much to do with why the pro letariat is the revolutionary class at this stage of history.
While the lead character in the film is more allied to management than the working class, his humanity brings home the lesson that we all have a fundamen tal solidarity with everyone around us. It is a good and necessary message to send to the audience, as the alienation that increases with the increasing contra dictions of capitalist production and its particular manifestations in our culture poses this question more acutely. Much could be contributed to the gen eral happiness of people if we had a so ciety based on a cooperative ethic as opposed to a competitive one. This film seems to deliver that message in a more basic way—understated, not specific, but meaningful and important nonetheless. n
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Julie Jacobson /AP