Rationalization In The Movie 'Office Space'

The movie Forrest Gump tells the story of one man’s extraordinary life as he also participates in many of the key historical points of the latter half of the 20th century. The theme of rationalization is seen throughout this movie, because it has become such a big part of the American culture. Forrest stands out from the world around him, so he doesn’t usually conform to the pattern of rationalization himself, but he experiences it none the less.

In the first chapter of this novel, we get introduced to the protagonist and narrator of the novel, Holden Caufield, from a rest home in which he has been sent for therapy. He refuses to talk about his early life, although he does explain that his older brother “D.B” sold out to writing for Hollywood. His story and breakdown begins in the school of Pencey Prep, a boarding school set in Pennsylvania. The setting for the early chapters in the narration is his "terrible" school, to which he describes the atmosphere to be “as cold as the December air on Thomsen Hill”. Holden’s student career at Pencey Prep has been destroyed by his refusal to apply himself. We know this after Holden explains he failed four of his five subjects, passing only English. Due to his lack of effort and determination, he was forbidden to return to the school after the term. The Saturday before Christmas vacation began, Holden overlooked the football field, where Pencey usually

In conclusion, the movie, Office Space showed attributes of several different theories, several of which being Strain Theory, Dysfunction of Bureaucracy, and the formation of primary groups. These attributes to the movie allow individuals to be able to see several characteristics that sociology aims to study to be able to interpret different types of social groups and how they

He contended that they were characterized by social conflict and he additionally presented the “thought of the working class which he saw as comprising of those occupations bunches with capabilities and aptitudes that furnished them with business points of interest. In Weber's perspective, advanced society, particularly the Western world, is developing progressively think. As the reader will see, Weber viewed organization as a definitive case of justification. Consequently, Weber can be seen as being centrally concerned with the rationalization of society all in all and, all the more particularly, its

The coming of age phase in a young person’s life is a transitional phase which prompts the idea of individualism, decision making, acceptance, moral challenges, disappointment, and individual needs. These years are essential for the overall learning and growing-up part of someone’s life. Coming of age characteristics transpired in the novel The Catcher in the Rye and The Absolutely True Diary of a part-time Indian pertain to, but do not exclude, the acceptance of the complexities and “grayness” of the world, confrontation with the adult world, and the individual needs and desires vs. external pressures/expectations/norms. In both novels, young boys are faced with tough choices that will later help them in the overall transition from

Forrest Gump is one of the greatest movies of all time. It brings together many of the most relevant themes and controversial subjects in modern society. Including some of the most difficult subjects such as; discrimination, racism, war, hardcore drug use, mental trauma, as well as a disease epidemic.

In the drama “Twelve Angry Men’’ by Reginald Rose, there are twelve juror’s debating their opinions on a murder case. Even though all jurors were present during court and heard the same thing each of them has their own presupposition on democracy by which they portray using various phrases and actions. Throughout the drama the jurors debate and rebuttal opinions on the case.

Weber argued that modern societies are characterized increasingly by a process of rationalization meaning that the world is increasingly governed by rationality in which tradition and affective forms of action are replaced by predominantly rational forms. This leads to disenchantment being seen as secularization, including the progressive disposal of non-rational elements from all spheres of life.  Weber feared that this process of rationalization would drive out the warmth and humanity of social life, the very things that give meaning to human existence.

In his 1916 silent-film Intolerance, D.W. Griffith pioneered editing techniques that helped establish montage as a core component of film language. Griffith set out to unite four disparate storylines under the common theme of love’s eternal battle with intolerance. While Griffith believed this film achieved its goal, some of his contemporaries argued that Intolerance was a “magnificent failure” (Eisenstein, 241). Indeed, Eisenstein proposed that the unification Griffith sought to create was impossible because the juxtaposition of these stories did not create new meaning. Instead, Eisenstein wrote that the lack of conflict between shots prevented the synthesis of a higher meaning, or montage trope. While it is true that Intolerance generally does not accomplish montage trope, especially when referencing Walt Whitman’s Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking, where Griffith explicitly attempts it, there are examples of its implementation. Griffith does manage to achieve this higher meaning in the scene depicting a labor strike. Eisenstein’s claim that Griffith never incorporates montage tropes into his films is false as demonstrated by the social criticism in the juxtaposition of the striking mill workers and Mr. Jenkins.

We can see the sociological imagination in our everyday lives. The sociological imagination can be seen through an example of medicalization. Medicalization is defined as considering a behavior as a medical problem or disease and then mandating the medical profession to provide some treatment for it. Some examples of medicalization are ADHD, obesity,

Max Weber used the bureaucracy to represent how the society changes over time whereas Ritzer sees fast food restaurants as a better way to describe how societies change and become more of a contemporary thought pattern. Ritzer understands McDonaldization as a process in which it is slowly taking over the world, he says it can be summarised by just one small quote “the principle of fast food restaurants are coming to dominate more and more sectors of the American society as well as the rest of the world” (Ritzer 2008). He states that the past, present and future of McDonalization has appeared from the iron cage to fast food restaurants which shows that rationalisation is still developing, the iron cage is a way to describe it in the past and McDonaldization helps to describe it in today’s society, rationalisation will continue to progress until other contemporary sociologist find different ways to define it. Although McDonaldization offers many advantages as it gives customers quick food at low prices it also has disadvantages just like the bureaucracy they both suffer from irrationality, like fast food restaurants a bureaucracy can be a ‘dehumanising’ place to work and be served by. Many things are developed by technical devises rather than the human hand (Wynyard 1998)

According to George Ritzer, bureaucracy completely dehumanized the social institutions in America. He sees the bureaucracy as having four components: efficiency, predictability, control and quantification. He terms this dehumanization of an institution as "McDonaldization". One of the most prevalent examples in modern society is the health care institution. In the past, health care was more simplistic in nature. House calls were not unheard of, and doctors knew all of their patients and their families on a personal level. The doctor who delivered your parents would deliver you as well as your future children. Follow-ups were quite normal; doctors were concerned with your progress for their own peace of mind. It is only recently that the

The film is riddled with disturbing parallels to current governments close to home. In Sam Lowry’s peculiar world, he works as an employee of the Ministry of Information’s Department of Records. The Ministry is the umbrella corporation/government that runs everything from utilities and credit ratings to enforcing the confusing laws that they themselves have created. The working environment is presented to the viewer as efficiency at its finest. His office shows every person engaged dutifully in their quest for filing the right papers into the right files. Not a paper is discarded on the floor; every paper is clearly accounted for. The man who is in charge of the operation, Mr. Kurtzmann, is seen standing next to his office door holding a militant stance, watch in hand, suspiciously supervising his lively mechanism. The whole environment exudes subtle nobility in working for a greater good. This is quite typical of what would be considered a utopia for government offices. The employees participating in the great American Dream, chasing the promotion, the bigger house down the block. Yet before long Gilliam shows that the efficiency is purely superficial. Once Mr. Kurtzmann steps inside of his office the televisions are flicked to life and the whole machine stops. The workers show no difficulty in ignoring their duties. The truth behind this once seemingly perfect workspace shows itself only moments later, as

“Office Space” is a comedy movie of a man who desperately hates his job and his boss. The movie begins with Peter Gibbon’s daily life story at Initech. At work, Peter has to deal with his indifferent boss, Bill Lumbergh, who doesn’t want to listen to his employee’s feedbacks. Lumbergh seems to be an ignorant and arrogant man who dictates his employee and doesn’t want to be blamed at all. Moreover, Lumbergh asks his employee to come to work on weekend. The atmosphere in the office is getting more intense after Lumbergh announced that Initech is bringing in consultants to increase the efficiency of the company. Peter was very frustrated with everything in the office and he felt that his life even more miserable with each passing day at work.

"There are two kinds of pain: The sort of pain that makes you strong, or useless pain. The sort of pain that 's only suffering. I have no patience for useless things”. This opening quote from the Netflix original series, House of Cards, sets the tone for the ultimate theme of power displayed over the course of the show. The main character, Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, first speaks to the audience after mercilessly killing his neighbor’s dog after it was hit by a car. Because the dog was injured, it became a useless being and merely a nuisance to Underwood. This example seen in the first episode is a blunt introduction to a main character that is not only power-hungry but also shows no sympathy for the weak. Frank Underwood states that power lasts centuries while money causes people, and things, to fall apart. According to the article by Sivanathan, power is based on an individual’s intentional and effective capacity to control, modify, or influence others by “providing or withholding resources or administering punishments” (Sivanathan). Frank Underwood chooses power because it allows him to leave a legacy that will never be forgotten, while simultaneously granting him access to other types of power.