After re-watching Up in the Air, I realized that it is such a powerful film because it emphasizes how frequently people are undervalued. Corporations need to make cutbacks in order to stay afloat, but rarely have time to give personal attention to their terminated employees. People aren’t numbers, they matter. My high school classmates like to joke about how each of us was another statistic who was accepted to their top choice universities, but beyond that, we are all individuals.
Prom season is upon us again. I wonder how many seniors are ranking their friends on a scale of 1 to 10. I remember everyone whispering to their friends about who looks surprisingly decent in a suit and which girl in a mini dress looks the hottest. Then once everyone uploads their photos, the rating process continues. Some people are taken, others are suddenly higher in demand and majority are scrutinized solely based on appearance.
How I Met Your Mother also effectively portrays how judgmental we all are. One night in McLaren’s, Barney draws the Hot-Crazy scale and explains that hot girls are more likely to be nuts. Maybe that’s why employers become disappointed with their workers – sometimes people are hired based on looks rather than their resume. Regardless of whether they are willing to admit it, Abercrombie stores hire models because sex sells and modelling agencies hire salespeople. Far too many agencies are paying representatives to tell potential clients that they are beautiful in order to make a nice profit. Their intention is that the young and naive will be so satisfied with their boosted ego, that spending over $1000 on a beauty and runway boot camp (which will likely bring them little success) seems like no big deal.
Finally, Up in the Air is really great because it examines how face-to-face communication cannot always be replaced by machines. After accompanying George Clooney’s character across America to tell people they’ve been let go, the optimistic recent grad realizes why telling people ‘it sucks to be you’ shouldn’t be done on a Skype date. Technology is no doubt taking over our lives, but there needs to be a limit.