Obviously, I have no idea how you feel about your job. Some people live the dream every day by being doctors, lawyers, marine biologists, or celebrity chefs, while others wake up with a pit of dread in the morning as the alarm clock wrenches them from the sweet release of dreams of a different life.
The only thing I know for sure about this life is that, more than money, more than a career, the only real, quantifiable commodity is time. All of us are on a timer, and few of us will, when they reach the end, marvel about how happy they were able to spend so much of our most finite resource away from those we love or what brings us the most joy.
That’s why Labor Day feels like such an unsung holiday to me. The bitter irony is that it exists to recognize the American labor movement, yet it’s a federal holiday that lots of Americans outside of unions find themselves spending at work. So, whether you have a lovely weekend or even if it’s just another Monday for you, here are a few movies to watch over Labor Day weekend that hopefully capture your feelings for the holiday.
For workers who are sick and tired of their dead-end jobs and want to reinvent themselves
Office Space (1999 ): The best comedy ever made about deciding that you’re done caring about your horrible job and the freedom that epiphany comes with. Still one of the funniest movies ever made that somehow only manages to get funnier as time marches on. This movie is a quarter of a century old and is as prophetic as ever. Credit: Courtesy photoFor employees who know their corporate overlords are inhuman and only care about human welfare over a profit margin
Silkwood (1983): With an all-time classic performance from Meryl Streep, direction from the legendary Mike Nichols, and a script co-written by the also-legendary Nora Ephron, Silkwood tells the true story of Karen Silkwood, a whistleblower and labor union activist who was murdered over her discovery that the fuel fabrication corporation she worked for was cutting corners to pad their bottom line. The movie taught me that a shareholder will always be more important than a worker. Credit: Courtesy photoFor workers who appreciate the absurdities of a life as a cog in a very big machine
Modern Times (1936): Charlie Chaplin is a stressed-out factory worker who, over 87 minutes, has a nervous breakdown, accidentally gets coked up and attends a communist demonstration, discovers he prefers jail over a life on the outside, throws a brick at a cop, and so very much more. Fearless and decades ahead of its time, this is Chaplin’s unsung masterpiece. Credit: Courtesy photoFor co-workers who realize that sometimes the job itself isn’t remotely as important as the people you meet along the way
9 to 5 (1980): One of the first movies to show that a company powered by sexist and mediocre men would work better if run by Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, and Dolly Parton. This movie is goofy and profoundly unrealistic, but it critiqued sexism and the gender pay gap long before anyone else was doing it. Credit: Courtesy photoFor clerks who are not even supposed to be here today
Clerks (1994): Gleefully profane and a work of slyly empathetic humanity, Clerks not only deconstructed what it was to work at a terrible job that pushes back against lower-middle-class aspirations, but gave an entire generation the courage to try and do better than Dante, Randal, and the lost souls they interact with at the Quick Stop. Credit: Courtesy photoFor people who are ready to get into some Good Trouble
Harlan County USA (1976): An electrifying documentary filmed by Barbara Kopple over four years as she followed the miners at Brookside Mine in Harlan County, Kentucky as they went on strike against the Duke Power Company. She followed the miners and their families as they fought for safer working conditions and decent wages (among many other things) and several of whom were murdered for their attempts. If you haven’t seen this, it will change your life when you do.
Hopefully all of you have enough free time over Labor Day to at least catch one of these movies across the long weekend. No matter what… remember your time is precious and you deserve to be valued! Credit: Courtesy photo
