Office Space Imagery

Office Space Imagery

A Typical Day

Peter has just told the Bobs that he typically only does about 15 minutes of real work in any given week and the majority of his time is spent spacing out. After his meeting we see Peter walking down a row of cubicles with a smile on his face. This imagery shows that Peter has been triumphant, he's said his peace about truly not caring and he is ready to be fired. His body language in the composition reveals that he is a man ready for the new life of freedom he is about to have. Ironically, he is promoted.

The Beating

Peter, Samir and Michael Bolton take the printer from the office out into a field with a baseball bat and begin to destroy it. Judge uses slow-motion and tilts the camera to make the characters feel off-balance. The imagery creates the feeling of a deep-rooted hatred and parallels a mob beating someone out of this same type of hatred. The comedy comes from the fact that these three men's lives are being turned upside down by a printer, so much so that they have to ceremonially destroy it.

Opening

In the opening scene of the film we see Peter in his attempt to fight the stop and go traffic on his way to work. The imagery reveals that he is in his life going nowhere and in his attempt to change lanes becomes stuck once more as the lane he just came from moves. It reveals that he feels as if he is going nowhere.

Milton

Milton is moved so much by Lumbergh that he winds up being placed in the basement of the building and Lumbergh turns the lights off on him. The imagery shows that though Milton is a human being, he is regarded as furniture that can be moved around at the discretion of management. This creates the understanding that these workers don't feel like people in their jobs, rather pawns.

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