There are many kinds of professions and every single person has their own interpretation on the occupation they have. Someone might regard his/her occupation as a way of making money, someone might regard his/her job as a way of realizing their dream. The view on each job will be as varied as the number of people who have that career. The Sungkyun times (SKT) will introduce two movies that show different perspectives on the occupations and seek desirable perspectives for Kingos.
Up in the Air, 2009
The movie Up in the air portrays a layoff situation. In this gloomy era, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) works as a termination specialist and informs employees that they are being layed-off on behalf of their employers. He travels all over the United States and fires people on behalf of the employers. Thus, paradoxically, he earns lots of money by firing people. He, however, does not feel any sympathetic feelings toward the people who are being fired and he just states that they are fired because they are not qualified to do the job. The attitude toward the people who are being fired and the attitude toward his job clearly shows his character. He is a man who is inhumane. He also views his occupation to simply get rich and rationalizes his occupation as being morally sound because it can make him a lot of money. Although he earns a lot and travels all around the world and enjoys a fancy life, he is a lonely man who does not have an intimate relationship. He then, however, meets Alex on his journey and he falls in love with her. The relationship is a turning point for him and he starts to change his view on life.
Still life, 2013
Compared to the movie Up in the Air, the main character of the movie Still Life shows a different personality and point of view to his occupation. The main character John May (Eddie Marsan) is a man who holds funerals for people who died alone and he is hired by the city office. His job is to find bereaved families and hold a funeral with them. Mostly, the bereaved families do not turn up and John May usually holds the funerals alone. One day, one city official informs him that he is going to be fired as he has spends too much time trying to find the families and spends too much money on the funerals. The city official also states that he is going to be fired right after he completes the funeral of a final lonely dead person. Therefore, he works as best as he can to find the bereaved families. However, as usual, the families are hard to find and he decides to hold the funeral alone. As you can see through the film, the whole process of his job is tough and he does not have an exact direction. Although John May does not get paid much for his efforts he does his best to maintain the dignity of the deceased. This shows the positive attitude of John May to his job and the people (both living and deceased) that he tries to help. Although the process is so long and he works slowly, the audience can learn about honesty and diligence from his life.
As a job decides how we think and live, the way we perceive it might affect our mindset to live our lives. Although there are no right views to occupations, there are some desirable views to one’s occupations. As we can see through the two-different perspectives to occupations in film, an occupation which satisfies both material prosperity and mental fulfillment would be the most desirable. The SKT hopes Kingos will consider their own views on occupations and decide on a more desirable way to go.