Rough Draft of Essay #4, Up in the Air

Cut n' Paste usually rips up the formatting, so don't mind that stuff, mates.  Just critique the content, if you don't mind.  Hey, last essay!  Woohoo!

James Carr

Essay #4

Cline

4/20/2012

Hope:  A Study in Contrasts

            To say that the book version and film version of Up in the Air are different is the understatement of the century.  However, both versions explore hope and the human element of compassion, admirable human traits trying to force their way through the cracks of the pavement, the bureaucratic world of American big business.  They approach their exploration of hope from diverse angles:  the book focuses its attention on the solitary, slightly unstable figure of Ryan Bingham and his quest for a million air miles, his Holy Grail; the movie devotes most of its emphasis on a healthier Ryan Bingham’s efforts to keep creeping technology from undermining his job, while at the same time attempting to instill a sense of hope in those he terminates.  In the end, both Ryans find a comfort zone within their solitary envelope, as one Ryan departs Airworld forever, and the other Ryan resumes his life in the skies.  In both cases, the elusive hope has been captured, and a deep sense of optimism resonates in the final pages/scenes.

Set to the music of different times in American life, the message is understandably presented differently in each medium.  The novel was written during an economic upswing, and no one really thought twice about Airworld or corporate America.  Firing employees, while unpleasant, was still viewed as business as usual.  The film's message was the same, but with a huge economic downturn gripping the country, the message was presented with a great deal of positive feelings, and the movie went to great pains to end the film on a confident, upbeat note, as the fired workers came to terms with their dismissal and beheld the future with far more hope than might be expected.

It was an appealing approach.  If the movie had clung faithfully to Kirn's original ideas in the novel, the film would more than likely have bombed, and such a bleak script might not have been much incentive for Clooney to accept the role.  Post-911, with the economy in the toilet, the last thing the American public would have wanted to view was an obsessive-compulsive business exec firing people, giving morale speeches to zombies in hotel conference rooms, a sister with mental illness, and a somewhat dismal, but uplifting, ending with a brain tumor.  While the message of hope and human compassion exists in the novel, interlaced within Ryan's endless quest for the air miles, it needs to be unraveled from the dreariness of Kirn’s sharp, post-modern writing style.  That just doesn't make for good film, pure and simple.

            Two additions to the film helped the flow of the story immeasurably:  Natalie, Ryan’s ambitious but naïve protégé and the technological ability to fire people remotely.  The presence of Natalie allowed the viewer a glimpse into Ryan’s particular worldview.  “How much does your life weigh?” (Up in the Air, 2009) he asks during his motivational speeches, obviously viewing life’s standard trappings as encumbrances to be discarded.  “The slower we move the faster we die,” (Up in the Air, 2009) he also remarks, clearly demonstrating his apparent repugnance for setting down roots. However, Natalie’s awkward moments with love, career, and Airworld routines gave Ryan the opportunity to show his inner gentleness, and in the end, his motivational benchmark comments are shown to be only skin-deep, as Ryan literally and figuratively walks away from his own message to chase down his growing attachment to Alex.

            The computer-firing aspect pushed by Natalie and supported by Ryan’s boss is a twist unique to the movie, but it allows for the film to have a more contemporary feel.  It also provides a remarkable contrast between Ryan’s style of termination and the cold, robotic ambiance of impersonal technology, a coldness and robotic-ness shared, amusingly, by Natalie.  This stark comparison really underscores Ryan’s humane approach to his job, and allows the viewer to “prefer” the Ryan-termination with its undertones of hope and forward-looking optimism with the abrupt dismissal advocated by Natalie.  Rather than a hatchet-man, Ryan seems to feel more like a benevolent guardian angel of sorts, steering men and women into their dreams and away from the cubicles of nothingness.  “The stars will wheel forth from their daytime hiding places; and one of those lights, slightly brighter than the rest, will be my wingtip passing over” (Up in the Air, 2009).  This approach to his job would clearly resonate with today’s audiences, considering the harsh economic climate.

            Kirn’s novel dwelt almost exclusively on Ryan’s quest for a million air miles as well as his consuming desire to quit his job.  While Ryan is comfortable in his Airworld, we repeatedly see signs of discontent, and he manifests behavior that seems oddly dependent on his experiences in Airworld.  Kirn notes that Ryan “takes his self-esteem from how well he’s treated by flight attendants” (Kirn interview), and his unwillingness to foster stronger relationships seems to be an indication of Ryan’s grasp of the superficial nature of his unique world.  “Fast friends aren’t my only friends, but they’re my best friends” (Kirn pg. 6), Ryan remarks very early in the story.  Not only does Airworld and his professional life seem to be grating on his nerves, but his increasing eccentricity and downright paranoia during his journeys seems to suggest something else is seriously wrong with the novel’s hero.  As Kirn remarks:

“Our identity there [Airworld] has to usually do with an ID card or a number.  You’re looked at suspiciously at every turn, always having to prove you are who you are, and that you have honest intentions and aren’t carrying a bomb.  And I think for someone who’s as nervous and stressed out as Ryan, this all makes for a kind of general paranoid state” (Kirn interview).

            But Ryan has fond memories of his family, even if they irritate him from time to time.  His affection for his younger sister is very clear throughout, and while his older sister exasperates him, he still obviously respects her.  He describes his childhood years as “a golden Mark Twain boyhood,” and with “so few shadows, so much, such varied, light” (Kirn pg. 54).  Kirn mentions that “most of our journeys in America are round-trip, circular and, in the end, without a real sense of destination” (Kirn interview).  The novel-Ryan clearly has a destination in mind, once his Mecca is reached, and it is obviously a return to a place of fond memories, warm currents, and a benediction of hope…and, as Kirn reveals in the last page, it is a one-way trip.

The novel demonstrated one man's rejection of the cold, impersonal world of modern American business, devoid of hope and human compassion (beyond superficial and extremely brief encounters), just in time to enjoy his last years with his family.  The film demonstrated a good man's efforts to give hope to those unfortunates that suffer the indignities of dismissal from the cold, impersonal world of modern American business, even while his own personal hope is occasionally trampled.  While the mediums presented the story in markedly different styles, reflecting the economic times of their era, they both kept true to the ideals.  As Kirn explains, “the movie was not the book, and the book was not the movie, but they had the same genetic code” (Kirn interview). In the end, however, hope for the future is the underlying theme:  a different future for novel-Ryan, a comfortable future for film-Ryan, an uncertain future for those whose lives they’ve touched, but a future worthy of exploration nonetheless.

Works Cited

Kirn, Walter.  Up in the Air.  New York:  Anchor Books, 2002.  Print.

Kirn, Walter.  Interview by David Kestenbaum.  Interview:  Walter Kirn Discusses His

New Novel, “Up in the Air.”  National Public Radio.  Morning Edition,Washington, D.C., July 30, 2001.  Transcript.  URL:  http://search.proquest.com.proxy.yc.edu/docview/189815694?accountid=31701

Up in the Air.  Directed by Jason Reitman.  Paramount Pictures, 2009.  Film