Up In The Air - Draft

Cindy Crain

ENG 102

Laura Cline

20 April 2012

Time, Balance, Fulfillment (and Cardboard Cutouts)

The horrific events of 9-11 and the economic downturn that followed in the United States have created a return to a more holistic lifestyle.  As people lose their high paying jobs, they turn to other things for evidence of their self worth.  The book Up in the Air, published in 2001 during positive economic times, illustrated the lack of humanity and the disconnection between Ryan Bingham and other characters; whereas the movie, released in 2009 amidst a punishing economic climate, emphasized the connections.    The heart of the movie was about family and intimate relationships.  The interviews at the end of the movie that showed people talking about how their family or friends got them through the crisis of job loss reflect the change in our society.  When they lost their jobs, their focus shifted from their professional life to their life in its entirety.  What people focus on is what their lives become; so hyper focusing on a specific financial or numeric goal, as Ryan Bingham did with his million miles in the book, creates a status-based outlook, whereas having the spotlight on personal development creates a more holistic outlook with finances being a part of the balance but not the focal point.

In the book, Ryan is so focused on the million mile mark that he neglects other things in his life such as family, friends and health.  His family takes the backseat to his quest, such as when he is so wrapped up in a phone conversation regarding his miles that his sister finally leaves the car and starts walking down the highway in the other direction and he doesn’t hang up right away, but continues talking to Linda about his possible lost miles:  “Julie is tiny now.  Is that her thumb out?  We’re past the speck point, into the unknown.  This will go down as the time I cast her off in northern Colorado or southern Wyoming and will pass to Kara as part of her moral arsenal” (Kirn 239).  This is in contrast with the movie, when Ryan takes the cutout of his sister and her fiancé to different places as he travels and takes photos of it.  In the book this would have been out of character.  Not only would he have considered himself too busy for the project, but with the drug activity he engaged in plus the memory difficulties he was having, he would not have been able to keep track of the cardboard cutout.  In the book everything but his goal was simply considered unnecessary distraction.  This is indicative of the times; in 2001 the pursuit of personal status was a socially acceptable pastime, in 2009 focusing solely on a status-driven goal had come to be viewed as slightly pathetic.

The movie included more personal interaction between Ryan and other characters, and he got involved in a close relationship with Alex.  Because he was living in the post 9-11 world, he was able to show a higher level of sensitivity.  This close interaction was neglected in the book, and in fact Ryan didn’t express any real desire to have interpersonal relationships or create connections.  The closest he gets is with Alex, when he notes, “The rest was all a bonus.  And I may just have met my soul mate tonight, though I’m still not sure which one she was” (Kirn 324).  In the movie Ryan mentored a young, green coworker – true, not by choice – but he stepped up and did it, and displayed compassion and some tenderness toward her.  As many men who have lost their jobs have been thrust into the position of caretaker while their wives are in some cases still employed, men are gaining empathy.  The social definition of what it means to be a man has shifted as men’s roles have become more ambiguous.  Men are freer to express understanding and are in fact encouraged to do so as they are caring for their young children or dealing with teenage angst.

In contrast, in the book Ryan was completely goal-oriented to the exclusion of all else.  The quest for miles became his life, so much so that when Linda, one of the women he sees, calls it a symbol, he thinks, “I’m disappointed to hear her put it this way.  It’s insensitive and inaccurate.  She demeans me.  The Nike ‘swoosh’ is a symbol.  This isn’t that.  This is life, this thing, and this is me, and this woman who claims to care for me should understand” (Kirn 235).  Ryan was able to focus solely on his mileage goal because no more was expected of him; it was accepted as the norm during that time period, but men being portrayed in 2009 needed to have a broader focus in their lives in order to be believable characters.  Those without families were not exempt from this emerging social distinction; they had different options, but the societal mandate was clear: You are not your job.  Become more. 

This is not to say that women did not bump up against this same mandate, but the majority of women were already juggling more and for them a shift was required, but not a complete overhaul.  In addition, more men than women were influenced by the recession.  The New York Times defined one of the buzzwords of 2009 as, “mancession – a recession that affects men more than women.  Also hecession” (Leibovich/Barrett 3).  When a man’s identity is tied up in his job, and he loses that job and has difficulty finding another, his life requires restructuring.  Some of the words being tossed around in the years leading up to 2009 were life balance and personal fulfillment, as men who were accustomed to working each day began to find other ways to enrich their lives.  Men’s magazines contained advice on how to achieve balance and women’s magazines overflowed with articles on how women could help the men in their lives retain their dignity and create new ways of looking at themselves.  Suddenly, due to social pressure, even men who hadn’t lost their jobs were thrust into this other way of being. 

In the period between 2001 and 2009 a wealth of books about health and wellness flew off the shelves, and books on men’s health were suddenly more prolific.  Women have been notoriously interested in wellness, weight loss and the total body, but now books were popping up with titles like The Men’s Health Longevity Program: A 12-week Plan to Bolster Your Health, Get Lean, Boost Your Brainpower, Power Up, Feel Great Now and Later, Keep the Sex Hot, with chapters titled: “Eat to AgeProof Your Body” (Goldberg 285), and, “Acknowledge a Higher Force” (Goldberg 374).  The self-help genre was certainly available to men prior to this time in history, but focused more on management style and work habits.  Suddenly authors had a whole new target market, men – many without jobs – who were becoming more interested in their personal development and overall wellness.  The screenwriters of Up in the Air had to acknowledge these societal shifts in order for the movie to be successful.  

Releasing the movie in 2009 as the book was written in 2001 would have meant that Ryan, as the main character, was not authentic at the time of release.  The events of 9-11, as well as the significant financial slump between 2001 and 2009, changed the United States as an entity and each individual living within its borders, so much so that something written months before was out of date, let alone eight years prior.  Adjustments had to be made in order to compensate for the social shifts that occur when major events transpire.  In order for Ryan to be a believable character he had to lose a bit of his focus on the status of mileage and take on more sensitivity and empathy; otherwise he would have appeared no more realistic than the cardboard cutouts of his sister and her fiancé, simply posing as someone having a life. 

Works Cited

Kirn, Walter. Up in the Air: A Novel. Anchor Books, 2009. Print.

Leibovich, Mark and Barrett, Grant. "Buzzwords: Coining a Not Great Year." The New York         Times 20 Dec 2009: late ed.: WK03. Print.

Goldgerg, Kenneth A. The Men’s Health Longevity Program: A 12-week Plan to Bolster Your      Health, Get Lean, Boost Your Brainpower, Power Up, Feel Great Now and Later, Keep         the Sex Hot. St. Martins Press, 2005. Print.