#Office Space 1999

[junior-stargazer-goke91]

Office Space (1999)

Director: Mike Judge

Cinematographer: Tim Suhrstedt

[letterboxd-worth-a-damn]

[schlock-luster-video]

On June 15, 2001 Office Space was released on VHS in Japan.

[throwbackmovie]

Alibe Parsons as Alibe in the TV series SPACE: 1999 – 1977

Source: http://catacombs.space1999.net

[cinematitlecards]

"Office Space" (1999) Directed by Mike Judge (Comedy)

[greensparty]

This Month in History - February

In addition to the 60th anniversary of The Beatles appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show (see my posting earlier this month), here are the landmark anniversaries in pop culture I'm raising a glass to this month:

Feb. 1, 1994: Dookie released

In Feb. 1994, Green Day's third and best album was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2014. Happy 30th Dookie!

Feb. 17, 1984: Footloose opens

In Feb. 1984, one of my favorite teen musicals was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2019. Happy 40th Footloose!

Feb. 18, 1994: Reality Bites opens

In Feb. 1994 a very of-the-moment yet timeless film about 20-somethings was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2014. Happy 30th Reality Bites.

Feb. 19, 1999: Office Space opens

In Feb. 1999, one of the all-time great workplace comedies was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2019. Happy 25 OS!

Feb. 21, 2014: Morning Phase released

In Feb. 2014, Beck's 9th album was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2019. Happy 10 MP!

[moviehealthcommunity]

Office Space (1999)

This is a Movie Health Community evaluation. It is intended to inform people of potential health hazards in movies and does not reflect the quality of the film itself. The information presented here has not been reviewed by any medical professionals.

Office Space has no cause for concern with flashing light effects.

A few scenes take place in moving vehicles with handheld cameras, but most of the camera work in this film is either stationary or very smooth.

Flashing Lights: 0/10. Motion Sickness: 2/10.

TRIGGER WARNING: The process of gutting a freshly-caught fish is shown in detail on-screen. Multiple comments are made about prison rape. A suicide attempt is shown and discussed.

Image ID: A promotional poster for Office Space

[ky1echristian]

[asistential]

If I was Peter Gibbons Therapist from "Office Space"

Theories applied: Existential therapy and personality focus/self-awareness building would guide my work with Peter.

Presenting problems

The presenting problems I perceive throughout the film before Peter's hypnotism were disorganized and distracting work environment, disrespectful higher ups at work, a failing relationship, lack of safety due to possible layoffs at work, lack of privacy due to neighbor at home, a growing dislike for life, and struggles with respecting and communicating own boundaries. After the hypnotism the presenting issues were abnormal calmness, irresponsibility, carelessness, lack of motivation by work, and lack of consideration for consequences. However, Peter was implementing boundaries at work with his higher ups after the hypnotism.

Are the client's personal needs met?

Privacy does not seem to be met as the neighbor consistently intrudes and speaks to Peter through the walls even when he is trying to be alone. Before hypnotism Peter does seem to have most of his personal needs met. These needs become threatened though after hypnotism as Peter seems to not care about pursuing these needs with a job. Peter starts dressing inappropriately to work. Actions I would recommend is to sit down and speak with the neighbor about this issue. If this does not work then do not reply to the neighbor at all when they scream through walls. It is important to note this may threaten their friendship. If this does not work then advise Peter bring issue up to the landlord or offices at his apartments. As for the clothing issue, Peter knows what is appropriate dress for work, he just does not want to. Also, no higher ups at work have brought up the issue of how Peter is dressing, so this may not be an issue.

Are there mental health/wellness issues that are separate from the career/vocational issues? 

I think there is sings of depression, especially when Peter states that "Every day is worse than the last. This means every day you see me is the worst day off my life." Being stuck in a realm of calmness may have not been due to hypnotherapy. It may be due to a complete breakdown of things going horribly wrong during therapy. Before the hypnotism I noticed that Peter has poor boundary making skills and is easily irritable. These are symptoms commonly addressed in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. I would refer Peter to DBT group therapy to meet like minded individuals attempting to make a change. I believe a community feeling for Peter would be beneficial as we can see during office conversation, others are not engaged in the same way as Peter when speaking about life, emotions, and struggles.   

What are the things that you need to know about this client's interests, skills and abilities? What assessments would be appropriate for this client? If you do not recommend assessments, explain your reasoning.

I consider Peter to be an open minded and intuitional person. The open mindedness leads me to believe Peter can likely go to any therapy and learn things useful for himself. I could tell he is intuitional based off of his feelings of his ex girlfriend cheating on him being correct. He is also not highly emotion showing. He presents as a very calm person. This may have been why people around him were not taking his concerns seriously and brushing them off as "case of the Mondays." Peter's neighbor is the only person in the film that really acknowledges Peter's concerns. The only time we see Peter emotional really is when he is disturbed by learning of Joanna sleeping with his boss in the past. An assessment that gives information on the client's personality and career choice would be appropriate for Peter. The assessment I have in mind would be the RIASEC combined with the World-of-Work Map. My reasoning for this is because we really get the biggest clue that Peter does not know himself very well when he finally feels happy in a construction job, this a job he could have had all a long. He didn't know that he just might not be the type of person that would like an office job. Society tends to value office jobs over labor type jobs purely for aesthetic reasons. I believe Peter may have fallen into this trap of ignoring his own wants and going for what society tells people to want and this is why I would have an existential approach to our therapy sessions. 

If anyone is interested in taking the RIASEC quiz for personality and career here is the link: https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/RIASEC/

The World of Work Map is also recommended after taking the quiz to help understand different paths if you are thinking about career paths: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Third-edition-of-the-ACT-World-of-Work-Map-ACT-2009_fig1_328887838

[thegirlwhorunsforthetrain]

Office Space (1999)

Peter (Ron Livingston), a software engineer, is tired of his boring job and makes a vengeful plan with two of his friends to plant a virus in his company’s system. (more…)

[alexisgentry]

Somehow, it’s been 25 years

[restingpensiveface]

“Yeah, I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I’m working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I’d say in a given week, I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.”

—Peter Gibbons 🖤📈📄

[throwbackmovie]

Alibe Parsons as Alibe in the TV series SPACE: 1999 – 1977

[cinematitlecards]

"Office Space" (1999) Directed by Mike Judge (Comedy)