Time and humanity...

A series of examples of what work represents in the world:

South Korea, where poverty has led people to see work as the only means of redemption, the only way to live for those who work from 7 AM to 11 PM, returning home to sleep only 5 hours a night. Children perceive this reality as utterly senseless.

In the United States, workaholism, the obsessive-compulsive disorder of work dependency, leads people to give up 768 million paid vacation days.

In Kuwait, extreme wealth provides well-paid employment without work. The law allows arriving up to 3 hours late and watching movies during work hours because there is nothing to do, no tasks to perform. However, this does not automatically lead to happiness and fulfillment.

The work of two heirs, who keep themselves busy cultivating their passions, enjoying the privileges that come with their condition.

The reference to Calvinist ethics, which, to combat the anxiety of damnation, led to the overcoming of guilt through the visible sign of divine grace, manifested in the wealth and well-being generated by work. For this, one can refer to Max Weber's "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" from 1904.

Considerations from Noam Chomsky, a delirious American trainer, Elon Musk, and philosopher Elisabeth Anderson clearly highlight how companies, especially in the United States, consider education as an absolutely irrelevant requirement for hiring an employee, while work ethic, namely availability and dedication to one's job, is indisputable.

Now the fundamental question of the film arises: it is not so much about what the world will be like in the post-work era, but

- how "voluntary servitude" to work should be examined and explored

- what leisure time is and how to manage it

- what is meant by work ethic

According to Aristotle, the Spartans would not have been able to maintain the stability of their government after the war because they were not accustomed to a life of peace. This metaphor/citation referred to by Erick Gardini points precisely to humanity's alleged inability to manage leisure time, idleness, a time of "peace," as it is only trained and accustomed to work, negotium, "war."

Between artificial intelligence and unemployment, between leisure time and exploitation, between basic income and the gig economy, there are many variables that cannot be addressed in 81 minutes. Nevertheless, the film raises multiple questions and reflections on the system of work, pervasive economic footprints, and atrophied mental patterns that need to be pondered and reflected upon, perhaps by pausing, just as the automaton in the poster does, carefully polished on the beach while reading a physical book.

Moreover, the widespread phenomenon in Italy of NEETs, an acronym for "Not in Education, Employment, or Training," which indicates the percentage of the population aged 15 to 29 who are neither employed nor enrolled in education or training programs, as described by sociologist Luca Ricolfi, intercepts and denounces a significant cause for concern.

Fredrick Wenzel's photographic art captures attention, just as in Ruben Östlund's films, managing to suspend time through enigmatic and rather mysterious editing, especially with metaphorical shots of the enchanted labyrinthine garden.

How ethical is work ethic today?

16-Jun-2023 by Beatrice