I think “Up in the Air” is George Clooney’s best performance ever. The reviews won’t tell you this, but the movie revolves around a training problem: how do you teach a newly-minted Cornell MBA the difference between theory and practice? This occurred with 1) the shift from firing people face-to-face to using videoconferencing and 2) how to conduct the in-person firings.
Interestingly, the people using videoconferencing seemed to be more rigorously trained and monitored – all online – than those who go out on the road. And 1) proves to be a cost-effective failure, soon scrapped, and 2) is done through George Clooney’s mentorship.
I didn’t enjoy the movie because it inspired me as a trainer, but because it is was so well done and because I was so amused be the travel scenes. But there were great lessons there for e-learning professionals about the role of experience and the importance of mentorship in the workplace.
What’s in your backpack?
This movie is filled with life questions that we all face. Some that we rarely, if ever, are willing to admit to. My son and I discussed them on the way home after watching the movie. My wife and daughter listened. It has been 2 months since I saw it so remembering these issues may be difficult for me. Below are some that we discussed as well as some new ones I just thought of.
Themes or Paths:
1. “Career Goal.” He had a chance to hit the bigtime as a keynote speaker but at the last minute gave it up for love. It was his life dream and chance for a new career outside of firing people. That was, in fact, the pinnacle moment of the movie. We all have such life choices we face at some pt in our lives (some more often than others). What will you decide? What if you make the wrong decision? I mean to work and work and work for something and then to give it up for something that truly is not there. Could something more worse ever happen to anyone? Can it?
2. “Family Connections.” What about the reconnection with family? Being from Wisconsin originally, the VFW posts and little hotels in faraway places had me thinking. I remember those days ice fishing with my father. I remember the dirty snow. I remember the beer and brandy. I remember the accents (no, not Fargo-like, but close). And I remember moving away and now not wanting to live there again. It is just too cold. But will we all someday return home to celebrate who we are and find our identity in our family? What draw us back? Is it accidental or purposeful? It is destiny to return? And what happens to those who never do…who never come to grips with the fact that their current occupation is not or can never be the whole of who they are?
3. “On the Run” which some might call the theme of “Flight.” Then there is the theme of leaving and being always on the run or on the go. We are flying here or there and jsut where “there” really is does not matter. What matters is the departure…getting on that plane. What are we departing from? What are we arriving at? A new life for a day or 2 or a week? Some space? What happens to one’s soul when there is no permanancy or place to call home except for 15 or so days of the year? Can home be up in the air? Can it be in plane? Can flying provide a sense of home? Can home be in the airport ala that movie TOm Hanks was in a few years back (The Terminal, 2004)? Can it be going through endless security checks? Where is home for those on road warriors? Is there a need for home?
4. “Commitment.” What are people who travel so much running from? Commitment? Death? Stability? A sedentary lifestyle? Or are they trying to remain young or keep their future options open by not commiting to anything or anyone? Alternatively, might they be commiting to the world at large and trying to provide service to people spanning the far reaches of the globe instead of just those in a particular company, community, or city.
5. “Love.” Love is certainly a theme. What happens when one shuts out love or emotion for years or decades and then finds it, only to have it quickly and without much warning shut on him or her? What happens next time?
6. “Apprenticeship.” Apprenticeship is a theme. One is coaches and mentored by those with experience and insights on a daily, if not hourly, basis. That apprenticeship can take place face-to-face or via an assortment of technologies today (phone, text messaging, MSN, Skype, videoconferencing, etc.). Apprenticeship is all around us. A solid mentor can pull one through some rough times and send one on an accelerating trajectory.
7. “Life Purpose.” What is life is a theme. In the movie, George Clooney (Ryan Bingham) thought it was to get up and go and never put down roots. At some point, he questions it. He thinks about that grand life choice. Seeing someone younger than him go through the emotions of a relationship definitely has him thinking. Life purpose is the big question eating away at each of us each day of our lives whether we know it or not.
8. “Reaching Goals.” Then there is the goal of having flown like 10 million mile. We are all goal driven creatures. Goals sometimes dictate who we are and what we do…too often in fact. But after having flown so many miles each year, he reaches his goal, and in a strange way, he does not care. The relationship and commitment overrides it.
9. “Change.” Change is a theme. Change is a constant in the lives of everyone in the movie. Change, like the grim reaper will creep up on you. You get fired. Move to a new address. Find a new job. Head to a new location. Get a different boss. Find a new lover. Some people cope with change better than others.
10. “Control.” Parallel to change is the tenth theme of control. You think you control your life. But it is really your company, the economy, the pilot, the agent, the flight attendant, the neighbor, the sister, the niece, the co-worker, etc. They all have a piece of you and your life. So what do you really, ultimately control? Can you really control anything? Do you control any aspect of your life when you shut out most or all others from it?
I am sure that you will have your own themes or issues; this movie is full of them. As someone who gives 80-100 or more talks per year all over the globe, I can relate to much of it. However, I do not have any goal to reach 10 million miles anytime soon.
LOL. I’m IT-man. I live e-learning and I love this film too.
This film educate me that something you can’t do “e”. “Humanity” must take into consider more and more in this social.
LOL. I’m IT-man. I live e-learning and I love this film too.
This film educate me that something you can’t do “e”. “Humanity” must take into consider more and more in this social.
Okay you’ve piqued my interest. I keep passing it by at Redbox almost renting but never following through. Now, I’ll have to check it out.
Now and then I’ll stumble across a post like this and I’ll recall that there really are still interesting pages on the web. ^_^. Thanks.Tibia Gold
If I had read the book first and then seen the film, I would have wondered if I had somehow mistaken the title of the movie for something else. The book is completely different from the movie. The movie ignores much of the book’s main theme – that Ryan is rapidly losing his sense of value and the meaning of his life – and many of the books characters are completely different (or don’t even exist in the film). I enjoyed both, but I think the book is better. I’m curious to hear what other readers think.
I really loved Up In The Air. It does makes sense for learning professionals to see it.
I have to agree, definately George Clooney’s best performance to date. This story could truly happen to anyone!
I think it all comes back to ‘people’. People run the computers, people have to be responsible for their own actions, people need to brace technology without losing ‘community’.
I educate people about the benefits of transportable homes and know it is vital I communicate with my audience in a way that fits in with their lifestyle, needs and modality.
As for George’s training problem: if a Cornell MBA does not know the difference between theory and practice; send him/her back to school.