Analysis Of Up In The Air

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The movie Up in the Air is a Drama-Romance based on the life of a business man named Ryan Bingham. The film, like the one seen in class Intolerable Cruelty also stars actor George Clooney as Ryan. Ryan’s life consists of constant travelling due to business. At the beginning of the film, Ryan’s goal is to travel and reach 10 million miles. He tends to refer to other people as baggage in his backpack theory, the less attachment people have the lighter the backpack. Ryan’s job title is “corporate downsizer” which is practice is person hired to lay-off or “let go” of individuals from companies that are downsizing.
Other characters of the film include Ryan’s coworker Natalie Keener, played by Anna Kendrick. Natalie’s role in the company is to …show more content…

Unemployment in 2007 was at five percent. By 2009 the unemployment rate had reached ten percent. While the recession ended in 2009 its effect on peoples personal lives were drastic. The idea of the supply and demand is really put into perspective towards the end of the film, where a character while in a job interview with Natalie mentions “I can’t imagine doing that day in and day out. Not in this climate.” As a reference to Ryan’s line of work during a recession.
Some examples of the recession are addressed at the end of Up in the Air as a form of reflection. One person in particular stated “I don’t have a lot of hope and I really don’t know when it’s going to get better. There’s a lot of people unemployed and I don’t know when there is gonna be a light at the end of a tunnel.” Another mentions, “I think the anger comes from the fact that I wasn’t needed anymore.” A cruel reality of the supply and demand for labor during this …show more content…

As mentioned his primary goal was to achieve 10 million miles. Once the miles were achieved his happiness has not. As it is known, in order to know when someone is maximizing they also have to know their marginal utility. Originally, Ryan gains utility when flying with every flight and trip. While there is not an exact number of how much utility Ryan gets from the flights he does certainly experience diminishing marginal utility upon reaching 10 million miles. This is brought about the fact that he now gets utility from being with Alex. Before reaching 10 million miles he has a few encounters with Alex to a point where she begins raising his happiness, or utility which leads to his declining utility in flying.
While he achieves his goal of 10 million miles and is one of seven people to have ever achieved this recognition he is not satisfied even though it had been his ultimate goal. The perception of things that makes him happy has drastically changed. His view changes and realizes that in order to maximize utility he needs others around, or at least the love of others. His failed relationship with Alex, being that she was married, puts life into perspective for

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