Life has become a constant struggle of a rat race, where everyone wants to succeed and become successful. The pursuit of success has made everyone obsessed, because of two important things that everyone believes rule the world- power and money. However, in this struggle, man forgets the essential qualities of life and dedication towards work.
Let us try to observe this constant struggle between quality and quantity of work by taking an example of the 2018 film by Boots Riley, Sorry to Bother You.
Unveiling the Hidden Loop of Exploitation
Cassius Green (a pun on the name ‘Cash is Green’) works in the telemarketing industry in Regal View, in Oakfield, California, where he needs to adopt a ‘White Voice’ to persuade the ‘White consumers’ to purchase the goods or service from the company. Cassius is an African-American but still, he has to work in this industry, where he needs to camouflage his identity.
The company lures their employees by saying that the employee who will bring the maximum profit to the company, will become a ‘power caller’. In pursuit of earning more, Cassius adopts the ‘White Voice’ to such a perfection, that soon he finds it difficult to speak in his black voice. Even, when he is talking with friends in the bar, he surprises them with his attuned voice.
Within a couple of days, Cassius became a pro at foregoing his identity and soon got promoted as a ‘power caller’. Little did he know that his position of acquiring power was the first step towards getting more entangled in the loop of exploitation.
Realization Comes at a Heavy Price
When Cassius Green became a power caller, slowly he started valuing the falsely bestowed power, that he was gaining at the cost of losing his self-dignity. In the tussle between quantity and quality of work, he preferred quantity, leaving no time for himself or his girlfriend, Detroit.
The realization struck hard when Cassius got an offer from the CEO of Worry Free, Steve Lift. Accidentally, he encountered some ‘Equisapiens', which later Steve explains as a worker modification process, where labourers are mutated into animal-like species. The message that Boots Riley wants to convey through this science fictional element strikes hard both the audience as well as Cassius.
The mission of converting human beings into animals will ensure optimum utilization of labour, and the workers will not complain, as they will lose their capacity to think rationally. Steve lures Cassius to become a leader or a stakeholder manager, of these half-humans and half-horses, in lieu of an unimaginable sum of money. But his conscience pricks hard at that time and he soon unentangles himself out of this net.
However, the anticlimax of the film surprises the audience, when Cassius Green despite his will, unknowingly also turns out to be a half-human and half-horse species. This shows that realization is essential before it is too late, otherwise, everything becomes difficult to revert.
Situating the Context of the Film in Reality
Sorry to Bother You successfully captures more than one theme, but the most prominent theme among it is - exploitation in work culture. The situation of Cassius Green is pertinent for everyone, as everyone is running behind money and busy doing overtime work. Doing huge quantities of work and within a stipulated time, has become the new work culture.
Everyone is running behind time and no one ponders paying attention to oneself or spending quality time with family. Ultimately, it ruins the relationships and one’s physical and mental equilibrium, making one unsatisfactory with life. This directly hampers the quality of work, and when one understands that, both their personal and professional life has already gone topsy turvy turn and beyond repairment.
Therefore, it is important to have a balance and stop the tussle behind the quality and quantity of work. Because when the self is compromised, the quality of work also gets compromised and what remains is the amount of work produced.
Self- Reflection is the Key to stopping the Tussle Between the Quality and Quantity of Work
Nowadays, everyone is busy with creating content, producing extraordinary and becoming successful. But in this pursuit, what we are producing is another copy of what exists. Rather than appreciating other’s work, we are constantly trying to downplay others by creating the same content in a different manner.
This is giving rise to unhealthy competition and mental anxiety. And, we are all doing this, in pursuit of a pleasure, that we do not get. So, we should stop for a while and try to think about what we are doing. Rather than focusing on producing a huge quantity of work, we should try to think and focus on what we are good at and what can we best create, by utilizing our skills.
We hardly pay attention to our self but self-care and self-reflection are the two important things, that help us evolve as a better human being. When Cassius Green is requested to rap and talk about himself, he can hardly describe or express himself, in front of Steve Lift. Finally what he could blurt out was the ‘N’ word. When he talks with Steve, he can hardly disown his ‘White Voice’.
The condition of Cassius is a reminder to all, that one becomes so adept with the mask of being a professional, that it becomes difficult to unveil the true innocent self, hidden within oneself. But it is important to pause, to look back, to reflect and ponder upon oneself, whether one feels truly happy and satisfied with what one does. And one must not ignore, one’s family, as family serves as the backbone at times of both happiness as well as difficulty.
Conclusion
In modern times, it is very difficult to seek satisfaction in work culture and therefore the tussle between quality and quantity of work continues. Still, hope is the only thing that man can rely upon till their last breath. Therefore, how much difficult it seems, it is important to think and reflect upon oneself, so that one does not turn into automation.
Though, Sorry to Bother You used the medium of science fiction to convey the horrific situation of human beings, where they will remain no better than slaves. But, the reality is not far, in fact, it is very much the present where workers work relentlessly as underpaid labourers, who neither earn nor get much dignity in the workspace. They work only to arrange the means of survival.
Will people be able to cut themselves free from this exploitative work culture? Or will they slowly turn into non-thinking animal-like creatures?
What do you think about the same? Let us know what you feel in the comments section below. If you have an opinion to share, feel free to reach out to us at larra@globalindiannetwork.com.
