Office Space as a Cultural Artifact

Culture is ever changing across time and space. People study artifacts to better understand cultural norms as well as what the people went through on a day-to-day basis. An artifact can be interpreted in many different ways since they have multiple meanings. These multiple meanings may be hard to understand if you, as the viewer, do not know anything about the culture prior to viewing this artifact. Office Space is an example of a cultural artifact of the United States in the 1990’s. It takes us into the world of an American white-collar office and introduces us to complexities of office life. Additionally, it shows the many ways that American’s jobs influence the other parts of day-to-day life. When broken down, the movie Office Space offers a humorous and realistic view into the diversity and intricacy of the American ways of life.
The people implicated in Office Space are the American workers, their bosses, and their coworkers. Office Space looks at the typical and not so typical workweek for the average white-collar worker. It deals with cubicle life and the resentment a lot of people have towards their jobs, which can reflect directly on their overall lives. It looks at the “slacker” who is the one who gets away with everything, the employee who works all the time and doesn’t receive credit for the job they do, the “helicopter” boss who is always looming over your shoulder, and those annoying coworkers you just do not want to interact with sometimes. Many people in America as well as around the world have dealt with similar people at work. Mike Judge, the writer and director of the movie, obviously understands the mundane workweek and sought to help the viewers look at their jobs differently. By making the characters relatable to the audience, Judge helps to further pull the viewers into the story. The movie is driven by a humorous look into the American cubicle life; intended for anyone who has dealt with similar work conditions and relatable