Movies that champion the underlings at work

Work is a big part of most people’s lives. It is after all where we spend the majority of our waking hours. A few weeks off a year on vacation and the weekends do not account for nearly as much time as we spend in an office.

So it is unsurprising that so many movies have been made about relationships between different people at work, and there is no relationship as precarious as the one between an employee and their manager. Over the years, there have been a number of films that have featured horrible bosses and how employees try to get the better of them. Often these are comedies and there must have been many people watching them who could identify with certain moments.

Even some websites use the boss as a figure to unite against. The online gaming site, bgo, challenges players to beat its boss every time they login. Verne Troyer, bgo’s celebrity ambassador, is the boss in question. He is portrayed as the casino boss who does not want to let his customers beat him. But he gives them plenty of opportunity to do so. There is a whole page full of challenges devoted to beating the boss. Building on this theme, the bgo blog writers have put together a list of movies which celebrate the underlings who have beaten their bosses on the big screen.

If you have had a hard day at work, where you have run into problems because of your boss, there are plenty of movies that will make you feel better about life! For example, many people out there will identify with Anne Hathaway’s character, Andy, in the Devil Wears Prada (2006). Andy’s a bright, young, graduate but her dreams of working for a big fashion magazine turn into a nightmare when she meets her boss Miranda Priestley (played by Meryl Streep). Whatever Andy does turns out to be wrong in Miranda’s eyes and she is constantly putting her down with her withering comments and remarks. However, Andy is not the type of girl to lie down and die. She fights back and wins out in the end.

A movie that has similar themes was a hit back in 1988. Working Girl saw Melanie Griffiths’ character, Tess McGill, struggling to make something of her career and move on from being a secretarial temp. When she gives a tip to her female boss, Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver), Katherine keeps the tip for herself and pretends it was her idea. Tess then decides to pretend to be her Katherine, who conveniently breaks her leg on a skiing weekend and does not come back to work for a couple of weeks, in order to move up the career ladder.

However, everything begins to unravel when Katherine comes back and discovers what Tess has been up to.

In both of these movies, along with those featured on bgo’s list, the downtrodden employee triumphs in the end, and it is that feel-good factor that makes them such good viewing. In a way, they are inspirational for anyone who feels under pressure from an unreasonable boss.

And even if, in reality, you are not prepared to stand up to your boss, just knowing you could do will make you feel better!