Essay 4

David Hubbard

Mrs. Cline

English 102

18 April 2012

Portrait of a Modern Businessman

Many Americans’ perception of the businessman drastically shifted after the collapse of the stock market in 2009. Prior to the burst of the mortgage bubble, businessmen were held in revere and were idolized for their knowledge and wealth. After the economic slump, many Americans, who lost everything, felt blame lied in the greedy hands of the businessmen, who survived unscathed while continuing to claim huge yearly bonuses. Kirn’s 2001 Ryan is a self-loathing antagonist who is the quintessential stereotype of the modern businessman. Ryan’s business partners in the novel are also viewed as predacious, self-absorbed, materialistic demigods. Reitman is contrast, underplays this side of the businessman thus creating a more approachable, humble world of business in his 2009 movie. Reitman softens Ryan by adding supportive, nurturing females, removing the Bogart businessmen, and by adding more sympathy towards the laid-off individuals this creates a politically, neutral protagonist that a wide spectrum of audience members can personally relate to.

Kirn isolates Ryan in Airworld; a cold, sterile land of starchy bed sheets and stiff, leather airplane recliners. Stewardess smile, greet and move on to the next paying customer. One night stands are the only form of intimacy. A place that is full of people, but where you can truly be alone. Failed relationships and health issues haunt Ryan forcing him to choose a life of solidarity rather than confront the problems he faces. Reitman in contrast introduces a female co-lead who shadows Ryan on the job. At first the relationship is turbulent and full of friction, as Natalie threatens his way of life. Through several heart-felt experiences and talks, Ryan becomes like an older brother to her. When Natalie is dumped by her boyfriend, she seeks comfort in the arms of Ryan.  Ryan listens to her and then takes her to a party, so she can regain her confidence. He mentors her, protects her, encourages her and eventually accepts her and her changes. Ryan’s protective barrier is cracked by the young and naive, Natalie. He sees himself in her. This friendship that develops allows the reader to see the fragile, humanistic side of Ryan. The viewer can connect with Ryan the “big brother.”  

            A divorce, infertility, and a quick remarriage of his ex-wife leads Kirn’s Ryan to the brink of self-destruction. Ryan wanted the perfect family and he was unable to provide it to himself and his ex-wife. This was a huge personal failure that he never allowed himself to forgive or forget. He often has one night stands with acquaintances. In the movie, Reitman, meets an mirror image of himself, Alex. She is noncommittal and self-distracted women. At first true to Kirn’s character Ryan only engages physically. In contrast Reitman makes Ryan fall in love with Alex. He courts her and introduces her to his family at his sister’s wedding. They break into his former high school and bond though a walk down memory lane. Ryan initially is withdrawn, but after self-refection’s and heated discussions with Natalie, he allows himself to be vulnerable to a women. Unlike a happy ever after, Ryan is an attempt to profess his love and gain happiness, finds that Alex is happily married with children. Alex describes the affair as “you know, a break from our normal lives…a parenthesis” (Reitman).  Reitman uses this heart-breaking tactic to create empathy in the audience. We all remember our first love and our first loss.

            Kirn created the perfect train wreck of a family for Ryan. They are a “telephone family, strung out along wires” (Kirn 6). Kara, his older sister was perfect. His younger sister, Julie, “stopped eating. She ran. She gored on laxatives…started shoplifting” and never outgrew these teenage habits (Kirn 44). His mother is a nag and is credited with ruining his sisters’ lives. Ryan “felt like the odd man out” in his family (Kirn,148). Kirn created a family that you loved to hate. It was easy to see why Ryan would chose to ignore and distance himself from these people. High-maintenance, fussy and over emotional was not Ryan’s style. This family dynamic was hard for the audience to relate too and unpleasant to stomach. Reitman completes a 180 degree spin from Kirn’s family. Reitman humbles Ryan’s family. He makes them homely, modest and lovable. Immediately you feel sympathy for them and the common, every day struggles they are going through. In the movie Kara is going through a separation and Julies’ husband to be is having a nervous breakdown. Reitman’s Ryan saves his sister’s wedding by convincing the groom that “everybody needs a copilot” and regains a place in her heart (Reitman). He also discovers that Julie cannot afford a honeymoon, so when Ryan reaches 10 million miles; he generously donates 1 million to his sister and brother in law so they can fly around the world. Kirn’s Ryan is self-center, the opposite of Reitman’s romantic Ryan who makes sacrifices for the good of the family. This creates a more likeable character and family. A broken family is now mended though Ryan’s sacrifices and efforts. A hero on a small scale.

              Kirn portrays businessmen as corrupt, greedy, and unempathetic. From the influential Wall Street businessman in Reno who was enjoying a prostitute to Ryan’s drug use in Las Vegas, “I line up the pill bottles and play mad scientist” (Kirn, 234). Kirn saw businessmen as being “corrupted by Western, individualistic, rights-based thinking,” so Kirn ripped the idolized business man from his golden throne and placed him in the lime light (Bailey 3). He is out to prove that first class flyers can be and are often as corrupted as their poorer counter parts. Reitman choose to leave this theme absent from his movie. You despise businessmen in Kirn’s novel; however Reitman presents them with elegance and professionalism. Ryan in the movie is honest, clean-cut and caring. By selecting Clooney, a much older man that Kirn’s character, you establish a sense of trust with Ryan. In the novel Kirn is open and blood thirsty to earn his 1 million mile rewards. This is downplayed in the movie, as Ryan is actually sheepish to talk about his 10 million mile goal. When Natalie inquires, Ryan says “Let’s just say I’ve got a big number in mind and haven’t hit it yet” (Reitman). By creating a business man that is compassionate and likeable, Reitman shifts the blame to the economy and creates innocence that all can gravitate too.

            Compassion is an element lacking in Kirn’s work. Ryan’s job is to cut the losses of failing companies, by firing individuals. Ryan speaks frequently about the potential for stress and anger, but minimizes it by “learn[ing] to leapfrog. Mentally.” (Kirn 102). He states that at the beginning it upset him and that he followed the progress of his first group, but never again. Reitmen on the other hand emphasize the emotions of the individuals who had been let go of. Reitman puts a positive spin in Ryan’s firing speech “anybody who ever built an empire, or changed the world, sat where you are now” (Reitman). There are several montage clips of peoples’ reactions to the news. Some cry, some pull out pictures of children, some have emotional breakdowns, and others are angry. One individual threaten suicide, and then commits it, a breaking point for Natalie. The relevance of job loss greatly increased from 2001 to 2099, as does the common mans’ familiarity to it. The unemployment rate in “October, 2001 was 5.3%” and in October, 2009 [it] was 10.0%” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). While shadowing Ryan, we see a child-like innocence in Natalie. Her difficulty in firing the first person, the look on her face when she sees an empty office, or a pile of discarded chairs. She chooses to leave the company for moral reasons. Natalie’s actions tug at heart strings as the views squirm in their chairs. However, Reitman goes one step further and the last minutes of the movie he allows for the laid-off employees to speak of future possibilities. Creating a sense of empowerment in mankind and ending the movie on a more positive note.

            At a time when families are losing homes and many go hungry and jobless. While painfully it seems rich keep getting richer. “There is a public outcry regarding the failures of business ethics during the latest and most injurious financial and economic collapse (2006- 2009)” (Brenkert 2). Kirn created not only a trouble man, but a troubled system of business. Corruption, greed, and lust fill the hearts of the first class. Reitman in contrast creates a more friendly, generic, and culturally accepted businessman. One who works hard and strives to help his fellow man. To widen his audience and to remain politically neutral Reitman created a conscious, mature and conflicted man who we all could related too.        

Works Cited

Bailey, Adam D. “Dialogue: The Confucian Critique of Rights-Based Business Ethics.” Business

Ethics Quarterly. 21.4 (2011): 661-672. Web. 11 April 2012.

Brenkert, George G. “The Limits and Prospects of Business Ethics.” Business Ethics Quarterly.

20.4 (2010): 703-709. Web. 11 April 2012.   

“Economy at a Glance.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web. 18April 2012.

<http://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet>

Kirn, Walter. Up in the Air. New York: Anchor Books, 2001. Print.       

Reitman, Jason, dir. Up in the Air. Dreamworks, 2009. Film.