Word: everyman
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Office Space explores the existential despair of human beings confined to anonymous cubicles in myriad, analogous corporations across the country. The protagonist, Peter Gibbons, played by everyman Ron Livingston, is fed-up with the endless paper shuffling at corporate nightmare Initech, his unctuously sinister boss Bill Lumberg (Gary Cole) and, in short, his life in general. Gibbons' arguments against the system are blandly familiar and add nothing new to the common polemics against human automatism. But Gibbons' main function is to give the similarly disillusioned audience an easily identifiable character. And the audience at this particular viewing (mostly 20-somethings...
...biggest problem is Costner himself. In his current middle-aged, paunch-ridden, crooked-toothed, balding status, he just doesn't cut quite the same dashing, leading man figure he once did. Perhaps he has delusions of Jimmy Stewart-esque everyman grandeur. Costner certainly had a certain soccer dad appeal in The Untouchables, but a hunk? Hardly. Whereas Stewart had an endearing awshucks demeanor, Costner is about as charming as a tree. Gone are the days where he can plausibly seduce Susan Sarandon on a table or Madeline Stowe with a lemon. Now, he's just like the chubby slob...
...Hanks doesn't squeak, he does squawk on the set. "For an Everyman," Spielberg says, "he's pretty damned opinionated." He can impose his will, and not just through star power. The week before Private Ryan was to begin shooting, Hanks and the film's squad of seven actors were put through some tough basic training. After three days, says Dye, "they were a little shocky, and naturally they began to grumble. But then out of his tent walks Tom Hanks as Captain Miller." Hanks recalls that after he gave an impassioned speech, "we took a vote...
Trippe had been a continuous innovator, but the sad irony is that he failed to re-invent his company for the leaner, far more competitive age he had done so much to shape: the age of travel for Everyman. A decade after his death, his airline, substantially dismembered, finally expired...
...concept of decentralized management. He came into a GM that was cash short, chaotic and nearly bankrupt--Ford had a 60% market share--and brought discipline to a sprawling company, clearly defining the issues of planning, strategy and organization. He mastered the concept of market segmentation--Chevrolets for Everyman, Cadillacs for the wealthy--to better target GM's sales and avoid internal competition, a strategy that left Ford behind. Sloan also understood what managers today call "consumer insight" by visiting Ford dealers incognito to learn about buyer behavior and competitive offerings...