If Peter’s wish to do nothing is indeed a key message of “Office Space,” then we must again yield to Fromm, who, writing in 1955, argued that, “The alienated and profoundly unsatisfactory character of work results in two reactions: one, the ideal of complete laziness; the other, a deep-seated, though often unconscious hostility toward work and everything and everybody connected with it.” In addition to his point about laziness, Fromm’s point regarding hostility is also apparent throughout “Office Space.” Whether it is Peter’s contempt for the receptionist seated in the cubicle across from him, Michael’s contempt for the woman who hands out the employee mail, Joanna’s contempt for the eccentric waiter, or Peter, Michael, and Samir’s mutual contempt for the office printer, it must be considered that their hostility does not merely spring from differences in personality or problems with the functioning of a particular machine. Rather, it is the sheer undesirability of their work situation that creates a setting in which it becomes remarkably easy to grow hostile toward “everything and everybody connected with it.
from Work Sucks: How the Movie “Office Space” Proves Radicalism Lives in the Mainstream, By John Kane (via R. Ebert)
