The wrong kind of waiting: what the film Clockwatchers can teach
us
Clockwatchers is about living your life on someone else's time.
Four temporary office workers meet in a featureless building. We
meet the heroine, Iris, as she spends much of her first day
sitting in a chair where she was told to "wait till someone
comes for you." The building, with its square corners and
cubicles, becomes a metaphor for the box that contains
everyone's dreams. The temps feel ghettoized and eventually are
physically segregated into a separate office. Their isolation is
real: temps rarely cross the border to permanent jobs in the
company. To escape they will have to think outside the box,, yet
as the film begins, each temp focuses on her immediate four
walls. Iris seems overqualified yet she lacks confidence. She
tells her father she feels comfortable and accepted in this job
and doesn't want to move on. Margaret deals with frustration by
rebelling and acting out. She steals time from the company and
cosmetics from the stores. Jane is engaged to a man who, we are
led to believe, will offer her money and security but not love.
Paula jams the copy machine so she can flirt with the repairman;
she waits for a man to deliver her dreams in his toolbox.
Everybody's waiting, like a hot summer day before a storm. The
temps try to look busy and amuse themselves till they can begin
at nine; at the end of the day, they crouch in their chairs,
waiting to leave precisely at five. Change comes about not by
drama but by small events that have significance only in the
context of an office world. People report thefts of coffee money
and clothing. What is significant is Iris's response when she
realizes her umbrella and her notebook were stolen. Iris refuses
to play victim. She confronts the thief over lunch and silently
but dramatically makes her point. The thief gives Iris a new
notebook inscribed with an apology. As Iris feels stronger, she
wears her hair differently and, at last, wears the power suit
her father gave her for job interviews. The film ends
ambiguously, but we sense that Iris was transformed. She has
used the box as a temporary comfort zone to build her confidence
and test new behaviors. She waited creatively till she was ready
to move. She has observed and learned; while her coworkers
twirled idly in their chairs or played games with rubber bands,
she kept a journal. And now, we sense, she is ready to leave the
box behind. I won't give you details of the final scene. Iris
uses her new-found power to defy the corporation and help a
friend. She turns the firm's own refusal to acknowledge her into
a source of strength. It's believable and strong and well worth
a viewing.