Mother & CEO
‘The Intern’ upends pieties on life and work
MAYBE retirement isn’t all it’s chalked up to be.
And maybe workaholics don’t deserve such a bad rap.
“The Intern,” starring Robert DeNiro as a 70yearold in the title role and Anne Hathaway as a much younger woman running her own startup, unabashedly celebrates work.
When DeNiro’s character Ben Whittaker ditches his (very boring) retirement for an internship, he is revitalized, energized by helping a company function.
Similarly, while Anne Hathaway’s character Jules Ostin can be a little intense in her commitment to work (one timesaving expenditure is that she bikes around the office rather than walk), it’s also clear that she is deeply satisfied by what she has done with her clothing company, the passion evident on her face as she grapples with everything from marketing designs to correct product packing.
But where is this perspective in our endless conversations on worklife balance?
The focus inevitably seems to be on having more time off, spending fewer hours working — without thinking about the deep fulfillment work can bring, the way it allows us to use our talents to bring about a better culture for all of us.
One of the best moments in the flick is when Jules looks at a photo of six bridesmaids wearing a dress from her company, their faces bright and shining. She’ll never meet these women, but she’s made their lives better.
“We do a thing in America,” observes TV writer and actress Mindy Kaling in “Why Not Me?,” her new bestseller, “which is to label people ‘workaholics’ and tell them that work is ruining their lives.”
“Working parents,” she adds, “have now eclipsed shady Russianesque operatives as America’s most popular choice of movie villains.”
Kaling speculates that’s due to the fact that “most people in this country hate their jobs.” But if that’s true, the answer isn’t to encourage less work. Instead, it’s to help people find jobs they love, jobs that enable them to truly maximize their talents and engage their interests.
“The Intern” doesn’t shy away from the reality that even the most fulfilling job doesn’t give you more than 24 hours in a day. Jules is shown constantly juggling work and family.
In fact (spoilers ahead), the key tension in the movie is whether Jules will give in and hire a CEO to take control of her company, in order to give her more time at home and assuage investors worried about her experience levels, or whether she’ll stay in the top position herself.
Ben advises Jules to not cave and hire a CEO. “I never had anything like this in my life, this big, beautiful thing that you created,” he tells her.
That’s the perspective that’s too often missing from our conversations about worklife. Jules should be proud of what she’s done: She’s created a company that addresses one of women’s acute frustrations (clothes never fit just right!) and employed 220 people.
Of course, Jules is also admirable in her commitment to spending time with her family. But as “The Intern” cheekily points out, society also puts a lot of inane expectations on working women unrelated to family. That comes in a scene featuring other school moms who cattily assume Jules won’t be able to make guacamole but will have to buy some for an upcoming event.
In fact, the Juleses of the world can manage both a topnotch career and a solid family life if they want to.
“I Know How She Does It” author Laura Vanderkam looked at “how 133 working moms who earn six figures spend their days” and found “these women work an average of 44 hours a week.” Those kind of hours are compatible with a lot of time for family — especially if you’re not wasting time making homemade guac.
Companies could also help parents more. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, now pregnant again, famously had a nearby office turned into a nursery for her baby son. That’s not an option right now that’s available to most working parents, but companies could do more — from allowing babies at work to providing onsite day care — to make parenting and careers more compatible.
A decade ago, Hathaway starred in “The Devil Wears Prada,” playing a young staffer who lost all semblance of a personallife balance thanks to her insane boss, who led a Voguelike magazine. It’s fitting that her newest movie suggests that maybe the pendulum has moved too far in the other direction in the years since.
Yes, you can miss your life by working too much.
But you can also miss some of life’s great fulfillments by working too little.