5 Movies to see Before You Graduate and Get a "Real Job"

By Uloop Editor on March 5, 2012

Remember the plan your parents gave you when you went off to college?  Graduate with a 3.x GPA, do an internship, apply for jobs, go work with a nice, safe company for 40 years, and then retire.

Yeah, that sounds…great?

Photo by alancleaver_2000 on flickr.com

Maybe for some people, but isn’t there more you can do in life?  If you’ve ever thought about taking a non-traditional approach to making a living (ie: starting a company, becoming a couch-surfer, writing books, etc.) then here are five movies to inspire you to quit the 9-5 grind before you even start:

1. Visioneers (2008)

Zach Galifianakis stars in this under-the-radar film about a mega-corporation sucking the life out of people.  The monotony and boredom has gotten so bad that employees are literally exploding.  Because most people are too scared to quit and make a better life for themselves, the employer, the Jeffers Corporation, comes up with band-aid fixes like a happiness injector attached to everyone’s neck.  Visioneers takes a satirical and embellished approach to modern life, but it isn’t as far off as you may think.

2. Office Space (1999)

This cult comedy classic outlines the life and transformation of Peter Gibbons (played by Ron Livingston) from office cog to corporate criminal.  If you’ve ever worked in an office, seeing this movie will immediately conjure up memories of filing meaningless paperwork, swimming through pools of bureaucracy, and working with some strange and hopeless characters.  The movie is hilarious, but also holds some important truths.  As Peter says, “Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements.”

3. Jerry Maguire (1996)

Tom Cruise plays a successful, steady-handed sports agent who has had enough.  Unfortunately, when he leaves his job to go out on his own, his coworkers and clients are not quite as enthusiastic as Maguire.  This movie has some of the most inspiring and personal scenes of Cruise’s career, and Cuba Gooding Jr. does a great job as the somewhat loyal but aging sports star.  The take home point from this movie is that chasing your dreams is hard.  You might not make it happen immediately, but in the end it’s always worth trying.

4. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

While this movie is a bit of an oddball in this list, it’s all about seizing opportunities.  If you’ve ever wanted to take a day off work and just live for a while, this movie shows you how to do it.  Ferris takes crazy risks, breaks all the rules, and somehow gets away with it.  Don’t wait until you have a real job to go out and have some fun; take every opportunity you can to do it now!

5. The Graduate (1967)

Dustin Hoffman plays a morose and uncertain college graduate who is searching for his passion. While the movie is best known for the mother/daughter/Hoffman love triangle, there’s something to be said for finding the thing that you love and chasing it.  Hoffman realizes his passion, and in a dramatic final scene, rescues his love at the altar and runs off with her.  Despite the movie’s age, the feeling of being lost after college isn’t anything new, and Hoffman does a great job portraying it.

Do you have a favorite movie for recent college graduates?  Let me know about it in the comments, and don’t forget to watch these movies before you graduate.

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