In times of high emotion or intense passion, it can be helpful to try and understand current events by triangulating them with less provocative parallels. Such is the case for people trying to make sense of the protests and riots growing across the country in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

In the 1999 cult favorite, Office Space, there’s an iconic scene in which the three main characters steal a printer from their office building, drive it out into a field, and beat it to death. While the Geto Boys’ “Still” plays over the scene, the three grown men in business-casual wear stomp on the printer, then attack it with a bat, and eventually pound on its inert, mechanical remains with their bare fists.

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Although on its face the movie little more than a period piece intended to lampoon 1990s office culture, it turns out that Office Space may be instructive for thinking about how frustration can slowly build and eventually explode in rage.

It should be obvious where I’m going here.

To read the full story, visit: https://medium.com/@ryan.skinnell/what-a-21-year-old-comedy-can-tell-us-about-anti-racism-protests-b335e857e408

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