First of all, who has NOT seen this movie?! I just checked and it looks like its streaming on Disney+, Amazon Prime, and Crave…I highly you recommend you watch it. I admit, I love love love this movie because I love love love Dolly Parton but of course, there is much more to this movie than the Queen, Dolly. Go give the iconic song “9 to 5” a listen while you’re at it; Dolly Parton wrote it on set to kill time!
Once upon a time there was a receptionist, Doralee, who was beautiful and sexy, but also kind and smart. Every day, two other women in the office, Violet and Judy, would gossip about Doralee, implying she is sleeping with the Boss, Franklin, who by the way is a chauvinist and sexually harasses Doralee on a daily basis. But, one day Violet and Judy see they were wrong and that Doralee is the loveliest lady and a devoted wife. Because of that, they decide to teach Franklin a lesson and through a whirlwind of nonsense, end up kid napping him. Because of that, the 3 women end up running the office and make a ton of changes all under the guise of Franklins instruction, like daycare, flexible hours, job sharing, etc . Until finally, Franklin manages to escape and the ladies have no other option but to go to the office with him where he plans to out them; the Chair of the Board happens to show up and praises Franklin for all the changes he has made to boost morale ( the ladies unfortunately still do not get any credit because it was all done under Franklins name). And ever since then, Franklin was rewarded for his “hard work” by being promoted to a new position in Brazil and the women will no longer be subject to his chauvinistic ways. In fact, Violet gets promoted and takes over Franklins position in the office!
read all about the story spine
https://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/06/05/back-to-the-story-spine/
The story has it all – characters you are rooting for and can identify with, especially if you are a woman or have ever felt over looked at your job, it inspires us to stand up for ourselves, to incite change, and visually it grabs your attention, especially if you are a vintage lover. Whenever I watch an older movie or period pieces, I am always excited by the styling and design – it is a huge part of the story for me. Doralee, especially grabs my attention. While this movie takes place in the early 80s, Doralee has a lot of 50s/60s styling, she puts a lot of effort in to her look, and it’s one of the reasons she is a target; that could be a whole blog post on its own – why are women who do their hair and makeup, who put obvious thought in to their outfits, who have any sex appeal “hated” and labelled as stupid, slutty, distracting, etc., by, often and sadly other women, but also just society in general. It isn’t until Judy and Violet are forced by the situation to get to know Doralee that they realize she is kind and smart and only interested in her own husband. Which, I think, makes Dolly Parton the absolute perfect person to play this part.
Throughout the story, you establish an emotion connection with the characters, you are able to justify their actions, and you are really rooting for them to come out the other end as champions. This story has all the ingredients for a compelling story and is able to combine them in the exact way to give the audience, me, you, a great story, that is visually fantastic, but would be great if told in any era or medium.
What’s interesting still, is that the story of 9 to 5, while about 40 years old, is still pretty relevant, which, again, is a whole different blog post. So, in the meantime, read this Rolling Stones article, that talks about how the themes in the movie still hold true today, in real life.
https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/9-to-5-turns-35-and-its-still-radical-today-50499/
EXSM 3989 - Digital Storytelling Class Blog 