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“Mel, how’s the big video essay coming along?” (Patreon)

Published:
2024-10-27 17:39:59
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

It’s finished. I hope you like it. 🤓

I say it at the end of the video, but it bears repeating: thank you so much for your continued support. I’m being extremely sincere AND literal when I say I couldn’t have done it without y’all. ❤️

Files

Previews only

work 😤👔📈

❤️ Support me on Patreon (for the low, low price of $3/month): https://www.patreon.com/pagemelt 📰 Subscribe to my monthly newsletter (free forever): https://pagemelt.substack.com/ 💌 For inquiries: pagemelt@gmail.com Thanks to Seth Thomas (https://www.instagram.com/sethzolom/) for the music and Adam Copelin (https://www.instagram.com/jacopelin/) for the mixing. 🎶 "Press Pound" by Seth Thomas: https://zolom.bandcamp.com/track/press-pound 🎶 "Something More Than Free — Instrumental" by Seth Thomas (original song by Jason Isbell): https://zolom.bandcamp.com/track/something-more-than-free-instrumental Seth and Adam are in a band called Zolom, and you can follow them on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/zolomofficial/) and Bandcamp (https://zolom.bandcamp.com). And an extra special thank you to my wonderful Patrons for making it all possible. 0:00 Intro / Elysium 3:32 BS Jobs 5:45 Office Space 9:20 Work Is Everywhere, Work Is Nowhere 11:52 (Lack of) Work in Literary Fiction 13:46 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter 16:59 Iowa's Legacy 20:14 Parade 21:16 Normal People 23:25 Conspicuously Absent 25:24 WorkTok 30:48 Manufacturing Corporate Culture 32:52 CorporateTok 38:39 Corporate Brainwashing 42:56 Lakewood 46:52 Thrown Off the Ice 49:24 Work Will Kill You 50:36 Mind, Body, Soul 56:59 Something More Than Free 1:02:09 Play 1:08:34 Zack and Miri 1:13:27 Hopeful on Main 1:14:49 Outro / Credits

Comments

Lealealea

Another fantastic video Mel. My husband works a cooperate job and I think this is really going to resonate when I show it to him later. Sometimes I hear him with the cooperate speak on the phone and I think “I’m hearing so many words but is anything even being said?” He talks all the time about how he sees people getting penalized for not learning the language and adopting a soulless work alter ego. Also thank you for bringing Zac and Miri make a Porno into your analysis. It’s been a guilty pleasure of mine since it came out and now I feel like I have the language to defend why I like it 😉

Melissa Meyer

Loved the video! This resonated a lot and I hadn’t realized how rare it is for art these days to talk about work. I really appreciate that you are consistently interested in and effective at applying an abolitionist framework to the ideas you tackle! Thank you for everything you put into this- looking forward to more longform projects from you if they are in the works! :)

Jennifer Marten

Loved it! Lots to think about, I have one of those typing corporate jobs. I think it's very important (food safety) but I do just send emails all day. I have worked in manufacturing and now, finding myself being paid much better, having normal day time hours, and taking a bathroom break whenever needed, this really resonated with me.

Christina

This was fantastic. Thank you so much for this video, it truly came at a perfect time for me. You put into words a lot of scary existential feelings I’ve been struggling with. So excited to see more long form content from you!!

LG

Wow what an undertaking! I thought this was great and a really thought provoking investigation of art & work and their (lack of) intersection! Now that you’ve pointed this out, I have a few books I am reflecting on where plot hinged around and yet completely ignored the actual work people were engaging in in favor of the individual relationships people had. I’ll be thinking about this for weeks 😂😌

moira

Very interesting watch! As always, loved the cross-media conversations! This spoke to a lot of my feelings (and gave a lot of interesting re-framings!!) about my bill-paying corporate job that I’m not dying from like my previous night shift manual work but swirly eyes thinking this will continue to be a huge part of my life for the rest of my life. Also I’ve been saying for years that I’m either a nonfiction or speculative fiction guy, I’m not interested in most realistic fiction, and I think the individualism of literary fiction is maybe a factor why! I’m interested in systems, which aren’t usually examined in the same way in realistic fiction. Particularly the realistic fiction books most ppl are recommending/that get put on lists, etc.

Claire

Engrossing! Truly! I meant to watch 2 minutes and an hour whipped by.

Claire
>>153574852

Also congrats on finishing this! I'm always impressed with the breadth of your analysis, and this looks and sounds great.

h

This is so great! You always give me so much good food for thought and the nuance to back it up. Congrats on your second, hour-plus long video 🥳🥳

Char

I really appreciate your ability to tie together concepts and existing works that I would have never thought to connect, and also the way you’re able to tackle really deep and (often) heavy material without sounding sensational or making it feel like the world is caving in around us. I just started a new job at a really cool company after being out of work for an extended period of time and was struggling with how guilty I felt about being, well, not that happy to be there, despite the interesting work and steady paycheck. This video was both terrible and wonderful to watch - I am now keenly aware of the depths of my own dissatisfaction, but also I understand where it’s coming from and I don’t feel so ashamed of it. Thank you, as always, for working so hard to build such an engaging and thoughtful corner of the internet. :)

pagemelt
>>153643643

Ahh thank you for the kind words. I was in the EXACT same position as you when I started at my current job. They were cool people doing this cool thing, so why wasn't I happy? I'd put so much hope into finding a job like that solving all my problems, that when it didn't for a while I thought *I* was the problem. You are not alone ♥️

Bibi

You've got me thinking about good books about work now, the first one that came to mind is The Service by Frankie Miren, it's about sex work and I assume it'll be as much structural as it is about individual experiences, but I read it so long ago I can't remember! Would love to hear anyone's recommendations!

sparklers

I really enjoyed this and that is how I got here

Izzi Ward

I always find your work really compelling and interesting; the lines you draw between dispirite ideas that I've had myself and the way you bring them together to make new connections and concepts feels encouraging and uplifting to me.

Izzi Ward
>>153794050

I was interested to hear you talk about Rooney's Normal People but not her Beautiful World, Where Are You? (now I'm typing I'm realising that maybe you haven't read it; it was her third book and generally considered her least compelling, although I personally enjoyed it) because her characters have in novel discussions about what it is to be working class in modern Ireland. The amount of money earned is still not touched upon, but the material struggles of an amazon shipping worker vs a full time writer are weighed in ways that I found interesting.

pagemelt
>>153794050

Yeah, I just haven't read it! Normal People is a book I appreciate much more in hindsight than I did when I was reading it--it actually really stressed me out, and I've been putting off reading Rooney again for that reason, haha.

Izzi Ward
>>153794050

that's... really fair, actually, I also found Normal People stressful. I think Rooney does a lot with interpersonal tensions, but Normal People is definitely the most intense about it.

Syd

loved this! as an original pagemelter, i truly want to add "executive producer" to my resume after watching this. i haven't finished reading it but i think "help wanted" by adelle waldman could be another interesting novel for this conversations as it centers retail work at the heart of it.

anne c

As always, just listening to your analysis made me feel like a better and smarter human! I’m curious if you’ve read The Murderbot Diaries; I was rereading the 6th when this video came out. Your video got me thinking about how work was an internal conflict of so much of the plot: not owning your own body and not owning your own thoughts, and how different circumstances don’t necessarily impact your freedom.

pagemelt
>>154375309

Ooooh yeah, I've read the first three Murderbots, and this is a really great connection!!

Muireann McGlynn

Only half way through but your bit on Normal People was interesting to me. What you've said about Connell not needing to drop out of school is interesting. If he came from a working class family with a single mother he'd get the full SUSI grant. Still a struggle to get by but Trinity is less than €4000 a year for Irish natives and most of that would be covered by the government on a means tested basis. There's also grants from JP MacManus for people from their region which he'd have been likely to get. A lot of working class people in Ireland feel like they've got money in university for the first time in their lives, rather than it being a massive burden debt wise. There's nuances to that and Dublin rent is crazy but dropping out of school is very rarely for financial reasons unless someone fails their exams. The problem is if you lose your housing in Dublin theres just no housing available at all, even if you've money. Moving back home for the Summer is almost expected in Ireland, its such a small country that you're only a few hours away at most and parents don't want to be paying rent. The area they're from would be considered very rural and most of that generation in that part of the country own their own homes. Anyway thats a very long ramble I just thought the additional welfare available really impacts the priorities/perspective of the characters and author and that that was interesting. Even though Ireland is the most expensive for university in the EU, the difference to the US are that stark. You're definitely right that talking about money is basically taboo in Ireland. I think an unspoken rule is that if you're offered anything, you have to refuse three times before you can say yes. I wasn't allowed to take money from my aunts and uncles as a kid, and I'd have to pretend to not want it until they insisted. I was very unaware of class/wealth until I was in secondary school, and there was a range from asylum seekers to wealthy business owners. That was a very long ramble for a very small part of the essay but I find the cultural differences and how they seep into the writing really interesting