Now that I’ve seen the documentary of the making of the movie 9 to 5, I can appreciate that the film is a true classic comedy and has a universal message that holds up even today. Before the film even had a script 9 to 5 only had a cast and later it was revealed through Jane Fonda’s interviews with actual secretaries that “Secretaries want to kill their bosses”. These interviews were examples of the exploratory research that we use in marketing research. “Exploratory research is conducted to clarify ambiguous situations or discover ideas that may be potential business opportunities.”(pg 45) It is true that many employees have fantasies of making their bosses disappear; I am included in having those particular thoughts. The opportunity, to have these actors use their acting talents to play out these scenarios for us, is clear but not conclusive evidence that this be the course of action they should take.
Now the descriptive research that was done before they did the interviews, in my opinion, is going about the process “back-asswards”. Descriptive research covers the “who, what, when, where, why, and how questions” to paint a picture of what the office dynamic would look like before they actually knew what they would do. I’m not saying that they went about this the wrong way, because, to paraphrase the Dalai Lama, the only reason I “learn the rules so [I] can break them properly”. Jane Fonda wanted to create this movie to communicate to the real world problems that were happening in the business world and the unfair treatment of the women at the time; she succeeded in this task and that is why this story still rings true today. Misogyny, sexism, unfair wages, discrimination, the balance of power, the glass ceiling, and other gender issues are still topical.
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