China's latest box office hit is a satire on Big Tech work culture

The most popular movie in China so far this year is a comedy that strikes a chord with anyone who has worked at a Big Tech firm, where daily pressures include a gruelling work schedule, worries about lay-offs, and just trying to stay on the right side of office politics.

The film, called Johnny Keep Walking!, tells the story of a blue-collar worker who is mistakenly offered an administrative job at a famous company, leading to a clash between his working-class background and the corporate culture.

It has raked in 987 million yuan (US$134 million) at the box office since its release on December 29, overtaking the China hauls of Hollywood superhero movie Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, according to data from online ticketing platform Maoyan Entertainment.

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Dong Runnian, who wrote and directed the film, said that when he started working on the story in 2017, lay-offs were not the subject of "widespread concern and discussion" as they are now, according to an interview with Chinese media The Paper earlier this month.

Chinese Big Tech, including e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, social media and gaming titan Tencent Holdings and search and artificial intelligence champion Baidu, have all embraced strategies to "cut costs and improve efficiency", a term that hints at staff reductions, amid a weak economy.

In the 12 months through June 2023, Post owner Alibaba and Tencent reduced their workforces by a combined 23,000 people. Baidu's core business hired 36,300 people in calendar 2022, 3,300 fewer than a year before. However, the changes in total staff numbers were not entirely the result of job cuts, as the companies also underwent significant business shifts.

Besides lay-offs, Johnny Keep Walking! draws from other workplace issues, such as impressing the boss by being willing to work overtime, and whether employees should take an English name or use their Chinese names.

Industry jargon shows up in the dialogue, with lines like "align the granularity", meaning that everyone is on the same page, and "study customers' pain point", for knowing what they need.

The Post reached out to employees of Chinese tech giants including Alibaba, Tencent, TikTok owner ByteDance, local services giant Meituan and ride-hailing platform Didi Chuxing. Three workers who had watched the movie agreed it mirrored their work life, especially in the use of jargon. One noted that such terms, now commonly used in the tech industry, help "make conversations more efficient".

But "excessive or inappropriate use of these terms can lead to communication barriers and formalism", said Guo Tao, a Beijing-based angel investor. Companies should "make sure that communication is clear and work is effective".

A scene from Johnny Keep Walking!", a 2023 film that draws from Big Tech work culture. Photo: Handout alt=A scene from Johnny Keep Walking!", a 2023 film that draws from Big Tech work culture. Photo: Handout>

All eight of the workers the Post spoke to said they would be willing to extend their working hours, sometimes to 9pm and even on weekends, when needed. To them, such a flexible timetable is better than the notorious "996" culture, in which employees are expected to work from 9am to 9pm, six days a week.

At the end of the film, some of the junior staff were able to report cases of corruption to the company chairman, who promised to make the working environment at the corporation fairer. Director Dong said in the interview that he expected the audience to find "some relief and strength" from the story.

However, one real-life employee quipped: "Everything stays the same after you walk out of the cinema."

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.