LinkedIn, once a sterile resume repository, has transformed into a bizarre theater of professional performance. Here, "thought leadership" meets emotional breakdown. Posts about "laying off 20% of my team taught me about vulnerability" are a specific genre of work entertainment. They are consumed, screenshotted, and mocked on other platforms. This meta-feedback loop—LinkedIn posts discussed on Reddit's r/LinkedInLunatics—creates a multi-layered entertainment ecosystem entirely about work.
When Michael Scott says something cringeworthy, we laugh because we have sat in that meeting. When Don Draper pitches a brilliant ad, we envy his confidence because we have fumbled through a PowerPoint. Good work entertainment acts as a mirror. It validates our daily struggles. Seeing a chef have a panic attack in the walk-in fridge (The Bear) doesn't entertain us sadistically; it assures us that our own stress is normal. xxxi indian video work
XXXI would likely interrogate three interlocking concerns: LinkedIn, once a sterile resume repository, has transformed
Since the 1990s, Indian artists have increasingly adopted video as a medium to challenge linear narratives, document subaltern lives, and critique rapid socio-political changes. Pioneers like Nalini Malani (known for her shadow play and video installations), Vivan Sundaram, and the collective CAMP have used video to deconstruct memory, urbanism, and state violence. A work numbered "XXXI" suggests a systematic, perhaps serialized, practice—akin to Amar Kanwar’s The Sovereign Forest (which uses numbered chapters) or Shreyas Karle’s stop-motion sequences. In this light, XXXI could be a late entry in a cycle that explores a specific thematic constellation: labor, migration, and digital afterlives. They are consumed, screenshotted, and mocked on other
Most of us cannot quit our jobs or yell at a client. But we can watch someone else do it. Popular media provides a safe pressure valve. When Ari Gold berates a Hollywood assistant on Entourage, we get the dopamine hit of aggression without the HR meeting. Conversely, watching a character like Selina Meyer on Veep fail spectacularly makes us feel better about our own minor screw-ups.
Content, in its various forms (TV shows, movies, podcasts, video games, and social media), plays a pivotal role in shaping popular media and culture.