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The work we all deserve

This article is published in issue 21 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until May 24, 2022

If you want you can. Stories, films, TV series, articles, covers. How many times have we seen, celebrated and then dreamed ourselves of being the nobles who become heroes, the marginalized who become protagonists, the poor who become rich, the bankrupts who become successful entrepreneurs? The myth of work as a ransom, as a reward, as a true achievement has been handed down to us as an imperative, a lesson to be learned without posing too many objections. Because, so they made us believe, if you want you can and in the end those who really believe can do it. Those who can’t make it, on the other hand, mean that he didn’t believe it enough.

In recent years, especially after the pandemic, we have realized how toxic this work culture is. How much you steal our life, time, freedom. And how much employment can not only be a buying and selling of life, time and freedom but above all an experience and an act of participation and belonging to a larger or otherwise different project from us.

In terms of work, a real cultural revolution is taking place, something that will not be resolved in a month or even in a year. And if on the part of the workers, even in Italy, waves of mass resignations are noticed, a phenomenon never seen before, on the part of those in power or those who represent them, divisive and counterproductive episodes are highlighted which at first glance may seem only mistakes, but on closer inspection they can turn out to be possibilities for change.

I could give many examples but I will limit myself to mentioning the most striking and the most discussed: the declarations of the entrepreneur Elisabetta Franchi regarding the age and maternity of the women she hires or has hired. Franchi will clarify her positions, she will explain them. But this is not the point. The real crux, on the one hand, is understanding how much the issue is a nerve both for the Italian state and for entrepreneurs and workers. On the other hand, understanding that the wave of hatred and indignation on social media is not enough, because erasing the character, the brand or the problem is useless. What matters is learning from mistakes, identifying what to change, and then moving on to real actions to start changing the reality of the job for the better.

The new work culture needs this: comparisons and changes. Cutting heads and deleting people doesn’t work as much as chasing the old logic of if you want you can. And the lesson, perhaps, is more about the older generations, those grown up if you want you can, unpaid internships, endless apprenticeships, the illusion of work above all else, the myth of employment that defines who you are. The real task of these generations, even if uncomfortable, is not to allow others and others to end up in the same cage. Because from this prison we all come out together and not alone.

But back to us: this number of Vanity Fair takes you to the Cannes Film Festival with a European project which sees the Italian, French and Spanish editions celebrate the faces of three actresses on the cover: Margherita Buy, our female talent who has received more awards; Leïla Bekhti and Bárbara Lennie, two talents to discover. From the Croisette, the team of Vanity Fair, for the first time combined with the European and American editions, will lead you to discover premieres, exclusive interviews, parties, reviews and curiosities in a daily live entertainment and information on our social networks and on our sites. Finally, the appointment is for the evening of Friday 20 with the dinner in honor of the cinema organized by Vanity Fair with Louis Vuitton.

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Source: Vanity Fair

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