Working Girl, 9 to 5, and the Evolution of Office Movies

A look at the enduring legacy, style, and workplace lessons from iconic office movies like Working Girl and 9 to 5.

By Sneha Tete, Integrated MA, Certified Relationship Coach

Created on Aug 4, 2025

A look at the enduring legacy, style, and workplace lessons from iconic office movies like Working Girl and 9 to 5.

Few movie genres have captured the aspirations, frustrations, and daily realities of professional women quite like the classic “office movies” of the 1980s and beyond. Films like Working Girl and 9 to 5 are not only celebrated for their humor and charm, but also for the way they’ve handled—sometimes subversively, sometimes directly—the expectations placed upon women in the workplace, their relationships with other women, and their sense of personal style and ambition. These films have stood the test of time, continuing to inspire audiences and provoke thoughtful discussions decades after their release.

Working Girl: Plot, Characters, and Themes
Workplace Fashion on Film
9 to 5: Comedy, Satire, and Feminism
Legacy and Modern Relevance
Other Noteworthy Office Movies
Frequently Asked Questions

Working Girl: Plot, Characters, and Themes

Working Girl (1988), directed by Mike Nichols and starring Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver, and Harrison Ford, is a film that expertly blends comedy, romance, and incisive social commentary. At its core, it is the story of Tess McGill, a smart, ambitious secretary from Staten Island who dreams of climbing the corporate ladder in Manhattan’s cutthroat financial sector.

The story unfolds as Tess finds an unexpected opportunity when her manager, the elegant and ruthless Katherine Parker, breaks her leg on a ski trip. Tess discovers that Katherine has stolen her idea for a major business merger, prompting Tess to pose as an executive—using Katherine’s wardrobe, apartment, and contacts—to make the deal herself, with the help of Jack Trainer, played by Harrison Ford.

Main Characters and Their Significance

Tess McGill: The film’s protagonist, representing the ambitious, underestimated female office worker. Her transformation—from big-haired, sneaker-wearing secretary to polished, poised executive—mirrors the film’s exploration of professional and personal reinvention.
Katherine Parker: Sigourney Weaver’s character, who personifies the challenges faced by women who have “made it” but are portrayed as gatekeepers rather than supporters of other women. Her scenes with Tess highlight the complicated dynamics between professional women.
Jack Trainer: Harrison Ford’s character, providing both romantic interest and essential support, but also serving as a lens to discuss women’s reliance on male allies in male-dominated environments.

Key Themes Explored in the Film

Class and Social Mobility: The contrast between Tess’s modest background and Katherine’s affluent lifestyle is underscored through fashion, living spaces, and speech, reflecting general assumptions about who can succeed in corporate America and how.
Transformation and Authenticity: Tess’s transformation, driven by necessity, is both external and internal. Wearing Katherine’s expensive clothes and adopting her manners allow Tess to access opportunities, but the film subtly questions whether success should require abandoning one’s authentic roots.
Mentorship, Competition, and Female Solidarity: Rather than supportive mentorship, the relationship between Tess and Katherine is marked by betrayal and rivalry, capturing the complicated dynamics sometimes found among women competing for limited opportunities at the top.
Sexualization and Stereotypes: While often celebrated as a feminist story, Working Girl also perpetuates certain problematic ideas—such as the linkage of women’s worth to their appearance or sexuality, as noted in film scholarship.

The film is remembered not only for its sharp insight into workplace hierarchies but also for its quotable lines, memorable synth soundtrack, and the iconic image of Melanie Griffith walking across the Manhattan Bridge, the city skyline looming with possibility.

Workplace Fashion on Film

Working Girl is celebrated for its costume design, which marks Tess’s ascent, quite literally, through style transformations. The shift from chunky jewelry, big hair, and shoulder pads to the sleek lines and muted accessories of Manhattan’s elite signals not just a change in wardrobe but a change in perceived competence and professionalism.

Early scenes show Tess in bright colors, practical shoes, and voluminous hair—visual cues of her outsider status in white-collar Manhattan.
The moment Tess dons Katherine’s tailored suits, cuts her hair into a sleek style, and carries an expensive briefcase, we are reminded of the unwritten (and sometimes exclusionary) rules around looking the part in corporate settings.
Katherine’s wardrobe—pearls, high heels, tailored blouses—reinforces her authority and social standing as well as her emotional distance from colleagues.

The film uses these contrasts to underscore the links between class, gender, professionalism, and fashion—a motif still relevant in today’s discussions around office dress codes. As noted in modern retrospectives, even now, fashion magazines reference the looks from Working Girl as style inspiration for women navigating the modern workplace.

9 to 5: Comedy, Satire, and Feminism

Released in 1980, almost a decade before Working Girl, 9 to 5 is another landmark film exploring women’s roles in the corporate world. Featuring an all-star cast (Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton), the film follows three female co-workers as they rebel against their sexist, egotistical boss, Mr. Hart.

Plot Overview

The women kidnap their misogynistic boss and run the department themselves, implementing reforms like flexible hours and onsite childcare—ideas which were radical then and remain relevant today.
The movie’s tone is comic and satirical, using wild plot twists (including accidental poisonings and trippy dream sequences) to highlight the absurdity and unfairness of workplace sexism.

Feminism and cultural impact

While the central struggles (sexism, lack of recognition, sexual harassment) are handled with broad comedy, the film foregrounds women’s competence, camaraderie, and creative problem solving.
Many viewers found inspiration in the fact that the women did not simply survive office indignities, but actively changed office culture and held management accountable.
The film’s title song, performed by Dolly Parton, became an anthem of working women everywhere.

Contemporary reviews and later discussions acknowledge that, though the solutions in the movie are exaggerated for comedic effect, the issues it raises—pay equity, harassment, work/life balance—are perennially resonant.

Legacy and Modern Relevance

What makes Working Girl, 9 to 5, and their ilk so enduring? While both are period pieces in terms of fashion and technology, they remain fresh—and sometimes frustrating—because many of the issues they address persist in offices, law firms, and boardrooms today.

Why Do These Movies Still Matter?

They dramatize the difficulties of climbing the corporate hierarchy when you start at the bottom, especially as a woman from a working-class background.
They reflect on mentoring that is competitive rather than collaborative, provoking conversations about how women can (and sometimes don’t) support one another at work.
They offer a sharp critique of how women’s appearance and style influence their professional prospects, a theme both outdated and uncomfortably current.
They foreground the importance of not accepting a toxic status quo—the idea that workplaces can and should change to support their

Working Girl, 9 to 5, and the Evolution of Office Movies

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