Can we understand the entire history of the capitalist labour market through the kid's movie Despicable Me? Polish academic Justyna Szklarczyk says yes. She says the Minions embody the ideal workforce and are exploited by it. "They are standardised, highly interchangeable, and desperate for any job they can find," she
writes. "They neither bleed nor break, they do not require healthcare, they are tireless, unaffected by growth or ageing, they remain unchanging and always ready to work." Their exploitation comes at the hands, she argues, not only of their master Gru but also of Universal Pictures. By being portrayed as the unruly lower class, the film casts Minions as foolish and infantile creatures who are only able to actualise themselves under capitalism: Serving a master who belongs to the "transnational jet-set" of billionaire-coded villains who own private jets and live in palaces is the only way they seem to achieve happiness. The also film suggests that the Minions' freedom from Gru is because they are a little dim, suggesting that of the working classes. Thus, the toil of the nascent subject is ultimately ridiculed."
