As noted in The Universal Experience, this statue of the kiepenkerl functions as "a symbol of individual entrepreneurship and consumerism. The peddler also symbolizes the traveling businessman as another kind of tourist" (93).
And what do we make of the traveling businessman? In the film Up In the Air, traveling becomes Ryan Bingham's life: moving constantly from place to place, without any "home" or sense of territorial subjectivity, adding up miles becomes a fetishistic goal for him. He also gives the motivational speech, "What's In Your Backpack?" at various convention centers--a speech which endorses a life free from possessions or attachments. But Bingham eventually comes to terms with the inauthenticity of his message, of his own life, and yet he never fully leaves it at the conclusion of the narrative. He continues traveling. In a sense, Bingham has no gate to which to return. Below is the trailer for the film.
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