Mardi Gras: Made in China
Mardi Gras: Made in China was directed and produced by David Redmon. Redmon throughout the film investigates a factory in Fuzhou, China. In particular, he studied a factory that produced plastic beads used for Mardi Gras and art which was then sent to New York City. Redmon interviewed the owner of the factory Rodger Wong as well as the workers within the factories. He also took another angle and traced the cultural globalization of these products particularly the beads and how they were used. The factory workers were astonished as to what kind of actions their production of beads were worth in New Orleans, Louisiana. China having a capitalistic economy has increased its relationship with the US. Capitalism has allowed for goods to be traded between the two nations. Capitalism has empowered the vastly growing rate of globalization. Through this essay the reader will gain further understanding of Redmons investigation to low wages and poor working conditions and how it relates to cultural globalization relating to the privileged and disadvantage.
Viewers, see a variety of scenes where the factory owner talks about their wages as well as corporal punishment. For instance, viewers see in the opening scene, partygoers in New Orleans swarmed with plastic beads
…show more content…
around their neck; sharing beads in exchange of exposing their genitals and breasts. Thriving on the goal to see how many of these plastic shiny beads they can get in one night. Some individuals spent up to five hundred dollars on these plastic beads; only to see them thrown in the street at the end of the night or in the trash. Film, director Redmon then shifted the viewers’ attention to Fuzhou, China. Meanwhile, the individuals in New Orleans were enjoying the beads, the factory workers were not. China is a far more capitalistic nation than the United States with a far less regulated laboring system. Within, the film, an interviewee, “mentions the capitalistic economy instilled there, would not work in the US.” Factory workers were made to labor fourteen hours a day to produce their quota of three to four bags of plastic beads at approximately ten cents an hour. During an interview with owner, Rodger he states, he makes approximately two million dollars per year. He expresses the workers, pay is more than fair; they actually have to work for it he states. They were scheduled to have Sundays, off but more often than not they worked; resulting in them having one day off every two weeks and two weeks where they returned home for Chinese New Year. According, to the factory owner Rodger, averagely workers bring approximately sixty-two to seventy dollars per month home. However, if workers failed to comply with the daily quota, their pay was reduced by ten percent. If mistakes were made; pay cuts were also given as well as, if they were caught fraternizing with male workers. Fraternizing left to a month pay being cut. Corporal punishment was stressed in his factory. Rodger wrote quotas on blackboards in the factory. Rodger, stated, there are rules in which they are too follow. Those whom did not follow the rules and seek to speak out against their employer were arrested. Towards the end of the film the director shows those in New Orleans celebrating Mardi Gras how the beads are made and the extensive labor in which the factory workers face.
Many were appalled by the cultural conditions. Some people celebrating removed the beads from their neck and said they could no longer have fun, while others continued to party and carry on. Many individuals could not believe the exploitation in which the workers, had undergone; nonetheless they chose to ignore it. Factory workers in China were more than surprised to see the individuals in the US desire their beads. The young women in the factories could not understand why, because they viewed them as being
ugly. The U.S. importer Don in the film shows no signs of empathy towards the factory workers. He explains through the film there is economic and cultural differences between the two nations. However, the workers may face disparities, having open trade with China has provided economic benefit to both the US as well as, them. Through his intellectual piece he explains the fact if they were to produce the beads in the US they would be sold for a much higher price in which, the consumers would not be willing to pay. Allowing for them to be imported and made in China allowed for them to produce a good at a lower price, but also provide them with a job that created some type of income. However, this allowed for the line of cultural advantages and disadvantages to be created between the two nations. Higher wages in the U.S. allow individuals to have more time to themselves. Meanwhile the Chinese factory workers have no leisure time. Creating a labor market between the U.S. and China has allowed for a relationship to develop. Due to the fact China is not as labor regulated as the United States it has allowed for them to produce products at a much lower cost than what the US has demonstrated. However, the disadvantage is uprooting factories to other countries takes away job opportunities from individuals in the US. However, this creates globalization. One level of economic disparity displayed is the idea China created gendered positions in their labor force. Rodger would only higher young women because they were easy to manipulate. This created the illusion women were more enduring and accepted in the work force than men. However, women were at a serious disadvantage due to the fact they had to be submissive. They were only wanted because, men believed them to be easily controlled. However, the factory owner was not the only individual whom exploited his workers. The young women’s fathers are just a guilty as Rodger. They would send their young daughters away to work in the factories. Where there they would live in a 20x24 bedroom shared by a total of ten girls with only five beds. They were to send their earnings home to support their family’s as well as, pay for their brother’s education. Men used these young women to every advantage they could seek to ensure a larger profit through cheap labor and a greater income for household families. The United States is an advantage at this standpoint. They are able to enjoy the beads. However, what they do not realize is they are contributing to the exploitation of these young ladies as well. They continue to purchase the beads as well as, keep the secrets of the labor force in China covered.
In the film the factory owner, Roger Wong, is contracted by entities outside of China, from the U.S.A., to manufacture beads for the least cost possible to maximize the greatest profit. This exchange of money for goods is an example of capitalism and global distribution. Capitalism is described by Conley (2008) as “an economic system in which resources are privately owned; investments are determined by private decisions; and prices, production, and the distribution of goods are determined primarily by competition in an unfettered marketplace.” (p.372) Wong agrees to manufacture the beads for a certain amount of money. From this amount, he determines the cost involved in the production such as material, electricity and wages that detract from profit. After these considerations, a workforce is employed.
The transition in the message of the film occurs during the scene where Zhang’s daughter Qin and her friends are shopping in a mall. Upon seeing a pair of jeans, Qin and her friends become mesmerized by the idea that this pair of jeans might have been made in their factory. However, upon closer inspection, they realize the jeans are manufactured by another company. This scene is paramount, because it reveals how Qin is being exploited, not even having the ability to buy the jeans which she toiled to produce. Instead, she is committed to slave like labor, to ultimately provide for the common American. The film exposes the flaws of American businesses in unison with the Chinese government. The root of the problem lies in the way American companies decide to produce their goods cheaply. While the average American might become aroused by the idea of saving money on a pair of jeans, they do not realize the “hidden larger cost.” The rest of the problem lies in the apathy that the Chinese government has for the mistreatment of these workers. The communist government does not allow for regulation in these factories, and they disregard anything that will prevent these factories from producing the maximum goods
The film starts with a scene from a Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, where drunk partygoers trade beads for nudity and follows the trail of the bead necklaces from New Orleans all the way back to its origins in China, where it was made. In China, the workers, mainly women, work and live in the factory under distressing conditions. These workers work for 11 hours a day and for extremely low wages. They live in crowded and dilapidated compounds and eat cheap factory food. The film also mentions some New Orleans partygoers can spend about $500 on the beads in a night, whereas the factory workers earn on average ten cents an hour and make around $2-$3 dollars a day. The workers have to fulfill a certain quota each day and failure to do so results in a ten percent cut in wages. Most of the money they make is sent back to their families. Toward the end of the film, pictures of the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans were shown to the Chinese workers and footage of the Chinese workers were shown to Mardi Gras partygoers. The Chinese were shocked to see that the beads were purchased at a thousand times higher than the amount that they are paid to make it. Similarly, American partygoers were also shocked to see that the seemingly worthless beads they throw around are made with such strenuous work effort. This stark contrast represents the different value of the
They carry bundles of garments from the factories to the tenements, little beasts of burden, robbed of the school life that they may work for us.” By going into detail about what kinds of work the children do at work helps to open up the audience’s eyes to a perspective that is more personal and in-depth than Kelley merely lecturing them. In doing this, Kelley is able to invoke a sense of guilt that the audience members share. Consequently, the audience members thus feel the need to make change and rid themselves of the guilt they feel by allowing the continuation of children’s forced labor. By using such complex rhetorical strategies, Kelley toys with the audience’s emotions as well as motivates them to provide support for the reform of child labor laws.
The factory workers are stuck in a complicated position where they are taken advantage of and exploited. While “exploitation occurs on any level” these factory workers do not have the opportunity to exploit others because they are the ones being exploited (Timmerman 7). Tension is created between the corporations, factory owners and workers, because the factory owners force the workers into harsh labor and intense working conditions that they were told
In his 1937 film Street Angel, Yuan explores the inequities facing Shanghai’s urban proletariat, an often-overlooked dimension of Chinese society. The popular imagination more readily envisions the agrarian systems that governed China before 1919 and after 1949, but capitalism thrived in Shanghai during that thirty-year buffer between feudalism and Communism. This flirtation with the free market engendered an urban working class, which faced tribulations and injustices that supplied Shanghai’s leftist filmmakers with ample subject matter. Restrained by Kuomintang censorship from directly attacking Chinese capitalism, Yuan employs melodrama to expose Street Angel’s bourgeois audience to the plight of the urban poor. Yuan presents capitalist Shanghai as a binary and deeply unequal society, at odds with the “more pluralistic sense of cosmopolitanism” desired by leftist filmmakers of the 1930s (Pang 62).
Music and Art are two important factors in a society. They are apart of a neighborhood's History. They show how a community has lived, and what was important to the people and how they lived. The Art and Music during certain time periods can show how that community has grown and how it developed. There were many important artist and musician that played a big role in how Detroit, Michigan grew. They also had a big impact on the society of Detroit. Till this day those Artist and Musicians still have an impact on Detroit.
In "A dollar a Day:Made In China" we meet Wayne Petersen and Li Jieli. Wayne Patterson was an ex- miner who lives in minnesota. In the beggining of the film we see Wayne in Target looking through the different merchandise they are selling and see that most of the products are made in China; Wayne does not want to buy the products because all of the manufacturing jobs are going to China were workers over in China are looking at more job oppourtunites while Wayne and people in his community are loosing thier jobs. Li-Jieli is a young women from China who is forced to work in a factory that makes parts for electronics. Li Jieli had to leave home at 17 years old to improve her and her families living conditions. Li had to give up her edu...
Social Norms in America They hold us together as a culture, while separating us as unique individuals at the same time. Folkways, which are based more on custom and etiquette, are the most broken of all norms. This can be explained because in the worst case scenario our only reprimand may be someone staring or talking about us. Mores, while a little more serious than folkways, still don’t have a very serious punishment, just maybe a little more than weird looks, double takes and bad mouthing.
China’s Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution (GPCR) is a well-documented period in world history, but the most profound records are found vivified in the literature and films later into the 20th century, respectively. One of the most profound novels is “To Live”, authored by Yu Hua, which as a fictional narrative offers both a unique and realistic sense of the time period at the individual level. However, the provocative film adaptation directed by Zhang Yimou in 1994 was formidable enough that it was banned in Mainland China. Zhang paints a more realistic picture of how the GPCR influenced Chinese society but adds zest to Hua’s ambiguity but acceptable imperfection. Naturally, the film has many different characteristics yet still manages to overcome the challenges that implicate film adaptations.
This essay will be explaining the definition of sociology, the sociological factors of obesity using Symbolic Interactionism Theory and the Functionalism Theory and a description of the medical condition obesity and how it may affect individuals suffering from it.
“Philips, Sony, and Toyota factories are popping up all over—to the self congratulatory applause of the nation’s governors and mayors, who have lured them with promises of tax abatements and new sewers, among other amenities.” (Paragraph 17) People are born into their jobs, and are doomed for their economic boats. IN other countries such as China, it has been proven that the families with the moneys are the ones with the money, are the ones with the economic power. “Many wealthy Chinese and western residents moved their money abroad and some actually left the colony. By 1971, the Cultural Revolution in China had ended in failure and conditions in Hong Kong calmed,” (Lannom) such as Gloria Lannom states, yet it took a while for Hong Kong to rebuild its economic standings because of this
Not many classes have topics of which students can relate to easily and can find something to help them understand the ideas better. In our class we watch the show Freaks and Geeks to help us better understand sociology. At first, I wasn’t quite sure how this show set back in the 1980s would help me understand what we were discussing in class, but it turned out to really be a valuable asset in helping the class. The show perfectly displays the themes of the self, the looking-glass self, and in and out groups which we confered about.
In his books Where Am I Wearing? and Where Am I Eating?, Kelsey Timmerman humanizes the issues of globalization and provokes readers be informed about the origins of their products. By traveling the world and telling the stories of the people he meets, Timmerman is able to enlighten his readers and intiate communication about how to improve our world economy.
Foxconn has factories in Asia, Europe, Mexico and South America why is it that only China’s Foxoconn was in highlight and not any other country? While the Chinese factories happened to be the largest factories in China, these factories are also facilitated with dormitories and other infrastructure to host the workers and provide workers to go back at end of the 12 hour shift to relax and reenergize for the next shift. A quarter of the employees live in these so called dormitories. My Case study will analyze how the various news sources revealed the global sweatshop to the world and the reactions by the companies who were using Foxconn to manufacture electronic goods. The Chinese newspaper displayed Foxconn employees having social and psychological reasons leading to suicides whereas US news showed it as human rights violation. Both of them did not acknowledge the social justice and world economy aspects and steps that were taken by the electronics giants to rectify the problems that were being faced in Wuhan, China.