About 40 people will never look at their jeans the same way again. A documentary was shown Friday night at the University of Oregon School of Law profiling the difficult lives of workers in a Chinese denim factory. The film is part of a festival visiting the University.
The Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival is the longest running showcase for international documentaries in the United States. It was started in 1977 in honor of the anthropologist Margaret Mead.
Every year the festival is held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, but the museum also puts on a traveling version of the festival.
The University of Oregon has a special connection with Margaret Mead. Her first husband, Luther Cressman, founded the anthropology department at the University.
The first film shown, “China Blue,” portrayed the lives of two people: an immigrant worker named Jasmine who is starting her first job and the owner of the factory where she works, Mr. Lam.
The film follows Jasmine as she travels from her rural home to a city factory in order to become a part of the new industrialized China. What begins as a search for a better future quickly becomes a nightmare.
The working conditions at the factory are atrocious. The managers require the workers to work 18-hour days, and at some points required more than 24 hours of work. The workers are also not paid for the majority of the film – a period that lasts more than three months.
Mr. Lam, the manager of the factory, is shown believing that he is a champion of his workers and that he treats them much better than factory guidelines require him to. It is odd for the viewer to see him take this stance as he punishes his workers for daring to leave the factory dorms.
One of the most poignant moments of the film is when Jasmine joins her friends in another dorm for a dance party and informal fashion show. Although it is a lighthearted moment, the viewer can’t help but be struck by how immature these young girls seem. Their dancing and cheering for each other is indistinguishable from a 14-year-old girl’s sleepover. After the dance party they return to the factory for another 18-hour shift.
“China Blue” is an eye-opening experience and will change the way that viewers see global production. But the festival won’t stop with just one film.
On Friday, Feb. 15, the film “El Inmigrante” will be shown. It is a film that discusses the current state of the American and Mexican border crisis. After that, on Feb. 22, “Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus” will be played. The movie is a profile of both sides of the debate over evolution currently taking place throughout America.
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