Near the opening of Mardis Gras: Made in China (2005), one reveler explains the purpose of Mardis Gras beads: “Beads for Boobs,” and the scene illustrates the trade. David Redmon, the documentary’s filmmaker, asks everyone celebrating where the beads they wear and throw come from, but they don’t know. The film explains that they come from the Tai Kuen Bead Factory in China where workers live in dorm rooms with four beds and mosquito netting; yet they make 1.5 million profit per year. It is 37 degrees Celsius in 1995 when the film is made, and there is no air conditioning. Electric volts heat the pin and stick the beads together in the factory one by one. With these contrasting visions of New Orleans and Chinese cultures, Mardis Gras: Made in China reveals the exploitation of developing world revelers that has been constructed as necessary to support first world fun.
The lack of environmental and social justice is blatant in the factory. All workers must wear red hats, so management can keep track of their movements. They have a minimum quantity to produce each day. One worker's hands are covered with bloody nicks from the bead work. They earn 10% bonus when they are over the minimum and receive a 5% punishment if they are below. The workers are 95%female and 5% male. They need the “boys” for strength but don’t want more than 10% because it is easier to control female workers, the management explains.
In one example, the difficult working conditions are illustrated by a day in the life of factory workers, showing their rise from bed at 6:00. They must brush their teeth, wash their face in the communal bathroom, eat breakfast and get to work by 6:45 to turn on their machines on time. Then they pull beads from it at arm’s length—one left and one right. They have to pull the beads firmly to cut them and must pull 3000 per day, working 11 hours, and sometimes adding on hours between meals for up to 14 hours.
The background on the factory highlight the economic inequities at play here. Workers in this factory make beads for Accent Annex, which sends them to K-Mart and Walmart. The manager, Roger Chen, came from Hong Kong and moved to China in 1984 when more Capitalism was accepted. He set up this sewing factory for Mardis Gras paraphernalia and moved into a middle class that exploits labor for profit.
But Roger works for Don Carlone, who owns Accent Annex. He tells viewers that Mardis Gras revelers spend $500 on each float, and workers don’t even make that in a month. Workers are even fined a day’s pay for talking while working. With these low wages, one worker highlighted in the film sends money home. She paints beads. Her quota is 300, but she can only make 100. Another earns 500 yuan, or $62 per month.
Roger says he designed the factory and residence halls, so everyone works hard and is satisfied. The workers may work 15-16 hours because they are afraid the boss will punish them. One worker has only one day off every two weeks, but still tries to learn English and wash her clothes in a sink.
Ten workers share five beds in each dorm room. They can leave only on Sundays if they are not required to work. The workers went on strike when their pay was lowered. It worked, according to a worker. But Roger says no. He raised their hours but not their pay.
These horrific working conditions are exacerbated by the environmental hazards associated with the production of beads. Beads are made from 12 petroleum products, including styrene , a narcotic that affects the central nervous system. It is toxic and causes cancer when inhaled; yet Roger says the factory is pollution free.
Contrasting with these injustices, in New Orleans, 1000 revelers expose themselves every 3 hours. Hundreds of workers rally for better conditions but fail in China. They only close the factory for two weeks a year at Chinese New Year. Contract between workers’ word and Roger’s. The World Trade Organization is opening up to China, so Roger’s loyalty to Don Carlone is discussed. Everything changed in China when Capitalism became encouraged.
At the end of the film, New Orleans revelers watch footage of the bead factory, which exposs the means of production. They tell workers how much beads cost, and pictures of revelers are passed around the factory. Chinese laborers look at the naked breasts in shock. In Mardis Gras: Made in China two cultures clash and converge. Excess in the West is built on the backs of young women laborers, who are both exploited by uncontrolled management and poisoned by toxins they inhale every day in the Tai Kuen Bead Factory.
Note: The filmmakers also made a Kamp Katrina documentary.
No comments:
Post a Comment