The documentary film Mardi Gras, Made in China depicts the antithesis of the Americans in the party city of New Orleans and the depleted workers of a bead factory in Fuzhou, China. One main point of the documentary is to show how neither of the previously stated groups know anything about each other and the impact of it, highlighting a common thread between the two groups is ignorance. However I would argue in the film it can be seen that there is more ignorance revolving around these workers and the consumers of their products, and that not all ignorance is involuntary.

Mardi Gras, Made in China opens with Americans celebrating and enjoying a Mardi Gras festival; all of them wearing countless amounts of the famous plastic colorful bead necklaces. The producer of the film asks several strangers enjoying the festivities if they know where the beads come from, to which all of them say no and most have little interest in learning or considering the question. This is a willful and privileged ignorance. Most of the interviewees that learn or know origin of the beads state that it is grim situation, but that they would like to not think of it and would rather enjoy their night. This willful ignorance is a luxury that most would rather not admit they have.

There are a couple of interviewees that comment on the situation stating things such as “it should be illegal,” but how much affect would legality have on the situation? The United States has laws put into place in order to give workers good working conditions, but unfortunately this is not always the case. This can be seen in the video The Chicken Industry’s Worker Safety Problem where we learn production takes priority and that meat workers are three times more likely to experience a serious injury. It can also be seen in sweatshops in Los Angeles. These situations are closer than we choose to admit. We choose to be ignorant.

Becoming aware of the issue is a step in the right direction. But how do we fix it? One possible solution is buying from companies with fair trade certified factories. We learn in the video How Fair Trade Improves the Lives of Workers that fair trade factories guarantee good working conditions such as no child labor, wages, benefits, and health and safety. Unfortunately these conditions come at a cost that consumer has to pay.

In the article “What the Rich Don’t Want to Admit About the Poor,” author Ezra Klein points out that America can often come up with money for the things it values, but poverty is not a priority. We are again being willfully ignorant. So when considering switching to fair trade and asking everyone to abandon unethical factories, it is important to consider that the products of fair trade factories come at a higher price that the lower class cannot afford. It is also worth noting that mass striking against unethical production could greatly harm workers in those factories who need their jobs. With this in mind, a mass switch to fair trade would be another ignorant action that would cause more harm than good.

Striking can be an empowering tool to workers, but it can also be dangerous or unfruitful. We see this in Julia Wallace’s article “Workers, of the World, Faint,” when Cambodian workers on strike experienced threats and violence. In Mardi Gras, Made in China we learn that the workers had previously been on strike but never received the raise that they were promised. In The Chicken Industry’s Worker Safety Problem, we meet Magaly Licolli who organizes protests on behalf of workers through an organization called Venceremos. In the video she arranged a protest against a Tyson Foods factory and created a petition, but we do not learn what the end result was.

As shown in the film and the other covered materials, ignorance is harmful to those in unfortunate working situations, but helping them is a complicated issue. I wish Mardi Gras, Made in China would have gone more in-depth on the boss’s luxurious living situation because his willful ignorance of his workers and their feelings towards working might be the most damaging ignorance of all. It is clear he has money to spare but as stated earlier, poverty is not a priority, but we can make it one. Holding bosses and others responsible is the best cure for ignorance.

Works Cited

Bult, Laura. The Chicken Industry’s Worker Safety Problem. Youtube, Vox, 5 Nov. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia3abCiYX3w. Accessed 19 Nov. 2021.

Klein, Ezra. “What the Rich Don’t Want to Admit About the Poor.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 June 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/13/opinion/stimulus-unemployment-republicans-poverty.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage.

Patagonia, director. How Fair Trade Improves the Lives of Workers. Youtube, Great Big Story, 18 Oct. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwuQbmLCTEc. Accessed 19 Nov. 2021.

Redmon, David. Mardi Gras: Made in China. Carnivalesque Films, 2005.

Wallace, Julia. “Workers of the World, Faint!” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 Jan. 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/opinion/workers-of-the-world-faint.html?_r=0.