Mardi Gras: Made in China is a documentary about the manufacturing of the celebration's ubiquitous, plastic beads. The crew journeys to China's Fuzhou city in Fujian Provience and documents the manufacturing of the beads in a massive, walled factory. The crew then travels to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, recording the beads at the end of their life cycle.
At the factory, the crew interviews many of the labors who work 12 hours a day making the necklaces, doubloons, and even plastic penises that get thrown to the crowds every year. Unsurprisingly the conditions at the factory aren't good. But what really makes life so terrible is the restrictions the factory puts on its employees personal lives. Employees can be fined an entire day's wages for talking during working hours. Also, employees can only leave the prison-like factory on Sundays. The other six days of the week they must spend all their non-working time in the compound.
On the other hand, the owner of the factory lives large on $2 million a year, producing items for the Krewe of Tucks. He was born in Mainland China but went to Hong Kong as a child. He returned to China to open the factory after the initiation of economic reforms. This isn't surprising considering the communist party opened China to Chinese from Taiwan and Hong Kong as a way to bind them closer to the mainland and use the experience and expertise of other "Chinese" to rebuild the country following communism. Think FoxConn but on a much smaller level.
Back in New Orleans, the beads are tossed off the sides of floats. Some make it to the spectators while others simply fall on the ground, staying exactly where they land. At the end of the partying, most are just thrown away. During and after Mardi Gras signs advertising bead recycling centers are posted in public places. Apparently the beads have a high content of lead which seeps into the groundwater. The documentary shows the bulldozers that roll down St. Charles Ave. cleaning up the beads after each parade.
I am no sandle wearing hippie, but it's an enormous amount of waste. The documentary really doesn't do it justice. Each night bulldozers and workmen travel down the Avenue scooping up the beads. It's troubling to see how many of the beads don't even make it to the spectators, simply falling onto the ground. They become trash the instant they get thrown over the sides of the floats. I am not an innocent party in this either. Last year I rode on float. By the end of the parade I had tossed bags of beads without the slightest thought about where they came from or where they would end up.
Don't get me wrong, I love Mardi Gras, but the waste resulting from the cheap trinkets really troubles me. That's why I snatched this documentary off the library shelves the second I laid eyes on it. I hope that one of the Mardi Gras krewes "goes green" in the future and realizes the economic and environmental problems this worthless crap causes. But with krewes that have mottos like "throw until it hurts," its likely that this tradition won't die easily.
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| Movie Cover |
At the factory, the crew interviews many of the labors who work 12 hours a day making the necklaces, doubloons, and even plastic penises that get thrown to the crowds every year. Unsurprisingly the conditions at the factory aren't good. But what really makes life so terrible is the restrictions the factory puts on its employees personal lives. Employees can be fined an entire day's wages for talking during working hours. Also, employees can only leave the prison-like factory on Sundays. The other six days of the week they must spend all their non-working time in the compound.
On the other hand, the owner of the factory lives large on $2 million a year, producing items for the Krewe of Tucks. He was born in Mainland China but went to Hong Kong as a child. He returned to China to open the factory after the initiation of economic reforms. This isn't surprising considering the communist party opened China to Chinese from Taiwan and Hong Kong as a way to bind them closer to the mainland and use the experience and expertise of other "Chinese" to rebuild the country following communism. Think FoxConn but on a much smaller level.
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| The Factory Owner |
Back in New Orleans, the beads are tossed off the sides of floats. Some make it to the spectators while others simply fall on the ground, staying exactly where they land. At the end of the partying, most are just thrown away. During and after Mardi Gras signs advertising bead recycling centers are posted in public places. Apparently the beads have a high content of lead which seeps into the groundwater. The documentary shows the bulldozers that roll down St. Charles Ave. cleaning up the beads after each parade.
I am no sandle wearing hippie, but it's an enormous amount of waste. The documentary really doesn't do it justice. Each night bulldozers and workmen travel down the Avenue scooping up the beads. It's troubling to see how many of the beads don't even make it to the spectators, simply falling onto the ground. They become trash the instant they get thrown over the sides of the floats. I am not an innocent party in this either. Last year I rode on float. By the end of the parade I had tossed bags of beads without the slightest thought about where they came from or where they would end up.
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| Beads Everywhere! |
Don't get me wrong, I love Mardi Gras, but the waste resulting from the cheap trinkets really troubles me. That's why I snatched this documentary off the library shelves the second I laid eyes on it. I hope that one of the Mardi Gras krewes "goes green" in the future and realizes the economic and environmental problems this worthless crap causes. But with krewes that have mottos like "throw until it hurts," its likely that this tradition won't die easily.
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