In recent days, a documentary called "American Factory" (American Factory) launched by the streaming media giant Netflix can be said to have spread all over the Chinese online world.
The documentary by American director Steven Berg Canal and (Steven Bognar) Julia Reichert (Julia Reichert) jointly taken over the years they have been recording US blue-collar life.
But this time, the pair are aiming at their hometown of Dayton, Ohio . They used their own lens to tell a story of a transnational cooperation that reflects the differences in corporate culture between China and the United States .
"American Factory" stills
Interestingly, the investors of this documentary are not ordinary film and television producers. The supporters behind it are actually the Obamas, the former owners of the White House .
Before that, they had led the establishment of a film and television production company called " Higher Ground " , and this documentary was the company's first production.
The Obamas were interviewed
In addition, the reason why this documentary was able to quickly make waves in China is also because the main character it filmed is the "Glass King" Cao Dewang , a giant of Fujian who was very hot by the media in the past few years . The film is about him. The representative Fuyao Glass (Fuyao Glass) established a factory in the United States and caused labor disputes.
This secret story can now be published in the form of a documentary, and indeed there are enough gimmicks to attract the attention of the public.
Cao Dewang, head of Fuyao Group
It is worth mentioning that the launch time (August 21) chosen by the Obamas and the broadcasting platform Netflix for this documentary is also very interesting.
Because anyone knows that these few days are the most tense economic situation in China and the United States. The tax burden of the US government will escalate almost every once in a while. If this work is taken into such a context, the interpretation will be continued. , Perhaps the meaning it reflects will also be more complicated.
The story of the film began in 2008. At that time, the entire American society caused a long-lasting financial storm due to the subprime mortgage crisis . During this period, the American car giant General Motors shut down its many operations in Ohio. A factory, this action caused 2,400 local workers to lose their jobs, and it also plunged them into desperate struggles for several years.
Scenarios when the GM plant was closed
However, it was not until 2015 that hope was long overdue.
But to the locals did not expect that, to give them hope not Americans themselves, on the contrary, to save their lives but hardship is a Chinese company -
Under the leadership of the self-made billionaire and Fujian businessman Cao Dewang, Fuyao, a Chinese company that produces glass for automobiles, decided to build a factory in Ohio and promised to hire 1,000 local workers.
At first, the labor-management integration between China and the United States was progressing smoothly. Whether it was the site selection of the factory, the construction of the factory area, or the opening of the enterprise, everything seemed to be proceeding in an orderly manner.
For entering the Chinese capital, the vast majority of Americans also hold with great expectations, they not only give the opening speech Dewang warm welcome, but also the plant trunk road name changes to "Fuyao Avenue" , a A black employee even expressed his gratitude to Cao Dewang in person.
You can make such a positive response, because without him - for the decline in traditional industrial rust belt (Rust Belt) US workers can find new jobs after unemployment for many years, how much this is a fortunate thing .
It is true that although Fuyao employs a large number of American workers, in fact some of them can earn only US$12.84 per hour , which seems to be much lower than the US$29 they had when they were at General Motors .
But despite this, everyone still hopes that this factory can develop smoothly. Because there are a large number of employees, they fell out of the middle class circle after being unemployed , and some even lived in the basement. However, the arrival of Cao Dewang and Fuyao Company, But it gave them hope of returning to a middle-class family.
However, after all, Fuyao has been working hard in the glass manufacturing industry. Ohio auto workers must receive new training to master the corresponding skills in glass making.
And most importantly, with the entry of Fuyao, the Chinese management team represented by Cao Dewang tried to apply their work model and management system in China here. However, the special feature of the United States is that all labor and capital The relationship will always involve the participation of the trade union . How to balance the contradiction between the two is undoubtedly a very challenging thing.
In the film, this contradiction is almost fully expressed:
For example, when the opening ceremony of the factory was held, an Ohio congressman said in a speech before the ribbon-cutting ceremony that he hoped that the Chinese managers could set up trade unions within the factory to protect the interests of American workers.
Another example is that when Cao Dewang came to inspect the start of work, in the face of hundreds of Chinese workers, what he emphasized to these compatriots was a set of patriotic principles , "The most important thing for Chinese people to set up businesses in the United States is not how much money we make. , But to allow Americans to change their views of the Chinese and their views of China."
Another example is that there are actually two completely different working modes here -American workers only work 8 hours a day and enjoy holidays and benefits; but Fuyao’s management has become accustomed to allowing Chinese employees to work 12-hour shifts and take one day off each month. And I live in a shared dormitory-style apartment.
Especially when several American workers were invited to Fuyao's headquarters in China for training, what they saw was even more incredible.
Because there, Chinese workers not only accept militarized management , but also hardly wear safety protection equipment during production operations. Long-term overtime is a standard work mode that everyone defaults to.
What’s more interesting is that a Chinese foreman also launched a persuasive education for the American foremen who came to learn from the experience , “You only work eight hours a day, and you have eight days off in a month. This is already very cool, but it must be Worthy of that salary." The American foreman responded thoughtfully, "American employees are just terrible."
Of course, the creators of the film did not blindly construct this difference between Chinese and American cultures. On the contrary, their shots will also timely capture some touching moments .
For example, an American worker named Rob invited more than a dozen Chinese employees from Fuyao to his home for dinner on Thanksgiving, and asked them to ride their horses and Harleys. In his eyes, these Chinese employees are just like his brothers.
At the same time, among the American employees who went to the Chinese headquarters for training, there was also an American foreman who was sincerely moved after witnessing the unity and enthusiasm shown by the Chinese in celebrating the annual meeting, "We are one," he said. A word to express gratitude to Chinese employees.
However, the focus of the film's narrative in the second half of the film returned to show Fuyao's labor union disputes in American factories.
Because Cao Dewang is a businessman after all, he did not build a factory in the United States for charity, his goal is to make money, but the factory in Dayton City has been at a loss in the initial stage. In Cao Dewang’s view, Americans are inefficient. And the hindrance of trade unions is an important reason for the loss of enterprises.
For American blue-collar workers, the requirements of Chinese managers are too strict. Not only must each type of work have to complete a specific amount of work, but also the corresponding welfare and safety guarantees for workers. Absent.
This time they strongly demanded the nation's largest trade union organization "Union of Automobile Industry Workers" (United Automobile Workers, UAW) can be stationed in Fuyao company, in order to help them solve these problems.
It is conceivable that when contradictions accumulate to a certain extent, it will inevitably lead to more radical results.
Moreover, in countries like the United States, the union culture they advocated almost existed in the 1940s and 1950s. After more than half a century of evolution, this culture has long become an important part of the operating mechanism of American industrial society . As capital enters the American system, the role of trade unions will only be infinitely magnified.
Therefore, the impact and influence of the American trade union on Fuyao is almost an inevitable result.
However, just as the documentary was about to end, the director did not explain to the audience what the outcome of the struggle between Fuyao and the American labor union was.
But the camera suddenly changed. When Cao Dewang came to inspect the factory again, we knew that Fuyao had begun to introduce more efficient mechanized operation methods. This also meant that some workers’ positions would be directly replaced by machines. Perhaps this time it will be permanent unemployment.
Obviously, the documentary "American Factory" is a typical observational documentary . Although its creator is an American, in the whole film, the two directors did not deliberately trigger something similar to Michael. The Moorish ("Fahrenheit 9/11") controversy, in fact, they use the lens to contact the facts as much as possible, present the problem in multiple directions, and leave the rest of the thinking and comments to the audience.
What’s more precious is that these two directors obviously sympathized with all the workers’ experience, because at the end of the film, they focused their shots on the American and Chinese workers entering and leaving Fuyao, and contacted the previous information. , This picture seems to tell us another fact——
Perhaps the real struggle between China and the United States is not the so-called economic confrontation. In the face of the rapidly developing mechanized revolution, both American and Chinese workers may be defeated by machines.
Finally, I have to mention that in addition to the content itself presented to the audience, this film may also carry part of the meaning of the times.
Because this Fuyao factory in Dayton opened in October 2016, and just a few weeks ago, Trump had just been elected President of the United States.
But what we all know is that Obama has long been at odds with Trump. This is not only because they belong to the Democratic and Republican camps, but the deeper reason is that the national consciousness and class interests they represent are completely different.
Imagine that this documentary was filmed after Trump successfully entered the White House, and the time it went live was when the Trump administration arbitrarily engaged in trade confrontation with China, but the film tells how China and the United States seek A story of coexistence.
This particularity also forms a subtle contrast with Trump's claim that it is "easy to win."
At the same time, when Obama was interviewed by the outside world, he also said, “An important reason why this documentary is so powerful is that it does not present a black and white point of view. Such a good story helps us all feel that we are in each other. Some kind of solidarity between."
However, I just don’t know if Trump has watched this film. Perhaps when he finishes reading it, the American uncle who has gotten up very angry will criticize Obama on his Twitter account.
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