Summary Of Andrew Morgan's Film: The True Cost

The event I chose for my appraisal was Andrew Morgan’s documentary, The True Cost. In ninety minutes, Andrew Morgan’s documentary showed the story of the clothes we wear, the people who made these clothes, and the impact it’s having on the world, through the lenses of fast fashion. A clothing commodity chain analysis was used to show the link between the people making the clothes and the consumers who are buying these products. Furthermore, the analysis was used to show the truth behind the fast fashion industry’s low-costs, worker exploitation. The fashion industry, through globalization, encouraged the idea of consumerism and materialism. The media continually made advertisements that push at how an individual must obtain the latest and greatest …show more content…

Morgan offered an in-depth analysis about the decrease in clothing price and negative impacts on garment factory workers. Coincidentally, the first thing we learned in the course was about the clothes we were wearing on the first day of class and the people who made them. Then, we were introduced to the importance of commodity chain analysis through Leslie’s article, “Gender, Commodity Chains, and Everyday Life,” which put into perspective how unfair women workers are treated today, both in the Global South and North. Similarly, the whole film is about the process of making clothing, where every aspect of a commodity chain was briefly looked at. In both Majumder (“Day in the Life: A Bangladesh Garment Worker) and Yardley (“Report on Deadly Factory Collapse in Bangladesh Finds Widespread Blame) articles we learned about the terrible exploitation of the factory workers. The Rana Plaza disaster was taught both in class, through Yardley’s article, and in the film to express the horrid and inhuman conditions of these workers, whom the majority are women. Large corporations didn’t own any part of the factors, so they had no liability when this disaster occurred, yet it was the pressure from these corporations that made the management force the workers back inside to meet deadlines. Morgan points out how the current system tore apart families and have left people in a constant state of fear. These workers don’t want to have to spill their own blood just so consumers can have extremely low prices for clothing. Additionally, both Morgan and Majumder put the life of an individual garment factory worker on display and showed the constant struggle of their lives. This