LISTENING PORTFOLIO

I. Summary
The documentary “Made in Bangladesh” focuses on revealing the unpalatable truth
behind the glamour of the fast fashion industry by finding the answers for the
occurrence of the tragic collapse of Rana Plaza, a garment factory in Bangladesh.
Although fashion is known as the symbol of beauty and style, the reality of the industry
is extremely fierce and far less glamourous than it seems to be. In order to uncover the
darker sides of the garment industry, Mark Kelley, the reporter from the series “The fifth
estate” of CBC News, and his companion Sujeet Sennik, who used to be a designer for
some renowned fast fashion brands and had an indirect connection to Rana Plaza,
decided to go to Bangladesh to interview the workers who were forced to make clothes
for Canadian under hazardous working conditions. It was found that these people had to
work in punishing shifts, with low wages, and in buildings with cracks, no escapes, and
no safety certifications since the owners wanted to cut down the price as much as
possible. Besides, the owners always maltreated them and put profits ahead of the
workers’ lives. Despite such treatment, workers had no choice as protesting was a futile
attempt, and there were no alternative jobs for them. It was also stated that after the
accident, most of the garment companies whose factories were located in Rana Plaza
tried to run away from responsibility by insisting that these factories were not theirs. In
addition to atrocious working conditions and irresponsible owners, the video has pointed
out some other ugly sides of the fashion industry, including pollution and child labour.
Even though the powerful head of the garment industry was warned about these issues,
he remained unalarmed. At the end of the documentary, it is estimated that there can be
another case like Rana Plaza if fashion companies still make an effort to pay the lowest
price possible.
II. ANALYSIS QUESTIONS
1. Why do you choose this documentary?
“Made in Bangladesh” is the only documentary I have found that can satisfy my two
requirements, convincing me to select it for the assignment. First of all, its primary focus
is the garment industry or, to make it simple, clothes, the topic I have decided to choose
since the first day of the process. Despite being absorbed in fashion, I had a limited
knowledge of this field then. Therefore, I took the task as an opportunity to investigate
more and broaden my horizons about fashion tales. Secondly, it does not take me much
effort to comprehend the whole documentary. This is because the content is organized
in a logical and simple way, enabling viewers without expertise in fashion to follow the
main points easily.
2. What do you find interesting or innovative in the documentary?
My greatest impression on the video is the story of Sujeet Sennik, the companion of the
reporter in the video. He used to be a designer for some high-end brands such as
Christian Dior and Balenciaga and was extremely satisfied with this job. However, after
some tragic events that revealed the dark sides of the garment industry and the
irresponsibility of some fashion companies, he made a daring decision to quit his job to
investigate those events and find out their causes, which later turned out to be the
neglectful attitude of the owners. From my perspective, what he did is an admirable and
courageous action. This is because almost no one dares to do the same thing, dares to
go against the evil act. As a person who is still afraid of challenges, I find stories about
people with valour extremely intriguing since they motivate me to step out of my comfort
zone.
3. Are there any special concepts you need to know to understand the
documentary? Explain them.
Initially, I had little knowledge about clothes; thus, I was unfamiliar with the phrase “fast
fashion” when I first watched the video. Fast fashion is a model of business that
involves resembling recent catwalk trends and high-fashion designs, then mass-
producing them at a low cost and a high speed. In the documentary, the fast fashion
industry is considered as a race to lowest cost possible. Besides “fast fashion”, there
are also some words about finance and economy that I struggled with understanding at
first, which are “audit” and “subcontract”. Audit is an official examination of the accounts
of a business, while subcontract is an agreement for an outside person or organization
to do work that might normally be done within an organization.
4. What lessons have you learnt from the documentary and what are its
feasible applications in your own life?
Thanks to the video, I have learnt two crucial and valuable lessons. The first one is that
everything has its two sides, and they always have a shadow or a darker side, even
fashion which is known as the symbol of glamour and beauty. Before watching this
documentary, never had I imagined that fashion could have had such an ugly face, that
it could have decimated millions of people and caused numerous environmental
problems. This unpleasant fact has taught me not to judge someone or something just
by looking at their appearance. Another lesson is that it is hard to measure the greed of
some businessmen. Even though not all of them are that greedy, several companies will
still do even the cruelest things to reach the highest profit possible.
5. Analyze the cinematic techniques such as the organization of the frame,
angles, transition, coloring… and state how these factors evoke the
viewers’ feeling.
Since “Made in Bangladesh” was filmed quite long ago and its purpose was to report the
truth, the cinematography in general is unimpressive. Firstly, the transition of the video
is quite irritating since most of the scene, the screen moves too fast like a flashlight
suddenly runs across the viewers’ eyes. Secondly, since there are numerous hidden
cameras utilized in the documentary, the angles are sometimes shaken and blurred by
the hands of the reporter. These factors annoy the viewers’ eyes a lot and might lead to
anger in some impatient people. However, there is one aspect that the video has done a
good job, which is the color. By using dark – toned color theme, it has succeeded in
making viewers empathize with the victims in the video.
6. What do you want to change about the documentary to make it better and
have more impacts on the society?
In my opinion, there are two aspects that the documentary can improve to appeal to
more viewers and influence the community. First and foremost, some effects in the
video can be altered. After watching it for the first time, I found that the transition effects
utilized in the documentary were not appropriate and sometimes too fast, which causes
viewers to feel irritated while watching. Therefore, my suggestion is to make slower and
smoother transitions to avoid discomforting spectators. Another thing to enhance is to
change the background music of the video. This is because to attract a larger audience,
it is essential that the soundtrack suits the music taste of the majority.