minute 20

All I could think about at first about minute 20 was the difference and the separation between men and women. The women do another type of work than men. Everything is separated. Emotions I could not find, except a brief smile from a middle-aged woman in the middle of the room, surrounded by other women.Carpets on the wall, nothing on the floor. A world that we do not experience anymore and will probably never experience. An upside-down world. A world in which we cannot live anymore because we are used to different standards. The east European traditions came into my mind that have nothing to do with the music that is played. Work work work. They seem as if they are working mechanically, fast, meaning they have routine in their activity. It seems almost propagandistic. The book “A brave new World” by Aldous Huxley popped into my mind, then “1984” by George Orwell. “Big Brother is watching you”:

“WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH."

The human beings are replaceable, they are anonymous. The production is clearly defined, such as every activity the workers do. They probably do not even know what the end result is going to look like and probably will never know. They could produce spare parts for a washing machine or parts for the atomic bomb. They become the same with whatever they produce.

Everyone has the same uniform, the same look, the same thing over their heads or the same hair cut, the industrialization has taken the diversity away, though diversity is the only thing we have in common. Everyone has his or her role in the society and the mass production is the most important thing. They are working for others. What do these people do when they go home? Do their houses also look the same? The anonymity is outrageous. I am very glad to be born in this era. Manufacture vs. factory work vs. Industrial Revolution. The wheels are rotating, both times by the hands of the men or women, a perfect metaphor that life needs our actions in order to have a path. We are the ones who are rotating the wheel…or is it someone else? And the most important thing: Do we have a say in it?


Laura Chiriac