ASEM Comm& Production of Cultures
Professor: Richie Hao
University of Denver
08/14/2014

The Film Critique Paper The “Made in L.A” is the film that describes the social phenomena, which happens in the low class immigration Mexican people. It records the stories from labors that work for the Forever 21. They face the unfair treatments, which are the incomes lower than the minimum wage standard; the extra working hours greater than the regular schedule, and the horrible working conditions that people could not sustain. Therefore, these people join the organization that fights with the Forever 21, which is a clothing brand. During the film, a female worker Pineda introduces her family and working treatment. The story from her is full of pains and despairs. Her coworkers meet the same situation that she is dealing with. The organization guides these low class immigration people to go against the Forever 21 with the law. It spends three years that the company and these labors have agreed on the terms of paper. The film seems like having an acceptable ending. However, it exposes a serious problem that influences the society of the United States. I will analyze the problem with the article “ Chinese Immigrant Women Workers” from Yu Shi and the personal examples that I have accumulated these years. First of all, the Mexican immigration people directly tell their working experiences in the Forever 21. It will assist the audiences to understand the difficult situation the Mexican workers confront and how the company treats these labors with inhuman strategies. I think the statements from these workers reflect the truth we have to acknowledge, and the dilemma that the society does not solve. When we finish to watch the film, we all have the compassion on these low level labors. In addition, we complain the company uses the illegal and immoral behaviors to squeeze people in the disadvantage position. There is a scene that the CEO of Forever 21 lives in the Beverly Hill and drive a Land Rover suv through the protest people. The contrast demonstrates the gap between the labors and the CEO of the clothing company. I feel it is necessary to use the individual presentation and the group meeting to illustrate the point that the life of the immigration people is perishable. In the second place, the film is generating the stories from the Mexican immigration people who work in the manufacture field. The director also names the film as “ Made in L.A”. I consider that the film extracts a severe social problem and reports it to the public. People will notice the immigration people other than Mexican people may encounter the same situation, or in the different cities these people carry the grief to work rather than the happiness, or the hospitality field produces more injustice consequences. From the article “ Chinese Immigrant Women Workers”, we could find the similarities between the film and the article. The main characters from the film are women workers. Meanwhile, the article points out “ Hotels, restaurants, and domestic service companies in major US cities also rely heavily on immigrant workers, female workers in particular (Shi, P363).” From the quote here, we could see that the female immigration people are the vulnerable groups. They were barely receiving the care from their employers and the family members. Maura talked her experience of mentioning her proper rights and the manager fired her immediately. The reason was that the manager thought Maura talked too much. The ridiculous excuse showed the advantages of the company recruited the female labors. These individuals did not have the solid relationship or network to rely on. They lacked the knowledge and wealth to call help from the judicial system. The employer could fire the low class labors in any reason and any time because they did not have to pay the compensation for removal. It is the main factor that these employers have the favor to