I spent an hour and a half of my life watching this because of two reasons:

— I thought Brack and Michelle (or is it Michelle and Barack?) Obama would be in it in some way — which they weren’t.   Their names weren’t even in the opening credits.   It seems the Obamas have branched away from their usual affair of forgettable books and non-existent friendship bracelets.

Instead of using their wealth and fame to help ease pollution, the homeless situation, or child abuse, they decided to start a production company named Higher Grounds and will be channeling quite a few documentaries to Netflix in the coming year.

The second reason why I watched it is that it was about an actual factory.    It’s a real honest to goodness factory that was closed down and re-opened by a Chinese millionaire.

A little history –  I and my brother worked for factories at some time during our lifespans.  Both of my parents worked for factories for the majority of their life and I actually hold a factory (in part) for the death of my dad.

It’s a lifestyle I can easily comprehend and know, should anything happen, I could probably reintegrate into that type of lifestyle without an issue.

I suppose the core American Factory is supposed to be cultural work differences between the two nations.   That is plainly obvious but it does so in a way that shames both cultures.

The Chinese claim Americans are slow and inefficient – which I suppose they are when compared to a factory that had been in existence for over five years and had twelve-hour shifts.  That’s an unfair comparison.  The Chinese also blamed American’s fat fingers for slow work and our need to communicate.

I also liked the bit claiming that Americans are overconfident and fairly egotistical buttholes and have been raised like that since birth.   (Well….  I could actually kind of believe that claim but most of the factory workers seemed to be around my age or older.  My generation and the generation before was a little before the excessively confident and smug everyone should win generation — although it was my generation who gave rise to it).

The Americans felt the Chinese were uncaring and extravagant.  The Chinese CEO fussed about the placement of fire alarms and truck entrances.  Allegedly, they didn’t particularly care for following OSHA’s guidelines (causing multiple worker accidents)  and sometimes felt compelled to threaten their American counterparts with working on Saturday  – which some would happily do if asked, I’m sure.

There were a lot of negative stereotypes that were encouraged and supported on the part of the Chinese supervisors.  At one point, a Chinese supervisor said that they were better than Americans.   Another contributed that Americans needed Chinese wisdom for guidance.

–  I’m sure that was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.    Since that was what people were saying, what wasn’t being said?

I think that things could have been a bit smoother if the original workers weren’t mostly from the closed factory.   Having worked for GM for decades, they were used to having some sort of respect from the supervisors and management.  While that’s not bad, it’s really important to keep in mind that they were starting in a new company.    All of those previous years didn’t hold water anymore.  Also, being paid half or less than what they were making had to be a prideful sticking point.  I know it’d upset me even if I had to accept it.   Resentment can boil deep.

Honestly, it probably would have been the same way regardless of who reopened the company.

But, at the same time, the Chinese company didn’t have to blast videos of Chinese children playing all the time.  Sure, I can understand how that could be encouraging for the Chinese workers, but the core force was American.  That, along with Americans missing from supervisory roles, could really put people on edge.

That goes along the lines of plain ol’ underrepresentation.  It’s akin to supervisory roles being predominantly one gender.  It just really smacked of the majority not having equal representation, kind of like a king and peasants.   Eventually, revolts happen.  That’s just the way it goes.

Quite unlike Queen Antoinette,  the documentary provides the lingering idea that the workers are beheaded.  The directors made sure to note that workers who supported a potential union were fired.   Additionally, plans were made for people to lose their jobs to automation.

That’s akin to removing the ‘rabble’ and purifying the workforce through the use of machines.

Yes, I know that factories are there to make money.  Absolutely, but I’m pretty sure firing someone because they attempted to unionize the workplace is against the law.

The theme of cultural unity was blasted through the documentary.   If that was true, the continuing underestimation of American workers and the need to replace workers with machines wouldn’t be needed.

I feel that’s the worst part.
….  There’s just a little bit of hypocrisy going around.