Please watch this video before reading my response to it.
I am a glass blower of ten years. This video is circulated within the culture but I feel as though it is watched for the glassblowing, but the message within it is often overlooked. Here's my take on what lies beneath its surface….
This film is a beautiful comparison between the two methods, hand made vs. machine made. I believe the former method of production expresses a natural beauty found within labour performed by hand. A beauty that is derived from the purpose that which the labour fuffils – and the connection between the body and mind of the labourer to their craft or trade.
At the begining of the film these men may be perceived as happy or at least content within their trials at work. This is supported by the choice of backing music and ease of making that these talented tradesmen exhibit. Their happiness and thoughtful consideration to their trade is then contrasted by men yelling and scrambling during the trials presented under machine made work. The machine opporaters panic is heightened by the choice to back the scene with an ominous, robotic voice counting upward and industrial sound effects. The human hand is now replaced by a robotic claw, and the speed of work comes across as very inhuman – the happy humans we saw before are now mearly tending to the needs of a brutal machine.
There's a scene in this film that I feel presents the idea that The Machine can free us of labour – by the man lighting his smoke from the hot machine made glass. Implying the labourer now has the time to enjoy and focus solely on his ciggarette because the machine has taken over his duties. however it does focus at length on him rolling his cigarette by hand. I think that the lengthy focus on this action being performed by hand speaks to the idea that there must be a balance between the machine made and the hand made for us to be truly happy within our pursuit of meaningful work and recreation.
A life lived whereby machines perform every action of labour for us might resemble something close to sitting infront of very advanced conveyor belt. Freeing us from all forms of labour, but imprisoning us to sedentary lives consisting mostly of consumption – only moving or thinking to tend to the shortcommings of our machines. Growth and change become stagnant as life is reduced to the capabilities of what we have made. How would recreation look under this model?
I will leave you with three more questions.
How do we decide where the fulcrom for the balance between recreation and nessesary labour belongs? Are we, as natural problem solvers, prepared to bare the mental consequences of a life lived free from the trials of labour? Are mass production machines truly adding to our quality of life by replacing the craftsman or are they replacing a meaningful misery with a less meaningful one?
Thanks for reading. Responses welcome. I'll go back to baking now… by hand