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Automation and Technological Change (6)

  • Drux Flux
    Drux Flux
    Theodore Ushev 2008 4 min
    Part figurative, part abstract, Drux Flux is an animated short comprised of fast-flowing images showing modern people crushed by industry. Inspired by One-Dimensional Man, by philosopher Herbert Marcuse, the filmmaker deconstructs industrial scenes and their terrifying geometry to show the inhumanity of progress.
  • The Hasty Man Drinks His Tea with a Fork
    The Hasty Man Drinks His Tea with a Fork
    Sylvie Groulx 2003 1 h 23 min
    A blend of drama and documentary, this film follows several people caught up in the turmoil of the modern world. The drama centres on a woman who has burned out and who holds up her own despair – and her attempts to rebuild her life – as a mirror to the rest of us. With a blend of gravity and humour, Sylvie Groulx's film shows the absurdity of a society dedicated to the cult of speed at all costs.
  • A Matter of Survival
    A Matter of Survival
    Bernard Devlin 1969 25 min
    This short film looks at how the introduction of computers into the workplace in 1969 served as a threat to the white-collar workers whose jobs they might replace. Aiming to offer a balanced view, the film looks at the situation from both the perspective of the employees concerned and that of management.
  • Nails
    Nails
    Phillip Borsos 1979 13 min
    This documentary short tracks the shift in the relationship of an individual to his work between the 19th century and today. Focusing on how nails are made, we first see a blacksmith laboring at his forge, shaping nails from single strands of steel rods. The scene then shifts from this peaceful setting to the roar of a 20th century nail mill, where banks of machines draw, cut, and pound the steel rods faster than the eye can follow.
  • Shift Change
    Shift Change
    Jefferson Lewis 1986 56 min
    This documentary looks at the microchip, an American invention exploited by the Japanese that caused a second industrial revolution. The devastating effect on millions of human lives is related through interviews with some of the newly jobless in Hamilton, Ontario. Using the example of Japan for contrast, host James Laxer demonstrates that the cost of technological advances need not be so high if their effects are foreseen and planned for. Part 2 of the series Reckoning: The Political Economy of Canada.
  • Work Different
    Work Different
    Julien Capraro 2023 50 min
    How has working remotely reshaped the workplace—and our lives? While the shift to working from home may seem abrupt, the concept is far from new. With humour and intelligence, Work Different takes a close look at the origins, impacts, upsides and uncertainties of remote work.