Inside Your Threads
Much Music, CHUM Television, 2004
30 minutes

Links:

• Watch it online
• Study guide

What it's all about:

Using celebrity hosts, music and the popular Much Music presentation style, Inside Your Threads explores sweatshop issues in the global garment industry. The video takes an in-depth look at the lives of denim workers in Tehuacán, Mexico and garment workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Inside Your Threads presents interviews with workers and footage of the factories where they work, and the places where they live.

How to use it:

If you are working with a high school audience, with little or no previous familiarity of sweatshop issues, this video is a great tool for introducing the topic. The first ten minutes of the video captures music celebrities' thoughts on sweatshops, defines what sweatshops are and then goes on to present the cases of Tehuacán and Dhaka.

This video can also work as a way of adding new information to an audience already familiar with sweatshops. It also illustrates the patterns of exploitation taking place in the global garment industry.

If the emphasis of your presentation is to explore what action should be taken against sweatshops, the last two minutes of the video captures celebrities offering their opinions regarding what can be done to eliminate sweatshops. The video succeeds in reaching out to a younger audience by getting celebrities and linking sweatshop issues to pop culture.

Notes on video:

This video comes with a printout of texts that appear throughout the video. The video neither grants sufficient time to read them, nor does it explain some of the terms in detail. It might help your presentation to provide the audience with the handout so that you can refer to it after the video screening or use it beforehand to explain some of the terms.

Contact:

Chum Television Media Education
416-591-7400 x5940
callad@chumtv.com