Educational Media Reviews Online

This film provides an interesting take on the implementation and practice of planned obsolescence. Starting with the history of the light bulb in the 1920’s, the documentary shows a concerted effort on the industry’s part to use the engineering talent of the day to deliberately shorten the life of a standard light bulb, thus necessitating greater consumerism, and therefore, greater profits. According to the documentary, this practice was extrapolated to nearly every industry, creating the consumer culture we know today.

The portion of the film dealing with the cold war rationale behind the need for consumerism seemed to be inserted in a rather uneven way. While a plausible theory, the background information for the advocacy for the culture of consumerism as a way to perpetuate capitalism and help it perform in a superior manner to socialistic economies, was not proven through documentation in the way it was while dealing with the light bulb cartels.

The post war push for consumerism is explained as a ramping up of the planned obsolescence model, which the film contends was centered on marketing toward style over substance with special attention paid to desire and aesthetics over need. The documentary contends that this leads to the “throw away” culture and then illustrates the present waste issues by showing the results of the dumping of particularly electronic waste in third world countries by the United States and Europe. The merging of the sustainability theme with the rampant consumerism was predictable but not complete in a historical sense. The environmental dilemma is depicted without the consideration of other factors, particularly geopolitical forces, which have allowed the situation to achieve its current state.

This documentary provided a great overview explaining the emergence of planned obsolescence in America and the greater global society. The connection to sustainability could have been better developed and perhaps some further exploration of corrective measures could have been discussed. There is great value in this film’s ability to make the viewer focus on the important and often overlooked issue of how our cultural practices are molded by hidden business agendas. The thread describing the inkjet printer that ceased to function through intentional programming provided a relatable anecdote that really drove the main point of the film. This film would work well in environmental studies if accompanied by one that focuses more on sustainability solutions through partnership with business and forward-thinking planning. From a historical perspective, it could be paired with a work that elaborates on the American cultural changes after World War II that made the consumer society so attractive. This documentary will provoke discussion and be a useful supplement to various programs of study.

Awards:

• Best Documentary, Spanish Television Academy Awards
• Best Feature Documentary, FILMAMBIENTE, Brazil
• Best Film, SCINEMA, Australia
• Maeda Special Prize / Japan Prize
• Ondas Internacional Award, Spain
• 1st Prize, Science, Technology and Education, GZDOC, China Special Jury Mention – FICMA, Spain