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Plastic and Glass

Name: Plastic and Glass
Director: Tessa Joosse
Released: 2009
Duration: 9 min

Representation Score

5.2/10

Fair

2009

Director

Tessa Joosse

Runtime

9 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Plastic and Glass is a rhythmic, observational documentary that prioritizes sensory experience over identity-based politics. It succeeds in challenging the stoic, hyper-male clichés typically associated with industrial labor by framing the factory environment as a musical performance. However, the film lacks overt visibility for specific underrepresented groups. While it avoids traditional social hierarchies through its stylistic approach, it does not provide explicit representation for LGBTQ+ or diverse racial identities. Ultimately, the work functions as a sculptural study of individuals' ability to act within a systemic environment, using poetic metaphors rather than character-driven social commentary.

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Category Breakdown

Does Plastic and Glass have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film does not explicitly depict LGBTQ+ identities. A truckdriver expresses romantic longing, but the gender of his partner remains unspecified, avoiding traditional assumptions about straight relationships.

How does Plastic and Glass portray gender?

Fair

The film deconstructs hyper-masculine stereotypes by presenting heavy industrial labor through music and rhythm. By treating machinery and driving as a dance, it disrupts rigid expectations of manual labor.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Plastic and Glass?

Fair

Set in a Northern French recycling factory, the film focuses on a local industrial community. There is no specific evidence of a diverse cast or actors portraying roles traditionally assigned to different races.

How does Plastic and Glass represent religion and culture?

Good

The film presents a poetic, anti-consumerist view of industrial capitalism. The truckdriver’s dream of building an island from waste symbolizes creating autonomous spaces.

Does Plastic and Glass include disability representation?

Minimal

There is no information available regarding the portrayal of physical or neurodivergent disabilities within the film.

Present on Screen

Challenges hyper-masculine stereotypes by presenting manual labor through music and rhythm.
Explores industrial capitalism through poetic metaphors, highlighting the beauty in recycling.
Uses dreams and metaphors to examine themes of autonomy and creating spaces outside traditional societal structures.

Limited or Absent

Lacks explicit visibility or representation for LGBTQ+ identities.
Provides no specific evidence of racial or ethnic diversity within the workforce.
Does not address or portray physical or neurodivergent disabilities.

Official Synopsis

In a recycling factory in the north of France the machines dance, the workers join in song, and the truckdrivers almost do a ballet. The film shows the process of recycling by impressive machines and by hand. We hear the noise that accompagnies this process. Slowly the factory noise be- comes a rhythm and a truckdriver starts to sing a song for his love. He wants to build an island with the materials at hand, where they can be together to ‘sort things out ‘. In this crossover between documentary and musical it is the filmmakers aim to merge image and sound in such a way that the one cannot exist without the other. Inspired by the recordings of Alan Lomax and the films of Jacques Tati, the result is a sculptural and informative documentary and at the same time a musical film with a sticky song .

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