The Other Side of the
Wall: Technology and Borders in Sleep Dealer
Samantha Kountz
University of Kent, UK
Abstract
Technological
development is an essential component in preserving a globalised economic
system. Job sectors must maintain a human workforce and therefore involve some
sort of physical international border crossing. Trade, labor, and immigration
between the American and Mexican border has been, and still is, the source of the
most controversial border interactions for the last six decades. The U.S.
currently lives under the paradox of harboring hostility towards Mexican
immigrants, yet accepting their willingness to perform labor within the country
that Americans themselves do not want to do. If America can extract
non-physical labor from, for example calling centers around the world, how can
they do the same with that of the physical, thereby eliminating the need to
care for the worker? Alex Rivera’s film sleep dealer envisions a dystopian
world where technology is used by various corporations to extract labor without
the “hassle” of supporting their laborers, but is revealed to have the positive
value of facilitating a virtual experience of the world, despite some peoples’
economic disadvantages.
Keywords:
Immigration, Technology, Film, Mexico, Labor, Science-fiction
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