The True Cost Documentary Review

The True Cost documentary, directed by Andrew Morgan, is a film created to inform Americans about the cost of clothing consumption. It educates viewers through interviews of sweatshop workers, footage of landfills in third-world countries, and interviews with environmentalists. The intended audience is Americans of all ages; it seeks to convince people that there are severe repercussions of disposable fashion. The True Cost did not reach a large-scale audience- it only was nominated for the Environmental Media Awards in 2015 but did not win the award. However, the film did successfully raise awareness about the danger of Fast Fashion and the need for change in the garment industry to a small-scale audience.

            American society likes documentaries on Netflix. But teenagers typically do not seek spending a casual night-in to watch a documentary that will heavily convict them to make a major life change. The True Cost addresses the issues of slave labor, pollution, and GMO’s all relating to the fashion industry. So although the message is serious, the director, Andrew Morgan, believes it is important for Americans to learn about the impact of clothing consumption.

After learning about the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013, Morgan became curious about how American clothing is made. After reading the article about the factory collapse, he began to uncover the hidden truths about the fashion industry and sweatshops. Morgan finds these issues relevant because Rana Plaza is declared as the greatest fashion disaster in history. He finds that clothing consumption has upped 500% in the last two decades and garments are the world’s second largest polluter; the damage of the fashion industry makes the film relevant to Americans more than ever.

Because the film educates viewers about GMO’s, fair trade, sweatshops, and garment pollution, its intended audience is American women and men of all ages. While it may seem as though The True Cost is intended for careless Americans, the information applies to anyone who buys new clothing. Because people of all ages consume clothing, the audience is widespread and applies to many different people. Sadly, because many are unaware about how clothing is produced, the documentary is not a hot topic. The film is not extremely popular because the concepts are very new to American society to think about where clothes come from.

The purpose of The True Cost documentary is to explore the negative impact that clothing has on our world. Morgan brings to light the horrific truth that women, particularly in India, are being mistreated in factories producing western brand clothing. The film argues that the clothing industry disregards sustainability of the environment and that factory workers and farmers are treated inhumanely.

What is the cost of Fast Fashion? Morgan indicates it is pollution, death, disease, and addiction to consuming more clothing. He takes the position that purchasing clothing is more of a moral issue than we realize, and that consumers have the power to change the direction of the garment industry. The purpose of the film is to educate Americans about the treatment of garment workers, how clothing is made, mass media, consumerism, textile pollution, and pesticide contamination. It is ultimately made to highlight the detrimental cost of high-demand fashion production and consumption for people and the environment.

The point of view of The True Cost is fairly balanced. Although the director and producer are men, two of the executive producers are women along with two male producers and a female producer. The perspectives include both genders and most of the people behind the camera are journalists, writers, and environmentalists. It is credible because several interviewees are fashion designers, factory workers and owners, CEO’s, cotton farmers etc. Although Morgan does not have experience with the fashion industry prior to making the film, he traveled to 13 countries to educate himself. The True Cost seems to be liberal-biased because global capitalism is addressed as a damaged system and is acknowledged as the source of the issues addressed in the documentary.

While the concept of the film is factual and informative, it could be considered a problem that the statistics do not have traceable sources. Although it covers many issues, it does not give a clear solution to the problem. The viewers are encouraged to revolutionize the fashion industry by changing purchasing choices, but it is also implied that if global capitalism stays structured in its original form, no real changes will be significant. While global capitalism is briefly mentioned as the source of the problem, the viewer is never told how capitalism should be adjusted- and how it would make a difference. The vague solutions make it unclear what Morgan wants Americans to do with this newfound information about the fashion industry. Purchase Fair Trade? Buy secondhand? Leave it to the Politicians to transform the capitalist system? The viewer is left wondering what the next step should be.

There are several reasons The True Cost documentary is effective, and there are few weaknesses in the film. The first reason it is effective is because it has changed the way I purchase clothing and view people. It seems that Morgan wants viewers to see workers in the third-world countries, like Shima, and realize that they are being treated horribly for the sake of American fashion, and we should not stand by and let it continue. Since learning about these disturbing facts, I have stopped purchasing through unethical clothing companies. The second reason is because it features diverse people and ethnic groups in addition to the filmmakers who are also a diverse group. Lastly, The True Cost is effective because it shows the current cost of Fast Fashion and exposes the severity of the problem. There are minor weaknesses in the film, but it is an overall successful documentary. Although Morgan's film does not provide a long-term solution or plan to revolutionize the fashion industry, he begins the necessary dialogue that will hopefully lead to a solution.