Diksha Sundriyal
Directed by Uta Briesewitz, ‘American Sweatshop’ follows the harrowing story of Daisy, a social media content moderator who is haunted by the heinous stuff she comes across in her job. The psychological thriller reveals the disturbing truth surrounding the horrors of the job and the toll it takes on the psyche of a person who must decide whether to keep or delete such material. The plot is driven by Daisy’s desire to unearth the truth behind a particular video. However, this leads her down a dark path that makes one question whether her quest is justified, and if so, what price will she have to pay to see it through. SPOILERS AHEAD.
American Sweatshop Plot Synopsis
Daisy wanted to be a nurse, but she didn’t pass the tests and other hoops that one has to cross to get the degree. Now, she works as a social media content moderator, which means that she spends hours of her life scrolling through flagged content, deciding whether or not to delete it. She and the other moderators have to hit a quota, but the stuff keeps getting so dreadful that at one point, Daisy watches something disgusting just so that it gives her more time before she clicks on the next thing, which might be even worse than what she’s just seen. She is also not the only one who experiences the extreme rage and disgust that comes with the job. There is Bob, whose behavior has gotten more and more erratic with each day.
The company has given the employees ways to cope with the PTSD inflicted by their job. There is a break room where employees often go to vent out their anger. There is a therapist with whom they can talk if they wish to unburden themselves. There is also always the choice of puking, falling unconscious, and even soiling themselves right where they are. When a new person, named Paul, joins the team, Bob sends out an email to everyone, betting on how and when Paul will have his first meltdown. Despite the deteriorating mental health of the employees, the company bosses don’t seem concerned with it at all. Their sole focus is on the guidelines, whether they are being followed, and whether the employees are hitting their quota.
At first, Daisy tries to cope with her situation like everyone else. But then, she comes across a particularly disturbing video. It affects her so much that she has nightmares about it. She reports it to her boss and to the cops, but neither believes that they can do anything about it. Still, she is so unsettled by it that she decides to do something on her own. She tries to find the man with the help of social media. She asks her colleague, Paul, who is a coder and extremely overqualified for the job, to help her, but he warns her that this is a dark path she is treading and it will do her no good. She even signs up to act for the company that published the video in the first place. But all of it leads her to nothing but violence, which starts to take over her life, removing even a shred of something good slipping its way into her life.
Is the Interviewer the Man From the Video?
As a part of her job, Daisy sees all kinds of videos, and while she is disturbed by them, nothing shakes her soul like the one that features a girl with horrible things being done to her. The video is never shown to the audience in its entirety. We see nothing more than flashes and snippets that give us a picture of the people involved in it. However, by the end of the film, it becomes clear that things are much more sinister than sexual assault. In one scene, Daisy hammers nails into a piece of beef, suggesting that this is what she saw in the video. It also explains why she has been having nightmares about this particular video, even when she has been seeing all sorts of stuff for the past few months. The idea of bringing the guy in the video to justice consumes her so much that she struggles to get on with her life.
Things get so bad that she starts to indulge in random acts of violence, which shock even her. At one point, she hooks up with a bartender, only to later beat him up with her belt. She might have tried to forget about it, but the video surfaces on the Internet, and because there is no blood or gore in it, it is not flagged or removed from the website. Worse, the comment section condones her actions, which makes her feel even worse. This is the point where she realises that she is turning into the very thing that she has come to hate. It works as a wake-up call, jolting her into action. By that point, she had already started to dedicate herself to her studies. She’d wanted to be a nurse, and Isaac, a guy she started dating, had encouraged her to follow her passion.
For a minute, it seems that she is back on track. But while making out with him, she hears the sound of nails being hammered next door, which triggers her so much that she ends up breaking up with him. The video of her own violence leads her to the realisation that she needs to pick herself up and take control of her situation. She begins by giving her notice. She wants to quit immediately, but because the terms of her contract force her to give a two-week notice, she decides to push through another fortnight. At this time, she dedicates herself to her studies, bringing her books to work and focusing on nothing but her test. Eventually, two weeks pass, and she passes her test with flying colors. She is finally out and sits for an interview as a nurse. But then, it turns out that there is an ulterior motive behind this interview.
It is revealed that the interviewer is the same man that Daisy saw in the interview, and the reason that she became so dedicated to passing the test is that she knew he was in the same line of work. She found this out from the details that Paul gave to her, after experiencing a meltdown of his own. We don’t see her opening his letter on the screen, but it’s clear that not only did she take a peek at the details of what he gave to her, but she also tracked down the man whose name was in it. When she realised that her nursing degree was important to getting her to the man, she forgot everything else and focused on her studies. It turns out that, at the end of the day, Daisy did not give up on her obsession, and she didn’t prepare for the test because she wanted to change her life for the better and achieve her dream of becoming a nurse. She did it because she is still fuelled by the obsession and revenge that had almost ruined her life and mind.
Why does Daisy Smile? Is the Alligator in the Background Real?
When Daisy finds the video, she tries to bring it to the notice of the authorities. When nothing happens after her repeated efforts, she becomes convinced that the regular course of justice will not function in this case. Slowly, she also becomes convinced that violence can only be answered by violence, which is what she states during her interview. She says that she would rather destroy the world if she cannot work to make it better. In any case, she’d prefer to be on one side, rather than taking a middle ground and doing nothing. When the interviewer says he doesn’t agree with her, she reveals that she expected that answer from him, which confirms that this isn’t a chance meeting between her and the man from the video.
She orchestrated the whole thing because she wanted to look into the eye of the man who perpetrated that heinous act. Or at least, that’s what she’d told Paul. Earlier, Daisy may have thought that she would confront the man and then possibly turn him over to the police. However, by the end, it’s clear that she doesn’t intend to walk away so easily from it. When the law won’t work its magic, she will take things into her own hands. This is what she has been doing with the interview. It also becomes clear that her mental health has deteriorated quite rapidly, and the film gives us a hint of it when she breaks the fourth wall, turning towards the camera to face the audience. In a way, this is her way of confronting the viewers who create and consume the content that moderators have to endure, and in a way, live with.
In some ways, this is her warning that retribution and justice are coming their way if they don’t stop all of that. She prompts the audience to reflect on their own methods and the extent to which social media content dominates their lives. In this line of thread, the alligator in the background represents Daisy’s newfound killer instincts. She previously described alligators to Paul as the dangerous creatures who are always planning an ambush when they are not visible. It is best when you can see them, because when you can’t, it is when they plan to attack. In that sense, Daisy has become an ambusher herself, confronting her target when he least expects her and in a way that displays his own weakness.
However, on taking a different line, it seems that Daisy might be losing it. Perhaps, things have gotten so bad that she is starting to see people, hence the fourth wall. Moreover, the alligator is a symbol of justified and cunning violence in her eyes, which is why, perhaps, before leaving her job, she goes to the pool one last time, hoping that she might find the beast. One might be tempted to think that she has somehow captured the alligator and let him loose in the perpetrator’s office. However, that seems somewhat impossible, which is why we adopt the possibility that she may have been suffering from a mental illness that has completely cut her off from reality, leaving her sanity untethered, unleashing her madness and chaos.
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