We examine the documentary movie A Common Sequence from 2023, which was written and directed by Mary Helena Clark and Mike Gibisser.
The world that the documentary A Common Sequence introduces to you is both startlingly straightforward and mind-blowing. The filmmakers uncover remarkable linkages between global labor practices, patents, colonialism, exploitation, and advancements. The thrill of this movie comes from the realization that socioeconomic and scientific advancements carry much greater risks than most people recognize or are prepared to admit.
A Common Sequence Review
Mary Helena Clark and Mike Gibisser co-wrote and directed the movie A Common Sequence. They offer a striking visual aesthetic to the film that captures the essence of the story—that the characters are caught in a chain reaction of unsettling events in the most unlikely settings. For example, the men and women who sell them in creative ways are responsible for the unsustainable farming and trapping of the axolotl salamander, which is on the verge of extinction.
Mexican nuns make an effort to rescue them in order to sell salamander oil and sustain their congregations. The military is searching for the genetic code that will open doors for its warriors. Why shouldn’t our warriors be able to rejuvenate if this highly prized amphibian can?
This is a lovely presentation that prepares the audience for the human interest aspect of the story, which transitions into labor practices that gradually eliminate men’s and women’s livelihoods. These labor practices go far beyond replacing grocery store checkout lines, such as mass-producing apples by pruning them using robotics and machine learning. Technology is advancing at an amazing rate, but at what cost? In the name of progress, jobs and income from lower socioeconomic levels.
The third section of the movie is this gorgeous visual essay about genomics that once more takes advantage of a minority group. Whenever the movie concentrates on a relatively dull webinar, for instance.
The speaker is a pharmacogenomics specialist and a resident of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe reservation. the kind that would be presented in a college course on continuing education, human resources, or both. But eventually, haunting new connotations are added to his remarks.
For instance, it is forbidden to clone people. However, there is no law prohibiting using some of that material—for lack of a better term—to test it out on a non-human. Data now governs this globe instead of commodities like gold or oil.
The presenter is now cautioning this group about the risks associated with their data, but why? The genomic information of the P’urchepecha and other indigenous tribes of Mexico may be stolen. They also symbolize a brand-new form of colonialism that is emerging in the world. All of this is contained in one story, which is both interesting and terrifying.
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Is A Common Sequence good?
A Common Sequence by Clark and Gibisser is a compelling and horrifyingly visceral examination of innovation’s unexpected repercussions, similar to 2021’s All Light is Everywhere (though it could be argued these are intended).
For instance, according to a sentence from the documentary that really blew me away, “Information and understanding are fundamentally human ideas (anthropological) that informational technology escapes,” or was fundamentally created for just that purpose. Humane is dehumanized by colonialism. Tech has also advanced. A Common Sequence acts as a sobering warning when you mix the two.
