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Monday, September 29, 2014

"How a Watch Works"


Prelinger Archive Critique 

       For this assignment, I chose to watch a short film entitled “How a Watch Works” from 1949. The video demonstrates how like a human heart, a watch must function unfailingly and never vary despite experiencing different conditions. The narrator describes the various parts that make up a watch as being obedient in order to allow this measuring instrument as a whole to work.  Furthermore, he walks the viewer through a slow motion step-by-step process of the watch being assembled and explains how it is a delicate mechanism put together by craftsmen with incredible accuracy. With certainty, this film is useful to today’s information landscape as it shows just how drastic the role of a watch has changed over time. As declared by the narrator, a watch is solely an indicator of time but should also be worn with confidence. Today, watches serve as fashion statements, and represent true wealth and success. Celebrities’ worldwide star in commercials and on billboards representing different watch companies trying to gain more of a customer base than they already have. This video also is very important because it supports the widespread message of teamwork to individuals in society today. Like a team, in order to succeed, every part needs to understand their role and work in perfect rhythm. From this film, we can learn not only about the way a watch is assembled, but more importantly, how progressively materialistic society today has become. Not once in this near 20-minute video did the narrator mention wealth or power; instead he labeled a watch as a “possession to indicate time”. Today, people judge based on the watch they see on one’s wrist among many other tangible items people contain and show off on a daily basis.

1 comment:

  1. This is the link where you can find the video: https://archive.org/details/HowaWatc1949

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