Watch a short documentary about robotic mannequins in South Korea
In Plastic Girls, a short film from German director Nils Clauss, robotic mannequins have sentient thoughts like, My smiles bring comfort, Money comes easy for me, and You have to work hard and follow rules. The seven-minute short is Clauss’ attempt to comment on the intersection of commerce and objectification in robotic mannequins in South Korea.
The film gives the mannequins a narrative as employees of small businesses, but as ones who must always be smiling and submissive. Clauss’ collaborator Udo Lee told Creators that they saw the mannequins as “products of a society in which gender related issues are not addressed sufficiently.”
As Creators points out, the documentary was inspired by a photo series Clauss shot in 2015 called P…