Neoliberal Labour in Ramin Bahrani's Films: Uneven Development, Entrepreneurial Governmentality, and Political Resistance.

The essay analyzes representations of neoliberal labour in two films by the U.S. filmmaker Ramin Bahrani: Man Push Cart (2005) and Chop Shop (2007). By focusing on working-class labour in New York's informal economy, the films undermine the prevalent characterization of contemporary labour as "immaterial" and fundamentally new. The essay argues that, in the latter film, the Willets Point neighbourhood appears as an area of "uneven development," which gives the working-class characters a modicum of autonomy and a chance to transform their spaces. Yet the films' greatest strength is their resistance to clichéd representations of workingclass characters as oppressed "others"--objects of ethnographic fascination and paternalistic sympathy. Instead, Bahrani encourages the audience's identification with the characters by using innovative filmmaking practice and focusing on the structures of "entrepreneurial governmentality," usually associated with white-collar work. Bahrani's films also highlight the contradictions of contemporary filmmaking and neoliberal culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]