The Process Genre by Salomé Aguilera Skvirsky

Cinema and the Aesthetic of Labor

A study of a cross-media genre that centers on step-by-step depictions of making and doing—from factory tours and industrial shorts to cooking shows, avant-garde works, and online tutorials—arguing that these sequences both aestheticize labor and instruct viewers. It identifies the genre’s formal conventions (operational breakdowns, explanatory voiceovers, close-ups of hands, rhythmic montage) and traces its historical breadth, showing how it produces pleasure in procedure while shaping understandings of work, skill, and value. Balancing ideological critique with attention to viewer fascination, it reveals how representations of process can naturalize capitalist production or open critical perspectives on technology, labor, and expertise.

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