How Jodie Mack Uses Collage to Critique Economic Adversity

Jodie Mack’s animated short film “Yard Work is Hard Work,” which is 27 minutes, portrays themes of love and relationships set against the backdrop of economic hardship. Released in 2008, a year marked by the subprime mortgage crisis, the film reflects on the multifaceted economic, social, and political issues that millions of anxious Americans suffered through during that tumultuous period. Mack’s film use of still images allows her to structure a musical narrative that is both visually and thematically rich. Through the medium of collage, she crafts a fragmented and hectic reality that illustrates a truthful account of suburban life.

Collage emerged as an advent-grade technique that challenged the conventional norms of classical art, reshaping the artistic approach to traditional methods of representation, and enabling artists to explore the meaning and interpretation of images. As noted by William C. Wees’ put it in “Recycled Images: The Art and Politics of Found Footage Films,” collage was a tool for modernist artists to subvert expectations of realism in various art forms, chiefly film. Wee frames collage as more than a mere use of media for entertainment purposes or the simple inclusion of archival footage to reinforce an argument of historical narrative. Instead, it operates on a deeper level, assembling images to juxtapose unrelated visuals, inviting the viewer to critically examine the relationships between images, and how images are represented in cinema, and to consider the context in which they are presented. The fragmented nature of collage draws attention to the constructed nature of visual narratives, divulging the filmmaker’s – and by extension, the audience’s – idea about ideology and the assumptions that shape our understanding of reality.  

Within the context of Mack’s film, collage bypasses the traditional notion of image assembly. The form becomes a tool for deconstruction and reconstruction, as she recontextualizes media images, such as magazine clippings, to produce a political critique of consumption and capitalism. Seemingly unrelated images of money are juxtaposed against images of food, housing, yard work, dancers, and the everyday working person comes together to imitate the real world. These contrasting visuals emphasize the contradictions inherent in a capitalist society, where maintaining a manicured lawn is an aesthetic accessory for domestic bliss but not a crucial activity for survival. The lyrics to the song “Yard Work is Hard Work,” directly addresses this topic with lyrics such as:

Wash the car, four door drive back and for the store to buy and use buying and use more.

And then instead of growing our vegetables, we spend time making things presentable.

This climatic musical number forays straight into the economic housing crisis, ushing in images of money, stocks, bonds, debt, interest rates, and inflation. The main characters must grapple with their increased mortgage payment by launching a last-ditch effort to save money by going green. This plan ultimately fails in the end, leaving the unhappy couple with a few pinched pennies and a sour relationship. By juxtaposing visual elements, Mack represents a fragmented, although realistic, view of the world where the pursuit of material wealth often comes at the expense of genuine connection and emotional fulfillment. The film prompts the viewer to contemplate how economic struggles shape ourselves and our relationships, urging a reconsideration of the ways we find meaning in a chaotic world that overwhelms the average person with impossible financial demands.