Roger and Me
In the documentary film Roger and Me, writer/director Michael Moore takes us on a trip around Flint, Michigan, in the late 80’s, after the closing of most of the General Motors manufacturing plants in the area. The film spends a lot of time following Moore in his attempts to get a meeting with Roger Smith the then chairman of GM, as well as showing the plight of the city of Flint during and after the closings. We will identify some moral issues, real or perceived, that this film raises and look at them through a Utilitarian lens. Additionally, Moore uses this media to show the people of Flint being put out of their houses…he does not give any details of a direct correlation between the plant closings and the several evictions shown
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Smith is portrayed as an aloof man who has no desire to meet with the no-name Michael Moore. This is rather obviously unfair as it is unlikely anyone just showing up at the GM headquarters is going to get an audience. Moore never says that he attempted to get a meeting with Smith through proper channels and was ignored or told to go away. Moore’s actions on this particular point appear unprofessional and desperate, really only done to get people worked up about the corporate greed going on at GM. If somehow making Smith look bad would bring back jobs or stop the plant closing, a utilitarian would be all for it as the greater good would be severed with no layoffs. Unfortunately, utilitarianism doesn’t work here Moore might feel better about “punking” Smith this film did nothing to improve the situation in …show more content…
Moore, the people of Flint, and many others saw the plant closings and layoffs as a moral and ethical lapse in judgement by the chairman of GM, Smith. Smith had closed plants in Flint and opened others in Mexico, the film does not specify the timetable but implies that the closing and openings coincided. Smith is portrayed as an uncaring high powered executive who doesn’t care about the worker. Moore does not give enough details and facts to draw any type of serious conclusion about morality in his telling of the Flint plight. There is an aspect of Utilitarianism that would say Roger Smith was a great executive and person. It is difficult to find a true number of employees working for GM in the mid to late eighties; however, in 2015 GM has almost 250,000 employees. Without hard data it is possible to surmise that in the 80’s GM had a larger market share and therefore likely more people working for them. If it is true that GM had even more people working for them then, would the loss of 20,000 – 30,000 jobs to save the entire company be an excellent Utilitarian outcome. A Utilitarian could look at the choices and see that the only unhappy people are the people of Flint and the represent the minority in this situation. The rest of GM, some 200,000+ people are happy because they will still have jobs; in addition, the GM employees at the new
The Grassy Narrows people have a long, deeply rooted history in the environmental justices movement. Rodgers (2009) points to a number of environmental justice struggles such as the fight against the harmful effects of mercury poisoning and the Minamata disease associated with it (para. 1-3), the Ontario Hydro dams that destroyed part of the wild rice harvest and degraded the habitat of fish and fur animals, as well as the displacement of the community (due to relocation into prefabricated houses where electricity and running water were promised) and the culture shock it created (para. 4). He also discusses the successful blockade in 2002, which is the longest-lasting blockade in Canadian history (para. 28)—an example that shows how employing legal methods were critical in the struggle against environmental injustices for this community. There are a number of other issues that will be discussed in the following paragraphs; the above are just a few of the injustices the Grassy Narrows community face.
In 2009, a notice was issued where the city of Flint received $1,763,839 as a share of the Housing and Urban Development,...
The first connection is the idea of environmental injustice. As we learned earlier in class, a lot of times people of color or lower economic backgrounds get the brunt of environmental unfriendly practices. This is clearly seen in the film, the people that Fox interviewed lived in what looked like poorer communities and in some cases rundown houses and they were the ones who had the wells in their yards. This is similar to the article on environmental injustice in Warren County by Eileen McGurthy where lower class African Americans are fighting against having a toxic waste dump put in their back yards. This is the idea of “I don’t want it in my backyard” that is seen with many different instances. If you are wealthy, you can buy your way out of a situation like a natural gas well in your area, but when you are poor and have no monetary power there is not much you can do. Another way that this film connects to concepts we have talked about in class is the idea that America is always wanting to produce more, more and much more. Many times in the film you see miles upon miles of different drilling sites just covering the landscape. Throughout the course we have read articles that have talked about how America is constantly wanting to produce more, a good example of this is the dust bowl. One of the reasons the dust bowl happened was because we did not know when to
The documentary, Roger and Me, by Michael Moore details the account of a town’s collapse after its main job supplier was eradicated. The town of Flint was long supported by a GM manufacturing plant. Multiple generations of families had been employed by this factory which was shut down by General Motors CEO and Chairman, Roger Smith. The effects of this closing can be seen in three major themes in sociology: social class within Flint became very distinct; poverty significantly increased along with its consequences; and the cycle of poverty was very easily identified in the aftermath of this collapse.
Michael Moore is trying to appeal to the audience by showing that he understands what it is like because he grew up in the time of the “middle class”. He grew up in the time where the rich were still rich but also were taxed at a rate of ninety-percent which is unheard of in the twentieth century.(Moore) Michael Moore grew up in a time where his dad worked at a factory on the assembly line, and that was enough for the Moore family.(Moore) The family was supported enough just by the father’s job, the mother didn’t have to work and the kids could go and get a great education without having student loans till they are 50 years old.(Moore) Michael Moore saw what capitalism could do for society, but he also saw the demise of capitalism. He tried to warn the big companies such as GM and other blue chip companies, that their actions were going to catch up to them but none of these industries wanted to listen to him because the rich were getting richer while the poor were getting poorer. Michael Moore effectively represents ethos because he grew up in this time, he saw his city fall apart right before his eyes. He saw the way capitalism was taking control of everything around him. He saw the capitalist society of the one percent take over and wreck thousands of lives. The director goes to an assembly line that was based in his hometown and interviews employees that were given a three-day notice that the company was closing it down. (Moore) Moore interviews the protesters as they fight for what they believe is right. The passion is shown through the workers and how losing their jobs has affected their lives just as his life was changed when his father was let go for the wrong reasons. The credibility of the source comes from the facts that these people present. This wasn’t just a film to them, but their
Economic problems have plagued our nations for years now. There is one man who can save us all from destruction, or so he thinks, and that man is Michael Moore. In his movie Capitalism: A Love Story, Moore goes all over the country trying to find the people responsible for all the economic turmoil. He tells the stories of normal citizens that are affected by these problems and through these stories he tries to convince the audience that the bankers and big businesses are cruel and evil, and need to pay for their crimes. These large corporations have done many unethical acts such as taking out life insurance policies on employees and infiltrating the government to pass their agenda. Moore also goes onto talk about how FDR wanted to create a new bill of rights to protect the working American citizen. To get his point across, Moore goes to the affected people to tell the story about corporations taking life insurance policies on their employees.
Until the plants closed, General Motors was a beloved company that got their start in Flint, Michigan, Those who 30,000 factory workers who lost their jobs, needed a people to hate, and that person was Roger Smith. Michael Moore, spent three years trying to get Smith to see the impact of his decisions. He went to the main offices located in Detroit, Michigan, multiple conventions (Christmas shows, and stockholder conventions, to name a few). While Moore was conducting his search, the sheriff's deputy in Flint, was evicting up to thirty families a day. Moore commented that the deputy is the only one with a steady source of income. While the deputy was seeing to evictions, rich citizens of Flint were playing golf, polo and eating at their local country clubs. When interviewed, most of them called the working citizens of Flint lazy and accused them of taking the easy way out. Clearly they did not know about the current housing situation. The rich citizens of Flint think that the city is in great condition. The public school system and extra curriculars for their children are great. They think the welfare that half of the city is on is good, when it clearly is not. The woman who bred and skinned rabbits for extra money said that she is given ten dollars a week by the government. While skinning rabbits, in my opinion, is animal cruelty, it is no wonder that she had to turn to a creative way to make money. During a polo match, the hosts hired unemployed citizens to be live statues. There is clearly a disconnect between the rich and the working class of Flint. The rich have no care for the situation or the people affected by it. When you drive down the streets, you see washing machines, beds, dressers and toys in the front yard, a clear sign of another eviction. The only other people in Flint who have a steady income are the rental companies. An employee at a truck rental company said that
Michael Moore used comical tactics as a way to appeal to his audience in this piece of literature. Michael Moore’s argument is that capitalism is destroying the nation’s economy rather than helping to develop it. The poor are suffering, while the richer are getting richer. The arguments that Moore used may not be considered tangible by all, but he definitely did have the evidence to support his argument. Michael Moore purpose was to expose this ground breaking issue of the dominance of corporate America through video. He used the web source as a source to get his message across because he knew the internet would be accessible to many people. Moore in this film used the different elements of reasoning to identify the message he was sending to his audience.
Moore opens the film with a brief description of his childhood years in Flint. This is important as right from the outset we learn of any possible bias that might influence the making of the film: Moore's entire family worked for GM. While Moore attempts to be objective as he creates the film, it is important that the viewer is aware of the bias inherent in the filmmaking.
The Frontline documentary “Two American Families” produced by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), portrays the life of two typical middle class families living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Frontline Video, 2013). This follows the life of the Neumann family and the Stanley family as they pursue the ideal type of life, The American Dream, from 1991 through 2011 (Frontline Video, 2013). However, the pursuit of their fantasy quickly turned into a fight for economic struggle (Frontline Video, 2013). These struggles were all brought about by the new shaping economy (Frontline Video, 2013). At the beginning of the documentary, the Neumann family seemed well put together (Frontline Video, 2013).
The union clearly did not help in the case of the GM workers in Flint. Roger & Me is a great documentary film. It captures a lot about our form of capitalism. Moore shows the problems that large capitalist companies face, in a way that appeals to a broad audience.
Scott Mescudi, stage name Kid Cudi, is a rapper that for a majority of his career has touched on topics such as substance addiction, depression, mental illness, as well as the urges and uplifting times of both. Usually his songs follow a saddening and chilling, yet a peaceful tone to help better convey his lyrics. “Ghost!” from his Man on the Moon II album from 2010 also takes on this course of as it tackles Scott’s fight for individualism and following his own destiny. The lyrics and tone depict the ideas and challenges that Scott has for not following the absolute system put into place by social norms.
Moving outside the factory, the film depicted the extremely poor living conditions of people during the Great Depression. Many people were living in dilapidated shacks. However, the film failed to depict the vastness of people living in these shacks, as it only shows the main character’s shack. Tying into living conditions, the film also shows many people were struggling to put food on the table. In many cases people were forced to steal food to survive. The film also very briefly depicted the public’s political insecurities when the main character is arrested for “participating” in a communist
This film has opened up a new perspective to me about the mindset of many of the people that have and are running many of the most noticeable household name brands that we have all come to know since childhood. The film does a very good job of explaining how businesses and corporations have not only grown but evolved over the last 40 plus years. We all know that at the end of the day, a company’s goal is to make money. “The Corporation” gave me a very in-depth look at the extent that major corporations will go to in order to keep their company successful and profitable. With many of the companies that were mentioned in the film, the average person such as myself, would never know that the companies that we support and patronize have taken part in modern day slavery to give use the products that we have come to love. The part of this that was most troubling was the fact that these business practices no matter how unethical we find them are in fact legal and do not
Michael Moore is the author and narrator of this touching film. He is seen throughout the film. He interviews many people and tries again and again to find Roger Smith. He is thrown out of private clubs, offices and yacht clubs. His authorial voice is observational. He tells all sides of this sad story. He interviews the people of Flint and GM executives including Roger Smith. He even interviews the few very well to do people in the now struggling city. One executive is used over and over in this film. His opinion is that "GM has to do what GM has to do to stay competitive", and " the nature of corporations is to ...