Company Town Movie Analysis

Released in 2017, the movie “Company Town,” emphasized the link between economic consequences of racial discrimination and the increased risk of cancer. After watching the movie, Susan Gubar was led to the conclusion that the “wretched statistics on cancer mortalities are also linked to racial inequalities” (1). The movie depicts a community dependent on an industry that they believe just may be killing them by contaminating their environment. The majority of those who suffer from cancer in the area are African American. “Company Town” pushes forward a passionate protest on behalf of unnoticed and oppressed victims of corporate negligence and greed. According to the American Cancer Society, African American men are twice as likely to die from

Because of discrimination, communities, such as that illustrated in “Company Town,” are struck with illness and have little luck in getting the services they need due to their race and status. A conflict theorist would argue that race is necessary in society to maintain the dominant white racial group in power. In the United States, it is prevalent that African Americans have struggled in receiving the care and representation they deserve. With the revealing of illnesses in unnoticed communities, as the one mentioned in the article, we see how discrimination has negatively impacted underrepresented communities. African Americans are dying at a much higher rate than Whites and that just proves how the white race maintains dominance over the black race when it comes to receiving healthcare. A conflict theorist may also say that patterns of health and illness are not accidental and are based on systematic inequalities in society, such as their socioeconomic status. Meaning if one lives a relatively poor life their chance of illness is much higher compared to a person living in an affluent