In Roger & Me (1989), Michael Moore exposed the negative economic impact caused when several General Motors auto plants closed in Flint, Michigan. The film began with the narrator, Moore, introducing himself and his background so that some credibility was established. After he returned home from a failed job opportunity the GM plants began closing despite record profits being made. The film was then interspersed with interviews from the unemployed and executive GM employers, clips of people being evicted from their homes and the foreclosed houses, but also revolved around Moore’s desire to confront Roger Smith, CEO of GM at the time, and show him the damage caused to Flint. Despite the failure with Smith and Moore where Smith refuses to go to Flint, Moore was still able to portray the flaws found in society today. …show more content…
This concept is an example of societal brainwashing; Americans think this is typical in a growing society. Some people make billions while others get evicted Christmas Eve. However, Moore is able to shed the benign image and show the ruthless greed of the corporations such as GM. A scene in the documentary shows the layoff of the first auto plant where every side of societal America can be seen. From the “innocent” leader, the “unjustified worker, and “unaware” everyday American. This qualities need to be changed so that people at fault attempt to rectify the situation but also the workers don’t play victims, and the uninvolved in the situation don’t a blind eye. America shouldn’t play the stereotypical capitalist but instead adjust and improve this concept so that America can be a better
Mainly, the article focuses on the injustices people have encountered in a work environment. Rhodes appeals to her audience as everyday “average” people who identify with the plight of another. Although she makes a compelling argument referencing studies and personal stories of people this has happened to, there are flaws in her argument that could discredit the validity of her reasoning. The logic in her article highly finds favor with the general working public. It is both consistent and appropriate. However, it is not complete, nor fully believable. I will discuss the following in the next paragraphs. Her use of research and anecdotes are mostly one-sided and while it brings valid points for the workers, fail to portray opposing views on the issue, that of the employer. She also neglects to further explore and compare the validity of this claim against wel...
Ehrenreich states “…the United States, for all its wealth, leaves its citizens to fend for themselves — facing market-based rents, for example, on their wages alone. For millions of Americans, that $10 — or even $8 or $6 — hourly wage is all there is.” (Ehrenreich 214) A large portion of us human beings in society today, only care about making money to benefit ourselves rather than those less fortunate. People who have worked their entire lives on low wages may never experience luxuriousness due to the greed of our employers and government. Those graced with a generous amount of money tend to leave others in need of assistance, thusly causing inhuman nature to develop within our communities. Ehrenreich experiences this when she found out that her own self-esteem lowered at the hands of her employers who treated their workers as disposable. These employers as well as their companies, devalue a worker to essentially keep them powerless against them. Many of the job interviews she had gone through avoided any discussion of wages because, the employers wanted to keep the paychecks at a bare minimum. In most situations within our community workplace, a worker is not compensated correctly for his or her labor. Most of the human beings today would do just anything to stay wealthy, even if it means devaluing another. Most of our society spends their lifetimes
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.
The social and economic developments of the last quarter of the nineteenth century drastically changed the United States. The business world changed once industrialization was introduced to the world. Opportunities grew as people heard about the boundless American opportunities. Immigrants from all races flooded the cities which doubled in population from 1860-1900 (Barnes and Bowles, 2014, p. 34). However, as industries grew, owners prospered off the hard work of others. People started to feel they were not being treated fairly. People had to work harder and longer for their money. Barnes and Bowles (2014) noted “In the era of industrialization, millions of workers fought to simply have the right to work in safe conditions, and earn a fair wage” (p. 45). Many Americans feared that giant corporations would one day seek to restrict the ability of common people to get ahead and curtail individual freedoms. These fears were particularly strong among farmers, laborers, an...
Employment is hard to find and hard to keep and a job isn’t always what one hoped for. Sometimes jobs do not sufficiently support our lifestyles, and all too frequently we’re convinced that our boss’s real job is to make us miserable. However, every now and then there are reprieves such as company holiday parties or bonuses, raises, promotions and even a half hour or hour to eat lunch that allows escape from monotonous workloads. Aside from our complaints, employment today for majority of American’s isn’t totally dreadful, and there always lies opportunity for promotion. American’s did not always experience this reality in their work places though, and not long past are days of abysmal and disgusting work conditions. In 1906 Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” was published. His novel drastically transformed the way Americans felt about the unmitigated power corporations wielded in the ‘free’ market economy that was heavily propagandized at the turn of the century. Corporations do not have the same unscrupulous practices today because of actions taken by former President Theodore Roosevelt who felt deeply impacted by Sinclair’s famous novel. Back in early 1900’s in the meatpacking plants of Chicago the incarnation of greed ruled over the working man and dictated his role as a simple cog within an enormous insatiable industrial machine. Executives of the 1900’s meatpacking industry in Chicago, IL, conspired to work men to death, obliterate worker’s unions and lie to American citizens about what they were actually consuming in order to simply acquire more money.
Wal-Mart has become a staple company in many communities. It is a place where individuals can find most of their needs, and many of their wants. The appeal of Wal-Mart can be found in its slogan, “Always Low Prices.” It is the appeal of low prices during a time of economic recession that entices consumers. What many consumers do not recognize are the means by which Wal-Mart ensures these low prices. The media coverage of Wal-Mart during the recent months has not been favorable towards the company, and with lawsuits pending regarding issues such as low wages, anti-union practices, and sexual discrimination, Wal-Mart provides an avenue for examining media and alternative media depictions of the issues. This analysis will determine the extent to which media sources provide information on Wal-Mart and the allegations, and how this corporation is working to reduce class inequality. The focus will more broadly develop an argument which claims that superclass interests are the driving force behind our media, and therefore our exposure to critique of the system is limited.
Among the individuals who live within Homestead, there are some which possess a good understanding of mechanics and engineering. While driving through Homestead, Paul’s car breaks down as he runs into a group of laborers. As Paul gets out of his, the group starts theorizing about what is broken on the car, the oldest of the group says, “Sucking in air. I knew the minute I heard you coming a mile off” (Vonnegut 70). He proceeds to fix the fuel pump and, lo and behold he was right, that was the source of the problem. This individual does not lack the intellectual ability to become an engineer, but lacks the aspiration and ambition to do so. The working class has no purpose; they feel lesser hence they do not have goals or want to be anything other than what they are. Capitalism produces a system where the value of the worker becomes deflated. They are being alienated due to the circumstances surrounding them, the fact that machines are favored gives them the ideology that they cannot compete with a machine. They look down upon themselves and see that they are trapped where they are and no longer aspire to be anything else. In “World Without Work”, the author says “Most people want to work, and are miserable when they cannot” (Thompson). This state of being miserable and depressed stops these proletariats from seeing the bigger picture. They cannot see the end of the tunnel. They become stuck in
In America, the goal of corporations is to maximize profits, while workers aspire to maximize
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.
One would expect that social equality would just be the norm in society today. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Three similar stories of how inequality and the hard reality of how America’s society and workforce is ran shows a bigger picture of the problems American’s have trying to make an honest living in today’s world. When someone thinks about the American dream, is this the way they pictured it? Is this what was envisioned for American’s when thinking about what the future held? The three authors in these articles don’t believe so, and they are pretty sure American’s didn’t either. Bob Herbert in his article “Hiding from Reality” probably makes the most honest and correct statement, “We’re in denial about the extent of the rot in the system, and the effort that would be required to turn things around” (564).
Martin Ritt’s Norma Rae portrays the plight of the Southern factory worker during the 1970’s. As the film progresses and Norma Rae fights for her rights, it is difficult to believe that economic system under which she works is that of capitalism. Yet, the very idea that she is able to advocate for her self and for others, as workers in a factory with the support of a union organizer, demonstrates the role of the worker in a capitalist society. Norma Rae was able to form a union because the system maintained that she had the authority to do so.
During both the Progressive Era and New Deal Era many American citizens faced low pay. To deal with this, workers from both eras fought unfair labor practices by creating unions and strikes. During the Progressive Era employers soon realized better paid workers are better able to afford the products they were selling. Henry Ford was one of the first employers to realize this, in result he raised the pay of worker to an average of $5 per day. This resulted in Ford’s annual input increasing from 34,000 cars to 730,000 cars from 1910 to
Since the unemployment rate was high for a long period of time it began to make America’s wealth distribution even more unequal. In 2007, slightly before the recession, the top 1% wealthiest’s share of America’s total wealth was 24% (Gitlin 7). After the peak of the recession in 2011, the top 1%’s share had ballooned to 40% and the bottom 80% of Americans owned less than 10% (Jordan 2). The 1%’s wealth had jumped 16% in four years because of the loss of jobs by middle and lower class Americans (Gitlin 7). This created a situation in which the wealthiest were getting wealthier and the middle and lower class were getting poorer. It is obvious that a system that continues to work in this fashion is very unfair and is not going to work properly. This sense of immorality with the current direction in which the economy is moving and the built up frustration of this system are just some of the many factors that sparked the original protestors to create Occupy.
The documentary strived to show us how factories were corrupt that they couldn’t provide good working conditions for the workers until we lost people. This documentary is about the tragic fire that took place on March 25, 1911 in the Triangle factory. We can clearly see through this documentary that these people didn’t matter to the factory owners because their needs were not met. The documentary shows that the year before the fire took place the workers led a strike asking for better working conditions, but obviously their voices were not heard. After the fire took place this is when factories started improving working conditions. It is sad to learn that it took 146 lives of innocent people in order for factory owners to be convinced that they need to improve the poor working
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 ...