Silkwood's Working Class
[1] Before I begin, I would like to provide some information about where I'm coming from as I look at Silkwood. When I chose this film, I did so in a somewhat desperate attempt to avoid working on a film about war or a biographic film on a male historical figure. Alas, these are the types of films that tend to dominate the historic genre. I turned to Silkwood not as a film about the nuclear industry or a murder mystery, but rather a film about a woman -- not a glamorous woman, but a real woman with flaws. I wouldn't have chosen this film for the nuclear issue alone, as it is before my time and, at least at the onset of the project, I had no real understanding of what the nuclear industry was all about.
[2] Though it has been talked about as an anti-nuclear film, the nuclear theme is an underlying one. (A good question to ask is why this is NOT the main issue.) The way I look at Silkwood is the way many reviewers have; the central issue of this film is the story of the working class. I feel that I can comment legitimately on this issue, as the rural Pennsylvania town where I grew up is not too far from Silkwood's Oklahoma countryside (except geographically, of course). Some of the problems the Kerr-McGee workers have are familiar to me. For example, job security,
…show more content…
They are obedient to their bosses (see my scene analysis), powerless, and without mobility. But they are good, honest people at heart, even the sneering Carl ("Why are you so interested?") and the stern, religious Georgie. They will make sure the union is kept intact but don't want to fight the big fight for better conditions. They want to do what they feel is right, but not necessarily what is a "moral
Rebecca Harding Davis wrote “Life in the Iron Mills” in the mid-nineteenth century in part to raise awareness about working conditions in industrial mills. With the goal of presenting the reality of the mills’ environment and the lives of the mill workers, Davis employs vivid and concrete descriptions of the mills, the workers’ homes, and the workers themselves. Yet her story’s realism is not objective; Davis has a reformer’s agenda, and her word-pictures are colored accordingly. One theme that receives a particularly negative shading in the story is big business and the money associated with it. Davis uses this negative portrayal of money to emphasize the damage that the single-minded pursuit of wealth works upon the humanity of those who desire it.
[2] The Molly Maguires were one such labor voice, if perceived this way, one such tribe (both causally and ethnically), and one such milestone, active from the 1860’s to the 1870’s. It is this period in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal regions which the 1970 movie is based. Long before child labor laws, a minimum wage, suitable standards on working conditions, or any form of labor union (the first geographically encompassing the Pennsylvania coal region was the shabbily organized, often squabbling, General Council of the Workingmen’s Associations of the Anthracite Coal Fields founded on March 17, 1869 [Aurand 69]), the Molly Maguires were an active labor force, if one views them as such, or a marauding group of renegades, thugs, and Godless anarchists, if one is persuaded to perceive them in that light.
Tocqueville’s analysis for the potential of an industrial aristocracy to grow in a democracy is useful in analyzing America prior to and during the Gilded Age. This time period in American history exhibits the growth of an industrial aristocracy that Tocqueville prophetically warned readers possibly happening in democracies. To fully understand how the growth of such an elite can develop, it’s necessary to first look at Tocqueville’s arguments on how the opportunity of political freedom can give a democracy two tendencies: that of the despot or the sovereign. Also, the Tocquevillian perspective of the economic animal in a democracy helps reinforce the inevitable notion of American’s transition from an agrarian society to an industrial empire. However, what came with the preference for the efficiency of industry over the equality of republican values was a select few reaping the benefits of the rest. The aristocratic class that grew in America during Gilded Age occurred for many reasons. The American-will, coupled with technological advancement and a large European immigrant labor supply, had changed the structure of labor. This division of labor made
The film focused on young women who were fighting for the right of future generations of womens to vote and run for political office. Alice Paul and Lucy Burns were the two main women who started the Congressional Union; they put their lives in danger, sacrificing their health to help American women have the right to vote and take office. These two women held peaceful, nonviolent protests in order to revolutionize the women’s suffrage movement. Some of the women involved in the non-violent protests against Woodrow Wilson ended up being imprisoned. They were force-fed and treated poorly. In the end, most of the women were able to see the results of the hard work that they put into the women’s suffrage
In the early 1950’s America was on the cusp of great change. The fight for equal rights for minorities and women was just over the horizon, a movement that would explode in the 1960’s creating lasting social change within the United States. The miners of Zinc Town, USA, and their families, were a part of this movement. The miners, who were largely of Mexican descent, felt that the working conditions were unsafe and not on par with that of Anglo’s employed at different mines. The miners wives tolling day after day without sufficient plumbing and proper sanitation, felt that their issues were just as important and should be included in the demands of the miners union. Salt of the Earth (1954) looks at the miners strike through
Rogan, Pamela. "Equine Assisted Therapy And Activities." Welcome to Harmony Farms -- Horses for the Handicapped. Web. 08 Mar. 2011. .
Eventually, the workers set aside their inhabitations and voted 373 to 427 in favor of the union. When asked, “What are you gonna do now?” Norma Rae said, “live – what else?” The question that the workers at the O.P. Henley Mill were faced with was not, where to work. They had the freedom to choose their employer. The workforce learned that they did not need to be trapped in an insufficient working environment and that by forming a union they could manipulate the parameters set by the Mill Company, to meet their requests.
The capitalist ideas so prominent in the Reagan / Thatcher era are as clearly instilled in the youth of the 1980s films as their, usually middle class, screen parents. Only “Pretty In Pink” (and indirectly, “The Breakfast Club”) actually confronts class differences; in the other films, the middle class way of life is accepted as default. Almost every John Hughes film is set in affluent suburbia with the repetition of certain imagery (the big house, gardens and tree-lined quiet streets, and often a wood-paneled station wagon) with a certain population (rich, white families), which is reflected in the body of the attended, well-equipped schools.
Alzheimer’s disease is a complex illness that affects the brain tissue directly and undergoes gradual memory and behavioral changes which makes it difficult to diagnose. It is known to be the most common form of dementia and is irreversible. Over four million older Americans have Alzheimer’s, and that number is expected to triple in the next twenty years as more people live into their eighties and nineties. (Johnson, 1989). There is still no cure for Alzheimer’s but throughout the past few years a lot of progress has been made.
Coal mining in the 1920s was extremely difficult job in which miners endured many challenges and hardships. The 1920’s safety was not on everyone’s mind. It was as if the miners were just tools to be used. The equipment the miners used was a marvel for its time, as it was just the start to a technological advancement. Miners faced hardships such as low wages, long hours, and the difficulty of the work conditions.
Aggression directed toward owners is not a unique occurrence, and it is one that causes an emotional struggle between owner and pet. Assessment and treatment of this troublesome behavior problem must take into account the owners safety as well as practical expectations for improvement. Comparatively mild aggression may be...
At the end of chapter two in, Steel Town U.S.A., the authors, Sherry Lee Linkon and John Russo, define the importance of steelmaking in Youngstown, Ohio “as an important element of community life, a source of identity and solidarity, an activity that brought pride and fulfillment to individuals and the community (129).” The author’s proclaim, “… steelwork as almost synonymous with Youngstown,” defining itself by organized labor and steelmaking” (68). Linkon and Russo, convey ideas about hard physical labor, with a glimpse of insight into the steelworkers anguish using words like virtue, pride and a sense of belonging, which for a typical situation would convey positive representations. Though most would think of these words, virtue, pride, and belonging as associations of working-class solidarity, clear identity and value, the author’s instead use these words to allow for the reader to better understand the misery that steelworkers faced. Making the connection between the workers lack of control to that of social conflict in their own community, the authors want the readers to understand both sides, allowing to bridge the gap of struggle by mending Youngstow...
The novel North and South uses multiple characters such as Bessy Higgins, John Thornton, Nicholas Higgins and Margaret Hale to suggest that different social classes experienced the industrial revolution in various ways.
Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), which can be provided in a group or individual settings, is designed to promote improvement in a human’s physical, social, emotional, or cognitive function. An article by Chitic, Rusu, and Szamoskozi (2012) provides an analysis in order to determine the value of AAT. Both dogs and horses that were trained for AAT were examined and studied to determine their effectiveness in treating patients with psychological disorders. The results showed that both therapy dogs and horses were valuable aids to the therapeutic process. The analysis suggests that proper training and repeated sessions were necessary for proper treatment of patients. In addition, certain disorders may benefit more than others in regards to AAT. For example, a child with ADHD may not benefit from a therapy dog’s presence, for it may worsen the hyperactive symptoms. On the other hand, a patient with depression may benefit greatly from the same animal (Chitic, Rusu, Szamoskozi, 2012). These findings are a perfect starting point to answering the research question: Do patients who engage in AAT display a betterment in their overall emotional well-being, as well as show improvement in their interpersonal interactions...
Dogs are wonderful creatures. They are loyal, dependable companions if given the opportunity. In recent years I have come to the opinion that we could learn something from these animals. We should also take a look at the manner in which they are being treated. Abandonment, irresponsible breeding, and neglect are only some of the ways that humans are failing the canine species.