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--- 329:question:329--week_10_questions_comments-2018 [2018/11/01 05:08] – [The movie as a primary source of its time] jcurtis2
+++ 329:question:329--week_10_questions_comments-2018 [2018/11/01 06:07] (current) – [The movie as a primary source of its time] 71.62.70.113
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 In the scene of the final gunfight between the Baldwin-Felts men and the coal miners, Hatfield shoots two men (who are staring directly at him) at once, killing them both. However, witness statements from the actual event indicate that Hatfield began the gunfight by shooting Albert Felts, a Baldwin-Felts agent, in the head while he wasn't looking. Source: http://www.wvculture.org/history/labor/matewan04.html ~Will Everett
+Matewan uses some fictional characters to tell the story of the Matewan Massacre, which take away from its historical accuracy but they are used to help tell the story thematically. The film does a good job of staying with the events that occurred but does rely on the fictional characters holding symbolism to create a more cinematic film. --Jack Hagn
 ====== Things the Movie got right ======
 This movie does a good job of portraying the scenes of the mines & their conditions, which is also very much supported by the readings and the discussion we had in class -- Lindsey Sowers
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 Kenehan remarks to Few Clothes that he was in Fort Leavenworth Prison in 1917, which certainly would have made sense, since the prison had been holding civilians since 1895. Source: http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.law.025 ~Will Everett
+From our class lecture there was a lot of corruption at the local level as coal companies bribed local officials. This is represented in Matewan as the coal company tried to bribe the mayor and the sheriff. This is accurate to the time period and to the story of Matewan. --Jack Hagn
 ====== Questions about interpretation ======
 This film did a great job of portraying the Baldwin-Felts agency as total assholes. The film goes to great lengths to display the hardships honest, hardworking Americans had to endure. I was wondering if this film was motivated by a anti-big business sentiment that happened in the '80s? Why did the directors choose to side with the miners, and show disdain for the company men in 1987? --Jessica Lynch
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 The fact that Kenehan is apparently a "Red" and is sympathetic to the socialist ideas that were popular with labor unions in the 1920's is interesting considering the movie was made in the 80's. 1987, right at the end of the Cold War during the Reagan administration, was not a popular time to be a communist sympathizer in the US. It is interesting that they made him the heroic main character. Perhaps his ultimate death had something to do with his political ideas the way they were viewed in the 80s. --Jessie Fitzgerald
-In the early 80s, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization went on strike, requesting a wage increase. Then president Ronald Reagan ordered for the strike to be broken, firing over 11,000 air traffic controllers. Many see this as the final nail in the coffin of union movements in America. Matewan, released in 1987, could be seen as a response to this, offering a defense of unions as heroic, doomed endeavors in a time that it seemed like unions were about to die. (Justin Curtis) https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/05/reagan-fires-11-000-striking-air-traffic-controllers-aug-5-1981-241252
+Ronald Reagan was president from 1981 to 1989 and was known as an anti-union or ‘union busting’ president.  He is best known for crushing the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) union when 13,000 controllers went on strike in 1981, paralyzing the country.  Reagan warned them to go back to work as it threatened national security, or they would never be hired as government employees and when they refused he fired them, resulting in the union being decertified. The message was received: throughout the rest of his term, there were no more major strikes. https://ucommblog.com/section/national-politics/ronald-reagan-union-buster
+Since Matewan was made during the union busting ‘right to work’ 1980s of Reagan, it serves as a good primary source of 1980s pro-labor films (see also: Norma Rae) made depicting the impact on class and race that demise of industrial unions would result in.--Andrew Mullins
+In the early 80s, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization went on strike, requesting a wage increase. Then president Ronald Reagan ordered for the strike to be broken, firing over 11,000 air traffic controllers when they wouldn’t return to work. Many see this as the final nail in the coffin of union movements in America. Matewan, released in 1987, could be seen as a response to this, offering a defense of unions as heroic, doomed endeavors in a time that it seemed like unions were about to die. (Justin Curtis) https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/05/reagan-fires-11-000-striking-air-traffic-controllers-aug-5-1981-241252
 The movie does a good job at showing the race relations which is characteristic of the 1980's because the film industry was more open to looking at both sides of the story. The movie explores that hardships that immigrants and African Americans faced during the time of unions and low standards for working conditions. The movie does not only focus on white characters which opens up the discussion for larger race roles during this time. This movie would not have bothered exploring these issues had it been made in an earlier decade. -- Grace Corkran