Matewan

Matewan, the 1987 movie directed by John Sayles, is a movie about loyalty and betrayal, war and freedom, fighting for job and coming together, and most importantly about defeat and independance. The movie takes place in the 1920’s in the small mining town of Matewan, West Virginia. The movie not only shows the hardships that small town people face, but the corruption of big business owns. Joe Kenehan, the main character of this film, who is a Union organizer, comes to the small mining town to get

still hold true. If you push people into an unpleasant enough position, eventually they are going to fight back. It is just our nature. Examples of this can be seen in Denise Giardina’s novel, Storming Heaven; as well as, in John Sayles’s movie, Matewan. Both plots tell stories of the Appalachian miners and their fights against the overwhelming coal companies. On the surface, we can see that the stories revolve around themes of injustice. The coal companies take everything they can from the miners

Matewan The citizens of Matewan, a coal -mining town in West Virginia lived amidst a feudalistic class process. One may think of medieval times in connection with feudalism, but the film “Matewan” directed by John Sayles was based on historical events that took place in 1920. The feudal lord was not a European king, and the serfs were not farming his land. Nevertheless, feudalism existed in this southern town, as the workers did not have the ability to choose their employer. Unlike

Matewan Ignorance promotes fear. The Stone Mountain Coal Company exploits the ignorance of its employees to maintain power in Matewan. Keeping Matewan’s residents fearful of their future, fearful of change and fearful for their lives, the Stone Mountain Coal Company retains absolute control over the town of Matewan. Controlling all four social and cultural processes at work in Matewan, the company is able to extract the fear, work, and “loyalty” they desire out of their workers. They are

who are hardworking and, as a result, show their achievements. In simpler words, higher and powerful status is given to those who earn it unlike closed systems of stratification where individuals are born with their status. However, the society of Matewan is classified as closed systems of stratification. The Baldwin-Felts detective agency who were hired by the Stone Mountain Coal Company showed an immense amount of power threatening the lower class of the coal miners of cutting their payment and replacing

Matewan In the film, Matewan, director John Sayles paints a 1920’s picture of a small, West Virginia coal-mining town. Over the course of the film, this seemingly American Township reveals itself as the site of feudal hardship for its citizens. The Stone Mountain Coal Company was the sole employer in Matewan. The company’s laborers struggled for autonomy and for freedom from the company’s grasp. The ideal method for this achieving such autonomy was organization of a union. This

economic theory or set of theories (which can be contradictory), to teach particular theories (including economic theories), and to provide an objective for analysis using economic theory." (Professor Gabriel) It is with this in mind that the films of Matewan and Norma Rae are of importance to us when analyzing the concepts of "feudalism" and "capitalism," because they are films that contain in them examples from these two types of economic systems. While the concept of "unions" is prevalent in both films

BATTLE OF BLAIR MOUNTAIN Terry M. Deener West Virginia History HIST225 March 10, 2013 In the early 20th Century, West Virginia was a place where coal barons held immense power. Coal companies owned towns, mayors and governors. Miners were forced to live on coal camps and rent houses from them, as well as purchase all of their coal and other items required to survive from the companies. With this control, mining families where forced to live and work in brutal conditions. In 1921, after a generation

The Matewan Massacre, an armed confrontation between miners, police and the Baldwin Felts, caused civil unrest in West Virginia for many years. By 1919, the largest nonunionized coal region in the United States was Mingo and Logan counties in West Virginia. In September 1919, rumors of miners being harassed and beaten for attending labor meetings reached Charleston. Around 5,000 miners met at Marmet, near Lens Creek, they prepared to go to Logan County. Since Governor John Cornwell was aware

Matewan and Norma Rae Theoretically, the characters of both Matewan, and Norma Rae take part in a capitalistic society. In both situations the people are partaking in a form of labor market, where they are selling their time and energy. However, the town of Matewan, governed by the Stone Mountain Coal Companies' monopoly on the land and businesses, and isolated by distance and limited technology, as fallen into a feudalistic condition. Despite the fact that Norma Rae's small hometown of Alabama