John Sayles' Movie, Matewan
Writer and Director John Sayles movie Matewan, portrays the town of Matewan, West Virginia during their historic struggle out of feudalism in the 1920's. Because a single large company owned everything in Matewan, it was nearly impossible to rise out of the feudal relationship, especially since preaching the ideals of capitalism could easily result in losing all of one's property and material possessions. While feudalism can easily be written off as a economic and social structure of the past, this notion is easily proven false in Matewan; the people of Mingo County had no choice but to follow the orders of The Stone Mountain Coal Company. Hence, when the ideals of capitalism were introduced to the Matewan people by Joe Kinnehan they were stunned and shocked by what he was suggesting. Of course, The Stone Mountain Coal Company were more than shocked, they were outraged and adamant about not letting the workers of Matewan be part of any union.
What do the feudal and capitalist economic systems represent? The Webster dictionary defines capitalism as, "an economic system characterized by open competition in a free market and by private or coperate ownership of the means of production and distribution." In Matewan, the idea of capitalism was first introduced by communist and union man himself, Joe Kinnehan. He urged the coal miners to realize the choices they could make and not to let a coal company make the decisions for them. He explained that this would entail all joining together and standing as one while demanding higher wages and better worker conditions. Not until the citizens of Matewan comprehend the feudal system they are living under, can they hope to change. The story of Matewan West Virginia portrays the struggle that an entire town underwent before they could release themselves from the grip of The Stone Mountain Coal Company.
The coal miners of Matewan were bound in a feudal relationship and had no choice but to stay in it because The Stone Mountain Coal Company owned the entire town. Without continuing to work for the coal company, the residents of Matewan were sure to starve.
The movie Matewan takes place during 1920 in Mingo County, Matewan, West Virginia. The theme of the movie is laborers unionizing across race and national origin in the face of strikebreakers, infiltrators, accusations of communism and violence. The men of the town are employed by the Stone Mountain Coal Company as miners. The miners dislike the treatment they receive from the coal operators and try to form a union to address their wages. The townsfolk create a union when the the price per coal goes down to 90 cents a tonne. The miners go on a strike. The coal company brings in strikebreakers who are African American men from Alabama. When the strikebreakers arrive in town, they are attacked by the union members. A worker for United Mine Workers witness the attack and decides to take up residency in
The film Matewan brings to life the workings of a small West Virginia coal-mining town in the 1920's. Stone Mountain, as the town was called, existed for mining exclusively. Every resident of the town worked for the Stone Mountain Coal Company. The company was the dominant force in the community, acting as a feudal lord. It owned all the land, residential areas and restaurants. In this particular town residents had no other choice than to work for the Coal Company because it had monopoly control over all the resources thus creating a feudal economic system. The miners were forced into a bondage contract with the company, because of the lack of choice they had regarding their employment, which is a fundamental element in a feudal system. The owners of the Stone Mountain Coal Company who profit from the coal generated never actually stepped foot on the Stone Mountain mine land. They had no idea who worked for them and what their situations were. The workers never knew their employer instead the owners sent two representatives to ensure the excavation of the coal happened. The representatives became a third force necessary for the existence of feudal economy in Matewan. They were sent from the company to manage the organization and production of the mine. The representativesÕ primary job was to enforce the rules that the company had established in order to maintain power of the town, mine and essentially the workers. They used threats to induce fear in the miners as a way to stimulate and motivate them to work, because the miners had little significant reason to work besides basic survival.
The Stone Mountain Coal Company wielded monopoly control over the town of Matewan through a feudal system of economic, cultural, political, and environmental processes. Every person in the town of Matewan came under the power of the company in one way or another. The employees of Stone Mountain were under a bondage contract with the company. Once they came to the company it was impossible to leave and at the same time maintain a basic standard of living. They could not leave also because once they signed on with the company they owed the company a large sum of money for everything ranging from the ticket for the train that brought them to Matewan to the equipment they needed to work there. In this way it was as if they were paying the company to let them work in the mines rather the other way around. They did not have the rights basic to capitalism such as the right to join a union, the right to sell their labor in a labor market to the bidder of their choice, and the right to spend their wage freely.
Maintaining feudal conditions through violence and intimidation, the army holds the populace in a constant state of fear. Guaranteeing that the peasants stay ill and in need furthers the necessity that they work to stay alive, but prevents them from doing so. This is the paradox of the poor worker, but one the army does not see. The army blindly kills anyone who tries to help the peasants, murdering all the doctors and priests that enter the villages. They do so to keep the peasants in need and in ignorance, to prevent them from learning another way of life. Lacking knowledge of the outside world ensures that the peasants will remain in the plantations, because fear of the unknown is stronger than fear of the known. Acting as feudal knights, the army forces people into the feudal plantation relationship using fear and intimidation.
The most confronting aspect of the documentary was the failure of the Australian Government’s to address poverty within the Mt. Druitt community. It was fairly evident that Mt Druitt’s community is “let down”, especially when Billy, a resident, was accused of failing to pay rent. This certainly struck me, as without a house to
The understatement “unemployed starts cheerfully with a letter…and nothing else” indicates that the young man has no money causing the reader to visualize the empty pocket. The denotation “travels for a night and day without a bite to eat” allows you understand his desperation due to his poverty. Furthermore, we are able to imagine the frustration and hopelessness he feel “finds that the station is eighty or a hundred mile away”. The uses of or indicates that this desperate walk of seeking employment is endless; no one knows when it ends. However Lawson sheds a light upon this “explain…publican and a coach-driver. God bless the publicans and the coach-driver” allowing you to see that mateship will help the young man. Lawson motivates his audience about an egalitarian Australia society “God forgive our social system”, since they are one a journey with him where they see the poverty and hardships of other. Lawson’s description “native industry…three tiles, a chimney pot…length of piping on the slab” cause the reader to visualize how they can do a lot with very little that they have, making them feel sympathetic”. The metaphoric phrase “animated mummy of a swagman” allows you to see that the sun has beaten this man and caused him to look like death, revelling the poverty of the man. Lawson makes the reader imagine that death is constant in the bush
Samsung is Apple’s biggest competition when it comes to phones especially between Apple’s iPhone 5s to Samsung’s Galaxy S4. They are both very popular among consumers, but they are differently different from each other. It is an endless debate on which one is better, but it really comes down to which one is better for you as a consumer. There are good and bad issues with both phones such as with the Galaxy S4, the TouchWiz Ul remains a clumsy construction and lacks overarching design language, but the good thing about t...
To begin with, capitalism is a type economic system. Simply put, capitalism is the system where workers work for the capitalist and receive wages for their labor. In, Wage-Labour and Capital, Marx explains the exchange between the capitalist and their workers in regards to wages and labor. He wrote:
The economic status of the main characters is poor, without hope of improving their condition, and at the mercy of a quasi-feudal system in North America during the late 1800's. Being a sharecropper, Ab and his family had to share half or two-thirds of the harvest with the landowner and out of their share pay for the necessities of life. As a result of this status, Ab and his family know from the start what the future will hold -- hard work for their landlord and mere survival for them.
The movie “John Q” narrates a story of the financially constrained character John Quincy Archibald who ensures that his nine year old son at the brink of death, secures a heart transplant by any means possible. Throughout the movie, there is a compelling display of the love shared by a family and this is seen in the great lengths John went to save his son, however unlawful. The main characters are John, Michael and Denise Archibald, Rebecca Payne, Doctor Turner and Lt. Grimes.
When it comes to smart phone market share in the United States, Apple still trails Android by almost 10%. But if you are to break out the market share figures then you will notice that IPhone reigns supreme by a very wide margin. According to a lot of recent data compiled by ComScore, Phone’s share of the United States smartphone market now is about 43.6%, followed by Samsung which is at 27.6%. Apples market has increased by 4% almost every year, while Samsung has been dropping by 4% almost every year. Although Apple is doing a bit better than Samsung overall, Samsung is still topping Apple with their Android. During the second quarter of 2015 Samsung took a 21.7 percent of the global smartphone market, with shipments 73.2 million units. A reason I feel Samsung is doing much greater then apple right now is their ability to have all these different features, which not only add modern things to their phone but also longevity. With the three new water proof phones that Samsung has come out with Apple has yet to release their first
Capitalism is an economic system in which the production and distribution are privately owned, the government involvement is minimal,and there is free enterprise. In Capitalism, the means of production are privately owned and operated for profit in a competitive market. Also the economic investment, ownership and profits are all owned by individuals. Under capitalism the state is separated from the economy, which means that the government has no role in business. In other words, everyone works for themselves. The market forces in a capitalist country runs by supply and demand which it determines the price and later on it turns into profits. Supply is the quantity of goods and services a business is willing to sell, while Demand is the quantity of goods and services consumers are willing to buy. Therefore, Capitalism is the best economic system because it rewards the ones that work hard and since the government does not control trade, there is a large variety of goods and creates options for consumers to fit their personal needs.
The iPhone is easily better than any Android design because of the sleek and sharp design and a colorful display that attracts the widest range of consumers with interest and awe. The phone’s design has been greatly thought out and is well built for anyone. Brooke Crothers, a writer for Cnet.com, explains the simple yet artistic build of the phone, “Thinness, in my book, is the foundation for coolness. But thinness isn't just an aesthetic bonus; it can be practical too. In this case, Apple stretched out the 4S just enough to allow for a bigger screen, while making it lighter and easi...
“The Galaxy S4 sets a new record for Samsung, generating sales quicker than any of its predecessors. It is estimated that the phone is selling at a rate of four units per second” (). As I personally own this phone, I know how many incredible features it has. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the perfect phone for a multi-tasking, busy student, due to the large screen used for many different applications, Polaris Office 5 feature and its durability.
What is the best smartphone brand in the world? IPhone or Samsung? It is a question we are often asked. We all know that there are many high- class Smartphones Company in the market except Apple and Samsung, but nowadays people more likely to buy these two companies products and always like to compare them and trying to know which one is the leader of smartphones market. Most of people believe that Apple brought the smartphones revolution to the world and it changed “everything”, and maybe that is why Apple has more royal supporters than Samsung.