Matewan: A John Sayles' Film John Sayles, the writer and director of the film Matewan, demonstrates an understanding, albeit possibly an unconscious one, of the struggle between two economic systems. This work depicts the historical events of 1920 in the Mingo County, West Virginia town of Matewan, a place that came to be known as "Bloody Mingo". Although many people are accustomed to viewing feudalism as a social system from the past, history is not such an orderly, linear progression of societies
John Sayles' Men With Guns (Hombres Armados) In Men with Guns, John Sayles depicts a feudal economic system in an agricultural South American setting. Using the travels of Dr. Fuentes, a concerned doctor from the city, to reveal numerous aspects of peasant life, Sayles shows the economic whirlwind in which these peasants are caught. Men With Guns demonstrates how the feudal economic system operates by revealing the economic and political power the rich plantation owners possess and lord over
John Sayles' Matewan: Forming a Communist Society John Sayles' movie Matewan offers an alternative to the norm when thinking about the development of class and economic systems in the modern world. Upon first glance, it seems as though the coal miners in the town of Matewan were the subjects of a cruel feudal system, sentenced to spending their lives slaving away for a company who cared very little for them. A classic example of the type of economy Karl Marx spent his life opposing. However
Even though there are male selkies, most selkies in stories portray a woman. The film The secret of Roan Inish is a good example of displaying socio-cultural and political anxiety or conflict portraying a human hybrid. The film was directed by John Sayles starring Jeni Courtney as Fiona Coneelly and Susan Lynch as Nula the selkie wife. The film reveals the treatment
As a result, the sequence proves that through memory and blood, borders are suppressed, and the past is able to cross the line separating it from the present once more. However, this scene also establishes the foundations for the conclusion of the movie, since Otis, conscious that the past is a vital, defining force, capable of shaping individual identity, affirms that ‘Blood only means what [we] let it’, thus implying that although history haunts all aspects of our lives, since it constantly overcomes
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 Capitalism
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 idea of union
The Economic Structure of Matewan The film Matewan, written and directed by John Sayles, depicts the small rural townof 1920's Mingo County, West Virginia as a society undergoing complete social unrest, a result of clashing ideals and economic systems. The film is an illustration of how different social systems come to be so intertwined that they cannot be defined independently of one another. Unfortunately for the people of Matewan, the feudalistic economic system imposed on them by the Stone
those in charge often hired other individuals to enforce their established rules and to keep the workers under control (for example Knights). Many of the above stated characteristics are present in Men With Guns. However, it must be mentioned that Sayles chose to focus less on the actual production processes involved in feudalism (as he did in Matewan), and instead give the viewer a more in-depth sense of the conditions that push people into the feudalist system and how it can be perpetuated. Through
In stanza's one and two, the husband gives his wife a gift. At first she was happy to receive the gift that her husband made for her. In stanza's three, four, and five she finds out that the gift was made out of wood from the coffin of a man named John Wayward. When she learned of this information, her initial reaction towards the gift changed. Why is that? Her husband wondered the same thing. The wife became pale and turned her face aside. What part of the husband's information made her react this
The first "English" explorer who set his foot on the new continent was John Cabot. He landed on the American east coast at 24 June, 1497. Cabot's exact landing place is still unknown, because of lack of evidence. Many experts think it's on Cape Breton Island, others look for it in Newfoundland, Labrador or Maine. Cabot was Italian, but King Henry VII gave him a grant "full and free authoritie, leave, and power, to sayle to all partes, countreys, and seas, of the East, of the West, and of the North
Herbert Blumer's Symbolic Interactionism THE THEORY Symbolic Interactionism as thought of by Herbert Blumer, is the process of interaction in the formation of meanings for individuals. Blumer was a devotee of George H. Mead, and was influenced by John Dewey. Dewey insisted that human beings are best understood in relation to their environment (Society for More Creative Speech, 1996). With this as his inspiration, Herbert Blumer outlined Symbolic Interactionism, a study of human group life and conduct
all involved Native Americans. However, another answer is not so obvious, because it needs deeper knowlege: There was one small Indian, who was a participant in all three events. His name was Black Elk, and nobody would have known about him unless John Neihardt had not published Black Elk Speaks which tells about his life as a medicine man. Therefore, Black Elk is famous as the typical Indian who grew up in the traditional Plains life, had trouble with the Whites, and ended up in the reservation
John Dillinger On June 22, 1903 a man named John Dillinger was born. He grew up in the Oak Hill Section of Indianapolis. When John was three years old his mother died, and when his father remarried six years later, John resented his stepmother. When John was a teenager he was frequently in trouble. He finally quit school and got a job in a machine shop in Indianapolis. He was very intelligent and a good worker, but he soon got bored and often stayed out all night. His father began to think
will be a more trustworthy and supportive base to the relationship. So over all, the article did an excellent job reinforcing the importance of time in building a relationship through social penetration, or self-disclosure. Works Cited Berg, John H. "Development of Friendship Between Roommates." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Mississippi: American Psychological Association, Inc., 1984. 346-56.
quintessentially hybrid, and if it has been the practice in the West since Immanuel Kant to isolate cultural and aesthetic realms from the worldly domain, it is now time to rejoin them” (“Connecting Empire to Secular Interpretation,” CA 58). On the other hand, John Rawls and others find in Kant’s 1795 essay “On Perpetual Peace” grounds for thinking Kant provides an antidote to colonization and an effective vision for order between nations. Is it that Kant has been understood correctly by one side, misunderstood
Locke and the Legitimacy of the State: Right vs. Good John Locke’s conception of the “legitimate state” is surrounded by much controversy and debate over whether he emphasizes the right over the good or the good over the right. In the midst of such a profound and intriguing question, Locke’s Letter Concerning Toleration, provides strong evidence that it is ineffective to have a legitimate state “prioritize” the right over the good. Locke’s view of the pre-political state begins with his
Expansion vs. Preservation William Sonntag was acclaimed in the 1850s as a painter of the dramatic landscape. In his painting “Garden of the Gods,” Sonntag portrays a family in the time of the westward expansion. The very subtle painting, expressed by its loose brushwork, captures the shifting atmospheric contrasts of light and dark. Apparent in the painting is a family struggling to survive in nature. In the bottom left corner of the painting is a weather beaten shack, the home of the struggling
The Great Depression and John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath Though most Americans are aware of the Great Depression of 1929, which may well be "the most serious problem facing our free enterprise economic system", few know of the many Americans who lost their homes, life savings and jobs. This paper briefly states the causes of the depression and summarizes the vast problems Americans faced during the eleven years of its span. This paper primarily focuses on what life was like for
Templar were the manifestation of a "new chivalry" which united the seemingly incompatible roles of monk and warrior. As the first religious military order, these dedicated men were models for successive orders including the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, later known as the Hospitallers, and the Teutonic Knights of the Hospital of St. Mary, two contemporary, rival brotherhoods. These and other orders, flourishing during the 12th-14th centuries as protectors of the Holy Land, were the first