LABRST 2M03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Complex Dynamics, Shift Work, Deindustrialization
18 Jun 2018
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6/21/18
The Post-Industrial Working Class on Film and TV
(1970s-2010s)
Angry men on Screen (1970s)
-as Cowie notes, a number of films and shows in the 1970s engaged in social realist portrayals
of the working class.
-most highlighted the perceived crisis confronting the white-male working-class, this was a re-
sponse to the early effects of deindustrialization and globalization
-the films form this ear relied on the perceived anger of this cohort for their dramatic tension,
often focusing on individualized narratives of vengeance, escape, and redemption. The anger
in these films and shows is often directed:
•Downwards (towards those weaker than oneself)
•Laterally (against co-workers or one’s union) -> Blaming other workers
•Upwards (immediate superiors, instead of he system) -> mad at their forum heir direct man-
ager and plot at that one person
•Escape (individual fantasizes of escaping work)
-All in the Family (1974)
•what stable work meant and how you can improve it with the worker, doesn't want to be
apart of the strike and doesn't want to be apart of it
-Blue Collar (1978)
•the plot of the movie revolves around three workers that decide to steal form their union
•film plot line of a corrupt union
•theres this idea http the union reps are rich and apart of the elite
•was a bit of tension in the way some the unions were running and representing their workers
•doing this mindless shift work is soul crushing
•their making out the union to be the source of all the problems
-Gung Ho (1986)
•he film directed the tension away form the more complex dynamics
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The post-industrial working class on film and tv (1970s-2010s) As cowie notes, a number of films and shows in the 1970s engaged in social realist portrayals of the working class. Most highlighted the perceived crisis confronting the white-male working-class, this was a re- sponse to the early effects of deindustrialization and globalization. The films form this ear relied on the perceived anger of this cohort for their dramatic tension, often focusing on individualized narratives of vengeance, escape, and redemption. All in the family (1974: what stable work meant and how you can improve it with the worker, doesn"t want to be apart of the strike and doesn"t want to be apart of it. Gung ho (1986: he film directed the tension away form the more complex dynamics. The late 1970s/early 1980s saw a number of on-screen portrayals of strong working women, in- cluding in films like norma raw (1979), nine to five (1980), and silkwood (1983)
