The Pursuit of Happiness, Truth or a Misconception?

We have been told since the beginning of this country that we have the opportunity to be whatever we want, and that we have the inalienable rights to express are disagreement with the way we are being treated, and have the right to fight against these mistreatment's. In the film Harlan County, USA directed by Barbara Kopple, there is a history of conflict between the company Duke Power and the employee's that has been brewing all the way since the 30's strike that ended with many deaths of Innocent coal minors. It takes place in 1973 where workers are fed up with living conditions, wages, and safety guidelines, and there fight against the establishment. This film depicts the dire truths about wealth and income inequality, unions, and how documentary form can display a situation.

Wealth and income inequality is becoming a big problem in this county because of the greedy and powerful people that are in control of are countries major companies. This is a problem because by doing this it is eliminating are middle class, that has established us apart from other third world nations. An example from Class in America by Gregory Mantsios is when he states that "that the wealthiest one percent of American population holds thirty four percent of the total national wealth." This is a good example because it shows that about one third of are wealth is in the hands of only the top one percent which means that there is less money to go around for people in the middle and lower class. Which is a big reason why we have such a disparity in wealth between the rich and everyone else. As i watched the film I could see problems in action, the minors were living in such poor conditions while the company owners where reporting record high production rates. As the case in Harlan County the company was making more money and refusing to upgrade conditions and wages for there workers creating a problem where the company was cutting on essential needs in order to scrap ever ounce of profit no matter who it hurt in the process. I believe this is a big problem in are country, and it makes me question the system because I think that most of these corporations have political connections. By having these i believe that government give the company's the benefit of the doubt by giving them bigger tax cuts which reinforces the wealth inequality in are county while this effects the amount of money going to the government that could help aid welfare and programs that would help the lower class people have a better quality of life.

The major issue that correlates to the film is the effect of unions in are country. Labor unions are formed when dis empowered workers band together as a collective in order to seek better wages or improve working conditions.(America on Film 173) A problem with striking during this time of 1976 is because this is the time when the county viewed unions as UN-American, as a result of mass media and the threat of the cold war. Despite the public image it was necessary for the people of Harlan County to stand up against the establishment and fight for essential needs. They did this by weathering the storm of a thirteen month strike that caused people to die for the cause because that is how strongly they felt about it. These mine workers were dealing with no running water where they lived and wages that were going up four percent with the cost of living going up seven percent, this created these family's to get more desperate and in more debt. These workers were not asking alot of the company they just waned a better and safer life for themselves since they kill themselves for the benefit of the company. Company's don't like unions because it gives some of the power to the workers like in the film, Duke Power tryed creating new contracts that had a no strike clause in it, which the miners declined because with out the power to strike, a union is pretty much useless. Some ways that the company used to deter the strikers is hire what the call "gun thugs" that used the threat of guns to scare strikers. For these miners they have been so oppressed by the system that no show of force would deter them for getting what they deserved. With unions diminishing over the years I believe is a bad sign because unions are good for the country and its people. In addition because they even out the distribution of power among business and it deters companies from trying to exploit there workers and creates a middle class because they are able to get there share of the profit. So in order to restore some stability in are economy i feel we need to implement more unions in are companies so issues like Harlan County would have more of a union backing which could have made this strike less violent and also could have resolved it quicker and more efficiently.

The director Barbara Kopple used documentary form in order to get across the message of the oppressed miners, and showed them in a vulnerable state which made you empathetic with what they were going through. By filming the matter in the way she did it made you see the side of the workers which in the media is rarely seen with the support of the oppressed instead of the oppressor. One thing i noticed in the film was in the beginning when she showed the mine workers going into the mine, and she used all American music that displayed them as the good guy. When she did this i believe it was a good way to use sound because it was a excellent way to indirectly state her option on the subject. Another interesting tactic that she used was to interview the family's of the minors which made it personal for people watching the film and when she showed the employees in the corporate level of the company they were well dressed and didn't display anything about there family's. This shows that the company owners are living well and all about business, and they don't care about the well being of there employees. While the minors family's are living in a slum full of shacks with no running water , which again shows the mass disparity between the rich and the poor. I believe that this was the only way to shoot this issue because i believe if you didn't see it from this perspective, and from someone who wanted to support the strikers, because if not then i believe it could have been twisted by the media to show that the workers were in the wrong which could have been a another force against the workers. But instead it was used as a tool against the company because it got out to the country what was going on in this rural community, other wards it would have not been exploited and the problem could have continued to today.

So in this community do you believe that these workers have the power of the pursuit of happiness? Some would say yes because it was there choice to go into that line of work instead of receiving a higher education. On the contrary i would say "no" that these workers don't have the opportunity of the pursuit of happiness because in this and alot of cases that these family's were born into these situations and don't have the ability and knowledge to be able to figure out a way out of this way of life. Another thing that Duke Power does to be able to exploit there workers is drive out competition from the area so that the workers have no other choice to work for the company. When that is the only thing that a group of people can do they are in the power and exploitation of the company, and its either you play by the company's rules or you go unemployed. This I believe is a flaw in the system and contributes to the economic recessions that has plagued are county through recent years, and the only way to fix these problems is create laws that will stop this from happening, and exploit changes that are needed in order to create a movement that will eat away at these wrongs in society.