#ushistory #cdnhistory #labor #humanity
Cultural Interchange, Borrowing, Sharing
This clip from the movie Matewan (1987) serves as a quick overview of the movie’s theme and shows typical examples of what happens when cultures meet.
I have worked as a unionized worker, union steward and manager … and this movie always reminds me why we have unions and probably why we need them now more than ever. If only to understand the history of unions and labour … this movie is well worth watching and it always makes me proud of organized labour - particularly in the earliest days.
The reason I’m posting this, though, is the incredibly charming scene which opens this segment. The unionized workers AND the ‘replacement workers’ have all been thrown out of the company town and this mixing of humanity shows how natural it is for us to exchange ‘ideas’ from our respective cultures.
Later on in this clip, a humourous scene involving international cuisine unfolds. The Italian woman’s untranslated sarcasm is wonderful.
Music and food … two of the the staples of Tumblr.
My spouse is still involved, from time to time, in the same local of the same union … and a favourite scene elsewhere in the movie is often played out at home using the appropriate accent and dynamic effects. It goes something like this:
” … and His Name is Satan! … Lucifer! … Be-el-ze-bub! … U-NION Man!!”
