Ep. 165 - Labor Union Depictions in Hollywood (Part II): The Rare Pro-Worker Narrative

A white collar worker wrestles with whether to accept a promotion or help his co-workers organize. Salt miners stand up to the company that’s taken over their town. A factory worker exposes her employer’s union-busting tactics.

Stories like these represent something we don’t often see in Hollywood: Unions and labor organizers as the good guys. Not as egomaniacs or zealots, thugs or grifters—but as heroes willing to risk their health, homes, and livelihoods for the greater good.

This is in contrast to the anti-union depictions in pop culture we explored in Episode 164, part one of a two-part series on depictions of labor in film and television. We discussed Hollywood’s emphasis on corruption in labor organizing, focusing on depictions of bloated bureaucracy, organized crime, and autocratic union bosses in On the Waterfront (1954), Blue Collar (1978), and The Irishman (2019), among others.

On this episode we address the inverse of that, looking at the rare but nontrivial examples that pop film has celebrated the accomplishments of labor movements, centered beleaguered workers with everything to lose, positioned abusive employers as the villains, and embraced themes of worker courage and heroism. While very often not perfect, these examples show that compelling, award-winning narratives can be crafted out of tales of collective action and collective bargaining.

Our guest is Angela Allan. 

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Guest

Angela Allan is a lecturer on history and literature at Harvard University. She also writes about pop culture for The Atlantic magazine.

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Show Notes

40 Years Ago, Norma Rae Understood How Corporations Weaponized Race

Angela Allan | March 2, 2019 | The Atlantic

It’s the summer of strikes – but where are all the modern films about unions? 

Natalie Wall | July 26, 2022 | i

Twitter thread on 'Sister, Sister' Episode "Paper or Plastic" 

Diana Hussein | October 18, 2020 | Twitter

Sorry to Bother You is a Modern (Labor) Love Story 

Heylee Bernstein | April 5, 2019 | OnLabor

Sorry to Bother You: A Spectacle That Teaches

Kathy M. Newman | August 20, 2018 | Working-Class Perspectives

100 years of the American left in 5 minutes, with Sorry to Bother You director Boots Riley 

Emily St. James | July 29, 2018 | Vox

Boots Riley’s Dystopian Satire “Sorry to Bother You” Is an Anti-Capitalist Rallying Cry for Workers 

Amy Goodman, Juan González and Boots Riley | July 17, 2018 | Democracy Now!

Salt of the Earth: Made of labour, by labour, for labour 

Sukhdev Sandhu | March 10, 2014 | The Guardian

Crystal Lee Sutton: The Organizer 

Maggie Jones | December 23, 2009 | The New York Times

Thunder on the Left: The Making of Reds 

Peter Biskind | January 22, 2007 | Vanity Fair

The Suppression of Salt of the Earth: How Hollywood, Big Labor, and Politicians Blacklisted a Movie in the American Cold War [Book]

James Lorence | October 1999 | University of New Mexico Press

Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff: An Expanded Guide to Films about Labor

Tom Zaniello | 2018 | ILR Press (Cornell University Press)

Women Labor Activists in the Movies: Nine Depictions of Workplace Organizers, 1954-2005

Jennifer L. Borda | 2011 | McFarland Publishers

Silver Screen Tarnishes Unions

Ken Margolies | July 1, 1981 | Screen Actor

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Transcript

For a full transcript of this episode, go here.

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