MovieChat Forums > Norma Rae (1979) Discussion > Misleading and Misguided

Misleading and Misguided

posted 15 years ago by Chris2006
25 replies | jump to latest

Wonderful performances aside, this film was nothing more than a leftist screed for Unions. The typical storylines are all there: Evil bosses; Heroic workers; Benevolent, Christ-like organizer; Triumph of the little guy....etc.

What the story doesn't bother to cover is the aftermath. How long after Reuben skipped bak up to Brooklyn to enjoy a "Nathan's" hotdog were there layoffs at the plant? How long after that was the plant closed? In the end, were those workers really better off, or did the union just give them false hope while increasing dues incomes?

Show this film to a bunch of Chinese textile workers TODAY, and they'd likely think it was a comedy! "You mean these workers actually had their own automobiles?" "These people sure had a lot of food to eat!" Now take out the word "textile" and insert "auto."

Guess what? Many unions are corrupt fronts for organized crime. Many workers are lazy. Many jobs involve unpleasant working conditions. Many company owners really to care about their workers. Those that work hard deserve more reward than those that don't.

The struggle of the heroic worker is not the ONLY narrative of the American story.

[–] rrb 15 years ago

LOL! Talk about a screed...

[–] Chris2006 15 years ago

Well, opinions do tend to vary.

[–] skiop 15 years ago

There's a big difference between an opinion and a diatribe.

[–] Moondrop_C 15 years ago

Why not get down off your soapbox and do some research. Here, let me help you:
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/JPS-Textile-Group-Inc -Company-History.html

Doesn't look like unionizing killed that company.

[–] euro4569 15 years ago

I really agree with Chris. Now, the plant is CLOSED.

[–] coxm-1 15 years ago

"I really agree with Chris. Now, the plant is CLOSED."

The plant is closed because J.P. Stevens when out of business, not because of any localized Union activity.

Dummy!

[–] SandyR (7359) 2 years ago

Why did you add "Dummy" at the end of your comment? You were winning the argument, and then you committed a logical fallacy and forfeited. What was the purpose?

[–] CandideForVoltaire 15 years ago

HAHAhahahahhahahahahahahahahaHAHAHA

I'm alternating caps because I'm laughing so hard. Awww, poor guy thinks that it's okay for businessmen to make $10k an hour, but it's a horrible sin for people to not make slave wages (or, let's say, $50 an hour).

You've been so brainwashed by the rich.

I pity you. Bet you're against UHC and why increase taxes on the rich because NEXT YEAR I'LL BE RICH!!!

[–] Chris2006 15 years ago

Listen here "Voltaire": I am against government run healthcare and unfair taxes that target job creators. Theft is morally wrong, no matter what the reason. You've found a way to manouver around that moral question, and good for you. I'm gonna stick to my guns and wait paitently to be proven right.

As for you, just plug in your i-pod and fall back into your pop culture induced stupor and let the grown-ups figure out all the hard stuff.

Have a great day.

[–] CandideForVoltaire 14 years ago

Don't own an ipod or any other expensive gadget. It's not theft when the rich steal it by exploiting the third world countries or lie and cheat the masses? I bet you thought Carnegie and Rockefeller were great guys, too.

[–] Eumenides_0 12 years ago

I wonder Chris, what do you do for a living? How much do you earn?

This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.

[–] rekcilorf 7 years ago

The battle of rich vs poor, owners vs workers, is as old as history. Both sides have something to gain and something to lose, but the rich seem to hold most of the better cards. BTW, I am not really in either extreme category but have the objectivity to see and understand both sides of the labor issues in our country and the world at large. Study some history people!

[–] Sheldonshells 10 years ago

Yeah theft is morally wrong, so I'd expect to hear you speaking out against finannce firms and banks on wall street, because there's been no one in the last hundred years who's stolen more money and ALL for themselves. Bonnie and Clyde got nothing on criminal organizations like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs. And did you actually say the phrase "job creator". Pfff, omg what delusion! Theses a-holes havn't created any jobs. The employment rate was like 4% at the end of the 90s before Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, yet by the end of the 2000s, and even with their tax cuts and all the free handouts these superich, pathological pukes were handed, the unemployment rate stood at 9%. Some jobs these job creators created.

I don't even see why you support them. The people you're supporting would chew you up and shat you right out if they thought for a second it would persoanlly benefit them somehow, so what gives? Is it because that's how you see yourself? Why would you want to be that way anyway, like a scumbag? Do you see yourself as becoming rich too? So then you can act that way too, so given that you better damn well support this nonsense now or maybe it'll never happen to me! lol, grow up buddy. You've been inculcated with a lot of bull, from the sounds of what you're saying here anyway.

[–] paul_sexton 14 years ago

But, those union workers are now making $0/hr because they don't have jobs.

[–] pilarinhavana 10 years ago

And the non-union, company loyal millworkers are making $0/hr because the textile companies could move American job off shore without impunity. At least for a time the union workers had better wages.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] SnoozeAlarm 9 years ago

>>> this film was nothing more than a leftist screed

As are so many others!

It should be against the law to use 'LOL'; unless you really did LOL!

[–] SkaterDave 9 years ago

All you right wing whiners are such asswipes. It was a movie about something that actually happened. It showed one part of it. It didn't have any sort of leftist agenda. It didn't show what happened afterwards because it was a story about a specific event. God you righties are idiots. Oh and the one who's against government funded health care..*beep* you.

[–] Stratego (29255) 3 years ago

Melting snowflake alert!

[–] Stratego (29255) 3 years ago

Crystal Lee Sutton, the real Norma Rae, was pretty full of herself:

"Sutton complained that the ACTWU didn't support her after her arrest. She claimed union leaders "acted like they were ashamed to have ever had anything to do with Crystal Lee." She said that when she was reinstated at J.P. Stevens, she was snubbed by the union organizer. "I mean, I walked into that mill that day and the organizer said he didn't even know who I was. There was nobody from the regional office. No press, nothing." Two days later she took her accumulated sick days to demonstrate her value to the union."

[–] HarlemEagle42 (16190) 2 years ago

Who was this, Scott Walker? Paul Ryan?

[–] TheArgentinian (6447) 7 months ago

so, if you don't live in a communist country, you should be grateful for what your handed? what a bootlicker...