Oppression is a finicky thing. As time passes we progress and social issues create new, intersecting shapes. This leads systems of domination to viciously change and mold along with us, continuing to misrepresent minorities by ignoring their subjective histories in order to naturalize oppression in the future. However this should not lead to total discouragement, for every victory, is a necessary step towards the fair treatment and equal rights of all people. These processes can be examined through the outcomes depicted in the film Salt of the Earth and the strike it represents, as well as through the struggle faced in creating the film to correctly tell that story, as explained in Cold War Re-Visions: Representation and Resistance in the Unseen
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First, it is imperative to acknowledge the struggle faced to actually make this film, which encountered its own form of restriction in accordance to the social issues of the time and the governments’ ruthless persecutions of them, “Those persecutions were ferocious towards anyone suspected of communist or union or even anti-fascist sympathies, and against gay and lesbian people” (Aptheker “Salt of the Earth”). Considering how the film was made by a group of Hollywood talents—including Herbert Biberman and Michael Wilson—whom were blacklisted after being called before the House of Un-American Activities as alleged communists and subversives; the lead actress, Rosaura Revueltas, who played Esperanza Quintero in the film, was arrested on immigration charges and deported before the film was even completed; and how many performers in the film were actual participants in the real-life event, it is clear how these maltreatments posed issues in the process of creating the film by treating its’ vital participants unfairly, and exemplify the U.S. government’s attempt to stop the film from being …show more content…
As a result, the amended script made it so “the bulk of the film focuses on civil rights within a rights framework, which is safer than the more radical agenda the filmmakers originally had in mind” (Aptheker “Salt of the Earth”). In the real-life event the strikers did win, but it was a limited victory, whereas the film leads us to believe that all was achieved and will continue to be fine and equal after the screen fades to black. Consequently, the film offers us only one kind of historical truth, which is “…not to take away any of the films power” (Balthaser 368); however, it is crucial that we combine the films contents with actual historical outcomes because, “Between the treatment, pre-production draft, and final film version, the screenplay went through a number of changes and edits that significantly changed the meaning of the film” (Balthaser 348). This is not to say that Salt of the Earth did a bad job of telling the story of the strike; however, by looking at the unreleased pre-production draft, Balthaser argues that “the changes reveal a new film”
First, it is imperative to acknowledge the struggle faced to actually make this film, which encountered its own form of restriction in accordance to the social issues of the time and the governments’ ruthless persecutions of them, “Those persecutions were ferocious towards anyone suspected of communist or union or even anti-fascist sympathies, and against gay and lesbian people” (Aptheker “Salt of the Earth”). Considering how the film was made by a group of Hollywood talents—including Herbert Biberman and Michael Wilson—whom were blacklisted after being called before the House of Un-American Activities as alleged communists and subversives; the lead actress, Rosaura Revueltas, who played Esperanza Quintero in the film, was arrested on immigration charges and deported before the film was even completed; and how many performers in the film were actual participants in the real-life event, it is clear how these maltreatments posed issues in the process of creating the film by treating its’ vital participants unfairly, and exemplify the U.S. government’s attempt to stop the film from being …show more content…
As a result, the amended script made it so “the bulk of the film focuses on civil rights within a rights framework, which is safer than the more radical agenda the filmmakers originally had in mind” (Aptheker “Salt of the Earth”). In the real-life event the strikers did win, but it was a limited victory, whereas the film leads us to believe that all was achieved and will continue to be fine and equal after the screen fades to black. Consequently, the film offers us only one kind of historical truth, which is “…not to take away any of the films power” (Balthaser 368); however, it is crucial that we combine the films contents with actual historical outcomes because, “Between the treatment, pre-production draft, and final film version, the screenplay went through a number of changes and edits that significantly changed the meaning of the film” (Balthaser 348). This is not to say that Salt of the Earth did a bad job of telling the story of the strike; however, by looking at the unreleased pre-production draft, Balthaser argues that “the changes reveal a new film”