Silkwood

Producer, Mike Nichols provides us with a powerful look into the life of an American nuclear plant worker in the 1983 movie “Silkwood.” Starring Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell and Cher, “Silkwood” depicts the true story of Karen Silkwood, a chemical technician and union activist at Kerr-McGee nuclear facility in Crescent, Oklahoma. Knowing that the plant is three months behind in meeting a contract’s deadline, Silkwood suspects that their work is being compr0mised in order to meet the deadline. Silkwood strives to ensure that she and her co-workers are safe. As an activist, she raised concerns about corporate practices as they relate to quality control and safety procedures that put herself and her coworkers at risk for radioactive contamination.…

The Canary Effect The film the canary effect was written in the year 2006. It is a documentary written by director Robin Davey. Davey focused throughout the film `the effects the United States rules and regulations have placed on the lives of Native Americans. The film was produced to bring forth the truth and uncover the horrifying truth of the indigenous people’s lives. US policies have complicated the lives of the indigenous people both past and present. The documentary the canary effect…

Silkwood Patti Maisner Kaplan University Introduction Karen Silkwood, in her twenty’s, worked for Kerr-McGee Corporation in the state of Oklahoma in the field of metallurgy. She worked with plutonium (a radioactive metal) at her job and noticed after a time of employment, that things were not being correctly, in terms of protecting the workers. She tried to change and implement safety procedures to ensure worker protection, but instead was seen as a ‘whistle blower’. Because…

mid 1980’s and by 2000 only 50,000 wells remained active of the over 500,000 wells drilled in Oklahoma (Reese and Loughlin, 62). The rise of natural gas boomed in search for cleaner burning fuels. In 1903, Oklahoma was producing 9.3 trillion cubic feet of gas and today Oklahoma is 3rd in the nation in producing natural gas (Reese and Loughlin, 64). The search for cleaner energy led to the growth of the wind turbines in the 1990’s, but nuclear energy took the biggest hit in the state for…

environmental mixtures. This article provides an insight into the issue of contamination and the potential effects to humans by the chemicals used in oil and gas operations. It is important to have studies like these, to demonstrate the need for regulations of companies that use thousands of chemicals during extraction of oil and gas and seek to profit billions, with little regard for the problems that could surface down the road. In week 9, we discussed whistleblowers and the Silkwood case.…

Because of social media and the internet, instances such as the one with Karen Silkwood are less likely to ever occur again. Silkwood was a member of the bargaining committee within her union. She testified before the Atomic Energy Commission that she had found serious violations among which were spills, leaks, faulty fuel rods and missing plutonium. On her way to meet a New York Times reporter, her car went off the road and she was killed. They found Quaaludes in her blood stream and the…

interpersonal, which is what Nichols likes to explore in his films. Wit is a classic Mike Nichols film because it includes several of his favorite themes like sickness and health, transformation of character, rules, being a fish out of water, education and dream-like imagery. The film Wit directed is a perfect example of a movie that has “by Mike Nichols” written all over it. One of the film’s several scenes that directly relates to his other movies is the treatment of sick or contaminated…

Sir Thomas Moore stood up for what he believed in but it hurt his family in the end. Karen Silkwood worked to do the same but she seemed to lack a lasting impact. Sir Gawain was considered the perfect person and showed in the end that anybody can have faults. There was much discussion about whether these three characters should be considered heroes or not, however, many would agree that McMurphy was at least a hero to those in the ward. He stood up for his beliefs, he had a following, and in…

up in drag which catapulted them even further into the echelons of success to which many other bands have tried and failed to supersede. Freddie never really ventured into musical theatre but was no stranger to theatricality. With costumes, stage shows and his general ‘campness’, Freddie Mercury was never afraid to show who he was, nor to feel the need to justify himself to anyone. Although Freddie died in the early 90’s of an Aids related illness, he was and still is one of the most famous gay…