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https://theconversation.com/hollywood-on-the-picket-line-5-unsung-films-that-put-americas-union-history-on-the-silver-screen-209824>
"Some of Hollywood’s top stars are joining screenwriters on the picket line
after the main U.S. actors union voted to take part in an ongoing strike.
SAG-AFTRA, which represents more than 150,000 screen and stage actors,
announced on July 13, 2023, that its members would go on strike.
In so doing, they join members of the Writers Guild of America who have been on
strike for several weeks.
Battles between Hollywood unions and the studios have taken place since the
1940s. But this is the first time since the Eisenhower administration that the
two major Hollywood unions have been on strike at the same time. The action –
sparked by a long-running dispute over pay and greater protection against use
of artificial intelligence and the rise of streaming services like Netflix –
has shut down productions and become increasingly acrimonious. One Hollywood
source told a reporter that the studios want these strikes to “drag on until
union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.”
The strikes come at a time when polls suggest unions are more popular in the
U.S. than at any time since 1965, and the labor movement is experiencing a
resurgence of organizing.
Since the mid-1900s, Hollywood studios have depicted the collective efforts of
working people to improve their lives and gain a voice in their workplaces and
the larger society with both sympathy and hostility. Independent producers, who
gained a foothold starting in the 1970s, have generally been friendlier toward
workers and their unions.
Some of the most well-known labor movies champion the struggle of the everyday
worker: “Modern Times,” released in 1936, stars Charlie Chaplin going crazy due
to his job on an assembly line. It features the famous image of Chaplin caught
in the gears of factory machinery. “The Grapes of Wrath,” a 1940 adaptation of
John Steinbeck’s novel, tells the story of sharecropper Tom Joad’s
radicalization after his family and other migrant workers experience destitute
conditions in California’s growing fields and overcrowded migrant camps."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
