Matewan: an academic reading

The miners of West Virginia have faced many hardships throughout the years of their service. They have endeared health problems, arguments with business leaders, and even government force in their campaign for better working conditions. Filmmaker John Sayles wanted to make a realistic portrayal of their struggles in the early part of the Twentieth century. Sayles’ film Matewan, for the most part, follows the guidelines of classic film realism. There is, however, an exception, and that makes the film somewhat radical.
The real action in Matewan begins with the arrival of Joe Kenehan, a union backer. Kenehan suggests several ideas and helps the miners organize their union. In this sense, the film follows Hill’s idea of the narrative fairly well. The start of the film, the first equilibrium, has the miners arguing with the company. This is not what we might think of as a stable situation, but it is the regular setting for this era. The next step of the narrative is a disruption in this equilibrium, and that disruption is Kenehan. He is an outsider who comes into the situation and disrupts things. He helps organize the strike and gets the miners to accept the African-Americans and Italians into their union.
For the traditional narrative to continue, this action then requires a force from the other side to bring back a setting equal to the opening. That force is the company’s reaction to the powerful strike. They send in their agents and the shootout ensues. This is their answer to solving the problem. At the end of the film, the setting is indeed close to the original: the miners are still fighting with the company, and Kenehan is gone. In that sense, it seems that the equilibrium has been reestablished. The setting, however, must also be somewhat different, according to the rules of narrative, and it is. Kenehan has left his mark and the fight has intensified. Some of the townspeople are dead, and that is obviously a change from the beginning. Thus, the film follows one idea of Hill fairly well.
Hill also discusses the ideology of affirmation. This idea states that people control the events in their lives. Sayles tries to assure the audience that this is true. The miners fight to deny the idea that they are slaves to the company. They always have had to listen to their employers and follow their orders exactly, or else they would not survive. Kenehan helps convince them that they can fight back; that they can make a difference. There is a great line from James Earl Jones’ character in a conversation with another black miner character, where they realize that they are still basically slaves to the white folk. Their lives have not improved much. When the native miners allow them (and the Italians) to join the union, it is likely the first time in their lives that they have stood up to their superiors. As Jones said of his character, “I saw Few Clothes as an activist in the sense that he only wanted the best for [his fellow outsiders]. He knows that if he talks back [to any white boss], he may get a noose put around his neck.”
Another ideology that Hill discusses is that of containment. This suggests that one person’s attitude is the cause of the problem; on a larger scale, the problem lies with a few outcasts, not many people. In this film, Kenehan is the outsider whose attitude affects everyone else. He does not want violence, he does want the miners to include the African-Americans and Italians, and he even admits his communist ideas. His ideas are radical to everyone involved, especially the company’s agents. They are out to destroy him and defile him in the minds of the workers. Once again, Sayles’ film follows Hill’s idea. The problem (which is the company’s problem) comes from Kenehan. He inspires the miners. He gets help from Few Clothes, Danny, and other people, and the miners are already angry with the company, but he directly causes much of the action. When he dies at he shootout, it solves their problem in a way.
Matewan is very much on the side of the union miners. Sayles has the audience feeling sorry for their plight at all times, while making the agents evil, unmerciful villains. They are ridiculously mean to the townspeople at all times. They laugh at church! Sayles does not take an impartial view in this, and that is why this movie emits left-wing, radical ideas.
Sayles does and does not follow the ideas of classic film realism in his film Matewan. He goes along with most of the ideas, but shows bias and directs the audience’s feelings towards one side of the fight. Matewan is a powerful testament to the struggles of the West Virginia miners, but the radical ideas may turn off conservative viewers. Even so, Sayles has made a strong statement.