Honors 399 Final Paper Ideas

 

Honors 399 Final Paper Ideas:

 

-       How would Spike Lee make Do The Right Thing today?

-       Views about the ending of Do The Right Thing

-       Did Spike Lee do the right thing in his film?

-       Minor characters in Do The Right Thing and their significance

-       The role of music in Do The Right Thing

-       Symbols and images in Do The Right Thing—the heat, primary colors, names, the music

-       Women and organizing in Norma Rae

-       Race and ethnicity in Norma Rae

-       Race and class in Norma Rae

-       The outsider in films as different as Norma Rae and Just Mercy

-       Men versus women in these films

-       The issue of class in the films of this course

-       From the rainy streets of 1920s Berlin to the hot sidewalks of Bedford-Styvesant—what connects the films of this class, or what contrasts do we find?

-       From Murnaw’s doorman to Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp to Spike Lee’s Mookie, what do they share or how are they different?

-       The idea of struggle-whether it’s James Allen for freedom, Rip Murdock for justice in a friend’s death, Bed-Sty’s fight against the “Man”, and Norma Rae versus the cotton mill bosses—and how they might be linked or be different

-        A comparison/contrast of Do The Right Thing and Just Mercy

-       The evolution of race as an issue or at least a presence from I Am A Fugitive on a Chain Gang to Just Mercy

-       Systemic racism in Just Mercy

-       From I Am a Fugitive on a Chain Gang to Chaplin to Just Mercy, a critique of the criminal justice system

Eli Zivkovich

 

Eli Zivkovich is the real life labor union organizer that in part inspired Reuban Warshowsky in the 1979 film Norma Rae. Information on Zivkovich's early life is difficult to come by, however his career as a labor organizer is easier to track down. Zivkovich got his start in labor organization in West Virginia. Zivkovich was a 55 year old West Virginian coal miner who was once an organizer for the United Mine Workers (UMW) union, and prior to his arrival in North Carolina had no experience within textile mills or factories. Interestingly, Zivkovich was fired from from his organizing role in the UMW from the fallout of the union's 1969 election. He was the supporter of Tony Boyle, the current UMW president, and Boyle played a role in orchestrating the murder of his presidential rival Yablosnki and his family. Despite Zivkovich having no participation in the murders, his connection to Boyle lead to the UMW firing him in 1974. This left Zivkovich unemployed with two school age children, and Zivkovich searched for further work within the labor organization movement sweeping the South East which lead him to settle in North Carolina.

Zivkovich found work with the Textile Workers Union of America in 1973 and started in Greenville, NC, passing out leaflets for the organization. He relocated to Roanoke Rapids shortly after to work on the Steven's mill TWUA campaign, where mill workers harbored preexisting union sentiments which inspired Zivkovich to increase his leaflet campaigns and house calls for organization.  The vast majority of his initial following were the African American mill workers, who made up one third of Steven's mill employees. It was at a union meeting in Roanoke Rapids regarding the Steven's plants that Zivkovich first met Crystal Lee Sutton, the woman for whom Norma Rae is based. Sutton attended the May 13th meeting at the Chockoyotte Baptist church wherein she heard Zivkovich's speech, and decided to join the TWUA. 

Zivkovich and Sutton formed a quick friendship and mentorship that led to greater success in unionizing the Steven's plants and mills. In one example, the mill issued a notice that the TWUA was a front for the Black Power movement, given that the vast majority of union members in the early days were African American laborers. Supervisors were said to have been watching the bulletin board on which the letter was placed to fire suspected union members, and Sutton made it her goal to either copy or steal the letter for Zivkovich. 

This is the link to download a dissertation titled "THE MANY NORMA RAES: WORKING-CLASS WOMEN IN THE 1970s CAMPAIGN TO ORGANIZE J.P. STEVENS" that was used as a reference in this blog post: The Sweat Stains of Sally Field | Norma Rae (1979)www.brightwalldarkroom.com › 2020/10/05 › sally-fie...

Here is an hour long interview with Zivkovich from Youtube

Ella May Wiggins

Ella May Wiggins actually had nothing to do with film in her life, but she is important for this topic nonetheless. She was a very strong, dependable woman. She formed her own union titled the "National Textile Workers Union." She accomplished this after her precious job refused to accommodate her schedule. She was unable to care for her sick children, so they died.

An interesting belief of hers was that including African-Americans in her organization, along with Caucasians, would help strengthen the union. This type of ideal was very rare during this time.

Because her radical ideas were gaining power in the workforce, she became a target. On September 14, 1929, Wiggins became a martyr. She was shot by a group of armed men. These men were going to be charged with her murder, but they were acquitted after a very short discussion of the jury. Her headstone reads "She was killed carrying torch of social justice." 

J. P. Stevens

John Peters Stevens is widely known as the founder of one of the largest American textile firms. After attending Philips Academy, Stevens relocated to Boston Massachusetts. Here, he worked in the dry goods commission business. He then moved to New York where he established the J.P. Stevens Textile Corporation. Stevens’ grandfather had previously started a textile company and by selling products from this company, Stevens’ company experienced much growth.

The company ran 59 textile plants and employed 27,800. J.P. Stevens Textile Corporation became South Carolina’s third-largest employer. Like many Southern textile companies, the company consistently violated labor laws. There were long work hours and unions were few. The company had fifteen violations brought against them, and on November 30, 1978, many across the US participated in a boycott. It became known as “Justice for J. P. Stevens’ Workers Day.” Seventy-four cities across the US took a stand against one of the largest textile companies. 

Many attempts were made by the union. When a worker would try to get payback, Stevens prolonged the process until it no longer mattered. The union made one more final attempt and won their election, but the company did not sign a contract. After the release of Norma Rae popularity for the cause was reignited.

Brown Lung

 

Byssinosis or brown lung is a lung disease that is similar to a type of asthma.  It is caused by inhaling particles of unprocessed cotton in the air.  Mild cases can last for less than week and only include a tight chest and some difficulty breathing.  The severity of the symptoms depends on length of exposure to the raw cotton, and extended exposure could cause permanent issues with fatigue, pain, breathing, and a cough.  Often, the best cure would be limiting exposure to the cotton.

In the textile industry, especially during the time period of Norma Rae, workers were highly at risk to Byssinosis.  Work conditions were poor, and the workers’ health was not a priority for employers.  Over a third of workers had brown lung, and because of the confrontational relationship with factory owners, little was done to help the working people.  This issue, along with the lack of various health benefits, was a leading issue with unionizers. 

Ron Leibman

Ron Leibman was an American actor born in October of 1937. Leibman was raised in an upper middle class family in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Leibman is most remembered for his roles as the union organizer in "Norma Rae" and his Emmy-winning role as "Kaz" from CBS. He began his acting career in the theater in 1959. He was a success in the theater and began making small appearances in feature films. The actor debuted in film in 1970 in "Where's Poppa?" He is also remembered for his roles in "The Super Cops" (1973) and "Rhinestone" (1984). According to Rotten Tomatoes, his other films proved to be generally "disappointing". His approach to roles was not well-suited for television either. Leibman was in several television shows that just could not pull enough ratings. Leibman did win a Tony award in 1993 for his role as Roy Cohn in "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches."

In "Norma Rae", Ron Leibman plays the union organizer Reuben Warshowsky. Reuben is a New York-based union organizer who brings hope for change into town. Reuben and lead actress Norma Rae become strong allies in the film.

                                         

He also found some success in my all-time favorite television series "Friends" where he played Rachel Green's father. His appearances in the sitcom were slim, but he was known for his short-tempered, uptight character. 

ACTWU

 The Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) began as a national organization in America known as the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) in 1914. It was initially successful in Cleveland, Ohio but was organizationally slowed by the recession of the 1920s. In 1924, it started organizing the Joseph & Feiss Co. By 1934, the company recognized ACWA after 1,600 workers went on strike. This win encouraged more organizing in other Cleveland shops. ACWA was able to negotiate huge improvements in working conditions and wages and fringe benefits. 

In 1934, ACWA joined the American Federation of Labor (AFL) but split from the AFL a year later to form the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). This was a powerful and organized union, and this allowed the ACWA to go further in helping textile workers. By 1939, the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) was formed. Ten years later, it used the Sidney Hillman Building at 227 Payne Ave. for members’ use and community use. 

The ACWA was able to hold on to its wages and benefits despite the clothing industry recession in the 1950s. In 1976, the TWUA and ACWA joined for increased strength to create the ACTWU. ACTWU is famous for its impressive and successful clothing unions, securing improvements and benefits for its members, and these benefits include cooperative housing, banks, and insurance. Three years later, most industries in men’s attire were represented. In 1995, ACTWU merged again with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union to form the Union of Needletrade, Industrial and Technical Employees (UNITE). This union was one of America’s largest with 16 local affiliates in the Cleveland area and 350,000 members nationwide. 

Sally Field

 Sally Field was born in 1946 in Pasadena, California. She was born to an actress mother and salesman father, but her parents soon divorced, and her mother remarried to a stuntman. Needless to say, Sally was introduced to show business at an early age. Her acting career began when she was just nineteen. She landed her first role as "Gidget" in Gidget. Although the show was canceled due to poor ratings after just one season, this was the start of a long career in acting. Due to her popularity among television audiences, the network created the series The Flying Nun for her. This television show aired for three seasons, and in the same year began starring in the show, she also appeared in her first film, The Way West.

Sally Field over the next few years went on to appear in numerous television movies and shows including: Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring, Marriage: Year One, The Girl with Something Extra, and Sybil. She also starred in Smokey and the Bandit and Norma Rae. In Norma Rae, she played a mill worker who tried to unionize her workplace. She received her first Oscar for her role in Norma Rae. She also won an Oscar for Best Actress in Places in the Heart. She went on to succeed in leading roles in  Murphy's Romance and Punchline as well as playing smaller roles in numerous notable films such as Mrs. Doubtfire and Forrest Gump. 

Following her appearance as Forrest Gump's mother in 1994, Field has appeared in TV movies and miniseries such as A Woman of Independent Means, Merry Christmas, George Bailey, From the Earth to the Moon, and David Copperfield. She also directed and wrote the 1996 holiday television movie The Christmas Tree, and she won an Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series in 2001 for her recurring role on ER. She was also seen in Legally Blonde 2 and the popular television series Brothers & Sisters. For her hole as Nora Walker in this show, she was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. 

On a more personal note, Sally has also been married twice and had three sons: Peter and Eli Craig and Samuel Greisman. Following after their mother in the film industry, Peter is a writer and actor, and Eli is a director and actor. Sally Field has played numerous recognizable characters in films and TV shows from Mary Todd Lincoln in Lincoln to Aunt May in The Amazing Spider-Man. She has not only been an award winning actress, but she is also a published author and a spokesperson for osteoporosis, a disease she has been diagnosed with. 

Martin Ritt

Martin Ritt was an American film director that made films with socially conscious messages. His work focused on lone wolf type characters that were faced with moral dilemmas in society. He was born on March 2nd, 1914 in New York City to Jewish immigrant parents and graduated from Elon College with a degree in literature. He began acting in various theatre productions at this point and joined the Group Theatre in 1937, with which he acted in a number of successful productions. It was here that he cemented his philosophy of including social significance in his work. He served in WWII in 1942 with the Army Air Force, and after the war ended he began directing Off-broadway productions and occasionally television. In the 1930s and 40s, Ritt was a member of the Communist Party, and because of this he was prosecuted by the House of Un-American Activities Committee. He was blacklisted from his existing television roles for five years, and he used this time to take on more directing work in theatre.



In 1957, he broke back into Hollywood when he directed Edge of the City, and he followed up his comeback with a second film in the same year, No Down Payment. He then directed The Long, Hot Summer (1958) starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodaward. This was his first socially conscious film of this period in his career, but unfortunately his remaining films of the 50s were forgettable at best. He found success again though in 1961 with Paris Blues, a travel romance with music by Duke Ellington. His next great film, Hud (1963) is considered his greatest directorial achievement. It was a stunning modern western that had James Wong Howe win the academy award for best cinematography, Melvyn Douglas for best supporting actor, and Patricia Neal for best actress, with Paul Newman and Ritt also having nominations for best actor and director, respectively. Ritt found success again with The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965) and went on to direct several commercially successful films throughout the rest of the 1960s.



Fitt continued to focus on the issues of the HUAC blacklist era with The Molly Maguires (1970) and ventured into racism in sports with The Great White Hope (1970), the latter of which was nominated for two academy awards. His next film, Sounder (1972) was nominated for best picture, and his film with Woody Allen, The Front, (1976) confronted the HUAC blacklist era yet again. In 1979, Ritt directed his most popular film, Norma Rae, for which Sally Field won the academy award for best actress along with a nomination for best picture. He directed several films throughout the 1980s, but he struggled to find the same success that he had with Norma Rae, and he died in 1990 at the age of 76 in California shortly after the completion of his last film, Stanley & Iris. He is known for being a great actor director that brought the best out of his actors, and his proven track record of earning them numerous award nominations for their performances in his work was a testament to his skill.

Bruce Raynor

     Born and raised and Long Island, New York, Bruce Raynor stepped into the world of labor organizing after graduating from the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He started working in the Textile Worker's Union education department, which led to his involvement in the organizing of J.P. Stevens in North Carolina. Part of the same union drive that was dramatized in the movie Norma Rae. He continued to be hugely successful in organizing southern textile workers, unionizing tens of thousands of workers along the Southeast coast. His continued success saw him getting elected to represent 50,000 textile workers in the South. As he gained influence throughout the world of labor he began to move up the ranks of the top labor brass. 

    He eventually became the Executive Vice President of Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACTWU). After the merger between ACTWU and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union into the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) union, he became the Vice President and then later went onto become the president over the branch. UNITE then merged again with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) under his leadership creating the UNITE HERE union. However, UNITE HERE had numerous internal leadership troubles leading Raynor to break off and form Workers United, an SEIU affiliated union that was primarily made up of garment workers. He was also able to rise in the ranks of Amalgamated Bank, an institution geared towards providing banking resources to union members throughout the country. He worked to protect workers in ways beyond the workplace. Now he runs a consulting firm in New York and serves as the President Emeritus of Workers United. 

 

Crystal Lee Sutton

     

    Sutton was born in 1940, and was a Junior in High School when she started her first job, working a 4-midnight shift at the JP Stevens plant. Sutton spoke of wanting to join the army and see the world. However, she was raised in a mill town, where all seven mills were owned by JP Stevens. These mills employed both her grandparents, her mother, and her father. The local high school she attended even had courses for weaver training and how to work fixing the looms in the local factorys. Work in these mills was almost inevitable for members raised in the community, following through generations.

    In the 1970s, the textile mills were the only major US industry that was not largely unionized. The Textile Workers Union of America made its first appearance in Roanoke Rapid while at the age of 33, a mother of 3, she was earning $2.65 hourly in the mill; on her second marriage, Sutton was not new to struggle. Her first husband died in a car accident when she was only 20 with a four month old baby. 

    In 1973, Crystal saw a union poster in the mill for the first time, and all she could think about was the poor wages, the exhaustion of the work, and the little benefits she was suffering from and that she had watched her parents suffer from. 

    She attended her first union meeting, thinking of her children's future. The meeting was held in a Black church, and she was one of only two white citizens present. She became extremely passionate about the unionizing effort, holding union meetings in her home and talked about the efforts with other workers whenever she could. Eli Zivkovich, sent by TWUA to organize in Roanoke rapids, later stated that in his 20 years of work, "he had never known anyone who matched Sutton's zeal".

    Being preached anti-union rhetoric since childhood in church and school, the town ostracized her. The union was taught to be a tool for black power, and a union victory would have shut down all the mills, leading to mass unemployment for all of the residents. After months of trying to organize coworkers, she was fired, and the police, provoked by the factory's management, came to arrest her.

    As the police approached her during a work day, she took a piece of cardboard and wrote "union" in all caps, stood on her worktable, and held it up high. The workers slowly cut off their machines.

    A year later, ACTWU gained the right to represent 3,000 employees including Sutton. In 1977, a court ordered that Sutton be rehired and receive her wages since she was arrested. She clocked in for two days, quit, and went to work as an organizer. '

    After more than a decade of organizing, she earned a certification for nursing assistance in 1988. Eventually, she ran a day care center out of her home.

    

Lloyd 'Beau' Bridges III

         Lloyd ‘Beau’ Bridges III, son of actor Lloyd Bridges, was born in Hollywood, California in 1941. He had to be delivered by candlelight because of a power outage, and was nicknamed Beau after a character in Gone With the Wind, which his parents were reading at the time. Beau had several roles in movies as a child, notably in film noir Force of Evil and No Minor Vices, but despite this Beau wanted to be a basketball player. He went to college at UCLA where he was on the basketball team despite being five foot ten, and later transferred to University of Hawaii. Beau eventually enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, where he served for eight years. In 1962 Beau returned to the screen in his father’s series The Lloyd Bridges Show, and from there he found steady work in series such as Bonanza, and Twelve o’Clock High. He then made his way into film, acting in The Landlord, Greased Lightning, and Norma Rae, which was nominated for Academy Award for best picture.

Beau was nominated for multiple awards throughout the 1990s and won several including multiple Golden Globe award for best actor and best supporting actor, and multiple Emmy awards for lead actor and supporting actor. Along with awards for film and television, Beau also received a Grammy for his part in the spoken word album by Al Gore. In 2003 he received a star on the Hollywood walk of Fame. In 2011 Beau was awarded the Lone Sailor Award, which honors Coast Guard veterans who distinguish themselves in civilian careers. Beau is an outspoken Christian and a Vegan, supports environmental causes, and loves swimming. Beau continues to stay active in film and television today, and in 2012 he took part in the Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. In 2013, Beau played the character Tom in television show The Millers, and this year he already has three projects listed on IMBD that he is currently working on.

Honors 399 2nd paper ideas

Here are some ideas for your 2nd paper:

HONORS 399 – SECOND PAPER IDEAS

 

-       Charlie Chaplin and his critique of capitalism

-       Chaplin and the role of the gamin in “Modern Times”

-       How Chaplin mixes serious issues with comedy

-       Is Chaplin’s Little Tramp really a revolutionary?

-       Chaplin and poverty

-       Chaplin and authority

-       Chaplin and food

-       “Dead Reckoning” and its view of American society

-       The Femme Fatale in “Dead Reckoning” and other films

-       Soldiers adjusting to the home front in film noir

-       Light and dark in film noir and German Expressionism

-       Bogey’s journey through HUAC

-       Lizabeth Scott’s struggle with type casting

-       Minor characters in both “Modern Times” and “Dead Reckoning”

-       Cops in “Modern Times” and “Dead Reckoning”

-       Sexism and racism in “Dead Reckoning”

-       Music in “Modern Times” and/or “Dead Reckoning”

-       Charlie Chaplin’s struggle with sound

-       Hollywood censors and “Modern Times” and/or “Dead Reckoning”

-       Crime and corruption in either or both films

-       Tell-tale signs of Dusty’s corruption in “Dead Reckoning”

-       Martinelli and Krause, Dusty versus Mike versus Coral: What’s in a name?

-       “High Noon” and HUAC

-       Gary Cooper: from friendly HUAC witness to colleague of unfriendly witness

-       Music in “High Noon”

-       “High Noon” versus the typical Western

-       Grace Kelly and Katy Jurado in “High Noon”

-       Cinematography in “High Noon”

-       Fred Zinneman’s purpose in “High Noon”

-       The importance of the supporting cast in “High Noon”