Last time we had class, we watch the documentary film Harlan County, USA which was about the coal miners’ strike. The film was made by a woman, Barbara Kopple, and the film showed the roles of the women as very dominant and determined characters throughout the strike. I was really surprised that no one in class made a connection between the director being a woman and the strong characters of the film being women. I would assume someone, especially one of the guys in class, would say or think that maybe she was being biased towards the women, as a woman she wanted to present the women as very strong beings so maybe she made sure to include scenes where the women seemed dominant and valuable, and didn’t show many scenes where the men are seeming to be strong. I really appreciated the guys in the class for not having that type of mentality and instead, discussing in class how they also thought how essential these women were in the strike. Personally, I don’t think the director was biased, I do think many of the women were truly very supportive of the strike and helpful and the director captured just that, but I was just surprised no one else thought otherwise. Although, it does make me wonder if a man made this film instead of Barbara Kopple, would it appear to be different? Would a male director allow to show how strong and essential women were during this strike, but I guess that depends on which director it is. A particular scene that I really liked in the film was when the “gun thug” asked the filmmaker for her identification, and she asked him for his instead. That scene really made me fond of the director. You can sense her courage and also her support of the coal miners and their families. When I searched about this film, I also learned that even when the director would run out of film, she would pretend to keep filming because it prevented the violence a bit. I don’t wish for workers to be in such bad conditions again where they have to strike, but if that time does come, I do hope everyone is as unified as the coal miners and their families were.
Interesting point, Bushra! I wonder too whether a male director would have even sought out the women in this story. Perhaps a male director would have been able to spend more time in the mines but less time at meetings with women? It’s hard to say, of course, but I think being a woman likely gave BK more entrance into various situations than if she had been a man. The strike breaker guy probably wouldn’t have been even remotely friendly (though it was a fake, surface kind of friendliness) to a man recording the events and rather clearly from the point of view of the miners.
You’re right Bushra, I didn’t stop for one minute to think the director was Biased towards the women. But in terms of film style i totally see what you’re saying now. It seems the only Male prominent figure was the”gun thug”. Almost makes you think that good guys are weak and the bad guys are strong. Would it be wrong to think this may have been the way she thought about men so therefore we are seeing something about her personally. I feel these biases may happen all the time even in fictional films. The way Producers affect a film in their portrayal of certain individuals, for example how minorities always tend to be killed off. How in films produced by men, women tend to be over sexualized. I’ll definitely try to pay more attention during our next film