Many people in the current society are under the belief that service jobs hold low value because it has been pressed into their minds that anyone can work them. He challenged the view that the intelligence of people who work blue-collar jobs is lower than those who do not. That struggle blinds Jerry to the realities his friend has to face as a Black man, and leaves him not only unsympathetic towards him, but ultimately resentful.An Analysis of “Blue Collar Brilliance” by Mike Rose In his essay, “Blue Collar Brilliance,” author Mike Rose explained how he watched different types of service workers in the field, then came to the conclusion that each of them possesses a unique set of skills that takes a lot of intelligence to master. But Jerry is only concerned about his own Polish-American family, and so the struggle to collectively bargain for a better future becomes an individual struggle for survival. Zeke explains that he cannot afford to waste his one opportunity at breaking the cycle of instability and poverty in his family. But Zeke’s response is telling: “You’re my friend, Jerry, but you’re thinking white.” Finally, the racial subtext present throughout the film becomes the text. He understandably feels betrayed by his friend, claiming he failed to honor Smokey’s memory and becoming a sellout. When Jerry confronts Zeke, he finds that his friend gave up their incriminating evidence in order to receive a promotion at the plant. But it is not enough that the union has disbanded their grand plans of outwitting them they pit the friends against each other, revealing deep-seated resentments between the men that divert attention away from the problem at hand.īeyond fear, beyond general powerlessness, it is racial animosity that also contributes to the fracturing of the bond between these men. Jerry plans to rat on the union to the FBI, but Zeke takes a compromise to save his family. Afraid to congregate and just focused on surviving, the two go on divergent paths. Smokey, their fearless leader, is killed in a mysterious workplace “accident,” leaving Jerry and Zeke paranoid and distraught. Using a combination of violent intimidation and manipulation, the union systematically breaks apart the bond between the men. Thanks to Smokey’s speech, the group agrees to join together to blackmail the union for ten thousand dollars, but the power of the corrupt institution is too strong for three underpaid laborers. They pit the lifers against the new boys, the old against the young, the black against the white, anything to keep us in our place.” Initially, Smokey, as the fearless ex-convict of the group, is able to corral them by making an impassioned plea for solidarity, arguably the thesis of the film: “Why do you go to the line every Friday? Because the finance man’s gonna be at your house on Saturday…that’s exactly what the company wants, to keep you on the line. ![]() ![]() ![]() This is a far cry from happily ever after advertised by the New Deal era Schrader’s establishment of tone and atmosphere indicates that we are already headed down the wrong path as a country. And the union rep, clearly in the pocket of other interests invisible to the average worker, can’t even secure basic workplace improvements. These men work long, arduous hours just to end up heavily indebted to the IRS, just to moonlight as a gas station attendant to put food on the table. ![]() But for autoworkers Zeke ( Richard Pryorin a rare dramatic turn), Smokey ( Yaphet Kotto), and Jerry ( Harvey Keitel), the union is just another broken institution offering up false promises in order to subdue them. Most labor films (like the much more successful Norma Rae, which would receive numerous Oscar nominations a year later) typically end on the triumphant note of a successful union vote, implying that there is no drama left to report. In his typically subversive way, he begins the film where many tales about labor end: a union. Having made a major breakthrough as the screenwriter for Taxi Driver (1976), Schrader moved his focus from New York to an auto plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
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