Advocacy at its Best & ‘In the Movies’
The implicit question - ‘Why fight, if the bad guys have already won? The answer, of course, is that you should fight because it’s the right thing to do, and because even the promise of justice is slim, it’s a public service of a more diminished kind to show people how broken the system is.”
(Quote by Matt Zoller Seitz- Editor At large for RogerEbert.com , film critic , author.) I think Matt was talking directly to me as an ADVOCATE!
True advocacy is not for the faint of heart.
It can be grueling work, particularly if ‘your audience’ doesn’t embrace the issue.
If it seemingly doesn’t impact them, they often don’t care.
However, perseverance can be the key as well as frequent communication and follow up, so that even small gains can be celebrated ‘in the grand scheme of things.’
Patience is part of it… a virtue I seldom have, as a driven ‘take care of business’ person.
Your rate of success, often depends on your environment - geographic, your support system, resources available, culture and attitudes.
It appears in my retirement years, I have been a ‘square peg in a round hole,’ never quite fitting in anywhere, for my uniqueness.
However, a true advocate can’t be deterred.
When it is time to accept the smaller accomplishments versus the brass rin’, we must accept it with grace and move on to the next mountain to scale.
I’ve been advocating my entire life in so many arenas in small and large ways, that day-to-day advocacy ( Example - assisting a senior resident in a small but significant way for them) is like rolling off a log to me.’ Easy and yet satisfying.
AT THE MOVIES…
I was watching an engrossing Netflix documentary recently and decided for those who do not know how to advocate, some movie examples of the past might illuminate your understanding… and peak your curiosity should you need my services!
( Historical Listing of a few Favorite Advocacy Movies)
1) Movie “Norma Rae” Released in 1979
Theme Song- “It Goes Like it Goes’ by Jennifer Warren
Based on the True Story of Crystal Lee Sutton
Grossed $22 million; 4 Nominations at the 52nd Academy Awards
Major Star(s) Sally Field, Rob Leibman , Beau Bridges
This movie is wonderful for its passion and themes including working class struggles, feminism and the process of unionization. The setting is a textile factory in a small town in North Carolina. Wages are pitiful, the hours are long and working conditions are deplorable.
Norma Rae is one such worker, inspired and recruited by union organizer, played by Rob Liebman. Shesees her co-workers and family members health deteriorate and decides to dedicate herself to the effort of unionization 24/7 at much personal sacrifice and risk.
2) Movie “Silkwood’ Released in 1983
Based on the True Story of Karen Sikwood
Grossed $35.6 Million; Nominated for numerous Academy Awards & Golden Globe Awards. It eventually earned a total of $35,615,609 in the U.S. and Canada.
Major Stars - Meryl Streep, Kurt Russel, Cher
Karen works as a lab worker at a nuclear ( plutonium) plant in Oklahoma. She becomes concerned about the safety practices in the plant and tries to raise awareness of the violations at the Kerr- McGee plant.
The evil is the corporation as much as the killer chemicals, the union and the fear of losing their jobs.
‘No good deed goes unpunished’ and punished she is at every turn!
Another portrayal of the working class poor, barely making it. When Karen rises as a heroine, at great personal risk, and is about to expose the corruption for good with a major national newspaper journalist, she is pursued in her car and killed.
Silkwood herself had forty times the legal limit of radioactive contamination in her system.
In real life, her inconclusive death in a car crash gave rise to a 1979 lawsuit, Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee, led by attorney Gerry Spence. The jury rendered its verdict of $10 million in damages to be paid to the Silkwood estate (her children), the largest amount in damages ever awarded for that kind of case at the time. The Silkwood estate eventually settled for $1.3 million.
3) Movie - “The China Syndrome” Released in 1979;
Based on true life events;
Grossed $51.7 Million; Nominated & Won Numerous awards in ten categories
Major Stars - Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, Jack Lemmon
This movie again captures imminent danger, corporate greed and discovering a cover up in which the protagonist is deemed mentally ill in their attempts to stop Jack Lemonfrom uncovering the danger and safety violations which was a potential precursor for an atomic event. No one would listen and he became desperate.
Jane Fonda is the news reporter, and Michael Doglas her cameraman where they unintentionally witness SCRAM -a rapid emergency shutdown of a nuclear reactor.
Yes, there is a death due to the corruptive coverup!
4) Movie- Netflix Documentary ‘Dark Waters’- Released 2019
A True Story of an Attorney who took on the corporate giant DuPont and Won
Major Star - Mark Ruffalo
A dark tale involving contaminated water yet again in rural West Virginia.
A corporate lawyer fights against the DuPont Corporation and gets involved due to a ‘family relation’, uncovers the motherload of evidence maiming cows and giving cancer to people as a consequence of poisoning the water supply. The culprit killer is the mysterious perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA),which is a byproduct of the ‘magic substance’ Teflon coating that covered army tankers and kitchen pots in the early 1960’s.
Of course, the hero attorney gets involved at the expense of his career and practically abandons his wife and children in the pursuit. It is engrossing, and well acted!
Many were female advocates whom I tendto gravitate to. … but not exclusively!
So, get a copy from Amazon or Netflix and enjoy!
IT’S A WRAP… and don’t forget to contact me!
Thanks! https://donnagore.com/contact