Roger & Me is a 1989 American documentary film directed and produced by Michael Moore. The film explores the devastating impact of corporate downsizing on Flint, Michigan, a city that was once a thriving center of the American automotive industry.
In the film, Moore traces the history of Flint, beginning with its founding as a hub for General Motors (GM) manufacturing. At the height of its success, Flint was a bustling city with a thriving middle class and a strong sense of community. However, as GM began to face economic challenges in the 1970s and 1980s, the company began to shift its operations to other countries, where labor was cheaper.
The impact on Flint was catastrophic. As GM closed its factories and laid off workers, the city's economy collapsed. Unemployment soared, and entire neighborhoods were abandoned as people were forced to leave in search of work.
Through interviews with former GM employees, community leaders, and even Roger Smith, the CEO of GM at the time, Moore paints a poignant and often heartbreaking portrait of the human toll of corporate greed. The film is a powerful indictment of the way in which large corporations prioritize profits over people, and the devastating consequences that can have on communities and families.
Roger & Me was a groundbreaking film when it was released, and it remains an important and relevant work today. Its message about the need for corporate accountability and the importance of protecting workers and communities is as timely now as it was when the film was made.
Roger & Me
This is not to say that you shouldn't have a comfy car. It shows how poverty is a plague sweeping throughout the city. Cutting costs are one way to do that. The Journal does not ascribe to any specific method but expect articles to shed light on the views and teaching of the production and study of film and video. A former feminist radio host, Janet, joins During all of this, Flint's crime rate skyrockets, with shootouts and murders becoming much more common. The movies main focus is around Initech, but also shows us another company that needs to implement change, Chatskys. Crime becomes so prevalent, that when the ABC News program "Nightline" tries to do a live story on the plant closings, someone steals the network's van along with the cables , abruptly stopping the broadcast.
Roger and Me (1989)
The film is surprisingly non-partisan. Details the attempts of filmmaker Michael Moore to get an interview with GM CEO Roger Smith. You'd have to go talk to their landlords. In a close up of Smith, he can be heard joking about what he did with a fellow board member before leaving. No one bought anything so stores went out of business, creating even more unemployment. Suddenly, his future was something to dread, not look forward to.
ROGER AND ME: DOCUMENTAPHOBIA AND MIXED MODES on JSTOR
. It was truly the dawn of a new era. Retrieved March 20, 2012. Moore chronicles how GM had previously defined his childhood while growing up in Flint, Michigan, and how the company was the primary economic and social hub of the town. This is an informative documentary that shows us the reality of this economic system, Capitalism.
Michael Moore's 'Roger & Me' (1989)
Plot summary A documentary about the closure of General Motors' plant at Flint, Michigan, which resulted in the loss of 30,000 jobs. This film shows the people of Flint and the hard times they endured during a time of major layoffs and job unemployment due to GM closing multiple factories. Despite its success, the film was not nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award in 1990. Smaller homes encourage us to get out of the house which is not a bad thing. The Robber Baron in question is General Motors CEO Roger Smith. . Disguised as a TV journalist from Toledo, Ohio, Moore interviews some auto workers in Flint and discovers their strong antipathy to General Motors chairman Roger B.
. Pat Boone and Anita Bryant, who have supplied GM with celebrity endorsements, also come to town; Boone tells Moore that Roger Smith is a "can-do" kind of guy. What Moore personally does in the documentary is of course less important than what we see happen to a previously idealistic American town as it completely falls apart. Also met is a former auto worker, angered over the layoffs, who is named James Bond. Smith is shown expounding about generosity during the holiday season, concurrently as Deputy Ross evicts another family from their home. I pictured this as sort of My Dinner with Andre on wheels. The New York Times.
So, why wouldn't GM do that? Retrieved January 11, 2017. Moore: They used to work for General Motors, and now they don't work there anymore. Moore documents the transition from prosperity to poverty in the city of Flint, Michigan. Also, smaller cars get you from point A to point B exactly like big cars do. .
