The Hard Work Of Coal Miners In The Film Matewan

The film Matewan demonstrates the hard work of coal miners during the time of the early 1920’s in a fine sized town called Stone Mountain located in West Virginia. Being that everyone that resided in this town were primarily coal miners they worked for the Stone Mountain Coal Company. The company acted as the seigneur because they were superior to others due to the amount of authority they had. Along with the authority, the company had residential areas, land, and also restaurants. The residents of this specific town had no other option but to work for the Coal Company because it had exclusive control over every sense of capital there was which essentially created enslavement of the residents. Due to the fact that the miners had no choice

The workers were completely in the dark as to what their circumstances were and who’s calls they were answering to. The reason is because they never saw the actual owners but instead the Baldwin Felts Detective Agency and their job was to assure the excavation of the coal, manage the corporation along with the manufacturing of the mine. In order for the company to be seen as a threat to the town of Stone Mountain it had to initiate dominance over the coal miners. Threats and intimidation were major components the Baldwin Felts Detectives used in order to create terror among the town to essentially influence the workers to do their job because other than the basics to survive they had almost no reason

It jointed the fellow citizens of Stone Mountain in spite of their ethnic differences. Sermons were practiced in order to serve as a way for the fellow citizens to converse with one another. One evening the Baldwin Felts Detectives attended a service, not to show any sort of religious support, but to assure that no one would ignite any rebellion against the coal company. Regular gatherings that caused for an abundance of people were highly dejected because they caused for suspicion. Nonetheless, religion was a steady strength within their community. Religion seemed to be quite amusing to the Baldwin Felts Detectives because belittling it by mimicking their practices. But in the end, religion was exactly what the miners needed in order to keep the community powerful and