Silkwood
Erica Pulte
PSC 105 Term Paper- Silkwood Silkwood, a movie about a plutonium plant worker, features the struggle of a union worker activist to bring attention to the plant’s unsafe working conditions and health risks. Based on a true story, the movie shines light on civil liberties issues. It shows the variety of rights Americans hold that enable them to change issues facing them. Silkwood is a realistic, captivating movie about a plutonium plant worker changing the work conditions that successfully draws attention to civil liberties issues such as the freedom of the press and lobbying to an interest group.
Silkwood begins when the main character, Karen Silkwood begins her day at work the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site, making plutonium fuel rods for nuclear reactors. In order to visit her three children for the weekend, she convinces a friend to work an extra shift in her place, but Karen is blamed for a contamination that happens in her section directly after she leaves because the plant knows she wants the weekend off. After two years of working at the plant, she becomes a union worker activist because she is worried about the unsafe conditions of the workers, mainly the possibility of being exposed to radiation. Because the firm is three months behind on a contract, all of the workers are assigned extra shifts, which results in the plant taking shortcuts and risking the health of the workers even more than before. After she is blamed for the contamination, Karen is transferred to metallography and discovers that the negatives of photographs are being retouched, making the fuel rods falsely appear safe. Through the union, she travels to Washington D.C to give her personal statement about the dangerous conditions of the plant. Upon coming home, Karen continues to communicate with union officials, but they want to focus on the publicity rather than the unhealthy conditions of the workers so she decides to investigate more on her own without their
PSC 105 Term Paper- Silkwood Silkwood, a movie about a plutonium plant worker, features the struggle of a union worker activist to bring attention to the plant’s unsafe working conditions and health risks. Based on a true story, the movie shines light on civil liberties issues. It shows the variety of rights Americans hold that enable them to change issues facing them. Silkwood is a realistic, captivating movie about a plutonium plant worker changing the work conditions that successfully draws attention to civil liberties issues such as the freedom of the press and lobbying to an interest group.
Silkwood begins when the main character, Karen Silkwood begins her day at work the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site, making plutonium fuel rods for nuclear reactors. In order to visit her three children for the weekend, she convinces a friend to work an extra shift in her place, but Karen is blamed for a contamination that happens in her section directly after she leaves because the plant knows she wants the weekend off. After two years of working at the plant, she becomes a union worker activist because she is worried about the unsafe conditions of the workers, mainly the possibility of being exposed to radiation. Because the firm is three months behind on a contract, all of the workers are assigned extra shifts, which results in the plant taking shortcuts and risking the health of the workers even more than before. After she is blamed for the contamination, Karen is transferred to metallography and discovers that the negatives of photographs are being retouched, making the fuel rods falsely appear safe. Through the union, she travels to Washington D.C to give her personal statement about the dangerous conditions of the plant. Upon coming home, Karen continues to communicate with union officials, but they want to focus on the publicity rather than the unhealthy conditions of the workers so she decides to investigate more on her own without their
Bibliography: Nicholas, M. (Producer & Director). (1983). Silkwood [Film]. Irving O’Connor, K., Yanus, A. B., & Sabato, L. J. (2011). American government: roots and reform. Pearson Education, Inc.