Salt of the Earth response

These articles address a chaotic and confusing time in cinematic as well as American history. The film Salt of the Earth, directly address issues that were affecting a wide variety of American citizens during the mid 1950s. These issues include equality for people of all race and gender, and how society reacts to a strike dealing with these issues. In America at this time, McCarthyism was at its peak, and everyone was afraid of being accused of being a communist while still fighting for equal rights. The film was sponsored by the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, which had already been accused of having Communist dominated leadership. Along with that, several of the producers were also accused of being severely left wing and some had already been "blacklisted." In the film, men (specifically Mexican American men) fight for equal rights from their employer, and they also resist the desire of their wives to fight for these rights and picket along side them. The film was shown in very few places at the time of its production, but it was shown in Prague as propaganda to show how bad America was. This backfired on the Czech government, because it really just showed the people that even the poorest of Americans had more than they did, and they were even allowed to strike! Once the film was released and started to sell copies, it became more popular than it might have originally because it was banned, and people always want to know what the big deal is. It is now considered "culturally relevant" and is preserved at the MOMA.
There were several things about the film, and the way that the American government reacted to it that seemed really strange to me. First of all, I thought it was ridiculous that in the film, the main character is fighting on a picket line for his own rights as a Mexican American man for equality, but he himself fears his wife getting involved because of her gender. It just seems so backwards to me that he would fight so vigorously for his own rights, while in a sense oppressing his own wife in the same fashion as his employer was doing to him. It's actually really frustrating! Also, the whole idea of McCarthyism in American society is really fascinating to me because it makes such little sense. People weren't striking because they wanted everyone to be paid the same all over the world; they were simply fighting for the opportunity to be paid the same as someone of a different race who was doing the same exact job as them. Also, it seems to me that if the government didn't want people to react to the film at all, they should have just ignored it completely! Banning it for being a communist film only makes it intriguing to people, because they want to see what makes it so bad. I also think that it really sucks that all of the amateur actors and the director and producers etc got such a raw deal on the whole thing. The film was banned by the government right after they made it, so they didn't get any recognition or money from it, and now it is recognized as a film of cultural significance and people watch it all over for different reasons. I just think it's really unfair!