Movie Roger And Me: De-Industrialization

Author’s name Professor’s name Course number Date of submission Roger and Me De-industrialization is the reduction of the industrial activities that exist in a particular place because of either a social or an economic change taking place. This phenomenon is not peculiar, given that there are economic and social changes that happen in society all the time. For example, a company can close a manufacturing plant when it realizes that its activities are affecting the health of the neighborhood. Thus, for the sake of the neighborhood and pressure from the community in question, the industrial activities of the company can come to a close. The movie ‘Roger and Me’ is a good example of what de-industrialization is, and the impact it can have on the people involved. A closure of the General Motors Company’s plants resulted to the loss of employment opportunities for thousands of people. (Roger and Me). This means that the industrial activities that existed before are no more. The reduced industrial activity means that people have to lose their jobs in the process. The film is an expression of the impact that businesses have on the community, and the effect of the closure of such businesses on the people. The people of Flint benefited greatly from the Mr. Smith’s company, but when he closed some of its plants, the town and the people were greatly devastated. Plot Summary Flint was a very prosperous city with a very prosperous company, GM Motors, offering job opportunities to thousands of the city’s residents. Mr. Smith, the company’s CEO decided, however, to close some of the company’s plants (Roger and Me). This was a very devastating move because the city was greatly benefitting from the industrial activities of the company. It was also evident that the company was prospering because of the labor that the people were providing. Despite the good profits that the company was making, Mr. Smith decided to close a substantial number of plants in Flint and opened new ones in Mexico. This meant that he reduced industrial activity in Flint and transferred it to Mexico. While this move reduced the labor cost for the production processes, it was a huge blow for the thousands of employees who lost their jobs....