Roger & Me

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Michael Moore’s 1989 film Roger & Me documents the effect of deindustrialization after the closing of a General Motors (GM) plant in Flint, Michigan. These effects include mass poverty, unemployment, and eviction for the members of the Flint community resulting in an economic downfall in Flint that has yet to recover to this day. The declining role of unions in Flint is also portrayed as a result of deindustrialization. The film explores who is to blame for this economic destruction and the role that the closing of GM in the city has on the community.
Roger & Me illustrates the effect that the closing the GM plant had a devastating effect on the city of Flint, Michigan. Throughout the film, it is seen that Michael Moore blames GM for the subsequent …show more content…
The members of Flint still revere the UAW, which can be seen in several scenes in the film. For example, the surviving participants in the sitdown strike were invited to be in the Flint parade, as well as the current UAW president. Although the past successes of the UAW in Flint are celebrated, many instances in the film portray current unions as weakened or obsolete in the opinions of many local residents. When the current governor of Michigan is asked whether Flint needed another sitdown strike, he says that he did not think it would do any good. Additionally, when the UAW president at the time is asked the same question, he responds saying that he did not believe that it would have the same impact that it had before in 1939. Another local resident describes the unions as becoming weaker because he believes that the union leadership’s relationship with management is too close. All of these responses show that unions are not portrayed as having any real power or influence on current issues. The decline in union power can be seen in the scene showing the GM plant closing for good as Moore narrates that there was supposed to be a massive demonstration for the closing of the plant from the UAW, but only four workers show up to protest. This scene shows that the UAW no longer had the influence that it used to and that unions are powerless against corporations in the modern
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