The Salt of the Earth: Feminist Criticism and Gender Studies

Introduction

Salt of the Earth is a 1954 film directed by Herbert Biberman. The movie was created by Hollywoods blacklisted filmmakers, with the participation of a large number of non-professional artists. This acutely social film did not have the right opportunity to gain public recognition for a long time due to its bold ahead of times ideas. The movie piercingly raises the critical question of immigrant labor and the precarious status of women dwelling in an entirely masculine world. The male and female sides are paradoxically presented not as partners but as two opposing sides in one alliance with a common goal.

The women protested to represent only coffee makers, as Esperanza contemptuously called their integrity, and deliberately went on the warpath beside their husbands despite their discontent (Salt of the Earth (1954) 00:45:30). Today the film is well acknowledged and serves as a notice of the importance of all gender, ethnic and social divisions of communities. The plot precisely demands to be observed through the lens of critical feminism to seek a better understanding of a womans place and her intricate course through history.

The Historical Background of the Story

To adequately consider the film through the prism of that time, it is necessary to conduct a relevant study of its historical background. The film was set in New Mexico, one of the mountainous lands in the southwestern United States. The American hinterland of the mid of 20th century remained a second-class scene, where people were forced to earn their living by hard, dangerous toil. The income was getting primarily through mining living half life with dynamite and darkness, which often failed due to unscrupulous employers and safety breaches. Although the movie was made in the conservative 1950s, the plot raises the provocative question of womens place in society and the phenomena of emancipation.

The last century was in many ways a watershed moment for the womens feminist movement toward equality and freedom. They commenced attempting to engage in strikes, voting, and union meetings, which were pointed in a film (Salt of the Earth. Trivia). This feminist subtext is well received through the prism of modern time, but for America of 1954, it became nonsense and immediately led to the strictest prohibition.

The Portrayal of Male and Female Social Roles in the Film

Throughout the film, the acute external and in-house oppositions within the family are actively felt. The attitude of men to their wives portrays women as knowingly vulnerable people, tied particularly to household chores. The central characters husband, Ramon, often speaks to Esperanza rather dismissively, pointing to her well-defined place next to the kitchen and the children. Patriarchal stigmas often tend to attribute women with excessive emotionality and a tendency to chaotic actions. However, the film discloses this stereotype well and exposes the other side of such judgments.

Esperanza is an emotionally more sophisticated person than her husband; she perceives many things otherwise and is more conscious. Ramon, seized by a revolutionary spirit, turned out to be oblivious concerning his own family, which had to be a priority. Where it is necessary to proceed with caution and prudence, he, along with other men, acts at prominent risk, rejecting the worthy help of allies only based on sex (Salt of the Earth (1954)). The roles established by patriarchy concerning gender are represented as one-sided, blurred, and useless within the new era.

The Power Dispute between Gender Roles in a Stigmatized Society

Talking about the film and the situation in general, it is hard to overlook the acute imbalance of power and rights between the male and female parts of the commune. The speech of men is constantly replete with phrases: this is not a womans business, women do not belong here, it is not for women to decide. Even the proposal to improve the water supply system was met with bewilderment and an urge discontent with an overly engaged attitude.

Women find themselves in a challenging situation where the state and their husbands use authorities power to drive the female community into a narrow framework. When the females took to the picket, their husbands were forced to stay at home and try on a different social role with the loss of their prominent influence. The compelled situation initially provoked distinctly negative reactions as men rebelled against the feeling of losing control and receiving a subordinate role (Salt of the Earth (1954)). This lesson, to some extent, helped the conflict move forward to redistribute authority between residents of both sexes in the name of the common good.

Looking at the Film Through the Prism of the Past and the Modern Worlds

America of the 1954 year could not forgive the release of this film. Participation in this project sorrowfully ended with the deportation of the actress in the role of Esperanza and undermined her film career. The shooting and processing of the footage were highly irritable, as politicians and industry leaders actively condemned the project participants. Thus, the leadership of the trade union of technical cinema workers forbade its members to participate in any work on the film and attempted to arrange a boycott.

The strict bans also extended to projectionists, so the film did not have the slightest possibility to get into wide-audience distribution and was shown mainly at meetings of trade unions and outside the United States (Salt of the Earth. Trivia). Today the movie is world-famous and is, in fact, the almost anthem of the feminist movement. At the beginning of the film, Esperanza desperately says that she is haunted by a sinful thought and does not want to give birth to a child in this world. It serves as the loudest evidence that everything was wrong with an established system and changes were acutely needed.

Conclusion

Filmed at the height of McCarthyism, the movie reveals the struggle of workers to improve material conditions and the precise strife for dignity and respect. Pregnant Esperanza is a central symbol of feminine strength and independence. The movie constantly opposes such things as prison and freedom, past and future, family and work, man and woman. It reveals the subtext of the work, aimed at the disturbing fact that women still had to fight not only with the outside world but even with the family. The film fully exposes the attitude of men toward their wives within the intervened patriarchal stigmas.

Love and sympathetic feelings come into disturbing confrontation with the imposed view on the dominant male position. Although the story mainly transfers the social system of America in the mid of 20th century, many traces of the past remain in present-day culture. The film should serve as a prominent monument to the truth that women have always had to fight for rights and freedoms. They ought to unwaveringly demonstrate a heartful dedication and manifest themselves not only to the authorities but even to the people they love.