Salt of the Earth

In the film Salt of the Earth, viewers are able to analyze the historical significance behind the film. Through the production of film, producers have the ability and oppotunity to incorporate real life events and/or issues. However, not everyone will approve of the film or feel that it is appropriate to air.
In the 1954 film, Salt of the Earth, during American Cinema in the Postwar Era, Herbert J. Biberman produces a film on Mexican -American miners who go on a job strike in a New Mexico town. This film is based on an actual strike. Biberman, unable to produce films in Hollywood, his crew and him looked for worthy social issues to put on a screen independently. The film attempts to retrieve and construct particular everyday-life condition. As we see in the beginning of the film, Esperanza (the wife of a miner) hanging her clean, wet clothes outside the home. We also see her in side the house as the usual 'house wife', cleaning, cooking for the family and ironing her husband's clothes, and taking care of the kids at home. Keeping in mind that she is expecting a child shortly.
Her husband, Ramon is a miner at the Empire Zinc Mine and his duty as a father and husband is to provide financial stability.



How does this film convey the passage of 'time'?
Esperanza i a great example; she has patience. Towards the beginning of the film she complains to Ramon that she struggles to get hot water to cook and bathe. While the Anglo miners' have hot running water at their homes. This is when the dilemma began. A group of women, some who were also wives of miners, decide to picket outside the mine for more sanitary conditions. The women do not give up and continue to do this for a while.



We also see 'time' in the jail cell, when the women start to chant for milk. Esperanza had given birth to her third child even when the sheriff refused to call a doctor. The new-born was not drinking the milk provided by the station so that is why the women began to chant. Time was a virtue to them and they were not going to stop until the received the proper milk the new born needed. This also applies to the right of women.
Decision making was also an aspect of the film as well as change. The women attending the union meeting, demanding plumbing and sanitation for their homes. However, the men see no point in the women right to vote or even voice their opinion. Of course the man end up with the last say during the discussion.

Esperanza has dignity and determination to win.

Indeed this film is an early treatment of feminism, because the wives instead of approving with their husbands, they play a different role in the strike; against their husbands wishes. In this film the women are the aggressive ones. They stepped up to the plate and did what 'men' were only allowed to do. The roles then switch in the film. While the women are held in prison along with Esperanza, her husband Ramon taker her role as 'house wife'. He begins to do the housework and realizes the validity of the womens complaints. The greatest vistory for the workers and the families is the realization that prejudice and poor treatment are conditions that are not always imposed by other forces. The ending of the film shows the determination of the people.

Religion

I was born into the Roman Catholic religion. I was very much affiliated within the church during my younger years. I was baptized, did my Holy Communion and confirmation at St. Pius V in the Bronx. I became a member of a group called “The Daughters of Mary” then soon took the role of Vice President of the group. After, during my teenage years I became a member of the Youth Group. I can continue to mention many more events in which I took part in the Catholic Church. I liked to think of “Pius” as my second home. My God parents who were devoted Catholics were the ones who influenced my mother into the religion. From the moment I was baptized until my senior year in High School, I was also devoted to the church. My first paying job was as a receptionist of the church Rectory. I still feel a great connection with the religion, mother Mary, father, son and Holy Spirit. However, I must confess I have distant myself from the church. I no longer attend holy mass on Sundays, confession on Saturday, I don’t even remember the last time I took the holy Eucharist. My mother tells me that I have drifted and have forgotten about the church and God. But I feel that I continue to grow closer to God each day, I will always have faith.

Has it become less strict over time?
Well from my experience I feel that the Catholic religion has become less strict. Or maybe I think it has because I am unaware of what is going on. The majority of society calls themselves catholic but some do not practice the religion. Ex. Attend church or follow the Ten Commandments.
I attended a private catholic high school for girls where we were required to take religion courses, “Old Testament and New Testament.” I feel that being a part of this religious body made it strict for the students to participate and practice the religion.

Is it active in politics?
When I think of politics and religion, abortion comes to mind and the words of the late Pope John Paul II, "To claim the right to abortion, infanticide and euthanasia, and to recognize that right in law, means to attribute to human freedom a perverse and evil significance: that of an absolute power over others and against others. This is the death of true freedom...” There is an on going controversy whether Catholic politicians, governors, and congressmen who are “pro-choice” are allowed to take communion, the responsibility of Catholic politicians, Catholic voters, and bishops to support Church teaching. The idea of abortion is not supported by the Catholic Church.

Was it founded by a charismatic leader?
After some research it is sad that early Catholicism came to be organized under five patriarchs, the bishops of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople and Rome. The next major rift within Catholicism was in the 11th century. Doctrinal disputes, conflicts between methods of Church government, and perhaps the evolution of separate rites and practices, precipitated a split in AD 1054 that divided the Catholic Church once again, this time between a "West" and an "East". The next major rift within Catholicism was in the 11th century. Doctrinal disputes, conflicts between methods of Church government, and perhaps the evolution of separate rites and practices, precipitated a split in AD 1054 that divided the Catholic Church once again, this time between a "West" and an "East".

Ruth Bernhard

Ruth Bernhard’s diverse photographic style has left a distinct impression and inspiration throughout the world of art. Her images of the human body in rare and often nude form captivated emotions and expressions that other photographers failed to pick up in their film. I was introduced to Ruth Bernhard’s work while taking a History of Photography class at Manhattanville, which inspired most of my photography work.

Ruth Bernhard once said “I became a photographer by accident, after I came to the United States. When I arrived in 1927, I had no job, no profession, and no money. My father supported me while I learned English, but in 1929, he announced that it was time for me to have a job. An acquaintance by the name of Ralph Steiner, who worked for the magazine The Delineator, was looking for a darkroom assistant. That is where I learned to be a photographer. However, the job itself was very uninteresting. After six months I was fired. I used the ninety dollars I received as severance pay to purchase an 8 x 10 view camera, a tripod, and other darkroom equipment. With only pennies left, I purchased straws and Lifesavers at the dime store, which became the inspiration for my first two photographs”.[i] The photograph was titled “Lifesaver” (1930), light reflected towards the right side of the pieces of the candy creating shadows that resembled tires.

Another one of my favorite images is of Bernhard’s first nude photograph inspired while shooting a large metal bowl for a Museum of Modern Art catalogue. There on from this one object Bernhard had an idea, she asked a friend who was a dancer to curl up in a large bowl like a baby in a womb. This photograph was titled “Embryo” (1934) the pale figure of the woman huddled in the bowl against a shadowy background. Bernhard explained how this photograph can be recognized as the beginning/birth of her career in a different artistic direction. “I was always interested in the shapes. The sexy part never occurred to me”. [ii] All of Bernhard’s photographs are in black and white using gelatin silver prints. It is a paper that is covered with gelatin which consists of light sensitive silver salts. This type of print was developed in the 1870’s used for the first time in Joseph Nicephore Niepce photograph titled “View from the window at Gras”. This print soon replaced the albumen prints because they were more stable, easier to produce and did not turn yellow. Generally, all black and white photographs are produced with gelatin silver prints.[iii]
Another well known photograph of Bernhard is titled “Horizontal” (1962), which is by far one of my favorite, it is of a female placed in a prostrate position in a cardboard box. All of her photographs are simple and carefully posed. She was very specific with how she wanted the subjects to be placed. Other similar photographs consisting of nude models are “Perspective II” (1967), of a female model lying on her side. Bernhard uses the light so that only have of the models body is shown creating a distinctive shape. This next photograph consist of two nude female models titled “Two Forms” (1963), both models have similar body shape.

I have attached the websites where you can find more information regarding Ruth Bernhard and her work.

[i] Ruth Bernhard “Ruth Bernhard: Known and Unknown,” 1997, The Chronicles of Ecuation, 24 Nov. 2007 http://proquest.umi.com/pqdwebindex=8&did=13939568&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=4&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1196312561&clientId=10763

[ii] “Happy Birthday Ruth” 2003, Women In Photography International, 24 Nov. 2007<http://womeninphotography.org/ruthbernhardAA.html>

[iii] “Lifesavers” year not listed, Photography: Soulcatcher Studio: Ruth Bernhard: Lifesavers, 1930, 28 Nov. 2007<http://www.soulcatcherstudio.com/exhibitions/favorites/bernhard_Is.html