An Analytical Response to the 1978 film, F. I. S. T. Essay

The plot of the film basically revolve around the life of a worker who desperately seeks a better and a more comfortable life by working hard in a very low-paying job with a management who imposes very harsh and unjust rules and guidelines. The story also deals with the struggles of the workers to earn respect and the right and fair kind of treatment they deserve. The plot centers on the life and struggles of Johnny Kovac’s character which was played by Sylvester Stallone. The character was portrayed as a willful trucker who decided to join the Federation of Interstate Truckers (FIST) to fight and campaign for just treatments among all the country’s truckers like him (â€Å"F. I. S. T. 1987†). Through out the story, Kovac was challenged by a lot of more powerful individual since he was seen as a very strong threat to their deceptive intentions. He also received a lot of threats and physical tortures since he was actually fighting very powerful people. But despite all these challenges, Kovac was nevertheless able to prove that he is stronger than anyone who opposes his intentions to uplift the lives of simple truckers who just deserve fair treatment from their superiors. This was the major conflict and drive of the story. Kovac, as the main protagonist both serves as a hero and the base character of the story where all the other conflicts and highlights are based from. The story emphasized on Kovac’s principles and his efforts of fighting for their rights as truckers. Kovac and all the other characters in the story were portrayed to be simple and typical people with whom, viewers can easily empathize. However, his defeat and death at the end has put a rather distressing and saddening effect to the story. II. Issues The story was basically about the lives and struggles of truckers. Just like other workers, truckers have rights and privileges that they can demand from their superiors. However in this movie, the workers were rather treated unjustly by the management. They were given inadequate compensation and several unfair rules and regulations have been imposed on them. Kovac, as a trucker himself stood up and fought for his principles and afterwards fought for the influence of the labor union, FIST, which he became part of. The movie had a particular emphasis on the laborer’s rights and privileges. The unjust treatments to these workers portrayed in the film are one manifestation that in the real world, this undeserved treatment is also observable. Through the depiction of this issue it can be implied that some capitalist may really have been so fed up by their wealth that they forget that there are still other important things to consider aside from getting richer and this is the welfare of their workers. And because of this issue, the characters of the movie can be observed to seek for their rights and privileges in a rather aggressive way because of the unpleasant manner their company has used to treat them. The issues were basically about, (1) what implications can unjust treatment and deprivation of privileges causes workers; and (2) how well do labor unions actually help in eliminating the hostile relationships between workers and companies. And because this issue has been depicted to have taken all the patience of the workers, some of them have even developed stronger sense of selfishness and greed. Some also developed greed towards money. Kovac on the other hand became more and more obsessed of recruiting for member to join FIST since he wanted his mission and his intention to voice out the wants of the workers to be accomplished as early as he can. These implications may in some ways appear similar to the effects of unjust treatments to laborers people experience in real life. Just like in this film, people may indeed grow hostile and aggressive once their rights and privileges will be deprived of them. But nonetheless, if there is one lesson that this movie was able to send out, it is the fact that it is never just and acceptable to fight for one’s principle in destructive ways. III. Discussion In several ways, this movie appears to carry considerable significance to the real occurrences of unjust treatment among workers in the society. In real life, these incidents are undeniable that is why unions exist. However, the arguable thing is this movie is that Kovac and his other colleagues appeared to fight for what they believe in rather hostile and destructive ways which only made the situations worse. Aside from this, a lot of characters were also depicted to be deceived by wealth and power which made them turn their . backs to their moral perspectives. Thus, this can be considered as one of the moral threats unjust treatments can really cause an individual. In its entirety, the movie appears to be a total representation what goes on in a union and how its members fight for what they believe in. But what appears to be an upsetting and disturbing part of the story is the aggression and immorality which brought about . worse situations and events. IV. Opinion Truly, every person in this world deserved fair treatment as every person deserves equal rights and privileges as well. In a company, the relationship of the executive management to the workers can be considered very crucial. In order to form a pleasant relationship between these two, each party must respect and provide the deserved treatment and benefit of the other party. Because once this rule is broken, hostility might definitely spark which will eventually form an unpleasant relationship between the workers and the management. Personally, I think the movie had an interesting inspiration; however, the real message was not that effectively sent out to the viewers because of the distractions that came from all the unnecessary actions and violence portrayed in the film. But nonetheless, I see this film as a good depiction of how worse a situation may get once a worker’s rights and privileges be unjustly deprived from him or her. Works Cited â€Å"F. I. S. T. (1987): Plot Summary. † The Internet Movie Database. IMDb. com. (n. d. ). (14 May 2009). . F. I. S. T. Dir: Norman Jewinson. Writer: Joe Eszterhas and Sylvester Stallone. Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Rod Steiger, Peter Boyle, Melinda Dillon, David Huffman, Kevin Conway and Tony Lo Bianco. Chateau Productions, 1987.