Extra Credit post: Harvest of Shame

I've been meaning to post a link to this documentary for a long time, but there's no time like the present so my present to you (pun very much intended) is the 1960 documentary Harvest of Shame.

Harvest of Shame was made in 1960 and premiered on CBS the day after Thanksgiving (November 25th, 1960) and highlighted the plight of migrant farm workers across America.

"We present this report on Thanksgiving because, were it not for the labor of the people you are going to meet, you might not starve, but your table would not be laden with the luxuries that we have all come to regard as essentials."

Directed and "hosted" Edward R. Murrow, a famous WWII journalist, Harvest of Shame is notable as a documentary sponsored by a large television network and for its relatively unflinching depictions of the poverty that migrant farm workers experience(d) and the conditions of working for these farms. I watched this film as part of my film class (Film 136D - Documentary Film and Video), and I was struck by how relevant the film is to today, and to this class. I personally find the structure of the documentary a bit pedantic and outdated, and the use of singular (white/male/wealthy) narrator literally speaking over the faces of migrant farm workers is uncomfortable, especially for our contemporary audiences. We're used to seeing documentaries that give their subjects a platform and a voice, and while Harvest of Shame gives that opportunity to a select few of their subjects, it comes in the form of a soundbite, not a full-fledged interview. I do, however, find Murrow's narration very interesting - he uses phrases like "sweatshops of the soil" frequently, hoping to shock the comfortable audiences into action. His closing words are as follows: "The people you have seen have the strength to harvest your fruit and vegetables. They do not have the strength to influence legislation. Maybe we do." 

In regards to the issue of race, the film doesn't really point to any systemic injustices, even around the most obvious issue of black sharecroppers, or the importation of labor to help feed the rest of the country - instead, it just shows poverty. There are of course people of color featured and interviewed in this film but the film just points to the huge number of migrant workers and their need for legal protection. It does not advocate for land redistribution, or a change in how we consume/demand food. It's a fascinating film for its historical moment, though it still needs to be torn down and critiqued - and it should be taken with an entire shaker of salt for its treatment of (or lack of?) the factor of race.