ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on John Sayles's independent film Matewan and its representation of working-class interests. Sayles is arguably one of the premier independent filmmakers in the United States, and certainly one of the most politically important. Among Sayles's films, Matewan is surely one of the most explicitly political; some would even say it openly embraces a form of socialism. Except for in the work of filmmakers like Sayles, Loach, Mike Leigh, and a few others, working-class politics is not found very often in the artifacts of today's popular culture. Even in hip independent cinema, depictions of class issues are few and far between, and when they are found, the language of class politics often comes off as outdated and unimportant. A fairly close reading of the film can yield some interesting conclusions for questions of the representation of a politics of identity.
