On "There Will Be Blood"

I was one of the students that went with Dr. Webber to watch “There Will Be Blood” and personally I didn’t really enjoy the movie but I’m glad I did watch it because the movie ended up being a big hit with several Oscar nominations – it’s always good to be up to date on the latest movies.

Anyway, on the topic of oil I found the movie to be somewhat inspiring. I know it sounds surprising considering I didn’t like it but it actually inspired me to want to learn more about the history of the oil industry in the US and the laws that govern it. A lot of the movie revolved around the rivalry between Plainview and Standard Oil. I am somewhat familiar with the history of Standard Oil and how it was broken into several companies but I was never completely aware of the circumstances. As such, I recently bought and I am currently reading “The Prize” by Daniel Yurgin. Everyone refers to this book as the authority on the history of oil and I figured it’s about time that I learned the history of the industry that I’ll be joining soon.

On a different note, I found it surprising how Mr. Plainview offered the family some money to drill on their land but he never talked about any royalties from the production. My next research (after finishing The Prize) is to try and understand the laws that govern how much money people are paid if someone else drills on their land.

In summary, even though I didn’t like the movie I ended up benefiting in that it instilled in me the desire to learn the history of the oil industry – maybe that’s a good argument for watching more TV.