Sunday, March 30, 2008

Tragedy & Drama in the Oil Industry

After watching There Will be Blood, my roommates kept commenting on how strange and anxious the movie was, but I must admit that I enjoyed the nail biting drama. I think that many of the emotions and characteristics portrayed actually exist in the oil business: anticipation for something great to happen (striking oil), greed for money and power, and the loss of core values and family members. To me, the movie showed that the oil industry is not something to be entered lightheartedly; it demands sacrifice, dedication, persuasiveness, passion, and persistence.

My friends also complained about the anticlimactic ending; they were expecting something great to prevail from all of the father’s efforts. However, I appreciated the realistic and tragic ending with the father taking his life; it showed how the energy industry can demand so much from you and not pan out the way that you had hoped it would. The wealth didn’t end up providing him with security or happiness, but isolationism and paranoia. I also enjoyed the presentation of progress over safety. The crude oil drilling scenes clearly illustrated that safety only followed progress in extraction. Many men died drilling, and, still, many men die in tragic industry accidents today. The movie was clear in its message that ignoring the safety of the workers was immoral, but that at that time, there was a lack of regulation and every man was for himself.

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