March 30, 2011

Coal Mining, Up Close

The Harvard University Press Blog notes that Spike TV premiered a new reality series, Coal, March 30 at 9 p.m. (8 Central time). The first fourteen minutes of the first episode is available for online viewing. It offers a look at the work involved in drilling for and removing the resource from the earth, and the dangers that miners face every day. The miners who appear on Coal apparently do so without pay from the documentarians.

The TNT television series Leverage addressed the dangers of coal mining and problems with regulation in one episode, "The Underground Job," last year (commentary here). Steven Fesenmaier of WV Film lists movies about coal mining and miners here. Some films, like Matewan (1987), have a definite political/legal message.

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