MovieChat Forums > The Virgin Suicides (2000) Discussion > The Gravediggers Strike

The Gravediggers Strike

posted 13 years ago by patronizing_bunnyrabbits
5 replies | jump to latest

Was anyone else struck by how selfish this was? I'm pro-union, but I can't conceive of the unmitigated gall it takes to picket a cemetery & deem anyone who crosses your line a scab simply for wanting to bury their loved one. The strikers ultimately relent when they learn that Cecilia is only 13, but should that even matter? If the departed had been someone's grandmother, would they have told the mourners to go screw themselves?

"Sacred cows make the best hamburger."

[–] zaphod1957 13 years ago

This seems to me like its just a bit of dark humor. I'm not an expert in the business, but it seem to me that the staff of a cemetary would be too small to create any kind of union. They might well mostly be part timers too.

Anybody out there know exactly how this business is done? My gut feeling is that the cemetary would actually hire an outside firm to open the grave, etc. So ther might not even be cemetary employees involved.

[–] patronizing_bunnyrabbits 13 years ago

It was a gravediggers strike. Not a strike for employees of that particular cemetery. There is a gravediggers' union.

"Sacred cows make the best hamburger."

[–] coney_island_baby 12 years ago

In the book it's really disturbing because Cecelia isn't buried at all until the strike is over--no one is, it mentions that hundreds of bodies were kept on ice for months and months. Eventually, when the strike is over there's such an influx of bodies to be buried that the Lisbon sisters get dotted all over the cemetery rather than together.

[–] pmac7902 9 years ago

Oh man! I don't remember that part. Just that it was a really well written book and the author really knew how to stick it in and twist it. That little event sure qualifies! I'm going to have to re-read this.

[–] Strazdamonas 9 years ago

Erm, so what? if the government continues to be a complete failure and treats its public servants like trash, perhaps its what has to be done to be noticed? Strikes exist as a final resort, it means they were already ignore for years.

---------------------------------------------
Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.