There is a great deal of emphasis on class distinction in the motion picture Erin Brockovich. Based on the life of the real Erin Brockovich and her struggle to bring major utility company PG&E to its economic knees, the film explores the difficulties for single-mothers who work. Brockovich is an unemployed mother of three with sixteen dollars her bank account. Her foul language and provocative dress costs her a car accident lawsuit brought to court by lawyer Ed Masry. Brockovich is pissed at Masry because she felt they should have won their case. She wiggles her way into a job with Masry’s law firm as a filing clerk. She begins investigating a case on her own initiative, but her unexplained absence while on the case gets her fired. When she returns, she explodes at Masry in front of her co-workers and demands her job back. After she makes her appeal, she leans in so only Masry can hear and says, “Don’t make me beg.”
This scene implies a great deal about class distinctions. It is a professional law office filled with professional people, but Brockovich’s colorful language, impulsivity, manner of dress and sexuality alienate others. As she tells one overweight co-worker with a penchant for eavesdropping, “Bite my ass, Krispy Kreme!” Brockovich is used to getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop. She is used to men who leave her with children, can barely afford food for her kids, drives a beat-up unsafe vehicle, and is often rubbed the wrong way by people who criticize her lifestyle, manner of dress, or brash, loud and abrasive attitude. Despite all of this, she champions the cause of the working-class individuals which she knows intimately since she is of their class. In another instance, we see her tell off a group of lawyers who imply that people who have been made terminally ill or have lost loved ones due to corporate negligence are trying to get rich. Brockovich is quick to inform them they have little u...