Documentary Critique: History Channel’s “Black Gold: The Story of Oil” - P#3

            After viewing The History Channel’s “Black Gold: The Story of Oil”, which is a historical account of the impact that oil had on the United States from 1850 to the present, I was quite impressed by the detail and information revealed.  The documentary provided historical accounts, insightful information, and cause and effects that oil had on the United States during the 160 years.

            One of the most interesting historical accounts about the early discovery of oil pertained to the segment Edwin L. Drake. Drake, the founder of the first huge oil strike, and drilling of the United States, discovered the oil saturated ground of Titusville. It was interesting to learn that Drake never had a specific field of work, he was a railway worker, clerk, train conductor, express agent, and finally after having the luck of the draw was hired by George Bissell. George Bissell the owner of Seneca Oil paid him $1,000 a year to investigate the oil seeps on land owned by Seneca Oil. There was a lot more accountable information throughout the movie that made you understand how important oil was even back then.

            Perhaps the historical fact that was most eye opening was the creation of Standard Oil and how he took over the oil industry so quickly and easily overpowered his competitors. As Rockefellers Oil Empire swallowed up smaller oil companies the lack of competition caused turmoil as the price of oil gouged the consumers across the nation. The US Justice Department brought Standard Oil to court as a monopoly due to the Sherman Anti-Trust Laws. While this information was really insightful there were some details that were left out that disappointed me, such as the breakup of Standard Oil into 34 different small companies. Many of these companies would go on to form multinational corporations that we recognized today, Exxon, Chevron, and Shell to name a few. Standard Oil’s impact on future corporations fell short in this documentary as it was forgotten in the vast amount of information already shared.

            “Black Gold: The Story of Oil” showed how the US addiction to oil only grew after the discovery of kerosene. The documentary really shows the truth behind oil, it showed how kerosene addicted people because it made a great light source, after this was the internal combustion engine which made machines work, and finally was the invention of the car which used the internal combustion engine which is the most useful today.

            The documentary exposed the shady side of oil’s influence of US foreign policy. After World War II, in an attempt to contain Communism the US persuaded governments by buying the counties oil. As Americans’ consumption of gasoline, a derivative of oil, increased beyond our domestic production, it made the US dependent on imported foreign oil, thus making our foreign policy changed. Prior to our obsession with gasoline guzzling cars, we had very little concern about the barren desert nations of the Middle East. But once oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia by Standard Oil in 1936, the stage was set for the issues and conflicts in the Middle East that plague the US and the world even today.

            I would recommend this video documentary to anyone who enjoys historical issues that affect our American economy, society and foreign policy today.  You will never look at a gasoline station quite the same. In fact you may have a sudden urge to buy a Prius or go solar.