Waste Land shows the lives of some of the poorest people in Rio de Janeiro. They call themselves pickers because they spend their days picking through trash that comes to the Jardim Gramacho dump. The pickers live in extreme poverty, and the only money they earn comes from collecting recyclables. They struggle through everyday life with little to no assistance from their government, and with other classes looking down on them with judgment. Vik Muniz understands these struggles first hand, and decides to bring the public’s attention to them in his art. Using the same trash that the pickers spend their days collecting, Muniz creates portraits of some of the workers. After he sells the portraits in various auctions, he then gives the money to …show more content…
The trash is not just something that gets thrown away, and neither are the pickers. Every person that works at the dump is there for a different reason. Some do it to help support their families, some because they have nowhere else to go, and some have been doing it their whole lives. Every picker has a story, and reason to be there. Vik Muniz tries to show part of their personalities, and stories in his work. He depicts the cook holding a huge pot over her head, the dedicated mother hugging her children, the hardworking woman supporting herself, and many others. As previously stated, the pickers are proud to work with trash because they would rather earn their money honestly than any other way. Using trash in the portrait is symbolic because they would not be who they are without it. Even though they struggle through life, the trash has always been a way to earn money, and keep them going. Despite every portrait being made from trash they are all very different. Each one is just as unique as the picker they represent when one looks past the garbage, and sees the real
This person goes and applies for another job, this time better built and ready to face the world. This relatable moment is similar to The House on Mango Street, due to the fact that, in “The Monkey Garden”, Sandra Cisneros conveys symbolism with the garden, for people must face hard times, but it is those hard times that build people up and prepare them for the future. To begin, Sandra Cisneros’ “The Monkey Garden”, actively uses symbolism within the garden, for people
'Flames and Dangling Wire ' just like 'Meatworks ' portrays Earth as a kind of hell, where humans have destroyed what good parts there are about nature. "There is fog over the hot sun" emphasises the waste of humans and humanity that wastes not only nature but themselves. The hot sun would make the dump smell terrible, but they are still inside the car at this point. "A water bird lifts above this swamp as a turtle moves on the Galapagos shores" is a strong simile; a direct comparison to a prominent issue. However, nature will prevail and go above humanity, even if humans treat the earth like an experiment or their playground.
The film shows unhappy Jews working by moving stones from one pile to the next. The Jews moving the rocks was an order from the Nazi to have them do it for no reason. Then it cuts to them in their “natural” environment barbering for goods in the street. The narrator informs the viewers that they do this because they like to not because there are not enough goods to go around in the ghetto.
Then the eyes meets the mother figure, thinking intensely, possibly about the person taking the picture or thinking about how to start over and repair what is lost. Lastly, the eye moves to the background, where a middle aged man is busy, as if he is trying to find a way to clean up or restore the unfixable damage. The clothes and belongs strung across the wooden frame symbolize life; once put together and neat, but now messy and imparable.
People who were either to weak in the society, and were useless for any other job besides a Street Sweeper, or those who were too talented were assigned this menial job of being a Street Sweeper. International 4-8818, Union 5-3992, Fraternity 2-5503, and Solidarity 9-6347 were some of the people that were also assigned the job of a Street Sweeper like Equality 7-2521. In school Equality 7-2521 didn’t enjoy it that much because he was too intelligent for his classmates. Equality 7-2521 knew that he didn’t fit in. He tried to act like Union 5-3992, but that only resulted in Equality 7-2521 being punished.
The trash found in the streets of the city symbolized as pay for the people. Of paragraph three, a person brings a bag home and separated things he would usually find on the streets; rags, bones, and old metal. Although it does not seem much of a big deal in today’s society, during 1854, many people were having it hard. The author used imagery describing many items. Again, in paragraph three, the individual is said to travel from twenty to thirty miles with a heavy bag on his back during the summer.
The author of American Wasteland, Jonathan Bloom, uses many techniques to steer readers in his direction. Bloom talks about a big issue concerning American in 2010 and is still an issue today in 2016, six years after he wrote this book. As a result of broad research, the main issue today is expiration dates and how state regulations and laws promote food waste (Linnekin). As other books, articles, and documentaries explain this issue they use evidence, positive and negative connotations, and bias to connect with a general audience or supporters.
There were rats and garbage in apartments and each apartment housed an entire family. Sewage and garbage accumulated so much because there was no plumbing, so waste was dumped into streets and rivers. “The slums . . . [have] streets [that] are usually unpaved, full of holes, filthy and strewn with refuse . .
Even though they recycle and recycle the amount of trash is endless. According to Vik Muniz he wanted to help them find a solution to their trash problem, but he never once stopped to think about or offer a solution to the problem. All he did was get them to continue to work picking up the trash and using it to create his art project. Vik Muniz did not help the people in Waste Land address the problems they face on the daily basis. He instead hired only certain people to appear on camera and work for him, so he could create an art project.
While these bags could be thought of as exemplifying the Hit Man’s dysfunctional behavior, they can also be used as symbols of stages in human life. For example, the first line of the story states “The Hit Man’s early years are complicated by the black bag that he wears over his head”. This line could have multiple interpretations, but it’s clear that that his childhood was troublesome. Within the next few lines it is made clear that the Hit man had trouble speaking, had few friends, was a poor student, and was also abused by his classmates. This paragraph proves that the black bag over his head is a symbol for his troubled childhood and the struggles he faced to turn him into the “Hit Man” that he eventually becomes.
In the essay “On Dumpster Diving” Lars Eighter explains his life as a dumpster diver. What to eat, where to go, he explained it all. What was unclear was his purpose; he did a good job explaining and getting people to get emotional but then there was no purpose. What did he want his audience to feel or do after they read “On Dumpster Diving”? Did he want them to feel bad for wasting stuff that could have still been used or was it a survival guide type of thing?
Another hint that is given is how the cartoonist displayed the colors through the mess. In Faces the picture is so cluttered that the cartoonist needed to use bright colors so all the small details could be seen. He did this to show that it is modern times and that homelessness is still happening. The main reason for making the cartoon wild with color was so he could grab the reader's
Wasteland is a documentary by Lucy Walker that depicts the lives of selected garbage pickers in Jardim Gramacho – a massive dumpsite found in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. The film is about Vik Muniz’s 2-year journey back to his home country seeking to give back to an impoverished community through making images out of an unusual material – trash. The film featured 7 garbage pickers from the landfill, and each has a story that brought them to their current places. One unique thing about the whole creative process is that the pickers themselves became part of it. Vik imagined that as they work on their own and each other’s images, the pickers will not only show themselves to a broader world that is for now comfortably oblivious of their existence, but also see themselves differently (Fuchs, 2010).
Vik Muniz’ Marat (Sebastião) depicts the hardships and strength of Brazilian trash pickers in a remarkably clever and appealing format while also challenging the way in which these workers are perceived by Brazilian society. These trash pickers, known as catadores, are people who are ex-convicts or were homeless and unemployed and therefore had little opportunity in their lives. The Catadores are a union headed by Sebastião that separate recyclable items from the rest of the trash at the Jardim Gramacho landfill in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to be sold on the market. The profits from selling these items are then split amongst the union. Muniz became very intrigued with this group of people and decided to recreate a variety of famous portraits
Refuse is trash that covers a vast part of the streets, Mahfouz was not accustomed to seeing the trash all over the place. Half a Day depicts exactly how Mahfouz felt about his hometown becoming more