Poverty In America Documentary Analysis

In this essay “Living in Two Worlds” written by Marcus Mabry, I will analyse his split life by examining how his new life is affect poverty, finding a balance and self reliance. The harsh reality is many of his family members were struggling to make ends meet while he was living a modest life because of the scholarship he had received in ninth grade. This affects him from truly enjoying this experiencing considering that during the day his life was satisfying but when he got home this completely changed when he was forced with his reality of living with poverty. As a result of this “Most students who travel between the universe of poverty and affluence during breaks experience similar conditions, as well as the guilt, the helplessness and, sometimes, the embarrassment associated with them. ”(Mabry 100) The previous quote highlights why it

Imagine losing everything you had, your house, your dad, and all your possessions all of that at the age of 12. Ghastly isn’t it? Well in the story, Esperanza Rising by: Pam Munoz Ryan, Esperanza had to go through all that and shift to America during the Great Depression, and even if you don’t know what that is, you probably know by the looks of it that it is not the most marvelous thing. And you would be right, it’s not. When Esperanza goes to work in America to earn money, there are strikes going on about how people don’t get paid enough for working. Esperanza takes the job because she needs the money to help her mom who is sick and in the hospital and to earn money, so that her grandma can come to America. Esperanza is a brave 12 year-old

John Singleton’s film, Boyz N the Hood, displays the challenging upbringing of adolescents who have to live with harsh conditions around not only their home but also their surrounding town. The film compares the differences between the lifestyles of Tre Styles and his friends’, Darren and Ricky Baker. Darren and Ricky are half-brothers who are nothing alike. Singleton demonstrates the importance of male leadership in a home in the ghetto of Los Angeles by comparing the difference between the lifestyles of Tre and his friends. While many adolescents in the hood have close friendships, some form close relationships by assembling gangs and create a world of violence due to alcohol abuse, which together ultimately breeds discrimination.

The novel, The American Way of Poverty: How the Other Half Still Lives by Sasha Abramsky is about how he traveled the United States meeting the poor. The stories he introduces in novel are articles among data-driven studies and critical investigations of government programs. Abramsky has composed an impressive book that both defines and advocates. He reaches across a varied range of concerns, involving education, housing and criminal justice, in a wide-ranging view of poverty 's sections. In considering results, it 's essential to understand how the different problems of poor families intermingle in mutual reinforcement. Sasha Abramsky brings the results of economic disparity out of the shadows and recommends ways for moving toward a

“Homeless on Campus,” by Eleanor Bader is a summary of homeless students on college campuses. Bader taught English at Kingsborough Community College and she was also a freelance writer. This report explains how many students on college campuses are homeless and are trying to continue their education. Bader illustrates her points by writing about students that share their personal stories about their hardships. She also communicates with others who have insight and information about students who have no home and are going to college. They explain the struggles that all of these students face every day in and out of school. They also give examples of their real students and what they have encountered first hand, and it is not easy. There are too many homeless students who have nothing from the start of their lives and try to achieve and work to continue their education and become something. Bader describes how they got there and how they leave it all behind and try to move forward. The Colleges they go to also do nothing to help them in any way. This report illustrates the deeper meaning behind its points and how colleges are not connecting with their students.

In a New York Times article, “Too Poor to Make the News,” author Barbara Ehrenreich focuses on the impact the recession has caused to the lives of the working poor. She begins her article by describing how the newly group, known as Nouveau poor, have to give up valuables where as the working poor have to give up housing, food, and prescription medicines. Ehrenreich’s purpose is to inform her readers who are blessed enough not to suffer like the working poor. Barbara Ehrenreich’s article examines the impacts the recession has on the lives of the working poor, by demonstrating pathos, and makes readers aware of the sufferings the poor have to face.

I viewed Frontline a documentary series, which episode was entitled Poor Kids. The frontline personnel spent time with three children Kailey, Johnny, and Britany along with their families as they all struggle financially. We perceive a glimpse of what it is like to live below the poverty line in America through a child’s eyes. While observing the documentary, I became consciously aware that children who are considered poor or living below the poverty line were more mindful of the responsibilities of life. The children were worrisome of the lack of employment for their parents, bills, and in Britney’s case; how they would accommodate their way of living to support a new addition to the family. They feared to lose their homes and dreaded departing with

The first real study of social disorganization happened during the 1800’s in France by two men, Adolph Quetelet and Andre-Michel Guerry. They studied social disorganization by taking the recently released criminal records and mapping them. They were able to show that crime is related to places. After Adolph and Andre Michel came Robert Parks and Ernest Burgess who studied the similarities between ecology and urban social structures. Parks and Burgess after seeing how time played a role in how cities are affected, created a theory called the Concentric Zone theory. This theory correlated ecology means of invasion, dominance, and succession and combined it to cities. After Parks and Burgess, two men by the names of Shaw and McKay took up this theory and applied it social disorganization and its effects on delinquents.

According to the PBS Frontline video “Poor Kids” 2012, more than 46 million Americans are living beneath the poverty line. The United States alone has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the industrialized world. It is stated that 1 out of 5 children are living in poverty. The video documented the lives of three families who are faced with extreme hardships and are battling to survive a life of being poor. All three families have more than one child and could barely afford to pay their bills and purchase food for their household.

The United States is the wealthiest nation in the World, but in the film Born with a Wooden Spoon it is illustrated that over 37 million people in the US live below the poverty line. Some of the contributing factors for those whom suffer from poverty are low education, lack of job skills, and one parent households. These factors can lead to a state of generational poverty or poverty lasting two generations or more. The conditions an individual is born into can transcend throughout their lives and being born into poverty can create an isolated mind set of poverty. What surprised me most about the film was the lack of the ability to break the cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was surprising to see how many of the families depicted struggled

Poverty has been around for numerous years. Poverty can be a generational problem if people let it. James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” and David Joy’s “Digging in the trash” both show that families in poverty do not have it easy, the children will live in poverty unless something is done, and people either find a way of escape or stand up against it.

The film documentary Paris is Burning is a complex film portraying the lives of African American men who are gay and transgender. The characters are Dorian Corey, Pepper LaBeija, Venus Xtravaganza, Willi Ninja, Octavia St. Laurent, Freddie Pendavis, and several others. This film focuses on how these men support each other and find happiness by embracing their culture. The film uses rhetorical strategies, such as pathos to allow the audience to respond emotionally, logos because this is a documentary about the lives of real men who are rejected by society, and ethos the integrity of this film comes from the whole film crew and the director Jennie Livingston who is openly lesbian (Clark). Livingston made a film that showed the audience a community that has its own cultural norms who are outlawed by everyone but themselves. The audience gets involved in their life right when the film begins and one sees a dark New York. The aim of this film is to depict the struggle of being who you want to be, it portrays this by using rhetorical strategies (pathos, logos, ethos), film techniques (camera shots, angles, movement), and persuasive strategies.

Overall, this film made me angry and sad at how difficult these children’s lives were. While their adopted siblings got to live their lives without the strife of more complicated issues like child sexual abuse,

Behind the Swoosh is a documentary about sweatshop labor. As a class we watched the documentary and as I learned more about how Nike was running their business; I felt bad for the people that were working. I could not believe that those people were working hard making that company so much money and was getting nothing in return. Then again, I really was not shocked because I know that they are people that put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into a company and do not make enough money.

In the video, we can appreciate different realities that these people have to face every day, it might not be very different from our own reality but it is indeed a more challenging one. There are many families in the U.S. struggling each day, working to have a better life, to achieve “The American Dream”, but these particular families that life in Detroit and Oakland have more difficulties than most people. Their health is deteriorating by extreme pollution causing them asthma since an early age. Obesity is a major problem that is cause by the consumption of cheap food that they can only afford. Crime and Vandalism is part of their daily lives. All these issues are being addressed by the community but even if most of the problems are solve,