Poverty is something that we cannot ignore. Shelby Adams once said that we must look into the dark so that we may improve. It is important to let the world know the other side of the story specifically how impoverished people live. This is precisely what both Marc Singer and Jennifer Bachwal do in The True Meaning of Pictures and Dark Days. Both of these films are very different but similar at the same time.
In Jennifer Baichwal’s The True Meaning of Picture, she focused on the subject of American photographer Shelby Lee Adams’ works. Adams’ pieces emphasize the culture people in poverty from the Appalachian Mountains. Baichwal also spends some time focusing on the controversy of the photographer’s images. The documentary shows direct quotes from Adams himself, the subjects of his pictures, the subjects’ family, and even art critiques. The film collides the views of all these people so that we may learn more about the Appalachian people. Throughout the course of the documentary, the
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Singer also uses many rhetorical devices to make the viewer feel for these people. The documentary is black and white, which I feel adds to the effect. Different from Baichwal’s documentary, when talking to the people they are not pulled aside and filmed, rather they are in the same place they would be if the film crew wasn’t there. There aren’t any special camera angle or anything; they are simply filmed. The only people in this documentary are the film crew and the ‘tunnel dwellers’. Throughout the course of the documentary, the viewer feels attached to these people. When they score a victory, the audience also feels that sense of accomplishment. This is powerful and done through learning about these people’s stories and history. The documentary makes the viewer realize that they too are people like you and
The theme of poverty is brought up in the narrative many of times in the book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”. Poverty play a very important role in the lives of Henrietta Lacks and her family. Nevertheless, because the Lacks family lived in poverty Henrietta Lacks and the Lacks family were kind of taken advantage of. For example the sample taken from Henrietta Lacks was unauthorized and the family was never told why you ask, because they never really had a reason to. This was because the Lacks family was poor and really didn’t have any money so even if they did find out they wouldn’t really be able to sue because of money reasons and plus they had little to no education to support themselves in any way. Nonetheless, the Lacks family
In “Changing the Face of Poverty”, the author Diana George shows different ways poverty is advertised and displayed. She disagrees with the way poverty is addressed and visually represented, in a limited way. I agree with the way she wants people to acknowledge how poverty is being misunderstood.
As a main point of her argument, she argues that poverty is generally stereotyped into the poverty that would only be seen in Africa, or another third world country. To support this, she establishes a sense of ethos for her readers by citing other individuals that have also noticed the poverty representation gap. Seeing that poverty is a complex issue to begin with, George addresses this complexity by simply suggesting that it should be represented as such in the media. Nonprofit charities may now have to reconsider their
The book demonstrates that poverty may not be a government issue but everyone is impacting towards this issue. People must work with what they got, and give respect to their close ones
Poverty is a terrible condition, which as unfortunate as it is, many people across the globe suffer from. Poverty can present itself in many ways and in many different circumstances, which is shown in the following stories. In ' Angela's Ashes' by Frank McCourt, young Frank is burdened with the responsibiliity of providing for his family. Similarly, in 'The Street' by Ann Petry, Lutie, a single black mother, is struggling to find shelter for her family. In both 'Angela's Ashes' and 'The Street,' a key member of each family is desperately trying to support their loved ones and meet their basic human needs. In both passages, the author uses specific characters, events, and settings to demonstrate the theme that one needs perseverance to overcome poverty.
Before starting this project, I knew very little about photography, photographers, or exactly how much impact photographical images have had on our society. I have never taken a photography class, or researched too in depth about specific pictures or photographers. This project has allowed me to delve deeper into the world of photography in order to understand just how much influence pictures can have over society’s beliefs, emotions, and understandings’. I have have chosen two highly influential photographers, Diane Arbus and Dorothea Lange, who I have found to both resonate with me and perfectly capture human emotions in way that moves others.
Nelson Mandela once said, “Poverty is not natural it 's man-made.” This quote states that a person can overcome poverty if one has the desire to live a better life. In a novel called Poor People written by William T. Vollmann, the author travels around different countries and places to learn about poor people and to get a global perspective view. While interviewing different kinds of people, Vollmann would ask them one question: why are you poor? Looking at people 's answers Vollmann noticed that some of the people gave quite interesting answers. Vollmann went through a lot of situations where he just couldn 't imagine what life would be if he was ever to live like that. Another novel that has a similar poverty situation is called Let The Water Hold Me Down, written by Michael Spurgeon. Hank, the main character of the novel, experiences a tragic moment in his life. Losing his wife and daughter while drowning, this tragedy left him feeling like it’s all due to his miscarrying about them. His life becomes full of sorrow, and the only way out it was to go to Mexico to his friend’s place and restart his life over. In a new country of Mexico, this story takes place. Even though he had money, a house, and friends’ support, he still experienced lots of pressure trying to survive in Mexico. Poverty has different meanings in everyone 's lives but by reading these two novels, there are three similarities that can be made about people living in poverty.
In the documentary “Poor Kids” you get to truly see and feel how it is to be a child that suffers from food insecurity, poverty and the rest that comes with it. The fact that this problem exists in a developed country that you would assume it could provide for all their citizens. Well, the reality is we have many families suffering because of lack food and on top of that, we have children suffering from lack and food and more. As a society, we have grown to just be concerned about ourselves and we don’t focus on issues that affect others. We fail to see the struggles of others because it doesn’t directly impact us. We are focused on attaining wealth at all cost we would rather waste food than provide help for the ones in need. Ultimately, we are creating policies that, make sure no one gives food to the ones that needed the most. It’s a sad reality that we must face in order to continue to strive as a nation. Therefore, we need to acknowledge others and provide them with the respect that they deserve. We also have many corporations and elites that have control, power, and wealth. The stratified system in the U.S is making it that much harder for lower-income families to come out of poverty. Not only are they suffering from lack of food, lack income, and resources, but this also is affecting their pride and self-worth.
This film made me think about how relevant this theme is to the society we live in today as it is hard for poorer people to have the same opportunities and experiences as wealthier people because they can't afford it. Instead of everyone being equal, there is still imbalance within our society as money separates us. John Key, who is the New Zealand prime minister is a good example of this as he only caters to the needs of the wealthy people which he instead should be catering to the needs of poorer people. Poverty is a huge issue in New Zealand, which can be a result of not having enough money to buy food. Children go to school hungry and don't have the brain food to focus and work to the best of their abilities. Because of this they are likely to get a lower paid job and it is like a circle like in the film of the rich people staying rich and the poor people staying poor. John Key recently invested 26 million
Picture This: coming home to place where there aren’t any lights, water and probably no meal for the day. According to Human Services in Contemporary America poverty is the main reason why many babies don’t make it to see adulthood and why clean water and sanitation are not provided. It is the underlying cause of reduced life expectancy, and disability. Poverty is a major contributor to malnutrition, stress, divorces of a family and abuse (Schmolling).
Jo Goodwin parker describes in “What is Poverty?” the harsh realities of living in poverty. The author depicts poverty by using imagery to appeal to the reader’s senses, list to impact the reader, and anecdote to prove her point. Goodwin illustrates, impacts, and proves to raise awareness about poverty and to encourage assistance from society. The author conversates to the reader by addressing contradictions, creating a feeling of conversation.
During times of extreme poverty and inequality more attention is provided to those in hardship. A prime example of this is New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. Before the hurricane hit the only time I had hear of New Orleans was if someone was speaking about doing down to Mardi Gras. The people affected by the hurricane lost a lot. Many lost their homes, tangible possessions stored in their homes, animals, and some lost their lives. Hurricane Katrina was a huge devastation to the country, but many survivors say they did not get adequate supplies, shelter, food, or support (Lee, S, 2006).
Everyone knows what the word poverty means. It means poor, unable to buy the necessities to survive in today's world. We do not realize how easy it is for a person to fall into poverty: A lost job, a sudden illness, a death in the family or the endless cycle of being born into poverty and not knowing how to overcome it. There are so many children in poverty and a family's structure can effect the outcome. Most of the people who are at the poverty level need some type of help to overcome the obstacles. There are mane issues that deal with poverty and many things that can be done to stop it.
In “Ways of Seeing”, John Berger, an English art critic, argues that images are important for the present-day by saying, “No other kind of relic or text from the past can offer such direct testimony about the world which surrounded other people at other times. In this respect images are more precise and richer literature” (10). John Berger allowed others to see the true meaning behind certain art pieces in “Ways of Seeing”. Images and art show what people experienced in the past allowing others to see for themselves rather than be told how an event occurred. There are two images that represent the above claim, Arnold Eagle and David Robbins’ photo of a little boy in New York City, and Dorothea Lange’s image of a migratory family from Texas; both were taken during the Great Depression.
Poverty is a massive issue today, it surrounds all of life’s experiences, and it impacts on the future for people everywhere, and on health everywhere in society. Poverty is not just related to unemployment or