The documentary Born Into Brothels follows a group of children growing up in the red light district of Calcutta. As their mothers are prostitutes, these children lack opportunities for education and the young girls are pressured to follow the same career as their mothers. Photographer Zana Briski teaches these children photography and tries to help them get an education and escape their life in the red light district. She faces several obstacles from the administrators of the schools, the parents, and the children themselves. Despite these obstacles, the children find happiness in their photography, and even display some photos in an exhibit, attracting the attention of the locals. In the end, Briski manages to help some of the children get …show more content…
The influence the parents have and the lack of institutional help creates a very rigid path ahead of the children. Their vulnerability and lack of education leads to a greater chance that they will stay in poverty, which increases their vulnerability and decreases their chances of getting an education. In addition to this, the fact that some of them were reluctant to leave means they become indoctrinated into this lifestyle at a very young age. It is hard to imagine something else when you only know one way of life. This speaks to the psychological nature of trafficking and the multiple factors that influence a person’s state of captivity beyond where they physically are. However, fact that some of the children were able to escape means that these children can be saved. This is especially evident in Avijit’s story. He went on to become a film major at NYU, showing the world that any child can have the talent and potential to find success. As was emphasized in the film Invisible Children, they can be extraordinarily resilient. The use of photography was important as well because it introduced a creative way to give these children a small amount of control over their lives. Like the jewelry making in Not For Sale, teaching children photography adds a personal element to helping vulnerable people. This kind of unique solution is just as valuable as government programs or donations in helping those at risk of or victims of
Her pathos is at it’s highest when she tells the story of the Nimai and then only gets stronger when she introduces strong passionate quotes such as, “And when many of these children turn to the streets, to survival through thievery and violence and begging and prostitution-as surely in the absence of other options they must-are we willing to shoulder that responsibility?” (Divakaruni 468). This quote shows her passion for the issue and expands the reader’s viewpoint by putting new possibilities of what these children may do if they cannot work into perspective. The author’s background in organizations that help women and children is also important to recall because it builds her trust once again and shows us her passion. This makes us aware of her experience and gives her paper a new
The book Renting Lacy: A Story of America’s Prostituted Children by Linda Smith addresses the topic of the underground world of child sex trafficking. Unfortunately, it is a topic that has been purposefully neglected in our society for many years. The author presents every chapter with a real story of a sexually exploited child. The stories are intense, powerful but especially touching which makes the reader feel frustrated, desperate, and vexed. After every chapter, Smith tries to include commentaries that presents a deeper understating about human trafficking. It seems that the purpose of her commentaries is to make the reader think deeper about the problem of sex trafficking and accumulate desires to act towards this issue as they continue
Human trafficking is the act of coercing someone into working against his or her will. Anyone can be a victim, especially young girls who are vulnerable to the captor’s lies. Victims have been found anywhere from driving ice cream trucks to touring boys’ choir. In her talk, Noy Thrupkaew shares several examples about how people are deceived and coerced into coming to the United States and being forced to work for someone else. She focuses on how close to home human trafficking really is and how the victims don’t necessarily need saving but solidarity. In Noy Thrupkaew’s speech about human trafficking, she not only shares her own story but also the different situations regarding how the crime functions. Because the speaker
Many children in these Third World countries have no other option but to go to work and help support their families. Otherwise they are left to survive for themselves on the streets ruled by crime and danger. Cathy Young strengthens this point by saying, “Some children, left with no other means of earning a living, may even be forced into prostitution.” Yes, to most people, working in a sweat shop does not seem like a good option but for some it is the only one so why get rid of it.
By mixing the full experience of the villagers the elements of beauty inherent to a full treatment of an oppressed existence can be shared with the audience. Examples of this mixture of the intricacies of life with the tragedies of oppression are available throughout Five Broken Cameras. Emad’s conversation with his son, Gibreel, following the death of El-Phil, when the young boy asks his father why he doesn’t just take knife and kill the Israeli soldiers is prime example of aspect of the struggle that demonstrates the aspect of the experience that can keep an audience engaged and relating Emad even in the wake of some of the film’s most graphic displays of violence. From a human level it is easier to understand Emad’s struggle to raise his family in this environment and attempt to maintain his dignity in the face of the often humiliating injustice of the Israeli occupation and with a full treatment of the experience in all it’s complex and raw glory it is possible to transcend the violence and realize the lasting impact of such an experience. “Five Broken Cameras” accomplishes its goal of communicating core of existence under oppression and provides a unique glimpse into a world that is hard to look at and even more
The documentary, South of the Border, informs its viewers about the conflict between South American leaders and the institutions of the United States, mainly the government and media. The events shown and narrated through the film may be interpreted with the use of sociological theories, which is the main purpose of this film analysis. This paper aims to explain the causes of the realities presented through concepts and theories from the field of Sociology.
For instance, the film displayed qualities of ethnocentrism, both Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman are not anthropologists, and the film was made in a Western gaze, which means, the intended audience would be the American society, rather than students and scholars. That is to say, during the film, the camera would zoom in when the natives were not clothed properly and when they went to beach and the park, which does not seem like a normal activity for them. As a result, the confirms the promotion of othering and stereotypical, which is not ethical to an anthropologist. Also, Briski had direct interaction with the children, but not with their parents, which can be questioning to the scholarly eye. On the other hand, the filmmakers, Briski and Kauffman interacts with the natives and experiences communication complexities throughout the film, which is considered anthropological. Although Briski was trying to help the children to get an education and promote awareness in the red light district, she was doing this in order to let the Western society know that these children not only need help, but they need to be rescued from this tragic life. Last, but not least, Briski remains the hero and the American society continues to look up to her as a savior due to her position in the film. In addition, the music in the film also went back and forth, between traditional and Western, depending on the scene of the film. For example, whenever the children were involved in stereotype activities, the camera would zoom in and the music would become more Westernize. Thus, Born into Brothels is not an ethnographic film, instead, it remains a
Using subject matter that was culturally relative to not only one country but several allowed Ravelo to reach a broader audience. Ravelo wanted to open the eyes of as many people as possible in order to spark change. Ravelo’s series features children pinned to the back of those who take advantage of them.
This documentary shows that the abducted children are trained to become killers some escape and live their whole lives in constant fear. Others are no longer fazed by the violence and killing.
In this case, referring to the eleven- year-old-boy named Chava; Abandoned by his father at a young age, he confronts adult responsibilities and is now forced to be “the man of the house.” As the film is told through the eyes of a young boy, we see the horrific violence and struggles he faces, in order to hold on to his innocence and survival. “Childhood in El Salvador during these harsh times would end with a bullet or horrific recruitment of all twelve-year olds in the Salvadorian Army, something that Chava was trying to avoid” (Wiki 1). Innocent voices reflects the agony of the poor during the Civil War in El Salvador when twelve-year-old boys were required to become murderers. These scenes automatically change the perspective of the audience. We can feel and relate to the level of child experience that Chava and the other young boys lived through, and what it meant to actually try and survive the instability, and violence by your own government, and how it actually became normal within society. As seen within the film, “Chava struggles to maintain the condition of being normal and calm within his home, with the constant fear of turning twelve, the age that the government was able recruit him, meanwhile he cares for his younger brother and sister, trying to conserve their innocence and sheltering them from the chaos that surrounds them.” (Heuvel 2) The force of this
In the crowded city of Kabul there is a growing population of about six million children who dropped out of school to work and support their families. These children over work themselves every day to earn 10 cents per plastic bag, running between cars after pedestrians. Girls disguise themselves as boys so they would be able to go and sell plastic bags and earn a few Afghanis to get some bread to feed the family. The United Nations estimated that there are about fifty-thousand street children in Kabul alone. Most of those street children can’t afford an education because their fathers are unemployed or died in one of the wars (Haidary).
Furthermore the microsystem that Kochi operates is one consumed with prostitution. A child’s microsystem includes the setting in which they inhabit, the people who they live with, and the things they do with the people in their microsystem. Kochi’s microsystem includes a brothel and her family members, some of who work in the brothel. Her microsystem continuously reinforces the idea of working as a prostitute and denies her opportunities for further development. Fortunately Kochi’s microsystem includes her grandmother who supports Kochi’s educational and photography aspirations.
The French documentary Babies shows the first year of development of four different babies who live in four completely different environments. The film follows Ponijao, a little girl from Namibia, Bayar, a little boy from Mongolia, Mari, a girl from Tokyo, and Hattie, a girl from San Francisco. Even though the babies live in very dissimilar parts of the world, their physical, cognitive, and social development seem to all follow a set pattern. On the other hand, the babies learn to do some activities distinctive to their environment by watching their parents and siblings. Therefore, Babies provides evidence to support both the nature and nurture sides of the debate.
“Stolen people, stolen dream” is the brutality faced by numerous, vulnerable, gullible children in the black market around the world even in the admirable United States. Trafficking of children is the modern day slavery, the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. More than ever, it has become a lucrative method that is trending in the underground economy. A pimp can profit up to $150,000 per children from age 4-12 every year, as reported by the UNICEF. Also, according to the International Labor Organization statistics, “There are 20.9 million victim of human trafficking globally, with hundreds of thousands in the United
Media crews that infiltrate an impoverished society do not often consider the harm that they may be causing. In many cases, film or similar forms of media, such as photo-journalism, are used to capture the suffering of individuals in poverty. Often times, the suffering is recorded and then ignored. The people involved with the ad or image move on and they produce a product that they believe will increase cash donations. This action begs the question, are the increased donations worth leaving an orphaned child or diseased family to