Life in 1950’s Yugoslavia was a complicated affair as families navigated through the complexities of a socialist society under the authoritarian rule of Marshal Tito. In the film Tito and Me, director Goran Markovic depicts the interactions and adventures of a young boy, Zoran, whose admiration for Tito catapulted him into an adventure through the Yugoslavian countryside. The film, though presented as a comedy, provides insight into a culture where political beliefs dominate daily interactions and impact family dynamics. Accommodations for Zoran’s family demonstrate the hardships of living in a socialist community. The family, comprised of seven people, shares a two bedroom apartment with only one bathroom despite their depiction as a middle
Mark Peterson’s 1994 photograph, Image of Homelessness, compares the everyday life of the working class to the forgotten life of the lowest class in society. In the image, the viewer can see a troubled homeless man wrapped in a cocoon of standard manipulated 12in by 12in cardboard boxes and yarn. The yarn is what is keeping the man and box tied to the red bench. This bench has chipped paint and is right in front of a black fence. Underneath the bench is dirt and debris from the dead fall leaves. The center focal point is the homeless man on the bench. He is the focal point because he is the greatest outsider known to man. Behind this man is vibrant life. There is pulsating people crossing the clean street, signs of life from all the advertising on store windows, families walking and blurred cars filled with
The “other America” Kotlowitz describes in his book is the public housing complex at Henry Horner Homes in Chicago. By following the lives of two boys, Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers, we are exposed to the misfortunes, turmoil and death that their lives are filled with.
The Frontline documentary “Two American Families” produced by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), portrays the life of two typical middle class families living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Frontline Video, 2013). This follows the life of the Neumann family and the Stanley family as they pursue the ideal type of life, The American Dream, from 1991 through 2011 (Frontline Video, 2013). However, the pursuit of their fantasy quickly turned into a fight for economic struggle (Frontline Video, 2013). These struggles were all brought about by the new shaping economy (Frontline Video, 2013). At the beginning of the documentary, the Neumann family seemed well put together (Frontline Video, 2013).
...stic things in order to live a better, more sound, and overall healthier life. Juxtaposition makes the audience want to follow through with the purpose. Exemplification causes the audience to realize the extent of their materialistic nature. A definition of the average homeless person’s terms allows him to build his ethos and consequently allow the audience to believe and follow his purpose. A majority of people are a part of the middle class, and this majority tends to judge the poor for their lifestyle whether it be through Dumpster diving or begging on the streets. However, as proven by the essay, these people have no right to do so because the poor do, in reality, have a greater sense of self than these middle-class people, similar to the rich. The middle-class citizens must no longer act the victim; instead, they should be working on becoming more sentimental.
The last two decades of the twentieth century gave rise to turbulent times for constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, eventually leading them to split apart. There were a number of damaging aspects of past history and of the political and economic circumstances that contributed to the breakup and eventually caused the situation to snowball into a deadly series of inter-ethnic conflicts. Yugoslavia was reunified at the end of the war when the communist forces of Josip Broz Tito liberated the country. Under Tito, Yugoslavia adopted a relatively liberal form of government in comparison to other East European communist states at the time and experienced a period of relative economic and political stability until Tito’s death in 1980. In addition to internal power struggles following the loss of their longtime leader, Yugoslavia faced an unprecedented economic crisis in the 1980’s. As other communist states began to fall in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, some former Communist leaders abandoned communism and founded or supported ethno-national parties, blaming the economic suffering on the flaws of communism and other ethnic groups. The ethnic violence that followed would not have been possible without the willingness of politicians from every side to promote ethno-nationalist symbols and myths through media blitzes, which were especially effective due to low levels of education in the former Yugoslavia. Shadows of the events of World War II gave these politicians, especially the Serbs, an opportunity to encourage the discussion and exaggeration of past atrocities later in the century. The ethnic violence in the former Yugoslavia can be traced back to a series of linked damaging factors such as the de...
The author talks about her living space in Shanghai, China, she shared a house with neighbors. “Though we had lived in this old three-story house in Shanghai for more than a year, I couldn’t map out the neighbors and where they resided” (Schmitt). She did not know where all her neighbors lived. Her living space was spacious and updated in the top floor of the house, but the author states “The other two floors remained as they had been during the height of Communism: cheap, basic and subdivided.”
D’Emilio points out that “the instability of families and the sense of impermanence and insecurity that people are now experiencing in their personal relationships are real social problems that need to be addressed. We need political solutions for these difficulties of personal life” (474-5). D’Emilio then briefly outlines an economic replacement for capitalism and a social replacement for the family. His idealized economy is a form of socialism which emphasizes “community- or worker-controlled daycare, housing where privacy and community coexist, neighborhood institutions” (475). And his idealized social structure is the “affectional community,” which is an extension and development of current “networks of support that do not depend on the bonds of
The Westcotts, who “[have] satisfactory average of income, endeavor, and respectability that is reached by the statistical reports”, “have two young children” and “go to the theatre on an average of 10.3 times a year” (Cheever, 246) are an allusion to the postwar nuclear family ideal that has a decent and wealthy life. Moreover, “Irene is proud of her living room, she chooses its furnishings and colors as carefully as she chooses her clothes” and describes the radio as an ugly “gumwood cabinet” (Cheever, 247) insinuating that the radio does not fit with the living room. This illustrates that the Westcotts’ living room looks gorgeous and they look like they are living a decent, respectable, and wealthy life that others
Riis, Jacob A. How the Other Half Lives; Studies among the Tenements of New York. New York: Dover, 1971. Print.
Rapid industrialization and nation-wide corporations led to wealthier families and a new middle class. Although there were many who did enjoy the new luxuries paid for by new salaried jobs like managers, technicians, and engineers, many more people were below the poverty line and resided in the slums, living with other families with no privacy and unsanitary conditions. These families were unfortunate because of the wage cuts and the replacement of labor by immigrants and African Americans. A change was in order and the labor unions took the plate by voicing their complaints, and, when that didn’t work, resorting to physical means to get what they wanted.
Throughout Society, many families have seen struggle and lived through poverty. The economy is not always thriving which takes a toll on people who suffer through unemployment or low wage jobs. The Frontline documentary, “Two American Families”, is the perfect example of struggle in the United States. It shows the lives of two struggling families and their efforts to survive. Two essays, “The Sociological Imagination” by C. Wright Mills, and “The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All” by Herbert J. Hans, support the analysis of the video strongly. They express many ideas that relate to the world and struggle throughout society. Also, there are many sociological terms that depict the events that occurred in the documentary.
It is difficult to decide what is worse, the work done in the mines or the housing to which the miners returned to at night. The especially cruel truth. is the fact that the rent of a family of six living in two barren rooms, two hundred yards from an outdoor privy, extorted most of the household wages. Orwell 's urgent prose does not let anyone turn a blind eye to the facts. Although Orwell wrote from the perspective of a “participant observer” it still resonates today 's concerns about the effects of poverty on people 's everyday lives and dreams.
The transnationalism of the movie is represented by Cristian Mungiu’s approach to the controversial issue of abortion. The film crew utilizes various techniques and emotional angles to portray a frightful reality, as opposed to Hollywood’ treatment of the same issue. Jason Reitman’s Oscar winning motion picture, Juno (2007), disclosed a more familial and friendly overview. The way in which Mungiu sketched the theme of abortion is endorsed by the historical context of communism, or how the totalitarian dictatorship of Nicolae Ceauşescu had reached such an in-depth level of protrusion that it also affects the intimate life. It creates an everyday scale of historical opposition to totalitarianism enforced by the relationship b...
Patriarchal societies had common effects across Central European countries. Women were often treated as citizens in a third-world country (Katarzyna 4). In the Czech Republic, women were seen as equal to men under the Communist regime. Despite this, women’s still received jobs that were inferior to men with men working political and government jobs and women expected to remain in a sphere within the home. Women were seen as equal to men, yet they were socially looked down upon if they were not married or being housewives (Heitlinger 90). Similar to the Czech Republic, women in Yugoslavia had equality legally but were unable to practice their rights as citizens, mainly political, outside of the work atmosphere. Women worked jobs in fields such as education, medicine, banks, or post off...
The documentary film ‘Once My Mother”, produced by Australian filmmaker Sophia Turkiewicz, depicts her mother Helen’s struggle for survival as a Polish refugee during World War Two and the process of the filmmaker’s reconciliation with her mother after her abandonment in an orphanage at a young age. In some senses, it is a story of loss and abandonment due to the miserable experiences Helen encountered at a young age. The film, however, predominantly portrays Helen’s incredible human strength on her journey of survival during the war and the complex love between Helen and the filmmaker.