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Best movie for understanding structural poverty

posted 14 years ago by ascferme
9 replies | jump to latest

Poor people are often scapegoats and blamed for their situation when its anything but their fault. Today, because of the recession, a great majority of people have lost jobs through no fault of their own, yet we don’t blame these people for what has happened because of the financial crisis. Likewise, it shouldn't be so hard to understand that most people do NOT want to be jobless nor poor. It's only the very few who try to take advantage of the system.

There are many reasons why people are poor that have nothing to do with lack of effort or an unwillingness to work. Many of those reasons are built into the fabric of society and are not the fault of the people in poverty.

Some of the many reasons:

Lack of transportation. Many poor people cannot afford a car to get to where the jobs are.

Expense and available child care limit the jobs single parents can take.

Cities and states building highways that isolated poor neighborhoods.

Drastic cuts in social programs beginning in the Reagan years extending up to the G.W. Bush administration.

Use of deed restrictions and zoning laws to keep poor people out of certain communities limiting their access to upward mobility.

"Jobless recoveries" past and present that did little to help those who need it most.

[–] pawn_broker 14 years ago

I agree. As a former analyst for the government, I studied structural poverty and unfortunately, this movie doesn't over dramatize the situation at all.

[–] cataclysm1071 10 years ago

Lack of higher educational opportunities, not knowing the "right" people, and outsourcing of jobs, are also a huge factor.

[–] fiatlux-1 10 years ago

I agree, as a rather poor person myself.

But to be fair also, there are always buses. I see throngs of people taking the bus around my area, much more that I have ever seen before.

In this film, while Theresa's situation was horrible & heartbreaking, she made some strange choices for someone in her situation.

Turning in the landlord that let her stay in the apartment was one of them. Rats are horrible; I've dealt with disgusting wild mice myself.
She should have put out some rat poison or traps, or stuck some steel wool in the rat holes. Her daughter was old enough to know better than to eat the poison or touch the traps.
Not trying to get a job right away, after getting the welfare apartment, seemed like another. Jobs aren't just sitting there for you to take.

There is financial aid you can apply for to go to college, at least try for it.
Lastly, Theresa should have gone back home. She could have helped her mom out, slept on the trailer floor, anything but giving up her daughter.

"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

[–] roses888 10 years ago

The child would have deep scars for the rest of her life from the mother abandoning her. What if the child ended up in a foster home for years? Or ended up being adopted and had someone in the family sexually molesting her? It happens all the time. Theresa thought she was doing her daughter a favor by giving her up, that was her thinking. I would of gone back to that woman from the beginning of the movie that had a house and begged her to let her and her daughter stay. Hopefully, she would of given in and let them stay for awhile. Or she should of went and found her mother or sisters and stayed with them in the trailer.
I am surprised the social worker Calvin Reed could not come up with a solution. Isn't that his job? Surely he would of known a safe place Theresa and Hilary could stay for awhile or pointed her to some other connections that could help. Anything is a better choice than giving up your flesh & blood! I do not agree with what Theresa did at the end! This movie really stuck with me.
Poverty is a terrible thing, but there are some choices.

[–] the_urban_prince 10 years ago

Resposes in this post are very typical, why didn't they do this or that, why didn't they go here or there. Etc etc, etc. Yes there's busses but not all cities have good public transportation. Also there's assistance but its very limited, and those charities are OVERWHELMED. Plus not everybody can go and stay with relatives, not all families are close. I been in this situation its hard to get out once you get sucked in. NOBODY will help. People are woefully miss informed about whats available thanks to shady politicians with disingenuous conservative agendas claiming theres TONS of resources already. And then there's the welfare queens stigma that added to the hatred of government programs. And also the reason poor people are given the 3rd degree all the time. Its worse when people are born into poverty, cause usually there's a legacy of poverty, for generations. So most relatives are bound to be poor too. Its also hard for people who becomes poor and homeless for the first time. Also add structural/institutional racism and you have a perfect storm for poverty, inequality and the inability for upward mobility. The ones who escape are incredibly lucky

[–] EmperorOfDragons (289) 6 years ago

^I still stand by this....

[–] fiatlux-1 10 years ago

The family that lived across from Theresa made some bad choices too.

They kept having baby after baby, yet when the sister wisely tries to stop her sibling from having sex there is NO mention of using birth control.

Mostly, the true victims in this story were the children.

"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] greenbudgie 7 years ago

This is a very good movie to spare a thought for some homeless people who are decent people. Some people can't cope with the system and drift into homeless because they are so independent and anti-authority.

But the woman in this movie is a real victim and went on the streets through sheer ill luck. She deserved a better life.