Where are all the films about poor Americans?
theguardian.com
Where are all the films about poor Americans?
1–10 of 88 posts
Re: Where are all the films about poor Americans?
#2Last year's Palme dOr at Cannes was the British film I, Daniel Blake. It was a fantastic gut punch for how even well-intentioned technology is leaving behind parts of society. My partner and I had a very heated 2 hour discussion after watching it.
Re: Where are all the films about poor Americans?
#3Though not a film, Breaking Bad has I think been exemplary in its treatment of this subject.
By and large now it’s a topic that sees much more treatment in TV than in movies.
“Boyhood” comes to mind.
Re: Where are all the films about poor Americans?
#4When did people lose sight of the fact that the primary purpose of film on the silver screen is entertainment?
Where do authors like OP get the idea that I want to go to the movies to have politics shoved down my throat? And that there is some kind of obligation for those in charge to forgo their primary motivations of artistic expression and/or profit in the interest of some totally arbitrary target of "representation" of every combination of color, gender, and socioeconomic status?
Not to mention, this kind of thinly veiled political grandstanding in the context of film review is almost always cherry picking. There have been plenty of films examining poverty from numerous perspectives. The fact that they are not en vogue now does not speak of some kind of crisis-just like people clamoured over Black Panther as the first positive representation of blacks on screen, while conveniently ignoring decades of black cinema.
Outrage is the kind of thing, in my opinion, that is trivial to find, if you look hard enough.
Re: Where are all the films about poor Americans?
#5Wendy and Lucy! Also, TV is better: Atlanta and the Wire are great about poverty.
Re: Where are all the films about poor Americans?
#6Last year's Palme dOr at Cannes was the British film I, Daniel Blake . It was a fantastic gut punch for how even well-intentioned technology is leaving behind parts of society. My partner and I had a very heated 2 hour discussion after watching it.
How much commercially successful technology is well intentioned? Does Google's philanthropy make up for its advertising? Facebook's? Is the iPhone well intentioned?
I feel like many big corps do some good as an offset to their mostly bad, with a net negative gain.
Re: Where are all the films about poor Americans?
#7The premise of this article is wrong. There are many movies about people who aren't rich. The stories may not revolve around their poverty, the poverty may not be an integral part of the story, but the characters are still clearly working class.
That said, people don't go to the movies to be lectured about poverty. They go for an escape. Poverty is sad, so there isn't a huge appetite for movies "about poverty".
Re: Where are all the films about poor Americans?
#8The premise of this article is wrong. There are many movies about people who aren't rich. The stories may not revolve around their poverty, the poverty may not be an integral part of the story, but the characters are still clearly working class. That said, people don't go to the movies to be lectured about poverty. They go for an escape. Poverty is sad, so there isn't a huge appetite for movies "about poverty".
I agree with you. Three Billboards was exactly this type of film. Not sure why it was not mentioned in the article.
Re: Where are all the films about poor Americans?
#9Yes! Personally I'm waiting for Winter's bone 2, where Jennifer Lawrence does sign up for 'stan.
Re: Where are all the films about poor Americans?
#10[deleted]