Movie Review: Invisible City The movie Invisible City focuses on the lived experiences of residents in Regent Park, Canada’s oldest and largest social housing project. Regent Park is located in downtown Toronto, and consists of approximately 2,000 families. It was constructed to reduce the crime, housing, and social problems recurrent in this area, which was formerly known as Cabbagetown. However, these issues soon reemerged and currently almost 70% of residents in Regent Park are classified as low income (). During the time of filming, the area was set to undergo a revitalization project that would rebuild the neighbourhood. This revitalization process would tear down the community within the next 15 years, resulting in the creation of a …show more content…
The young males in the documentary both were raised in single mother households, and did not have the presence fatherly figure in their lives. Their mothers work tirelessly to provide for their families, which leaves little time for family bonding and a lot of time for the boys to either be alone or socialize with friends in the community. The school teacher, Ainsworth Morgan, also grew up in Regent Park and describes how the individuals behaviour and way of navigating things is different based on their socialization in Regent Park. The boys are constantly surrounded by young men who have dropped out of school, been in trouble with the law, and resorted to selling drugs as an easy means of living. The appeal of engaging in risky activities in times of boredom or hardship is all too familiar. Morgan describes how the temptation of the streets is much more attractive than what is occurring at home. He elaborates on several aspects of the spatial organization of the Regent Park community including the “lure of the streets” and the neighborhood’s tendency to overlook positive achievements. Morgan says in the documentary, “When you come back to the hood, you get more respect getting out of prison than you do getting your Master’s”. If this is what these individuals are constantly exposed to, it becomes the norm. This demonstrates how the socialization process among …show more content…
The boys states that they were going to miss the neighbourhood, and showed Ainsworth and his views of the project, by filming him as he visited the home he was raised in. However, neighbours, friends, or other community members were not interviewed on their opinions of the revitalization project. I think this would have been very interesting to hear, especially if certain residents had contrasting opinions of the plan. Moreover, the documentary could have focussed more on the triumphs, and progressive choices these individuals have made, rather than portraying their stories as hopeless. The documentary shows how Kendell was arrested, and Mikey getting into trouble with his mom, and their struggles in school, but fails to acknowledge that these individuals made positive choices, and are bright individuals regardless of what others believe of them. The director followed these individuals over the past three years, and could have highlighted the strengths of each character. I felt that their positive choices, such as commitment to school, and continuing to live with their mothers, despite the countless conflicts they experience, were underrepresented in the documentary. Ainsworth, during the graduation party for highschool students, notes that there are a lot of successful students who are doing things in the community
On November 17th approximately 30 people and I congregated to the OSU College of Nursing to watch The Anonymous People, a documentary film about American’s who are living in long-term recovery from alcohol and other drug addiction. The film addressed the stigma related to alcoholics and drug addicts, including their experiences to the track of recovery. Applicable to what we have discussed in class, I was able to understand more into the healthcare stigma and healthcare disparities that people around us deal with daily. The eye opening video provided an example into the lives of people, famous or not, being mistreated and judged due to their life choices. As a group frequently misunderstood, the film tries to teach the audience to a new view
The book In the Neighborhood, by Peter Lovenheim is a very interesting look into the lives of residents in modern suburban neighborhoods. His neighborhood in Rochester New York mirrors many communities across the country. He paints a familiar picture of a community that waves at each other as they drive by, yet do not know the person they are waving at. This disconnection of people that live their lives so close to one another was completely unnoticed by Lovenheim until tragedy struck his community. One night in 2000, a routine activity that Lovenheim practiced, walking his dogs, exposed his consciousness to the lack of association he shared with those who live in close proximity to him. As he approached his street he observed emergency vehicles
Elijah Anderson’s Code of the Street book depicts two opposite communities within Philadelphia, the poor inner city black community and the residential middle class community. The majority of the book revolves around describing how the inner city functions on a ‘code of the street’ mentality, respect and toughness. Crime, violence and poverty run high in the inner city and following the code is a way to survive. Having a decent family or a street family greatly influences the path an adolescent will take involving delinquency. Anderson divides the book up into different themes and explores each one my not only giving factual information, but he also incorporates real life stories of various people who survived the inner city life style. Some of the themes include territory, survival by any means necessary, toughness, separate set of norms, campaign of respect and the mating game. Some criminological theories are also noticeable that take place in the inner city community.
The book emphasizes the idea of how difficult it is to leave the gang lifestyle. There are frequent cases of relapse by individuals in the book, who were once out to again return to gangs. This case is brought by what gangs represent to this in the book and what leaving entails them to give up. The definition of gangs presented to the class was, three or more members, share name, color, or affiliation, or must exist in a geopolitical context. To members associated with gangs, this definition can include your family members, neighborhood, everyone that they associate with. Take for example Ronnie from Jumped in by Jorja Leap it states,” Ronny’s role models are gangbangers. His family is a hood. His mentors are older homies in county jail.”(102). Ronnie and other gang members like him do not
Another noteworthy urban sociologist that’s invested significant research and time into gentrification is Saskia Sassen, among other topical analysis including globalization. “Gentrification was initially understood as the rehabilitation of decaying and low-income housing by middle-class outsiders in central cities. In the late 1970s a broader conceptualization of the process began to emerge, and by the early 1980s new scholarship had developed a far broader meaning of gentrification, linking it with processes of spatial, economic and social restructuring.” (Sassen 1991: 255). This account is an extract from an influential book that extended beyond the field of gentrification and summarizes its basis proficiently. In more recent and localized media, the release the documentary-film ‘In Jackson Heights’ portrayed the devastation that gentrification is causing as it plagues through Jackson Heights, Queens. One of the local businessmen interviewed is shop owner Don Tobon, stating "We live in a
...nterviewees explained how much he loved one of the drug dealers who introduced him to the hustle. He always provided him with money and goods until he felt he was old enough to make his own money and become a drug dealer himself. The film explains how children who grow up in these areas make rational choices because in their eyes selling and using is a norm and an option to survival. "You do what you gotta do" according to Shanequa.
For the children of the projects, the pressure to join a gang never waivers. Quick cash and protection are hard forces to resist in a world of poverty and violence. However, the children's role in these gangs is inferior to that of the leaders. At first, the concept of joining is quite attractive. According to Lafeyette, one of the two brothers profiled in the book, " 'When you first join you think it's good. They'll buy you what you want' " (31). However, " 'You have to do anything they tell you to do. If they tell you to kill somebody, you have to do that' " (31).
The first student we meet is Nate Marshal from Whitney Young Magnet High School on the west side of Chicago. The school uses standardized test scores and grades to determine who gets in. The kids that go there are smart, and eager to learn, which is a stark contrast to most of the other schools we see. A good school however does not prevent Nate from seeing the bad side to Chicago. He takes the camera crew to an area around his neighborhood where he points to places he’s gotten jumped, or seen a dead body.
Boyz N the Hood was a film created to convey an anti-gang message as well as to provide societal members an in-depth look at life in “the hood” so he or she can expand their culturally awareness of identifying societal issues (Stevenson, 1991). Upon the debut of “Boyz N the Hood” violence erupted at theaters across the nation, resulting in multiple shows pulling the film from scheduled showings to alleviate future violent behaviors (Stevenson, 1991). The film profoundly illustrates the realty of the events revealed within the storyline that frequently occur on a daily basis within every impoverish community; however, is overlooked by the individuals who are not directly involved and or affected (Leon-Guerrero, 2016) Children of lower socioeconomic status often are raised in ghetto neighborhoods where they often witness, crime, violence, gang activity, abuse, and drugs (Leon-Guerrero, 2016). Ghetto communities envelop tumultuous cycles of violence and substance abuse creating a pervasive occurrence within the residents of the community. This is prevalent in lower developed communities that unfortunately many children and the youth populace indirectly inherit and sadly conform to, as there are no other means to an end for them (Leon-Guerrero,
This paper will be predominantly focusing on public housing within Ontario. Not only will it look at the basics of Ontario but examine more directly on Regent Park within Toronto. It will discuss what public housing is and the explanation for why it exists, the government housing programs that are present with regards to public housing and the results of the government programs. The Purpose of this essay is to argue that the problem of public housing will never
These crime-ridden communities (or ghettos) are springing up all through the country, mainly in and around major metropolitan areas. These areas are the most populated, so that means that within these areas are the most people there to be influenced by the crimes committed by fellow people. In Male's reading he shows statistics that prove the fact that once the poverty factor is taken away then teen violence disappears. He later adds, “That if America wants to rid of juvenile violence than serious consideration needs to be given to the societally inflicted violence of raising three to 10 times more youth in poverty than other Western nations.” (Males p386)
John Singleton’s view of social problems in South Central Los Angeles happens in a tale of three friends growing up together. Doughboy and Ricky Baker are half-brothers and have opposite personalities. Ricky is a football player who hopes to win a scholarship and spends most of his time playing football. On the other hand, Doughboy is a young man who looks upon his environment for guidance. He is involved in violence, abusing drugs, and participates in violence. In between is their friend Tre, who actually has a father to teach him what is right from wrong. Furious Styles, who is Tre’s father in the film does everything in his strength to keep his son from becoming another startling statistic. As you can see, it is always important for parents to be a part of their child’s life because it can make a big difference not only in their life but also their child’s future.
“The Deeper Problems We Miss When We Attack ‘Gentrification’”exhibit their opinion on the positives of gentrification and the potential of “revitalization” in low-income urban communities. Badger argues that gentrification brings nothing more than further opportunities for urban communities while integrating citizens of different social classes.Furthermore , she continues to question if gentrification is in fact the monster that brings the prior expressions against gentrification where she says “If poor neighborhoods have historically suffered from dire disinvestment, how can the remedy to that evil — outside money finally flowing in — be the problem, too?”(Badger) Stating that the funds generated from sources external that are brought into these communities can’t be problematic. This concept is further elaborated in the article “Does Gentrification Harm the Poor” where Vigdoor list the potential positive enhancements gentrification can have on an urban area in America ,stating that gentrification can
For this assignment I decided to read the book Code of the Street: decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city by Elijah Anderson. This book is about how inner city people live and try and survive by living with the code of the streets. The code of the streets is basically morals and values that these people have. Most of the time it is the way they need to act to survive. Continuing on within this book review I am going to discuss the main points and arguments that Anderson portrays within the book. The main points that the book has, goes along with the chapters. These points consist of Street and decent families, respect, drugs violence, street crime, decent daddy, the mating game, black inner city grandmother. Now within these points there are a few main arguments that I would like to point out. The first argument is the belief that you will need to accept the street code to get through life. The other one is the belief that people on the street need “juice”. For the rest of this paper we will be looking at each one of main points and arguments by going through each chapter and discussing it.
The documentary follows ten four, five and six year olds, exploring how children make and break friendships, share, stand up for themselves, find themselves, and find their place in a social group.