POVERTY "pornography"

Poverty pornography is a term associated to the motion picture industry. To many, a film exposing social reality is just one of the many expositions of art. Others contest it as an instrument to help raise social awareness. But for some, a motion picture showing the face of poverty is something to despise.
In today’s climate of social reality-based films, critics become cautious in addressing the phenomenon of filming the plight of the poor. Poverty pornography stresses the idea of using the image of poverty for profit-making.
Poverty Pornography Defined
Film opinion writer Beth Wilson defines poverty pornography as “a term of criticism applied to films which are accused of being made for a privileged audience and offer up stories of poverty and suffering for their enjoyment.”
The same article says, “The notion of poverty porn seems to have emerged as a reaction to Danny Boyle’s 2009 Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire. The film was felt by some critics, both in India and outside, to have been made for a white audience who enjoyed the ‘exotic’ location that housed the story of deprivation.”
Michael Jackson’s They Don’t Care About Us
When the King of Pop recorded the controversial song “They Don’t Care About Us,” he faced criticisms pertaining to the use of a poor community in his song’s music video. Jackson created two videos for the song, one of which was shot in a Rio de Janeiro community in Brazil.
In an article of political blogger and Philippine party-list representative Mong Palatino entitled Dancing Prisoners, he states that the video aims “to highlight the plight of the poor but despite his good intentions, Jackson was accused of exploiting the conditions of the poor for commercial gain.”
Slumdog Millionaire as Poverty Pornography
Merriam Webster defines pornography as the "depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction." Critics view Slumdog Millionaire as a case of poverty pornography where violence, torture and other sensitive scenes are shown.
Slashfilm’s David Chen writes, “the newspaper goes on to point out how Slumdog Millionaire’s depiction of poverty both clashes with previous images of India in popular culture and appeals to Western stereotypes.”
Chen’s article entitled Is Slumdog Millionaire Poverty Porn? reveals, “Slumdog, the critics seem to be saying, propagates a sensationalistic, stereotypical, and inaccurate depiction of India that lowers that country’s stature in the eyes of the world.”
Actor Amitabh Bachchan wrote in his blog that fellow bloggers have complained that the film projects India as Third World dirty underbelly developing nation.
With Slumdog Millionaire being eyed to exemplify the phenomenon, a filmmaker whose attempt is to produce the same film genre may now have his second thoughts.
Poverty Pornography in the Third World
Countries in the Third World suffer from poverty and other structural predicaments. Due to these characteristics, the Third World has become the favorite setting of film producers who consider making poverty-related materials.
Exploiting Misery: The Pornography of Poverty, a commentary which discusses the ethical considerations of taking photographs in poverty-induced settings points out, “when it comes to cameras, the poor are often be treated like zoo animals.”
The said article further condemns the disrespectful filming done in an event of disaster in Bangladesh, “If you want to be respectful of those you are photographing or filming, you sometimes have to risk coming back with horrible shots or horrible footage. Filming and photographing should come second – being respectful should come first.”
Others support the idea that poverty pornography is not only an issue of commercial gain out of poverty, but also an offshoot of government’s lack of initiative in eradicating poverty. In such a case, media’s defined roles now appear into the picture -- first as watchdog of people’s plight and second, as agent in posting governmental pressures.
Poverty Pornography http://foreignfilms.suite101.com/article.cfm/poverty-pornography#ixzz0xKy7EWpG