Blog Post #2

This past Wednesday in class we watched an interesting film, “Taylor’s Campaign”, about a man who was running for City Council in Santa Monica, CA advocating for the homeless. He wanted to advocate for the homeless because Santa Monica’s policies were beginning to change in a way that were degrading the homeless, plus he had spent some time being homeless before. There was a lot of things that stuck out to me in this video or that shocked me or made me sad. One of the big things that surprised me was the amount of things someone can find just by dumpster diving. At first I acted really surprised at how much Americans were throwing away in their trash, but when I really thought about it I knew I was guilty of throwing things away that I could have donated before. However, the biggest thing that struck out at me was the amount of times the homeless people said, “We are just being treated this way because of the cameras.” There were several accounts throughout the film when they were not harassed by the police because they were on film, so we were unable to see how they really act. Another time was when a man offered one of the homeless guy’s a job to help him back on his feet, but as soon as he called him it was a scam. He said that he was only doing it because he was on camera because everyone wants to look better on camera. People want to be perceived as “good” so when we are put on film we more often then not change our persona, it is something everyone is guilty of. For example, my generation is hyper focused on social media and showing the world what they are doing 24/7 – SnapChat helps us do this a lot. When we are out with friends or doing something we want to show the world we are having a great time. If I am out with friends I know I can begin filming them and I guarantee they will act like they are having a great time even if they are not. Some people, before they start filming, will tell their friends to look happy because they are going to take a SnapChat video. This is the same idea as filming the interactions with the homeless because the police and any other stranger filmed are acting in a way that they want the audience to perceive them. We are only seeing the interactions in a controlled way.  It goes from a man pretending to offer a job to make himself look good or the cops pretending to help relocate the homeless who could no longer stay where they were currently residing. Filming things is not always a true reality because a film is a record and NO ONE wants to be caught on camera looking “bad.”

One thought on “Blog Post #2

  1. I was equally as shocked after watching the film. Thank you for brining the dumpster diving scene to our attention. I feel that so many people throw away useful items that someone else might need. I believe people should donate their unwanted belongings, before just tossing them in the trash.
    I agree that the police would have acted differently if the cameras were not around. It was not an accurate representation of the police’s views toward the homeless. It was concerning to me that authorities treat the homeless in this manner.

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