A broad scope to go over, but in the wake of films like The Florida Project and Beasts of the Southern Wild from this decade, films about the downtrodden in America are often debated in circles of critics who read from a socioeconomic perspective upon their veracity. The discussion of whether a film is being authentic in its portrayal of poverty, or if it's being artificial and dishonest for the sake of appeasing a middle-class audience is an interesting one, and analyzing the contexts of aspects like class and race while looking over a few select films given/saved from this criticism are worth attempting. What appear to be the common criticisms? What keep the better films from being given the label?
I suspect poverty can be presented in different ways because poverty effects different people or families or communities differently. It is not just poverty but different ways of seeing it. Perhaps an essay can address through comparison how poverty is approached in movies, for example. – Joseph Cernik6 years ago
