After watching the documentary, I was touched and shocked by the children and the pictures they take. The technique of persuasion that interests me most is contrast. Eight children are born in brothel, living in a place which is wretched or extremely dirty environment. They have to clean pots and dishes up to eight hours every day. They said there is no hope in my life, they said I know I will be the one like my parents some day but I don’t want to be like that and I don’t want to join the line, they said I want to leave here and I want to go to university. Filmmaker uses real scenes to present the children’s real life, dreadful living condition and miserable life. In sharp contrast, the eight children use cameras showing the wonderful moments and hope to life inside their heart. Cameras bring enthusiastic love for their lives, they start to discover beauty in life and fulfill their lives with taking pictures. Children playing at seaside in a bright tone, people and cars in noisy street, the eight children interpret the world from their own unique perspective and show their spotless and beautiful mind, and we can feel their profound love and hope to beautiful life from their pictures. The beauty from their pictures is strikingly contrast with their real life, which leaves a deeply impression on audience and moves and affects the audience. The children take pictures happily with their camera, filmmaker takes them to zoo and seaside, helping them go to school, their lives start to develop towards a favorable way. Their innocent smile faces rise before my eyes and I am pleased that they will start their new life. However, most of the final results are regrettable, Manik's father would not let him go to school, Suchitra's aunt refused to let her leave the brothels, Puja's mother withdrew her from the Sabera School. These shocking results let audience thinking further beyond the documentary and what should we do to help them and change their lives from a real significance.
Alex I was very shocked when I first began to watch Born Into Brothels. I knew that there was an issue of prostitution in India, but I had no idea that the situation was like what the documentarian had revealed in this project. For me, pathos was the rhetorical tactic that was most interesting. It focused primarily around the lives of children living in the red-light district in an Indian city. Zana Briski was doing a project in India, where she was working with children in the red-light district, teaching them photography. Eventually, she began working to try and get the children out of their situation, and into boarding schools so that they could go on to live better futures. Throughout the documentary, she follows the lives of the kids, and their adventures with photography. For each child, she introduces them and gets a quote from them, describing their life situation, who they are, and they’re experience with taking photos. These commentaries by the kids really bring the viewer into the film, and connect you to the situation of the children. You hear first hand what life is like, and seeing how casually they speak about a situation, that is otherwise unthinkable in everyday American society, allows the viewer to completely empathize and feel for them. After each commentary, a series of still images that the kids had taken are shown in a slideshow. I was really shocked at the quality of the photographs that these kids took; as they make any photographs that I take, with a far more modern camera, look ‘childish’ and quite amateur. After this set, the documentary focuses on Zana’s efforts to get the children into schools, so they may have a chance at a brighter future. At this point, you begin to worry for the kids because you want them to succeed, but what if they can’t get into schools? The only other option is for them to grow up in the brothels, and live the same lives that their parents lived. The film ends in a kind of lukewarm tone, with many of the kids getting into school, but some leaving, and others being taken out. For me, it succeeds in getting the viewer to empathize for the kids, and have a better understanding that situations like theirs exist in the world, and leaves the viewer with a desire that such children may one day have a better chance for a bright future.
David Fickel After watching Born into Brothels, I feel the overwhelming choice for the film would be pathos. Logos and Ethos do have some points in this film, such as the film maker’s sincerity and willingness to keep the children on the straight and narrow. However, the huge injustice being committed here against these children draw the viewer in quickly as soon as the opening scene hits. Everything they must go through, such as the mother being set on fire by the pimp, the process of trying to get passports, and dealing with family addictions and constraints among other things just flat out hurts to watch at times. During the film, the women talks about how she originally had planned to go to India to photograph the women living in the brothels but we then realize she has made a very personally connection with the children. You soon feel how close their bond is. The children almost follow this women more than they do with their mothers. Throughout the film, you see clips of how awful the living conditions are in these brothels and that really begins to tug on the viewers. This was defiantly used to help spur the audience and show what these people have to put up with everyday of their lives. I think the scene that really summed up the movie was when they showed the shot of the young child chained, not tied, chained to the doorway. How could you honestly not look at that and feel either rage or utter sadness? It felt as if that child stood for everyone in that area being held there against their will. Yet, using more pathos, they take us to the scene at the ocean where the kids act like just that, kids. They for once in the film are free to act normal and have some fun in their tough lives. It felt almost as if you had just received a breath of fresh air when I saw this.
While watching Born into Brothels it is almost impossible not to feel sorry for those children. The filmmakers uses the rhetorical tactic Pathos to get your emotions involved and to persuade the viewer their side of the story. Examples of this is the clips of the mothers or other prostitutes yelling at the children and calling them names. The filmmakers would switch to a scene right after the name calling and yelling with a close up of one of the children's sad face. It makes you feel sorry for the children and just wish they would get out of the brothel as soon as possible. Another tactic that is used in the documentary is Ethos. Throughout the film Zana Auntie is trying to get the children out of their current environment and comes across as a trusting person. The amount of trouble she goes through to get the children into better schools or the trouble she went through trying to get Avijit his passport, which didn't work out, makes her more likable to the viewer. Unfortunately not all of the children were able to escape the brothel which is sad considering the struggle and effort that was went through to get them out.
In the documentary "Born into Brothels" the film makers are trying to get across realization of what childrens lives are like in the red light district. The most effective way they do this is through pathos. I think the most effective use of pathos was having the children doing the majority of the speaking. It is unbelievable what the children already know about where they are living at such a young age. It is almost disgusting to know that some of the young girls are already accepting the fact that the women in their families are prostitutes and that they are expected to be as well. By allowing the children to tell their stories you are able to see that they have dreams and that there are bigger and better things they would like to go on to, but know that it is far out of reach. You are able to connect with the children and it makes you want to do something to help. One scene that stuck out the most for me was towards the beginning. It was the one where an older woman was yelling at a young girl calling her vulgar and obscene things. At no time should a child have to deal with being called those names. Another scene that makes you feel for the children came when Zana went to speak with the director of one of the schools about finding a place for the children. Because their mothers are prostitutes, she was told the schools were not going to accept them. It is so sad that because of the way their mothers live their lives, these children are not able to create a life of their own. It also makes you angry towards the community because they are not doing anything to try and get these kids on the right track in life. In the end, I found it really sad to see that even though all of the kids were given an out, whether it be due to parental decision or of their own account, some of them remained in the red light district. Through the use of pathos, you are able to truly feel for these kids and what they have to go through a day to day basis.
Born into Brothels was very upsetting. It was sad to see all those children being forced into things they didn’t want and that they had to almost accept that their life was going to be. There was a scene in the movie where a little girl said “I don’t want to turn out like them” instead she wanted her education so when she got older. Then the women making the film said she was headed straight for prostitution that she really didn’t have any other options. This makes the viewers feel sad and feel bad for that child and they use that to their advantage and to help them prove their point. I think it was proving their point its sad that children have to accept that lifestyle and accept their parents lifestyle and that is what stuck out the most for me. There was also a scene where a little girl was getting yelled at by her mom and she was cursing at her. In my opinion it was all uncalled for; I don’t think that any child should be treated that way by anyone. Also, the little girl sat there and accepted it and to me that was sad to have to see her go through that. Watching this movie it shows you how big the problem of prostitution in India is. As you watch the movie you see what these kids are going through and you want to help them and make them feel like they can do more with their future than prostitution. Overall I felt bad for the kids and the tactic used to do that was pathos. The look on the child’s faces at the beginning of the movie made me feel bad and made me want to help.
Chris Miller Born into Brothels was an informing documentary impacting my view on the red light district culture. The film was very shocking for the most part, including many scenes where horrible language is used. I think one of the best rhetorical techniques they use is the use of pathos. The way the film makes you feel is a great attribute to the documentary. The way they portray the kids makes you feel horrible and makes you feel extremely sorry for them. The sad faces in the introduction set the stage for the movie and you have the feeling that this will be a depressing film. Words can’t describe the emotions that I felt when I saw the kids’ parents talking horribly to them. At their young age it’s shocking what they have to go through. Another aspect of pathos was how mature the young kids were. This made the viewer feel sadder for them because it shows how much they might be able to achieve since they are so mature. At the end of the film the viewer may have been feeling better about the kids’ future because it looked like most, or at least almost all of the children were on their way to a new life. However, when they describe what happens to all of the kids, only some of them made their way to a happier life. Many of the kids’ parents took them out of school, or some went home anyways. This is the rhetorical technique that I picked as the most important one. If I had to pick another it would be the way the film moved. They would interview or have a video of a certain child, and then show the pictures they took. It was a great sequence.
Matt Murray Through watching Born Into Brothels, i found that the most persuasive technique used was the use of pathos. More specifically, the focus on the young children and how difficult their particular lives were for them during the time of the filming. Throughout the film the viewer is introduced to a group of young children that are faced with extremely poor living conditions, and they also have a very small chance of ever making it out of the Brothels and gaining a higher education in order to achieve work at a later point in their lives. One aspect of the children's lives that makes the pathos really hit hard is that all of the children seem to be very happy, mature and have no worries in their lives. And then to show how excited the children were to be learning how to use a camera showed how special the children really were, making the viewer even more sympathetic towards them. To see towards the end of the film that most of the children were ending up being able to make it out of their poor living conditions and go to school was a great way to tie all the emotional feelings going on for the viewer throughout the movie. A specific occurrence towards the end that really effected me was when Avijit was finally able to get his passport to leave for Amsterdam and he was on the way to the airport and he asked the driver "Please drive slowly. I won't get there if there's and accident. I won't fulfill my dreams." This was a perfect example for how kind these children were and how much bettering their lives meant to them.
The rhetorical tactic which interested me the most in the documentary Born into Brothels was the music used in the film. While the film had many powerful persuasive techniques, the music in the film matched the mood of the scenes and brought an authenticity to the film which would not be possible without it. The music was mostly played on the sitar, an Indian instrument which I have experience with in both some of my favorite music (The Beatles are famous for their use of the Sitar) and in my personal life, as one of my teachers in high school would routinely play the sitar for the class. The music appeals to my emotions, meaning it is using pathos to persuade me of the devastating situation in which these children are living. I have a passion for music, and it is very interesting to me the persuasive effects that music can have in addition to the other persuasive techniques used in the film to get the entire message across. Other persuasive techniques that interested me in the film was the photography itself, and the portrayal of the parents feelings towards their children. The photography interests me for the same reason that the music interests me; it provides an authenticity and gives vivid imagery of life in the brothels. It also interests me to see the children's feelings toward their own pictures. The parents' feelings towards the children was one of the most shocking things about the documentary to me. Not only did these parents not provide for the children, but they often treated them horribly as well, some going as far to blame them for their problems. Also, the parents were very hesitant to give their children opportunities to leave the brothels, because they were important in supporting the family. All of these persuasive techniques appealed to my emotions, and made me feel sorry for the children who are born into such a horrible situation.
The documentary “Born into Brothels” is a very compelling story of children born into the red light district of India. Zana Briski has a very effective way of making you feel connected to the kids from the very beginning. She not old tells each child’s story throughout the film, but also you get to follow her through the children’s’ days as they face hardships such as poverty and prostitution. By the end of the film you cannot help but feel strong emotions for these children. That is the biggest way Zana persuades you is through pathos.
Using emotion to get people to feel the same as you do is a very effective tactic to use. By showing each child’s story and how they are affected by living in the Brothels you evoke emotions in the viewer like sympathy, sadness, maybe even anger. The little girls in the film basically all know that prostitution is in their near future and know that they have no way out. By telling the viewer of how the one girl’s dad tried to sell her to another man and that she would have been sold if her sister would not have came for her you can help but feel something for these children. The little boys know there is no way out for them as well. Zana tries to teach the children photography and give them something to live for instead of work. As the film progresses you can tell the enthusiasm the children have for taking pictures and can tell that they are happy for those moments they do not have to work or worry about other family problems. Seeing how happy they are makes you see that these really are just little kids like we have in America but they are faced with many more problems than children that young should have to even know about.
I feel like Zana using pathos to persuade the viewer is the best thing she could have done. When you connect to someone’s emotions it is very powerful. When you watch the film you almost want to do something to help these kids get out of their current situation. Or maybe the film just makes you more thankful for what you have here in the United States and less worried about having the latest and greatest gadgets.
“Born into Brothels” follows the lives of children born in the red light district of Calcutta, India, as portrayed by two documentary filmmakers, Zana Briski and Ross Kaufmann. To do this, they give a group of prostitute’s children cameras and ask them to photograph their lives and environment. The photos the children take are a form of pathos used by the filmmakers to appeal to the viewer’s sense of sympathy. It was very effective, because instead of just showing us videos of the red light district from an outside perspective, we are exposed to more private moments captured on film through an actual insider’s eyes. The children have no qualms taking pictures of a subject that is horrifying to us, because it is all they have ever known. I found the most powerful images to be the ones from their beach trip, because they were so full of excitement and enthusiasm about something that many of us take for granted, which showed in their film. Another effective rhetoric technique the filmmakers used was individual interviews with the children. These established them to the viewer as real people with distinct personalities. Listening to them talk about their friendships and photos, I was sometimes able to forget that they were children of poverty and exposed to prostitution in their everyday life. The children’s personalities were very relatable, which made the fact that they were facing prostitution, drugs, and poverty much more real to the viewer. Overall, the children’s stories and photos were an excellent way to produce general concern in the viewers for their situation.
The most compelling technique in the film Born into Brothels is the way the documentary was organized. The fact that the audience is not only told about the difficult lives of these young children growing up in the red light district of India but also see the footage and interviews with the children provokes a much stronger connection with our emotions. By using pathos, Zana Briski's filming style causes the audience to connect with thte young children beter and therefore they are more likely to care about her cause. In the scenes where the mothers and customers of the brothel demand more labor and reprimand the children by beating them and using profanities, the audience sees the harsh treatment of the young children in an everyday basis. Most people do not find any justification for treating anyone, let alone a child, in that manner. The interviews and focus on each child helps the audience feel personally connected to each one, better understanding their lives, personalities, and relationships. The children come across as so young and innocent, yet at the same time very exposed to horrible things. The viewers can se through their pictures the potential they have to do amazing things with their lives but the difficulties that they face in their circumstance prevents them. What is even more shocking is how used to the mistreatment they experience everyday, as evident when they discuss things like playing on the roof when mother works in the room and their father almost seling them as if they were normal day to day occurances. Giving the audience a very personal view into the lives of the children creates more emotional attachment and thus makes for a very effective persuasive technique.
I’d be lying if I said that documentary wasn’t extremely hard to watch. While supersize me used images of unappetizing food to appeal to our senses and prove that our behavior was wrong, the children of Born into Brothels welcomed us as viewers into their very real, very difficult lives to get a better understand of all the hardships that face children in the world of prostitution. The children were portrayed, and I whole-heartingly feel were very innocent, genuine and loving. However, I was shocked at how many adult topics they had to deal with daily that honestly I didn’t even know existed until I studied them in school. I found the way the children were present was very unusual, having one spunky ten year old describe fun facts about them. I really enjoyed that the documentarist themselves wasn’t the main focus of the film. She stayed in the background and the images seemed more realistic because of it. My absolute favorite aspect of the film included watching the action the children were taking a picture of and then seeing the corresponding picture they took. Those images took my breath away and gave a whole new light to the project. I left the film still feeling hope which was surprising. As far as I could tell they knew that the situation they were in was a challenging one however, they knew what needed to be done to get out of it.
After watching Born into the Brothels, not only did I have an eye opening experience, but I was also able to put eight distinctive faces to the issue presented in the film. For me the film was hard to watch and even harder to admit that it was real because it seemed so hard to believe that such beautiful, wise children as these could lead such lives. Everyday there are prevalent issues; worldwide and local that are presented to us through the news, friends, teachers and other various sources.Briski and Kauffman were able to make their documentary stand out from all these issues because they found a way to connect us to the story of each of these children by placing us in the everyday lives of these children and literally allowing us to see through their eyes. One of the most persuasive techniques that was used in the film was the sequence of the events and images in the film. The opening scene was the most compelling scenes in the movie for me. It really allowed me to connect the eyes of the child to the images and scenes that she witnessed around her. A lot of this had to do with the camera angles as well. A good example of this technique is when the filmmakers showed the children playing on the bus after coming back from the Zoo and then the scene switched to the red light district juxtaposing the smiles and laughter of the children with the somber and disturbing reality of the red light district. Also after images of children, there were always images showcasing the prostitutes in the red-light district, which kept as a constant reminder of the viewer that this is what they see everyday. The film itself was very powerful, but the images presented and the order in which they were presented was persuasive. Even though we all hoped for a story-book ending for the children in the film, because we were compelled to root for them, the ending , made the harsh reality of this issue more realistic. And in doing so, it was able to leave us with a message that for some children this it, despite all efforts they will never escape the sad cycle that is the red-light district.
DeWayne Born into Brothels I was just able to watch Born into Brothels today before class. Amazing was Zara Brinski's tanacity amid all of the obsticles she faced and the task she completed. She went to Calcutta to document the lives of the women in the brothels and ended up making a documentary of the children of these women. It quickly became a quest to save eight of the children from repeating the cycle of their families. The use of the music and just the looks of angst and despair were the strategies that brought me most into the film. The changes in the music and lighting in connection to the highs and the lows of the film. The changes on the faces of the children when being verbally abused or even being around the verbal abuse let me know that it was not staged. The fact that the children know what is going on, they just go play on the roof to avoid it,or pull back a rod and curtain let me know that it was a way of life for them that they found ways to avoid it if only temporarily. Zara Brinski must have had a deep concern and personal connection to be so vigilant to help these eight children, it goes beyond a documentary. Even the best actors sometimes come off as less than genuine when trying to capture a role, but from my perspective the look of dispair and disbelief on her face at times makes the persuasive techniques of dark versus bright lighting and happy versus sad music though important less staged.
After watching the documentary, I was touched and shocked by the children and the pictures they take. The technique of persuasion that interests me most is contrast. Eight children are born in brothel, living in a place which is wretched or extremely dirty environment. They have to clean pots and dishes up to eight hours every day. They said there is no hope in my life, they said I know I will be the one like my parents some day but I don’t want to be like that and I don’t want to join the line, they said I want to leave here and I want to go to university.
ReplyDeleteFilmmaker uses real scenes to present the children’s real life, dreadful living condition and miserable life. In sharp contrast, the eight children use cameras showing the wonderful moments and hope to life inside their heart. Cameras bring enthusiastic love for their lives, they start to discover beauty in life and fulfill their lives with taking pictures. Children playing at seaside in a bright tone, people and cars in noisy street, the eight children interpret the world from their own unique perspective and show their spotless and beautiful mind, and we can feel their profound love and hope to beautiful life from their pictures. The beauty from their pictures is strikingly contrast with their real life, which leaves a deeply impression on audience and moves and affects the audience.
The children take pictures happily with their camera, filmmaker takes them to zoo and seaside, helping them go to school, their lives start to develop towards a favorable way. Their innocent smile faces rise before my eyes and I am pleased that they will start their new life. However, most of the final results are regrettable, Manik's father would not let him go to school, Suchitra's aunt refused to let her leave the brothels, Puja's mother withdrew her from the Sabera School. These shocking results let audience thinking further beyond the documentary and what should we do to help them and change their lives from a real significance.
Alex
ReplyDeleteI was very shocked when I first began to watch Born Into Brothels. I knew that there was an issue of prostitution in India, but I had no idea that the situation was like what the documentarian had revealed in this project. For me, pathos was the rhetorical tactic that was most interesting. It focused primarily around the lives of children living in the red-light district in an Indian city. Zana Briski was doing a project in India, where she was working with children in the red-light district, teaching them photography. Eventually, she began working to try and get the children out of their situation, and into boarding schools so that they could go on to live better futures.
Throughout the documentary, she follows the lives of the kids, and their adventures with photography. For each child, she introduces them and gets a quote from them, describing their life situation, who they are, and they’re experience with taking photos. These commentaries by the kids really bring the viewer into the film, and connect you to the situation of the children. You hear first hand what life is like, and seeing how casually they speak about a situation, that is otherwise unthinkable in everyday American society, allows the viewer to completely empathize and feel for them. After each commentary, a series of still images that the kids had taken are shown in a slideshow. I was really shocked at the quality of the photographs that these kids took; as they make any photographs that I take, with a far more modern camera, look ‘childish’ and quite amateur.
After this set, the documentary focuses on Zana’s efforts to get the children into schools, so they may have a chance at a brighter future. At this point, you begin to worry for the kids because you want them to succeed, but what if they can’t get into schools? The only other option is for them to grow up in the brothels, and live the same lives that their parents lived. The film ends in a kind of lukewarm tone, with many of the kids getting into school, but some leaving, and others being taken out. For me, it succeeds in getting the viewer to empathize for the kids, and have a better understanding that situations like theirs exist in the world, and leaves the viewer with a desire that such children may one day have a better chance for a bright future.
David Fickel
ReplyDeleteAfter watching Born into Brothels, I feel the overwhelming choice for the film would be pathos. Logos and Ethos do have some points in this film, such as the film maker’s sincerity and willingness to keep the children on the straight and narrow. However, the huge injustice being committed here against these children draw the viewer in quickly as soon as the opening scene hits. Everything they must go through, such as the mother being set on fire by the pimp, the process of trying to get passports, and dealing with family addictions and constraints among other things just flat out hurts to watch at times. During the film, the women talks about how she originally had planned to go to India to photograph the women living in the brothels but we then realize she has made a very personally connection with the children. You soon feel how close their bond is. The children almost follow this women more than they do with their mothers. Throughout the film, you see clips of how awful the living conditions are in these brothels and that really begins to tug on the viewers. This was defiantly used to help spur the audience and show what these people have to put up with everyday of their lives. I think the scene that really summed up the movie was when they showed the shot of the young child chained, not tied, chained to the doorway. How could you honestly not look at that and feel either rage or utter sadness? It felt as if that child stood for everyone in that area being held there against their will. Yet, using more pathos, they take us to the scene at the ocean where the kids act like just that, kids. They for once in the film are free to act normal and have some fun in their tough lives. It felt almost as if you had just received a breath of fresh air when I saw this.
While watching Born into Brothels it is almost impossible not to feel sorry for those children. The filmmakers uses the rhetorical tactic Pathos to get your emotions involved and to persuade the viewer their side of the story. Examples of this is the clips of the mothers or other prostitutes yelling at the children and calling them names. The filmmakers would switch to a scene right after the name calling and yelling with a close up of one of the children's sad face. It makes you feel sorry for the children and just wish they would get out of the brothel as soon as possible. Another tactic that is used in the documentary is Ethos. Throughout the film Zana Auntie is trying to get the children out of their current environment and comes across as a trusting person. The amount of trouble she goes through to get the children into better schools or the trouble she went through trying to get Avijit his passport, which didn't work out, makes her more likable to the viewer. Unfortunately not all of the children were able to escape the brothel which is sad considering the struggle and effort that was went through to get them out.
ReplyDeleteIn the documentary "Born into Brothels" the film makers are trying to get across realization of what childrens lives are like in the red light district. The most effective way they do this is through pathos. I think the most effective use of pathos was having the children doing the majority of the speaking. It is unbelievable what the children already know about where they are living at such a young age. It is almost disgusting to know that some of the young girls are already accepting the fact that the women in their families are prostitutes and that they are expected to be as well. By allowing the children to tell their stories you are able to see that they have dreams and that there are bigger and better things they would like to go on to, but know that it is far out of reach. You are able to connect with the children and it makes you want to do something to help. One scene that stuck out the most for me was towards the beginning. It was the one where an older woman was yelling at a young girl calling her vulgar and obscene things. At no time should a child have to deal with being called those names. Another scene that makes you feel for the children came when Zana went to speak with the director of one of the schools about finding a place for the children. Because their mothers are prostitutes, she was told the schools were not going to accept them. It is so sad that because of the way their mothers live their lives, these children are not able to create a life of their own. It also makes you angry towards the community because they are not doing anything to try and get these kids on the right track in life. In the end, I found it really sad to see that even though all of the kids were given an out, whether it be due to parental decision or of their own account, some of them remained in the red light district. Through the use of pathos, you are able to truly feel for these kids and what they have to go through a day to day basis.
ReplyDeleteBorn into Brothels was very upsetting. It was sad to see all those children being forced into things they didn’t want and that they had to almost accept that their life was going to be. There was a scene in the movie where a little girl said “I don’t want to turn out like them” instead she wanted her education so when she got older. Then the women making the film said she was headed straight for prostitution that she really didn’t have any other options. This makes the viewers feel sad and feel bad for that child and they use that to their advantage and to help them prove their point. I think it was proving their point its sad that children have to accept that lifestyle and accept their parents lifestyle and that is what stuck out the most for me. There was also a scene where a little girl was getting yelled at by her mom and she was cursing at her. In my opinion it was all uncalled for; I don’t think that any child should be treated that way by anyone. Also, the little girl sat there and accepted it and to me that was sad to have to see her go through that.
ReplyDeleteWatching this movie it shows you how big the problem of prostitution in India is. As you watch the movie you see what these kids are going through and you want to help them and make them feel like they can do more with their future than prostitution. Overall I felt bad for the kids and the tactic used to do that was pathos. The look on the child’s faces at the beginning of the movie made me feel bad and made me want to help.
Chris Miller
ReplyDeleteBorn into Brothels was an informing documentary impacting my view on the red light district culture. The film was very shocking for the most part, including many scenes where horrible language is used. I think one of the best rhetorical techniques they use is the use of pathos. The way the film makes you feel is a great attribute to the documentary. The way they portray the kids makes you feel horrible and makes you feel extremely sorry for them. The sad faces in the introduction set the stage for the movie and you have the feeling that this will be a depressing film. Words can’t describe the emotions that I felt when I saw the kids’ parents talking horribly to them. At their young age it’s shocking what they have to go through.
Another aspect of pathos was how mature the young kids were. This made the viewer feel sadder for them because it shows how much they might be able to achieve since they are so mature. At the end of the film the viewer may have been feeling better about the kids’ future because it looked like most, or at least almost all of the children were on their way to a new life. However, when they describe what happens to all of the kids, only some of them made their way to a happier life. Many of the kids’ parents took them out of school, or some went home anyways. This is the rhetorical technique that I picked as the most important one. If I had to pick another it would be the way the film moved. They would interview or have a video of a certain child, and then show the pictures they took. It was a great sequence.
Matt Murray
ReplyDeleteThrough watching Born Into Brothels, i found that the most persuasive technique used was the use of pathos. More specifically, the focus on the young children and how difficult their particular lives were for them during the time of the filming.
Throughout the film the viewer is introduced to a group of young children that are faced with extremely poor living conditions, and they also have a very small chance of ever making it out of the Brothels and gaining a higher education in order to achieve work at a later point in their lives.
One aspect of the children's lives that makes the pathos really hit hard is that all of the children seem to be very happy, mature and have no worries in their lives. And then to show how excited the children were to be learning how to use a camera showed how special the children really were, making the viewer even more sympathetic towards them.
To see towards the end of the film that most of the children were ending up being able to make it out of their poor living conditions and go to school was a great way to tie all the emotional feelings going on for the viewer throughout the movie. A specific occurrence towards the end that really effected me was when Avijit was finally able to get his passport to leave for Amsterdam and he was on the way to the airport and he asked the driver "Please drive slowly. I won't get there if there's and accident. I won't fulfill my dreams." This was a perfect example for how kind these children were and how much bettering their lives meant to them.
The rhetorical tactic which interested me the most in the documentary Born into Brothels was the music used in the film. While the film had many powerful persuasive techniques, the music in the film matched the mood of the scenes and brought an authenticity to the film which would not be possible without it. The music was mostly played on the sitar, an Indian instrument which I have experience with in both some of my favorite music (The Beatles are famous for their use of the Sitar) and in my personal life, as one of my teachers in high school would routinely play the sitar for the class. The music appeals to my emotions, meaning it is using pathos to persuade me of the devastating situation in which these children are living. I have a passion for music, and it is very interesting to me the persuasive effects that music can have in addition to the other persuasive techniques used in the film to get the entire message across. Other persuasive techniques that interested me in the film was the photography itself, and the portrayal of the parents feelings towards their children. The photography interests me for the same reason that the music interests me; it provides an authenticity and gives vivid imagery of life in the brothels. It also interests me to see the children's feelings toward their own pictures. The parents' feelings towards the children was one of the most shocking things about the documentary to me. Not only did these parents not provide for the children, but they often treated them horribly as well, some going as far to blame them for their problems. Also, the parents were very hesitant to give their children opportunities to leave the brothels, because they were important in supporting the family. All of these persuasive techniques appealed to my emotions, and made me feel sorry for the children who are born into such a horrible situation.
ReplyDeleteNikole Locke
ReplyDeleteThe documentary “Born into Brothels” is a very compelling story of children born into the red light district of India. Zana Briski has a very effective way of making you feel connected to the kids from the very beginning. She not old tells each child’s story throughout the film, but also you get to follow her through the children’s’ days as they face hardships such as poverty and prostitution. By the end of the film you cannot help but feel strong emotions for these children. That is the biggest way Zana persuades you is through pathos.
Using emotion to get people to feel the same as you do is a very effective tactic to use. By showing each child’s story and how they are affected by living in the Brothels you evoke emotions in the viewer like sympathy, sadness, maybe even anger. The little girls in the film basically all know that prostitution is in their near future and know that they have no way out. By telling the viewer of how the one girl’s dad tried to sell her to another man and that she would have been sold if her sister would not have came for her you can help but feel something for these children. The little boys know there is no way out for them as well. Zana tries to teach the children photography and give them something to live for instead of work. As the film progresses you can tell the enthusiasm the children have for taking pictures and can tell that they are happy for those moments they do not have to work or worry about other family problems. Seeing how happy they are makes you see that these really are just little kids like we have in America but they are faced with many more problems than children that young should have to even know about.
I feel like Zana using pathos to persuade the viewer is the best thing she could have done. When you connect to someone’s emotions it is very powerful. When you watch the film you almost want to do something to help these kids get out of their current situation. Or maybe the film just makes you more thankful for what you have here in the United States and less worried about having the latest and greatest gadgets.
“Born into Brothels” follows the lives of children born in the red light district of Calcutta, India, as portrayed by two documentary filmmakers, Zana Briski and Ross Kaufmann. To do this, they give a group of prostitute’s children cameras and ask them to photograph their lives and environment. The photos the children take are a form of pathos used by the filmmakers to appeal to the viewer’s sense of sympathy. It was very effective, because instead of just showing us videos of the red light district from an outside perspective, we are exposed to more private moments captured on film through an actual insider’s eyes. The children have no qualms taking pictures of a subject that is horrifying to us, because it is all they have ever known. I found the most powerful images to be the ones from their beach trip, because they were so full of excitement and enthusiasm about something that many of us take for granted, which showed in their film. Another effective rhetoric technique the filmmakers used was individual interviews with the children. These established them to the viewer as real people with distinct personalities. Listening to them talk about their friendships and photos, I was sometimes able to forget that they were children of poverty and exposed to prostitution in their everyday life. The children’s personalities were very relatable, which made the fact that they were facing prostitution, drugs, and poverty much more real to the viewer. Overall, the children’s stories and photos were an excellent way to produce general concern in the viewers for their situation.
ReplyDeleteThe most compelling technique in the film Born into Brothels is the way the documentary was organized. The fact that the audience is not only told about the difficult lives of these young children growing up in the red light district of India but also see the footage and interviews with the children provokes a much stronger connection with our emotions. By using pathos, Zana Briski's filming style causes the audience to connect with thte young children beter and therefore they are more likely to care about her cause. In the scenes where the mothers and customers of the brothel demand more labor and reprimand the children by beating them and using profanities, the audience sees the harsh treatment of the young children in an everyday basis. Most people do not find any justification for treating anyone, let alone a child, in that manner. The interviews and focus on each child helps the audience feel personally connected to each one, better understanding their lives, personalities, and relationships. The children come across as so young and innocent, yet at the same time very exposed to horrible things. The viewers can se through their pictures the potential they have to do amazing things with their lives but the difficulties that they face in their circumstance prevents them. What is even more shocking is how used to the mistreatment they experience everyday, as evident when they discuss things like playing on the roof when mother works in the room and their father almost seling them as if they were normal day to day occurances. Giving the audience a very personal view into the lives of the children creates more emotional attachment and thus makes for a very effective persuasive technique.
ReplyDeleteI’d be lying if I said that documentary wasn’t extremely hard to watch. While supersize me used images of unappetizing food to appeal to our senses and prove that our behavior was wrong, the children of Born into Brothels welcomed us as viewers into their very real, very difficult lives to get a better understand of all the hardships that face children in the world of prostitution. The children were portrayed, and I whole-heartingly feel were very innocent, genuine and loving. However, I was shocked at how many adult topics they had to deal with daily that honestly I didn’t even know existed until I studied them in school. I found the way the children were present was very unusual, having one spunky ten year old describe fun facts about them. I really enjoyed that the documentarist themselves wasn’t the main focus of the film. She stayed in the background and the images seemed more realistic because of it. My absolute favorite aspect of the film included watching the action the children were taking a picture of and then seeing the corresponding picture they took. Those images took my breath away and gave a whole new light to the project. I left the film still feeling hope which was surprising. As far as I could tell they knew that the situation they were in was a challenging one however, they knew what needed to be done to get out of it.
ReplyDeleteDominique Shepherd said....
ReplyDeleteAfter watching Born into the Brothels, not only did I have an eye opening experience, but I was also able to put eight distinctive faces to the issue presented in the film. For me the film was hard to watch and even harder to admit that it was real because it seemed so hard to believe that such beautiful, wise children as these could lead such lives.
Everyday there are prevalent issues; worldwide and local that are presented to us through the news, friends, teachers and other various sources.Briski and Kauffman were able to make their documentary stand out from all these issues because they found a way to connect us to the story of each of these children by placing us in the everyday lives of these children and literally allowing us to see through their eyes.
One of the most persuasive techniques that was used in the film was the sequence of the events and images in the film. The opening scene was the most compelling scenes in the movie for me. It really allowed me to connect the eyes of the child to the images and scenes that she witnessed around her. A lot of this had to do with the camera angles as well. A good example of this technique is when the filmmakers showed the children playing on the bus after coming back from the Zoo and then the scene switched to the red light district juxtaposing the smiles and laughter of the children with the somber and disturbing reality of the red light district. Also after images of children, there were always images showcasing the prostitutes in the red-light district, which kept as a constant reminder of the viewer that this is what they see everyday.
The film itself was very powerful, but the images presented and the order in which they were presented was persuasive. Even though we all hoped for a story-book ending for the children in the film, because we were compelled to root for them, the ending , made the harsh reality of this issue more realistic. And in doing so, it was able to leave us with a message that for some children this it, despite all efforts they will never escape the sad cycle that is the red-light district.
DeWayne Born into Brothels
ReplyDeleteI was just able to watch Born into Brothels today before class. Amazing was Zara Brinski's tanacity amid all of the obsticles she faced and the task she completed. She went to Calcutta to document the lives of the women in the brothels and ended up making a documentary of the children of these women. It quickly became a quest to save eight of the children from repeating the cycle of their families. The use of the music and just the looks of angst and despair were the strategies that brought me most into the film. The changes in the music and lighting in connection to the highs and the lows of the film. The changes on the faces of the children when being verbally abused or even being around the verbal abuse let me know that it was not staged. The fact that the children know what is going on, they just go play on the roof to avoid it,or pull back a rod and curtain let me know that it was a way of life for them that they found ways to avoid it if only temporarily.
Zara Brinski must have had a deep concern and personal connection to be so vigilant to help these eight children, it goes beyond a documentary. Even the best actors sometimes come off as less than genuine when trying to capture a role, but from my perspective the look of dispair and disbelief on her face at times makes the persuasive techniques of dark versus bright lighting and happy versus sad music though important less staged.