Lost Angels Skid Row
Marsha-Ann Boyea
SOC 240
Professor Ortiz
Lost Angels: Skid Row Is My Home
Lost Angels: Skid Row Is My Home is an investigative documentary that gives us the untold story of the homeless and disadvantaged living on Skid Row. Skid Row is a name given to fifty blocks radius in Downtown Los Angeles whose residents tends to have a lower income or are homeless. Many people view the homeless as being dirty, poor and even lazy; it is very rare that we wonder why how they came to be in such a predicament. For many on Skid Row their battles are mental illness and grave poverty. The documentary introduces us to eight different but very similar individuals living on Skid Row; they tell us their very different stories and then explain their similar experiences living on Skid Row. We meet a transgender Caucasian male, an African- American mother of three, an old Caucasian female and her African American “fiancé”, they all suffer from mental illness in one form or the other and there is even an ex Olympian who battled through substance abuse. The only difference between these people and us are certain circumstances and situations. The film just sheds light and gives understanding to the fact that yes they are homeless, yes they lie in the street but they are people just like me and you. Watching this film had me literally questioning why we are socialized to believe being homeless is demeaning and a social taboo. According to the text Social Deviance, the sociologist Merton believed that poverty was a breeding ground for criminal behavior and social deviations. His theory is based on the fact that in Western civilization failure is regularly demonized and is viewed as a huge handicap for that particular individual. Looking at old shows and movies give us insight about reactions to certain social and mental differences in the past and what lead them to label individuals as deviants. Society has been known to develop and emanate new and varying norms as the years go by and
SOC 240
Professor Ortiz
Lost Angels: Skid Row Is My Home
Lost Angels: Skid Row Is My Home is an investigative documentary that gives us the untold story of the homeless and disadvantaged living on Skid Row. Skid Row is a name given to fifty blocks radius in Downtown Los Angeles whose residents tends to have a lower income or are homeless. Many people view the homeless as being dirty, poor and even lazy; it is very rare that we wonder why how they came to be in such a predicament. For many on Skid Row their battles are mental illness and grave poverty. The documentary introduces us to eight different but very similar individuals living on Skid Row; they tell us their very different stories and then explain their similar experiences living on Skid Row. We meet a transgender Caucasian male, an African- American mother of three, an old Caucasian female and her African American “fiancé”, they all suffer from mental illness in one form or the other and there is even an ex Olympian who battled through substance abuse. The only difference between these people and us are certain circumstances and situations. The film just sheds light and gives understanding to the fact that yes they are homeless, yes they lie in the street but they are people just like me and you. Watching this film had me literally questioning why we are socialized to believe being homeless is demeaning and a social taboo. According to the text Social Deviance, the sociologist Merton believed that poverty was a breeding ground for criminal behavior and social deviations. His theory is based on the fact that in Western civilization failure is regularly demonized and is viewed as a huge handicap for that particular individual. Looking at old shows and movies give us insight about reactions to certain social and mental differences in the past and what lead them to label individuals as deviants. Society has been known to develop and emanate new and varying norms as the years go by and