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  • Essay / Analysis of the documentary Trouble The Water

    The documentary Trouble the Water tells the story of Kimberly Rivers Roberts and her husband, citizens of the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, as they survive Hurricane Katrina. The film opens with footage taken by Kim before the storm hit. In it, she asks her neighbors what they are doing in the face of the storm only to discover that those who can leave are leaving and those who have no way to leave are staying. Kim herself mentions several times during interviews with her neighbors that she stays because she has no way to evacuate and no money to help her and her loved ones get out. Following the interviews, footage was broadcast of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announcing the evacuation of the city. However, no evacuation transportation was arranged and all public transportation was shut down, leaving those without their own transportation stranded in the city and enduring Katrina. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Kim continues to document the storm through home videos showing it as it gets worse. The winds and rain become violent, causing damage to his neighbors' houses and his own. Midway through its filming, footage of a reporter in the storm is shown for further proof of the intensity and dangerousness of the storm. The reporter hides behind a trash can for shelter and when he gets up to safety, even though he cannot withstand the strong winds and rain. The journalist is thrown against a wall. After this segment, the documentary continues. Kim shows the flood damage to her house and how they had to move to the attic to escape drowning. Immediately after learning from a neighbor who remained there that the dikes had broken and that is why the flooding was so serious. Two by two, their neighbor takes the people from her house which is slowly but surely collapsing to her house opposite, which is less likely to be flooded all the way to the top. It's after the storm has subsided that the documentary really begins to touch on the problems faced by the citizens of the Ninth War during and after the storm. Using the sociological perspective, it becomes very easy to understand why these issues only affected the citizens of the Ninth Ward, and not the general citizenry of New Orleans. The sociological perspective is the way sociologists study how groups and societies influence people. In this case, this can be applied to show why more privileged groups in New Orleans, those not living in the Ninth Ward, were able to evacuate before Katrina and receive aid quickly after her death, whereas Less privileged groups, like Kim and those others living in the Ninth Ward were left behind during the evacuation and left without help for weeks after the weather improved. The social situation of Kim and his neighbors was one of the main reasons why they were neglected by the rest of society. The Ninth Ward was a community populated largely by African Americans, and as a result, it was considered by the rest of society to be a poor, uneducated, low-income, and dangerous neighborhood. History can be blamed for the stereotypical view and, therefore, reality of the Ninth Ward, as sociologist C. Wright Mills describes it as a flow of events through time that give people their directions in life. In other words, external influences of society become partintegral to people's thinking and motivations over time. The history of slavery in the South and the idea that there were superior races to the African Americans who lived there never really ceased to exist in southern states like Louisiana, and therefore the Ninth Ward appeared as a lesser community of people of less value to the rest. of society because of this. Throughout Trouble the Water, there are many examples in which the sociological perspective, and specifically the conflict theory that underpins it, can be used to analyze and explain why things were the way they were for Kim and his community. , and not for those from other, more privileged communities. Karl Marx developed conflict theory when he saw the poor masses working for an elite. He concluded that in all societies, class struggle was key to human history because the few who were in control exploited those who were not. Basically, those who have no more money, power, education and social prestige than an elite few are engaged in a constant class struggle with these few for resources, wealth, power and prestige. This struggle is the root of the conflict that the theory is based on, which is the documentary Kim made about how she and her neighbors were treated before, during and after Hurricane Katrina in this case, as it made their problem public and highly debated. so their need for change also became public. Before Katrina hit New Orleans, it was expected to be a devastating category four or five hurricane, capable of causing death and massive damage, as the documentary shows when the Mayor Nagin ordered the evacuation. . Although an evacuation was ordered, no consideration was given to those who did not have a car and who only had public transportation, if they could afford it. Those privileged and wealthy enough to have a car and afford gas were able to leave because they could afford it, while those without the wealth or privilege were left behind to survive by themselves, because even if they could find the money, to pay for public transport, they were closed. In the footage of Kim before the storm, when she asks her neighbors what they are going to do, most of them respond that they are going to stay because there is nothing they can do but wait. and hope for the best. As the storm begins to intensify, it is clear from footage taken at the home that no one even checked to see if the Ninth Ward had been evacuated and no precautions were taken to help anyone who was forced to stay there for lack of power. means to leave, they were left to their own devices. The food and water they managed to get before the storm was all they had to live on for as long as the storm took, and it wasn't much. During the storm, the destructive winds and rain became increasingly deadly. for Kim and her neighbors. In footage from Kim's camera, she talks about having to go up to the attic to avoid drowning in her quickly flooding house, then pans outside to show that the flood conditions are real because there is water covering the majority of a stop sign outside. in his street. They move the rest of the food and water they and everyone with them have, even as the waters continue to rise. In the next scene on her camera, Kim sees her neighbor swimming back to her house as the.