When was the last time you watched a movie about poverty? Our Economic Justice team recently kicked off a new tradition of regularly watching movies about poverty to critically examine how the people who experience it are depicted, and what narratives are told. The first film we chose was The Florida Project, an award-winner about a child and her mother living at the margins of Disney World in central Florida. The movie was shot at a functioning motel in the area, and some of the real families who live in the motel participated. It sought to depict the challenges faced by the motel residents in an illuminating light. Our team discussed the ways the movie succeeded, as well as the ways it fell short.

Stories about financial hardship are worth telling well, and not just because it’s good cinema or entertaining. The real value is the powerful impact that effective storytelling can have on people’s lives. However, even well-meaning films and TV shows are often laced with false narratives about what causes poverty, and what it’s like to live in its grasp. Not only that, these narratives are deeply ingrained in many of us, and they are often racialized and gendered— built on stereotypes and prejudices. They are full of misinformation, reinforced through perceptions of personal experiences, traditions, and of course, media and movies.

Yet those attitudes aren’t confined to plotlines in film, the rabbit holes of social media, our minds, or even day-to-day conversations we have with those in our lives. Widely prevalent attitudes and beliefs about poverty influence lawmakers and program designers too, and these are the people who make choices about how to shape programs, policies, and systems meant to help people who lack resources. In the United States, and in various ways around the world, our current poverty narratives aren’t just false, they are harmful. The so-called American Dream itself tees up a way of blaming individuals who fail to achieve it, without considering the myriad socioeconomic and structural forces at play. Narratives about poverty are responsible for the failures that often plague even well-meaning programs, such as poorly designed application processes full of hassles, the imposition of work requirements, and stigma from participation—despite the vast evidence that these elements of programs hurt families and can trap them in poverty.

Read the full article about depictions of poverty in media by Allison Yates-Berg at ideas42.