poverty porn

The phrase poverty porn has become increasingly employed in the UK to describe film medias' growing tendency to exploit poor people for entertainment value (see this recent article in Tonight.) The most popular of this genre based on a reality-show format focuses on residents in a Birmingham neighborhood in the Channel 4 series, Benefits Street.

Park Avenue: money, power, and the American Dream

Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream aired on PBS Independent Lens last night and is now available on Hulu. If any student or students would like to write a review of it, please do so ASAP and forward to me for posting.

more on the rhetoric of class politics: "I'm not concerned with the very poor," says Romney.

Mitt Romney indicates in a February 1, 2012 interview with CNN, the Americans he would not be concerned with helping should he become president (see top clip). Newt Gingrich seizes the moment later that day and declares he is "fed-up" with  Romney, and other politicians, such as Obama, "dividing Americans against each other" (see middle clip). Two days later, Romney retracts his statements, claiming he "misspoke."  Note: In the Republican debate during the New Hampshire primary in early January, 2012, Rick Santorum denies the existence of social class in the U.S. altogether, actually declaring "There are no classes in America" (see bottom clip).