Running Head: Homelessness Effects on Children

Homelessness Effects on Children: Genre Analysis of a Movie and Online News Articles Amber Ibarra University of Texas at El Paso

Running Head: Homelessness Effects on Children

Homelessness Effects on Children: Genre Analysis of a Movie and Online News Article Homelessness has been around since humans have existed on the earth, some of the first documentations of homelessness first mentions in print and available for the public were released in the 1640s. There are several possible factors on how and why someone or a family could be homeless. Some of these factors are natural disasters, medical problems, death of a family member leading to financial problems, loss of job, or racial inequalities. This is a growing problem not just throughout the country but as well as the world. The numbers of homeless people are growing yearly, and with that so do the numbers of children growing up within this lifestyle. It is said that there are at least 3.5 million people that are homeless in America. From that 1.37 million of those people are under the age of eighteen. The children that are in portion of homelessness are of all ages. Now since the country is going through a difficult time with economy being in a rough spot and unemployment being at an all-time low, the number of both of these statistics are once again on the rise. But the real question is what happens to these children that are left without stable homes? Not having a stable home does a great deal of damage to these children. They are constantly forced to move to a new location if they dont have somewhere at least semi-permanent to at least stay the night. This effects everything that they do, theyre behavior, school work, and way of seeing things changes and makes it more difficult these children to get through life. In this assignment I will be analyzing two types of communication an online news article and a movie. Each of these portray the life a child who faces homelessness must go
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Running Head: Homelessness Effects on Children

through. I will be analyzing their audience and purpose, rhetorical issues, structure, and style and language. Audience and Purpose In the movie, the intended audience are people living in the United States after the date of December 3, 1989. Being that it is a movie people who have the proper equipment (TV, VCR player, DVD player, etc.) are able to view it. The discourse communities are people who have a small understanding of what homeless families go through or those wanting to learn a little more about what kind of personal experiences families may go through. There is already an understanding that families like this go through extraordinary hardships, but do not know exactly what it is that they may face on daily basis. Also it opens the eyes to what children have to go through, in the beginning when they lose everything, going to the first shelter, family problems, and struggling after they are kicked out of the motel. The purpose of the movie is to illustrate how difficult it can be to just live day to day when the odds are stacked against you. This form of communication can be lengthy but since it is a modern day issue audience members will be more likely to see this all the way through. The articles intended audience is anyone who has computer and internet access. While the discourse community are people are knowledgeable about how to use computers, humanitarians, or even families going through hardships with young children. The general audience already knows that there are millions of children that do not have stable homes of their own. This articles main purpose is to focus on one childs personal struggle. The article is a little long in length but is filled with the personal

Running Head: Homelessness Effects on Children

experiences and visual aids in the form of pictures that let the audience member see the world through the eyes of this little girl named Dasani. In both of these genres, the main purpose is to provide a look into the life of what homelessness offers those families stuck and unable to get out just yet. The audiences vary because one is more readily available for everyday people, while the other is located on the internet where only people with access to see it can. Rhetorical Issues In the movie there are hardly any words until the end credits offering statistics that were relevant when the movie was made. Other than that the visuals that the movie provided as far as the acting, they were able to convey exactly what would be imaginable when you lose everything that gives you identity. It also shows what these places like the shelters, motels, cars, campsites, and abandoned houses where families in this situation would be living in. In the movie the family is constantly moving and that causes the son to act out, because he doesnt like where they live or how his father is choosing to make things better for them. For the article it overall is just a personal account of the life of a girl growing up through the homeless system. Inside of the article it shows how the young girl manages to get through school with having high expectations makes her a standout student. Overall the article come from a credible source, with an author with credible credentials. Just like the movie, the article focuses on life as a girl living with homelessness, but differs because it follow a personal account and talks about she manages school, home life, and social life. In this article it covers just about everything needed to understand

Running Head: Homelessness Effects on Children

this girl better. From why her mother chose to name her Dasani to how she strives to excel in school because of her home life. Throughout the article there are pictures to accurately depict conditions of what Dasani sees and is surrounded with. Both of these genres have visual aids, one more so than the other. Though the movie solely relies on visual aids to get the message of the hardships, which can be more appealing since it is easier to watch and see what exactly is going on. In the article there is a primary use of text, but with that being said it happens to be a detailed account of a view in the life of this young girl. Nowhere in this article are there interjections of personal opinion in it. It strives to be completely unbiased, and nothing more than an educational piece. Also with the article, it uses visual aids like pictures to help appeal to the readers emotion and help them visualize for further understanding. It also shows the true emotion and helps solidify how the readers portray Dasani. Structure For the movie organization was very clear and simple. In the beginning of the movie there is a brief mention that the family is struggling through remarks that the fathers brother is making, shortly after the brother makes a comment about their financial status, the family loses everything in an apartment fire. From there things get more and more difficult, to the point where the father of the family is practically forced to leave his family, in hopes that he will be able to find a stable job elsewhere. Throughout the rest of the movie it was very simple to understand and follow what was going on. Viewers could easily see the cause and effects to everything that was happening. For example, when the father leaves the family to find a steady job, the mother no longer seems to be able to be a secondary provider for the family, the son steps in to be a
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Running Head: Homelessness Effects on Children

provider in the form of a drug runner, leading to security of the motel to finding out and blackmailing mother until she decides to take family out of there. For the sheer fact that the movie was well scripted and directed, there was no confusion interpreting what was going on. It was able to clearly express the message of the hardships of losing everything. There is a very direct approach of the subject matter, throughout the movie. There isnt one time where the viewer must figure out on their own what is going on. As for the article, it is very similar to the movie. The article its self is made up of five parts that go through how Dasani lives every day life, how she moves forward to push towards her goals, how her community is clearly divided and how that affects her and her family, how her brothers and sisters help be stronger and persevere, and what she choosing to focuses her dreams on. The organization is very easy to follow and very clear. As a reader it is very easy to have a one-on-one connection from reading the article. With this the author is very limited to what she can write. There isnt much creative license she can put since she is writing about an actual person and her life. The article is separated into the parts of her life that she is talking about, home life, school, everyday ordeals, and so on. Each section is easy to read and very understandable. This article, is very consistent in each section of the article. Each section that makes up the entire story follows the same structure, there no changes because the writer stays the same. Both of these sources have excellent structure that is easy to follow, straightforward, and able to understand what it was all about. Direct approach makes everything clearer in both sources and helps maintain a well-organized presentation.

Running Head: Homelessness Effects on Children

Style and Language In the movie the language used is informal. There are hardly any words that are specific for the understanding of this topic. Since it is a movie, the dialogue is easy enough to understand, there doesnt need to be any additional interpretation of what is going on in the movie. The movie looks like it takes place in the late 80s so that one can attribute how the tough times were then. It also doesnt try to over sell the loss that this family is going through. There are very little elements that come into the pictures and scenes that steal from the family. In the article, the language is both informal and formal. The author does mention some specialized vocabulary when talking about certain rules and regulations that Dasani follows in the motel or with her dancing class. Either the way the words are presented the as a whole the language stays very informal and once again an easy read. The pictures located throughout the article served as pauses and reinforcements that let anyone else who reads this piece that it is easy to read as well as a good read. With that being said, the language used in the movie is informal for the sense that it is easy to understand what exactly is being said and what is going on throughout the entire movie. Very causal, as a viewer you do not need to know a ton of information on the subject to figure out what is going on. Being that this source was a movie there were not very many opportunities for there to be text on the screen as the movie was playing. In the article, both formal and informal language was used because there were brief moments when there was discussion in the interests of Dasani and her personal interests. Again, like in the movie, there wasnt any additional or background information needed to be read before reading this piece.
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Running Head: Homelessness Effects on Children

In conclusion, the two different types of communication in the forms of a movie and an article, very able to depicted clearly what life is like for a child living in homelessness and how it effects them. In both sources the view can see in different instances how a child is changed from the adversities and how despite the fact she goes through that, she is managing to come out on top and pushing herself forward and setting goals and dreams that through her perseverance, she will get to, not only to better her life to show her siblings that it is possible to have the things you want in life.

Running Head: Homelessness Effects on Children

Works Cited Elliot, A. (2013, December 9). Invisible Child. The New York Times. Retrieved February 1, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/invisible-child/#/?chapt=1 Watson, A., & Blackwell, S. (Writer). Grant, L. (Director). (1989). No Place Like Home (Homeless) [Online video]. United States: Fox Film Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2014