During our discussions of homelessness and especially people who are unseen as homeless I thought about a film I had watched recently called Nomadland. A trend that has been coming to light in the past few years is people living out of their renovated vans as they decide to travel cross country with plans to go see things like the national parks. These people often leave their 'normal' lives which allows them to travel to places they wouldn't be able to otherwise. In our discussion we explained the difference between people who are living out of their vans as a choice versus those who have no choice but to live in their cars for shelter and to find work. This lifestyle is highlighted in Nomadland as the main character, Fern, lost her home as well as her job and is living out of her van across the country finding work.
This movie is a great depiction of what it means that home is a process and just because you are unhoused doesn't mean that you cannot find home in community. Throughout the movie, Fern makes friends with people who are living the same way that she is. The people she meets throughout the movie stay with her throughout her journey and she finds new community that she never experienced in her home in her neighborhood before she lived in her van. Although this movie shows the benefits of community through a way of life that we are unfamiliar with and shows positives about the process of home for the main character but it also shows the hardships that exist when people in Fern's position are working odd jobs to support themselves and are living without a permanent home as their whole lives are in their vans.
This movie depicts homelessness in a way that humanizes the homeless rather than other depictions that show homeless individuals as lesser. It is a great film that shows how homelessness doesn't necessarily mean these people are not part of community and that they can create hime. I will link the trailer to the movie and you can also watch it on Hulu!
Hi Jen! I think your post is really interesting and relevant to our class. I have never seen this film before but it sounds really interesting. It does sound like it humanizes people who are homeless and shows the good things and the bad. It seems to show how these people live "normal" lives with friends and family to have representation for these types of people. I think it is interesting that some people choose this type of lifestyle. I can see it being beneficial for those who want to travel but in some ways, I'm sure it is disrespectful to those who have no other options but to live like this. It is kind of like celebrities dressing in traditionally "lower-class" clothing such as champion, and now these brands are at a higher price because they are in more demand.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important for there to be movies such as this one. These kinds of movies highlight certain experiences others go through, some that we may never experience. Every experience of homelessness is unique in its own way but having movies like this makes others aware that these situations do happen. I'll have to look into this movie! Seems like it's really good. Thanks for sharing.
Great blog post Jenn! I really enjoyed reading your thoughts and ideas about this film and how it correlates to our discussions in class about homelessness. I’m very surprised that I haven’t seen this movie, but it reminds me of a Netflix documentary that I’ve watched called “Expedition Happiness.” This film is about a free-spirited, young couple who travel from Germany to the U.S. with their Bernese mountain dog, Rudy, to convert a school bus and road-trip across North America and document their journey. I watched this film right when the pandemic hit, I instantly pictured how happy I’d see myself living this nomad lifestyle. My boyfriend and I then spent a lot of time researching what it would cost financially to build a skoolie and started looking into cheap school buses in the area. It was a huge commitment, and we were super close to buying a bus to convert until we realized we wouldn’t have had anywhere to park it or the tools to build it how we would want. So, we decided to wait until I graduate and when we have enough space, money, and time to build one and save for when we’d want to hit the road.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this movie is great depiction of home being a process and that it is possible to have a sense of community, even if you are homeless. It’s kind of ironic how living in your car if you’re homeless is frowned upon but now, van-life and off-grid living has been a major trend the last decade. Many people criticize van-life because of the way it “glorifies” homelessness. It is sometimes seen that this way of living invalidates the experiences of people who live in their cars and have no other option. After personally realizing that this kind of lifestyle is highly romanticized, it allowed me to education myself to a greater length on how this way of life can be stigmatized and can separate people by class. It’s important to be aware of these structures and to understand that this is a real struggle for many people and glorifying this lifestyle can make it significantly worse. I’ll definitely have to give this movie a watch! Thank you for your thought-provoking post.