Housing Problems is a 1935 document about housing problems in Britain. The video is very similar to Orwell’s piece entitled ‘Road to Wigan Pier’. It depicts the poor conditions that the lower class in Britain had to live in. It is also interesting to notice that the people who are interviewed are wearing what appears to be decent clothes, with one man even wearing a three-piece suit, without the jacket. I don’t know if this was common attire, but in my opinion it looks like these people did their best to look good, despite the fact that this was a film documenting their poor living conditions. Logically, looking as bad as possible would be conducive to the documentary and thus to the possibility of attaining help, but the emotional response of the interviewees represents the idea of pride that was still prevalent in this ‘new poor’ section of society.
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I agree with your observation that the “decent clothes” worn by the people being interviewed was a prideful decision. However I think this is also a desire that most humans have, which is a desire to fit in and not seem a burden on society or as unhelpful or unsuccessful. q
This post had some really great ideas, but it could have been a lot more engaging if you had expanded on those ideas. The decision of these workers to wear “Sunday best” clothes seems to suggest pride and an attempt to protect their dignity. It is very similar to the points Orwell made in “The Road to Wigan Pier;” these men and women want to be proud of where they live and have others see beauty not squalor, so they dress nicely for more formal occasions and have one room that is nicely decorated, while the other parts of the house are barely inhabitable.
I know we are attempting to move away from summarizing works but I can’t consume a blog post not biasedly without a previously stated background, which this post lacks. I think that your points are rushed and could be extremely more developed with a background and analysis section. However at the same time your albeit brief discussion brought nice anecdotes and thoughts to the table, along with interestingly connections to Orwell’s piece.
I believe that the people being interviewed wished to show to the general public that they were not completely downtrodden. They wished to prove that they were capable of maintaining a household tidy and orderly. They were not lazy people who deserved what they got because they did not work hard; these were hardworking people who merely weren’t afforded many opportunities to succeed economically.