Running Head: BORN INTO BROTHELS

How Born Into Brothels relates to Socialization Nhung Truong Catawba Community College

Running Head: BORN INTO BROTHELS Born Into Brothels is a documentary about a photographer who visited the Red

Light District in Calcutta India, and became friends with ten of children living there. She gave each of them a camera and taught them how to take photographs. Other than being poor and having to live like adults their mothers are all prostitutes trying to make money to support the family. The childrens lives are not easy because their relatives are harsh to them so Zana Briski, the photographer, tries to get them into private schools so they can be away from the hardship that their family puts onto them. Briski notices the beauty of the childrens souls and how happy they are when they take pictures. When they went on the trip to the beach it seems like they were care free, and they were just running around having a good time while taking pictures. Whenever Briski got back to Amsterdam she tried to auction off the childrens photos in order to raise money so that she could get them out of the Red Light. She tried everything that she could in order for the children to have a better life. Although Briski tried her best with all the children only some of them are in school today because the others are either stuck at home because there parents did not let them go or they just chose to stay back. Kids behave on how they were taught and raised when the were growing up, so when a kid does something bad it is partly the parents fault because they did not teach their kid well enough. Socialization refers both to our childhood experiences and to all the learning we go through in life. In the movie Suchitra is the most quiet and calm on of all the children because her parents did not teach her to be outgoing. Also, they could have yelled at her a lot at home and when she goes out she just stays quiet and keeps everything to herself. For the children their significant other, or an individual who significantly influences someone else, is Briski. Briski is the one who gives them the

Running Head: BORN INTO BROTHELS cameras and teaches them about photography. She also did everything she could to help them get into school so that they could have a better future. If it was not for Briski they

would have never stepped outside of the Red District, and they would all be prostitutes or criminals. Others usually judged the girls because of what their mothers did in order to get money to support the family. The women asked me, when are you going to join the line?(PMukerjee) This shows Puja is using the generalized other because that is her perception of how people in general thought of her. Peer groups are a group of individuals, who are roughly the same age, and who are linked by common interests and orientations. Madan, Tapasi, Binod, Manik, Puja, Gour, Shanti, Kochi, and Avijit are all photography students of Zana Briski. The all had a bad life because of their families, but one thing that brought them all together and made them happy was photography. Photography was a way for them to express themselves and show others how the see the world from their perspectives. The childrens photographs were shown to the world because Briski brought it back to Amsterdam to auction it off in order to raise money for them. Their photographs were even in the Oxford Bookstore Gallery that then got a lot of publicity when they were in the newspaper. Mass media is a form of communications that are directed to the mass audience. It was important for the children to have their photographs in the newspaper and on the news because if a lot of people knew about it that would mean that they would get more money. Briski came over to this district to put herself in the shoes of the people who lived there because she wanted to learn more about them. She was taking the role of the other because she lived there and learned about how people lived their

Running Head: BORN INTO BROTHELS

lives there. While she was there she felt like she had to do something to help the kids out because she saw the hardships that they went through, and she wanted them to have a good life when they grow up. There is no rational reason for me being here. I Feel really connected to the women and children. (ZBriski) This documentary was interesting to watch because of how different the childrens lives are over there than it is here in America. They were yelled and cursed at almost everyday and they had to do what ever the adults wanted them to do even if it is two in the morning. It was surprising to see that they acted calmly when they were being yelled at. These children are lucky to have found Briski because without her help they would not have the chance to express themselves and find what they enjoy doing. All of them are in different places studying and living there lives how they want to.

Running Head: BORN INTO BROTHELS References Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids. By Zana Briski, Zana Briski, Ross Kauffman, Ross Kauffman, and Ross Kauffman. Dir. Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman. 2004. DVD. Henslin, James M. Mastering Sociology. Illinous: n.p., 2013. Print.