REALITY (RE-)VISITED: CHILDREN OF PROSTITUTES IN BORN INTO BROTHELS

Touhid A Chowdhury

doi:10.46827/ejls.v2i2.231

Abstract

The human quest for securing, recording, and preserving memories of reality lead to the invention of motion pictures, which then gave birth to documentary films. Documentary filmmaking has radically evolved in recent years. Capturing reality come into scrutiny as more and more technological development allows the documentary filmmakers to design and articulate reality more subjectively than ever before. Born Into Brothels is a film about real people from the red light districts of Calcutta. Poverty and disease are two common phenomena of the people who live in Sonagachi, Calcutta’s red-light district. Another name of the documentary, Calcutta’s Red Light Kids, skillfully turns audience’s focus on the children of the brothels from Calcutta, which in a way, establishes that this film is about kids and not prostitution. The fact that Born Into Brothels is about children of prostitutes and not about prostitution makes it an intriguing example in analyzing the presented “reality” as well as the filmmakers’ perspectives. This article intends to investigate specific filmic and editorial techniques that documentary filmmakers use in articulating the inevitable reality of society. This article argues that Born Into Brothels tries to invoke humanitarian awareness among the audience and in a broader sense into society.   Article visualizations:<img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0780/a.php" alt="Hit counter" />

Highlights

Another name of the documentary, Calcutta’s Red Light Kids, skillfully turns the audience’s focus on children of brothels in Calcutta, which in a way establishes that this film is about kids and not prostitution
This paper aims to investigate the way documentary makers shape their work to present an inevitable “reality” of society
In line with the definition of Nichols, Born Into Brothels is a film about real people from the red light districts of Calcutta

Summary

Introduction

Touhid Ahmed Chowdhury REALITY (RE-)VISITED: CHILDREN OF PROSTITUTES IN BORN INTO BROTHELS mediums of visual representation from facts, drawings, and paintings became obsolete. In response to real people or events, Born Into Brothelsii (2004) presented the real-life struggle children of prostitutes face in brothels. Another name of the documentary, Calcutta’s Red Light Kids, skillfully turns the audience’s focus on children of brothels in Calcutta, which in a way establishes that this film is about kids and not prostitution. Briski found enthusiastic children who were interested in learning photography and photographing their mothers This small and precise initiative lights up a different point of view on lives in the brothels. Zana Briski taught basic photography techniques to eight of the kids and provided them cameras to photograph their daily life in the brothel. Instances of “reality” in Born Into Brothels, which will lead us in understanding the director’s purpose and message in Born Into Brothels

Documentary

Born Into Brothels Success?