Micitype Pretty Good

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

jgalla20 Jacqueline Gallapo UPP101 Project 3.Detropia is a unique film. It takes the issues of Detroit's decaying city but then mixes it with the creative prosperities and caring nature of the city's residents. The opening starts with a mix of Detroit's opera and images of the city, as well as, citizens' voices demonstrating in the background. These few minutes truly capture the beautiful sounds the city could have in comparison to the economic landscape Detroit currently offers.To set the background of the status of Detroit the film shows a news reporter, reporting on the demolition of a home. From that news report we learn the severity of the decaying urban sprawl in Detroit. In Detroit, 10,000 homes are set to be demolished in the next 4 years. There are 90,000 more homes ready to go. Every 20 minutes another family moves out of Detroit due to the declining economic opportunities. Following the news report, the film highlights how Detroit was fastest growing city in 1930. This surge in Detroit was due to the industrial revolution and creation of the automotive industry. The automotive plants created an infrastructure that supported thousands of jobs. As competition overseas rose, the numbers of jobs in Detroit began to decline. George McGregor, the president of United Auto Workers union Local 22, notes the decline in jobs in the automotive industry.When George McGregor is introduced he is driving past the Cadillac plant he received his first job at. But now it's not the same plant it was when he was young. Instead it's a smaller scaled plant. This is because part of the processing of the Cadillac left Detroit, thus taking jobs with it. McGregor does a great job of highlighting how the unions are being bullied into lower pay in order to compete with foreign car factories. A prime example of the jobs leaving Detroit is with American Axle moving to Mexico, thus outsourcing more than 2,000 jobs. American Axles last plant in Detroit wanted to cut workers pay significantly. After negotiations with the UAW, American Axles decided that they weren't willing to bargain and instead left Detroit completely. This outsourcing for corporate greed is part of the issue the automotive industry left such a striving city to decay. McGregor says that when the jobs left Detroit, then the neighborhood left leaving the urban sprawl as its remnants. Crystal Starr is a video blogger in Detroit. She explains to the audience that history is meant to be documented. That's why she feels the need to explore and contribute to Detroit's history. While showing a high-rise building she imagines what it may have looked like in its peak. Starr's curiosity and intuition help to shape the film into a piece that focuses on the current conditions of decay that would not otherwise be shown. This young woman holds such optimism and hope as she shows a decaying city. Starr also does a fantastic job of documenting city hall meetings and the chaos that ensues at them. The meetings allow those outside of the city to see from the perspective of a Detroit citizen, what is happening and how the city is dealing with such issues. She is a great leader for the youth of Detroit. Starr's and other young citizens should be considered when higher city officials work on issues in Detroit.Despite the bad economy Detriotians find relief at places like the Raven Lounge. Owner Tommy Stephens says that the city was always vibrant when the automotive plants were there. Workers would flock to his lounge after work and enjoy the music and chicken wings. Then the recession hit Detroit hard, but "It will come back, I do believe" Stephens says. His optimism, like Crystal Starr's, is what all citizens in Detroit need to aspire to be like. Despite the bad, good will come and the city can thrive if you believe in hard work to change the landscape. Towards the end of the film we are introduced to a couple of artists who moved to Detroit to explore the urban landscape, while having the ability to create new artwork. The duo is first shown in the film standing alongside a busy street. They are dressed in blazers, thus looking somewhat like a professional with gold science goggles air mask and glove accessories. The couple holds a sign reading "Give us your money $". This art installment that they are trying to create makes the people in cars passing by think. One woman looks angered and if you read her lips carefully she says an expletive. Later in the film the man explains that they moved to Detroit because the price of living was affordable. Plus the artists had space to work and create large-scale installations without the fear of failure that would be seen in other major cities. Their creativity and openness in moving to Detroit despite the cities flaws are worthy of mention. Citizens like these artists' help to drive the economy.According to the film, the 2010 U.S. Census showed that the population had decreased to 713,000. Despite this decrease there is a 59 percent increase of young adults moving to the center of Detroit. This increase may be what Detroit is looking for. If the youth can continue to come into the city and revive the urban space, Detroit may rebound like Tommy Stephens hope for. Detropia sheds hope upon Detroit with the music and the imagery of a thriving arts program. In the end of the film a silver lining for Detroit is established, autoworkers have had more jobs created. The possibility of a better tomorrow is on the horizon. And with that there still is the cloud of economic troubles and the warning of what could potentially happen to other U.S. cities if their industries leave. Works Cited Detropia. Dir. Heidi E. Ewing. Perf. George McGregor, Crystal Starr, Tommy Stephens. New Video, 2012. Film.

Anthony Ochoa Anthony Ochoa Professor Ivis Zambrana UPP101 TR 23 October 2013 Project 2In Detropia, Directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady take a look at the fall of the once prosperous Detroit and more generally speaking the United States. Detropia is a combination of the words Detroit and either utopia or dystopia. Their main arguments or points conveyed throughout the film are the apathy of foreign manufacturers, the decline of manufacturing plants in the past few decades in the United States , and that the accustomed standard of living is closing the gap between wealthy and poor in America. They present these arguments through the stories of various community members who are affected by the loss of population in Detroit and provide social commentary. I would have leaned towards more statistics or studies to make the arguments seem more objective or balance out the subjective-ness of the community members' stories. Detropia uses vivid imagery, humanized effects of the decay, and allusions to the possible future for the rest of the United States.Detropia opens up with a contrast of opera music against the unmaintained Detroit streets leading into the demolition of homes and observations by Video Blogger Crystal Starr. Crystal Starr is a Detroiter who looks for stories and beauty within the abandoned and wrecked buildings. She and a couple other Detroiters offer personal insight and reminiscence in coupling with the heavy use of imagery and statistics. The imagery in Detropia is so vivid and devoid of human presence that the sense of abandonment becomes very apparent to the viewer and contrasts the traditional use of the video medium. The use of audio is limited to the use of contrast against Detroit's prosperous past and for the use of the continued sense of loneliness throughout the documentary. The majority of the quotes are presented in text across the screen to further limit the use of audio. If background music is present it is from the eras prior to the decline and is accompanied by people's fond memories of prosperity. Other background audio is usually somewhat soft and eerie with the sounds of the dying city. The persistent imagery is often heavy with visual juxtaposition such as the beautiful view from an abandoned or vandalized buildings.While Detropia's vivid imagery is lacking in human presence, it places emphasis on the use of a few chosen community members to humanize the decline of Detroit. Along with aforementioned Crystal Starr the other prominent speaking community members are George McGregor and Tommy Stephans whose titles are Local 22: United Auto Workers Union President and owner of the local business The Raven Lounge, respectively. George McGregor is introduced by announcing the latest proposition from an auto manufacturer to the union members, who consider the pay cut proposition an insult. After their refusal of the proposition, the plant was closed and the manufacturing jobs outsourced to Mexico. George McGregor speaks about how the country is losing manufacturing jobs to foreign markets and how there is a growing absence of American-made products. Tommy Stephans speaks about how Detroit is an example of how when jobs are lost, people leave in pursuit of work, which further hurts the businesses by loss of customers. He also speaks about the Americans' choice to choose comparable foreign products at a cheaper price and how it hurts the global economy by supporting foreign markets and their workers.George McGregor and Tommy Stephans speak about the negative effects of outsourcing jobs and buying foreign products. In line with what they have said, it is reasonable to assume and partially alluded to by the directors, America is following suit with Detroit by our continued choices to value competitively priced foreign products over the positive effects of buying American-made products. It is a well known issue in the automotive industry and is showing specifically in Detroit's automotive based economy. If more American jobs and products are given or lost to foreign markets for cheaper production, those American workers will lose their jobs and we will see similar situations to Detroit. Capitalism is the economic system that drives American businesses to compete in order to offer the best product at the lowest price. After WWII, we had spread American ideals and systems, such as Capitalism, to foreign countries. This created competitors in the global markets as we consolidated our emerging industries. Then, we began to move away from manufacturing as labor laws prevented US manufacturers from producing cheaper than foreign manufacturers where different or no labor laws exist. As the director alluded to in the case of the automotive plant in Detroit, Americans have become accustomed to a certain standard of living. The American automotive employees were struggling, refused to be paid less, and were laid off as their jobs were outsourced to Mexico. As shown in the automotive show, the worst part of the cycle of destruction we are enabling is that we further support it, whether through ignorance, apathy, or financial priorities.Overall, Detropia uses vivid imagery, humanized effects of the decay, and allusions to the possible future for the rest of the United States. It is a powerful documentary that outlines the variety of issues that caused the decline of Detroit and is currently harming the USA. Works Cited 1. Detropia. Dir. Heidi E. Ewing. Perf. George McGregor. New Video, 2012. Film.

JoeZilch I watched this flick because people kept telling me it was shot well and it really wasn't. I've seen better urban spelunking videos (or even photos) come out of media censor friendly China. This film looks like it was shot without a budget (like most documentaries, that's not meant to be a strike against it) but also without any permits. I'm not really one to complain about that unless it seems to show in your work.The somewhat bland videography aside the point of this documentary is to talk about and expose people to the problem in the "D". With no history. No context. No real explanations at all. People used to make cars there and now they don't so we get to listen to people whine about how bad things have gotten in the city.I'm not looking for a piece that might match my opinions but you can't take a movie talking about economic hardships in Detroit seriously without discussing pension liabilities, government mandates, unionism in general or any other myriad economic problems that lead businesses to flee to other states or countries and consumers to buy cheaper goods.We hear a lot about China. Nothing about Ohio where cars are still being made. Or any of the "Right to Work" states. I'm not advocating here for "right to work", I'm pointing out that the filmmakers don't even discuss the very economic issues that the "Rust Belt" has been grappling with for more than a generation. Art snobs can afford to move in so we'll show them taking photos and being all artsy, that will take the place of any real expose or discussion.There is a scene in this flick, seriously, where a union refuses to negotiate with a company that is threatening to move the last of their plants to Mexico. This isn't a bluff or standoff, this is a take-it-or-leave-it issue. The union "doesn't even vote on it" because they "have nothing to lose". Can we discuss THAT mentality for a second? How do they have nothing to lose? We're told the plant closed and nothing else of note. Did they all go on unemployment? Why was the plant closed? We see the union meeting with their "greed" talking point but what was the reason from the company? We don't even get the tried and true documentary trope of "nobody from company 'x' would talk to us".I watch a lot of documentaries as they help my wife sleep from boredom and they keep me up at night seething with rage. This was just another in a long line of "what a cool idea" that quickly turned into "86 minutes of movie, 4 hours of my life wasted because now I'm on IMDb complaining about it".

Meghal Saw this documentary at its Toronto screening - wasn't very impressed by the content. By carefully selecting the interviewees and the target demographic, the film maker somehow tends to sensationalise the issue of the decline in Detroit's population.Most of the characters that appear in documentary are African-American, work in auto industry and appear to come from a lower middle class background. Somehow the filmmaker conveniently chooses to ignore the middle class who might also be affected by the downturn in auto-industry but is still surviving.However, the main points that sticks out like a sore thumb is the American hubris. The refusal to acknowledge the fact that Americans no longer rule the auto-manufacturing sector. A character in the movie riles about how Chinese can produce a car at almost half the price of an American car and how this will impact the car industry, not acknowledging the fact that the Japanese has already caused the decline of American car industry.The mayor of the city comes with a novel idea of moving the suburban population to the inner city and using the available land for farming. But that idea is ridiculed by the characters appearing in the movie. When you are drowning and somebody throws you a lifeline, you accept it. Change is an inevitable part of life and it is time Americans accept it.I am not sure if the film makers idea was to raise sympathy for the characters affected by the decline of auto industry, but if that was the case, they seem to hardly deserve any sympathy.P.S. - After visiting IMDb, I realised that this is the same film maker who gave us the wonderful "Jesus Camp". While I enjoyed "Jesus Camp", "Detropia" failed to impress me.