MovieChat Forums > Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County (2010) Discussion > Touching.... but

Touching.... but

posted 14 years ago by tim411
13 replies | jump to latest

Alexandra Pelosi's documentary is certainly touching. Makes me feel for these families as well as want to help.

But, I don't care for the implicit spin - nor do I think most should.

The impression is laid on, thick at times, that it's somehow America's fault for the condition these people are in. One point in the show Alexandra even asked the children "why would God do this to you?".

This is cheap. If Alexandra was genuinely interested in the issue she might have asked "why do your parents make bad decisions?".

Take the family where there are 4 (possibly 5) children and 4 small dogs (which the mom refers to as her children).
She stated that she had been in the rears for awhile, struggling to get by. However, some of those children are pretty young. Born after the fact that she fell on hard times. You'd be a fool to not direct the question back at the mom: "why are you living beyond your means?". But Alexandra never does this.

Nope, Alexandra is more bothered by the quality of the free food the children get from the state. Again: she's more concerned about the quality of the free food the chidren receive from the state.

One very upsetting scene was when the families were at the soup kitchen. Alexandra had the decency to note that most of these soup kitchens/bread lines are sponsored by the local churches. The very next segment is where Alexandra is posing the question to the children: Why does God do this to you?
That's low. Instead of being thankful for the help the families do receive from the churches Alexandra takes it as an opportunity to highlight either the insensitivity of God or the absurdity of God.

Again - a more genuine question would have been: Why do your parents make bad decisions?

Quick rundown:
It's a bad decision to foster multiple dogs if your struggling financially.
It's a bad decision to have more children when you're already poor and struggling to support them.
It's a bad decision to affiliate yourself with people who may spend time in prison because they have criminal tendencies.
It's a bad decision to stay in a particular area where the cost of rent in that area outstrips your ability to provide for your family.
It's a bad decision to have children with multiple men when it tends to be the case that men who have children with women they are not married to tend to "run off" because they weren't responsible men in the first place.

Once more - touching documentary and I would do what I can to help these families.
But, Alexandra is certainly more politically motivated in her aims with this show. Focusing on the short comings of the state or the employeer (Disney) or of God when she should have been directing her questions at the parents shows where her motivations are.

[–] MissScarlett21 14 years ago

While I almost completely agree with your points (I thought the God question was unnecessary and out of line, and Im an Atheist lol)...I think the focus was more on these kids who has no choice in the matter of their position. Its not THEIR fault their parents adopted dogs or had too many kids, its not THEIR fault they are homeless and witness horrible things - yet they suffer the same consequences, if not worse because they are so young.

When these kids are only able to get food twice a day from their school, shouldnt it be at least healthy/wholesome/nutritional? I grew up in public schools, and the food was pretty rough: questionable pizza and tater tots...and I hear its even worse now. Unfortunately cheap food is bad food (dont get me started on how backwards this is to me lol), and these poor kids are being denied adequate nutrition - which facilitates learning, concentration, and physical/mental development - by these state-run programs. I would agree that t least they exist at all, which I think is something to be grateful for.

My biggest question that kept running through my head was "Why dont they change towns?!" I live in Tallahassee, Florida where you can get a 1-bedroom apartment for less than $800 a month. This doesnt include any furnishings, but there is a huge college-student population and there is cheap stuff available at goodwill ALL the time given away by these entitled kids. I once furnished an entire 1-bedroom ($625/mo including cable and internet!) for less than $300 from scratch. I guess finding the means of up and leaving might be tough, but even 45 minutes away from Orange County in Tampa (where Im originally from) you can find $600/mo 1-bedrooms jut fine.

[–] KristyBT 14 years ago

Miss Scarlet-
The documentary was about kids living in motels in Orange County, CALIFORNIA.

[–] MissScarlett21 14 years ago

Oh wow, So Orange county is where Disney Land is, too? Weird...the mention of theme parks and O.C. made me think it was Orlando. That is a definite "my bad."
Either way though, there is there still not a chance of moving to a city/town a bit further away and cheaper? Though CA is pretty up there in terms of living expenses no matter what.

Thank you for pointing that out to me. :-)

Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?

[–] punxgurrl 9 years ago

lol Orange County, CA is where the original Disneyland was built, in 1955. Who doesn't know that?

[–] tim411 14 years ago

Granted - it focused on the kids.
But, they still were tackling the wrong problem.
This is going to sound rude, but those mothers (and the father of the one family) were more than 'well fed'.

The documentary wants to lay blame on many things except looking back at the parents of these children and saying "hey, what about you?".

[–] MissScarlett21 14 years ago

I guess you could argue that cheap food that they could afford are less than healthy (dollar menu, ramen, etc), but I agree; they talked about how the kids might only eat once a day, but most of the parents were overweight. idk.
I still stand by "why arent you living in a cheaper area?" Over a grand for a 1-bedroom isnt the case EVERYWHERE. Why wasnt that brought up?!

Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?

[–] tim411 14 years ago

Maybe things are different in WI.
But fruit and vegetables aren't all that expensive.

On a very modest budget I could still go to most grocery stores and get enough fruit and vegetables if I really wanted to.

[–] MissScarlett21 14 years ago

I live in Florida and despite the fact that we have oranges and stuff year-round, it seems produce is fairly on the pricey side. I went shopping the other day for veggies and stuff since I finally had money to buy groceries, and with 4 ears of corn, 2lbs of onions, a head of garlic, a head of romaine, some tomatoes and a about 5 apples, I hit about $20...just so I can have a few days of nice salads. It shouldnt be that way, sadly.

I agree though that even on a modest budget you can make it work. I've been financially strapped and living on beans and rice, essentially, with some veggies here and there. A bag of rice, a bag of beans, and a few cans of veggies can cost less than $10 and last a while. Does it get boring? OMG YES. But it kept me full and you can say what you want about carbs...those meals kept me going.

Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?

[–] MasterNemesis 14 years ago

Well the family with the father who was well fed I think were more recently homeless. The mother had a decent job and the Father had only lost his job a few months before. That family really warmed my heart especially when the daughter was so sad about her grades.

[–] Stirchley 10 years ago

"Why dont they change towns?!"

That makes sense, but where do you go when you've lived your entire life in the same place? That's all you know and, even if times are bad, there is a comfort level in the familiar. Why do you think more people didn't leave New Orleans when Katrina was on her way? One of the reasons was because they had no idea of where else to go and, even if they did have another place to go, they had no means of getting there.

[–] Evangelisti 14 years ago

This whole documentary is a joke, i found it entertaining but it's a *beep* joke. THESE are homeless people? They get to go to school everyday, have food every single day, toys (i even saw one playing with a PSP), clothes and shelter.

Yeah, the living conditions suck and it's not comfortable. The mom makes like 500 bucks a WEEK, how many people in the world make less than 500 dollars a month? Guarantee you its over a billion.

And like the original post said, IT'S BECAUSE THE PARENTS ARE IDIOTS. They have opportunities to do whatever they want. What's sad is a bunch of lazy bastards making their kids live like this.

Worth killing for, worth dying for, worth goin to hell for.

[–] KyleCheeks321 11 years ago

Yes. I agree. The average person does not make 450 a week like that fat mom. She makes 2 grand a month. NO REASON WHY HER FAMILY SHOULD BE HOMELESS.

[–] chas437 9 years ago

These families are poor and homeless because of the bad decision's the parents make.

As long as these types of people reproduce, we will always have poverty. No amount of government handouts and welfare will change that.