Family Burden

While watching Joy this scene stuck with me more than most. The Madame just came back from Nigeria after Joy had been assaulted and found out that her Father was very sick. She brings news of how great her family is doing back in Nigeria because she’s rich. These women travel to other countries to work as prostitutes and live in a house with multiple women sleeping in each room. These women are being mentally twisted to think that they have to bear the load for their families back home. The Madame mentions that Joy’s brother has a brand new shiny car but Joy doesn’t have a car from what I could tell. Why must their families enjoy all of the rewards but share none of the burden. Women like Joy are indentured servants to their madames and the rest of the money they make they send back home to support their families. Scenes like this one really show that these women are conditioned to believe that this is normal by everyone around them. At one point in the movie Precious’ mom is yelling at her because she isn’t making enough money. That she needs to sleep with more random men because it’s easy. All so that they can live luxurious lives back in Nigeria.

Freedom Means I’m Free Right?

In this clip, Joy has paid her debt to her madame and is now free. She is given her passport symbolizing her freedom from the madame and will no longer be a prostitute. However, there is still a problem, Joy does not have a visa. Therefore, she cannot stay and work legally in Germany. This presents a problem because Joy needs to make money in order to take care of her and her daughter. However, one way to make money without having a visa is to become a madame. In this clip the madames at the party are encouraging Joy to become a madame. They paint being a madame as a source of income and independence, telling Joy that if she becomes a madame she will be able to make money and would not have to be subservient to a man who would spend her money. It is because of this that Joy entertains the idea of becoming a madame. She even goes to a place where madames can buy girls. This demonstrates that even when a woman is “free” from the cycle of prostitution and sex trafficking she is never truly free because the circumstances that she faces after leaving give her very few if any options to make a living other than continue selling herself or becoming the one who sells other girls and either way the cycle continues.