Tag Archives: money

She is made of money

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The last scene of Joy showed her selling bands of bills to people to throw on dancing women. The people shown dropping money on the dancing women are men and other well-dressed women who we can assume are Madam type since they hold power. This shows the cyclic nature of the livelihood Joy has to make for herself which we discussed on the voice thread. In the screencap, one of the ladies is lines up with the money in Joy’s hand symbolizing their connection. Money and the role that woman throwing money play in society trickle down money to the ones who dance or do sex work. These women and men literally dropping money on the dancers is a closer look to the broader scale of oppression. And Joy is there, trying to sell the money that is used to be thrown at women. She is forced to be a part of this economy because of patriarchal structures that exist in societies, not to mention globalism in general. Since the opprotunity for lucrative sex work exists in these other countries.

Power Imbalance and Camera in Joy

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In this scene from Joy, a power imbalance is depicted using the positioning of the camera which explicitly involves the viewer. To the audience, the camera is the lens with which they view the world created and presented before them. To that degree, the positioning of a camera on set can also be used to position the viewer inside the world itself and become immersed. By placing the camera at eye level, the film adds to an immersive effect and the viewer may feel as if they are actually behind the counter.

This positioning is done intentionally to compare Joy’s situation with the viewer’s own, demonstrating an imbalance of power which calls to attention the issues and themes of the movie while drawing in sympathy for the character from the viewer. As she sends what little money she has left to her family, it draws nearer to the camera and makes the audience feel as if they are taking it themselves, implicating them in a balance of power and involving themselves in the scene a little more personally.

Greed is Green

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In the film Joy, money is a major theme. It’s the driving force of the decision to go to Europe and it’s the reason madame’s exist. The women in the film go to Europe to find jobs that pay well in order to send money back for their families, but they are extorted by the system set up that the madame’s run. The madame’s take part in this in order to make their own small fortune, some even though they were brought through the system itself and know the difficulties and pain these young women go through, but do it anyway to make good money. This scene in particular along with a few others in the film use close up shots of money and exchanges of money to reinforce this theme. The money is of such significance that there are no faces in frame and all the focus is on it.  The close up of the money gives it power in the shot, and the two exchanging the money are at its will, for Joy it is getting back to Europe, as for the other lady it is not explained. Another part of the film that helps reinforce the power of money in the film is when Joy earns her freedom from the madame, she has earned enough money to pay off her debt and now has free will again.

Real Struggles

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The movie Joy is overall a large eye-opening experience for anyone, like me, who does not fully understand the world of sex trafficking. Of course, the majority of us have heard of sex trafficking but it is more common than not for individuals to not understand the scary and life-threatening world that it is.  For me, this movie changed my whole understanding and perspective of the safe trafficking industry. The moment that really spoke to me and made me realize what horror this industry is was the scene I show above. This particular scene shows that many of these women who “sign up” for this in fact really do not know what they are getting into when they agree to move to another country “for a better life”. Many people are so desperate to go to places like Europe to make more money to help out families they left behind in their homeland that they become such an easy target for sex traffickers to take advantage of. Through this scene, we are able to see the blindness that goes along with it because Precious is stating that this is not the job she thought she would be doing here. I think this movie serves as a good learning tool for people who don’t understand the full circumstances surrounding sex trafficking and can be used to educate many.

Attempted Understanding

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This scene is when Joy’s “boyfriend” at the time took her to see this women who is working with some sort of organization towards resolving the sex trade. Joy is expressing her concerns about not being allowed to stay in Germany if she where to give more information. She expresses how she is worried that they will be sent back to their home countries where they will be in a lot of danger for themselves, their families, their madame’s families, and the Juju Priest. It’s hard for these two Germans to understand the situation Joy is in and actually be able to help her.

During this scene I recognized the camera angles as trying to help tell the story. Joy is trying to explain what could potentially happen and is trying to find a way to get help without getting anyone hurt. The camera is held from behind or to the side of Joy when she is talking in order to accentuate that this is about her. The two Germans are seen trying to understand by being shown from an angle behind Joy like in the still above. They also do the same thing with Joy’s “boyfriend” as he is listening and trying to understand what a Juju Priest is.

I think this scene is all about trying to understand the culture in which Joy and this industry has come from. Later in the film when Joy’s “boyfriend” offers her money to come live with him and pay off her debt, he still doesn’t understand that it is not that easy and she has other people to worry about.

Freedom Means I’m Free Right?

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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.

Always a Profit

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In this clip, the viewer catches a glimpse of the hardships that oppressed and targeted individuals of certain racial, cultural, ethnic or religious endure during unfortunate times of conflict. In the film Transit, the conflict is unknown; however, the struggle of the oppressed remains the same throughout history. A “cleansing” is taken place, and the hate of the occupying forces knows no bounds. It is unclear in the film of what traits the targeted people share that make them undesirable, as the woman with the dogs admits that she is a Jew, but the other characters each seem to be from totally different races and cultures so I am unclear on just what places each character in the position that they are in. Nevertheless, there is a common theme throughout the film of those who are not targeted and those who are residing legally in these areas of transit profiteering off of the misfortunes of those displaced people. In this scene the innkeeper is blatantly taking advantage of Georg and his plight by charging him a ridiculous amount of money for the room, they both know that she will notify the authorizes in a few short days in an effort to reap the benefits and promptly rent the room out for another few days for the price of a week up front until she calls for another raid on the hotel. It was all the money that he had, and I am sure that others would have and will take advantage of these people in transit.