Concerned Citizen

Video

Concerned Citizen: Taylor from Helen Butcher on Vimeo.

Artists' Statement

When it comes to media, community is very important. As community is portrayed in media, media is consumed by the community, so it’s a constant cycle of the two influencing each other. As new filmmakers, it’s our responsibility to portray and showcase communities that inspire service and kindness to the audience. Showing that the small acts we do can be a big deal to others is very important, and whether we do it for a job or just in passing, we need to remember that it doesn’t take much to make other people happy.

Taylor Whitehead is a daughter, friend, college student, and CNA. CNA means Certified Nurse’s Assistant, a job where she goes to people’s houses and help take care of their elders. Cody suggested that Taylor be the subject of our project because she pointed out that it takes a special kind of person to dedicate their life to helping old people. We wanted to portray Taylor as an ordinary young woman, so we tried to be fairly casual about the shoot. This was to emphasize that it doesn't take an extraordinary person to do good things. The emotion and interest comes from solely Taylor herself as she is so animated and happy to talk about her job. This is what sets her apart; she’s dedicated to doing this job not because it’s hard, but because it makes her happy and others happy. The work she describes seems simple, but it’s clear that she is a huge help to the old people.

This week in class we read Human Rights and Culture: From Datasan to Storyland by Arlene Goldbard. A quote we liked from that was “In Storyland, we understand that the resilience that sustains communities in times of crisis is rooted in culture, in the stories of survival and social imagination that inspire pepe to a sense of hope and possibly even in dark times. Sharing our stories as song, drama, dance, in word or image supports resilience by showing people how theirs met similar challenges, survived and prospered.” This supports our idea that it doesn’t take much to help others, and when we show this in the media, we can inspire communities to come together with those small acts. An example of this in the media is Soul Surfer (McNamara), a movie based on a true story about a thirteen year old girl who gets her arm bitten off by a shark. It’s an inspiring to see the community rally around her and give her love and support through the small collective acts of them all. Therefore, when everyone does small and simple acts of service and kindness, the result can be overwhelmingly positive.

In conclusion, it’s important to show service in the media to inspire communities to do good things. Like Taylor, we can choose to do things that make us happy while also helping out others. When we show this in media, it can inspire communities because it shows that when everyone bands together to do good things, amazing and inspiring things can happen.