Seeing The Homeless

Seeing The Homeless:
An Analysis of Media Portrayals of Homelessness in America

Beggar. Bum. Single white man in ragged clothes, sleeping on a park bench or holding up a cardboard sign pleading for money, food, help. He is an alcoholic, he does drugs, he is unemployed, he is violent, he is mentally unstable. When we see him on the sidewalk or street we do not see a face, a person with a past or chance for a real future; he is just one of thousands who does not have a home. These are just some of the prevailing stereotypes that mainstream America holds for homeless people, established and reinforced by media and popular culture. As with any subgroup or fringe culture, homeless people have been stereotyped, categorized, and even caricaturized to the point where it’s almost impossible for anyone to have a wholly accurate understanding who they are and their situations in society.

The aim of this paper is to take a close look at how the media—from popular television to news to documentaries to the Internet—portray homeless people and homelessness. My initial assumption was that mainstream media and popular culture would generally support common stereotypes of the homeless, but through my research I found that the media both actively reinforces many of these stereotypes and at the same time works to complicate and resist these ideas. In “Images of the Homeless: Public Views and Media Messages,” a study that measured average people’s perceptions of homelessness, Lee, Link, and Toro (1991) found that people’s perceptions of the homeless do not always coincide with predominant stereotypes. In other words, the average person does have a more knowledgeable and accurate understanding of the situation of a homeless person in America. For example, the authors of the study asked participants about their perception of “deviance” in the homeless—deviant behavior including anything from perceived danger to mental illness to contact with the social justice system:

Because homeless persons who engage in counter-normative, peculiar, or otherwise eye-catching behavior are hard to forget, their presence might be expected to push informal estimates of deviance in an upward direction. This bias is likely to be reinforced by the selective emphasis of some homelessness research and media coverage on atypical—and hence vividly recalled—segments of the homeless population. Yet the deviance items provide little support for the exaggeration hypothesis…Once again, members of the public seem reasonably well informed. (p. 655)

My own research of media coverage of homelessness and homeless people confirm the findings of Lee et al. (1991). While many news stories do focus on the sensational aspects of life on the street, media has also been the main method for giving voice to homeless and exposing who they really are. There are many activist groups dedicated to improving the lives of homeless people, and documentaries and projects that seek to shed light on the lived experiences of these human beings.

The one medium that does seem to capitalize on the stereotypes of homelessness is television sitcoms. The two that I looked at, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and South Park, grossly exaggerate the stereotypes of the subculture for purposes of comedy and entertainment. Furthermore, the two main demographics of homeless people that are largely overlooked by mainstream media and even neglected in the stereotypes are homeless youth and homeless couples. There is some recent media exposure and advocacy about the plight of teenage homelessness, but little is said about couples and families who have lost their homes and live in shelters or on the street.

In their study of public views and media messages in relation to homelessness, Lee et al. (1991) reviewed a large-scale analysis by the Center for Media and Affairs of news coverage of homelessness. Although conduced between 1986 and 1989 and therefore relatively dated, the information gives a broad view of what topics the news channels covered over a significant period of time. The analysis examined all 103 stories that appeared over the three-year span in six national news sources: Time, Newsweek, and US News and World Report magazines, and the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening newscasts. According to Lee et al. (1991):

In the 103 stories, homeless policies, programs and services again receive the heaviest coverage, typically accompanied by assertion that government is not doing enough to solve the problem. Social and demographic characteristics constitute a secondary thrust of the stories; three-fifths of the homeless profiled in them are white, three-fourths are adults, and more than four-fifths are single. Few of the stories highlight manifestations of deviance, such as mental illness, substance abuse, and panhandling, or probe the causes of homelessness. When causes are mentioned, they tend to be overwhelmingly of the structural variety. The state of the housing market ranks first as a cited cause, followed by government inaction, labor market forces, and deinstitutionalization. In summary, the CMPA analysis finds media coverage of the homeless far from harsh, amounting to a “sympathetic portrayal of people in trouble.” (p. 673)

The news stories I looked at for this paper are in line with these findings. I also discovered a connection between the focus of the homeless news stories and the more sensationalist news topics of the current moment. For example, right now the economy and the upcoming inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama are two highly covered topics on both televised news and in print. Most current stories about homelessness tied the subject to the larger issue of the economy, and one even tied it to a trip to Washington D.C. for an inauguration ball.

A USA Today story, “Hitting Home: New faces join ranks of the homeless,” begins with the story of Tracy Mosely, a single mother of five who’s “on the brink of homelessness after the house [she] rented for a year went into foreclosure and was sold at auction” (Armour, 2008). The story goes on to talk about how the middle-class could join the working poor as those at risk for homeless in the current economic crisis. The article closes by talking about the problem’s affect on public schools:

An estimated 2 million children will be directly affected by the subprime mortgage crisis as their families lose their homes to foreclosures, according to First Focus, a bipartisan children's advocacy group that issued the report. The April 2008 report indicates that foreclosures often result in disruptions to a child's education. (Armour, 2008)

Families, children, and single people were all addressed in this article; it succeeded in bringing the issue of homelessness “home”, in making it real.

A short NPR segment, “Homeless Still Struggle Where Success Triumphed,” addresses the irony of people stranded without jobs and homes in Dayton, Ohio, where there was once such a thriving job market. Noah Adams, the reporter, talks with a woman who challenges the stereotype that homeless people are in their present situations due to some fault of their own, be it physical or moral laziness. Kelly had a job at Rite-Aid, but once her car broke down had no way to get to work. She tried public transportation, but was physically assaulted when walking from the bus stop, and was too scared to go back. She’s now left without her job and without a home.

Two videos from CNN are examples of how a news story can seek to address and examine the issues of homelessness while at the same time reinforces some of the prevailing stereotypes of homeless people. The first video, “Homeless camp controversy,” tells of how a temporary shelter—a shantytown camp of sorts—built for the homeless by an advocate, was accidentally burned down.



Eddie, the video tells us, fell asleep and accidentally knocked over a propane burner, and the fire marshal is now going head-to-head with the advocate who built the huts and forcing everyone else to leave. The homeless stereotype that is reinforced here is that of a single male, living in a temporary camp, getting sloppy and causing destruction, and ultimately ruining the chance the other campers had for shelter and home.

The second video addresses one of the largest demographics of homeless in America: homeless veterans. In “Help for homeless vets” a single older white man is portrayed as the symbol of homeless veterans, and his story is one of survival and hope.



Again, however, some stereotypes persist. The man in this video was not able to help himself; he had to be rescued by a generous advocate. This ignores, or at least does not celebrate, the many homeless people who do work hard every day to earn money, buy food, and find a place to call home. This man is also an alcoholic, probably one of the most predominant stereotypes of homeless people available. However, the fact that he happens to be stereotypical should not take away from the authenticity of his personal story—it just means that critical viewers should be aware that this is not the life of all homeless veterans, or all homeless people.

When it comes to “hot topics” on the news, not a day goes by without discussing President-Elect Obama’s inauguration and upcoming presidency. This ABC news video, “Inauguration Seats for the Needy,” tells of how one rich man bought out a suite of rooms and a banquet hall for a January inauguration celebration. His guests? “Those who are marginalized, those who are terminally ill, our wounded veterans. And because we don’t want to exclude or leave out our young people we will have 300 person youth ball.” One-third of his guests will be the wounded, homeless, or abused; the rest will be staff from various charitable organizations. This video does present homelessness in a richer, more complicated light. While its subject is not a homeless person but rather a benefactor of the homeless, it gives hope to those who are in need by highlighting the impending administration’s inclusion of marginalized members of society—a welcome change.

The one medium of the media that has unabashedly taken the stereotypes of the homeless and used them to its advantage is popular television, specifically comedy and sitcoms. For the purposes of this study I viewed episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and South Park, both of which focused on issues of homelessness. The Philadelphia episode I watched is called “Bums: Making A Mess All Over The City.” It begins with a shot of a solitary white homeless man in an alley by the side of a dumpster, violating social norms and being generally lewd. When the show’s main characters “catch” him in the act, he just grins at them and shows no remorse for his behavior.



In this episode, the main characters of the show set out to “clean up the streets,” meaning that they want to dispose or get rid of the street people, the homeless. Where the homeless would go is not discussed. A clear dichotomy of “us” versus “them” is set up, with “us” being the clean, orderly, and safe, and “them” being the threatening, the violent, the unruly. When it comes to stereotypes the show paints no uncertain picture. The homeless person portrayed in this episode is rude and disgusting; he masturbates in an alley and then leers at the men and women who discover him. Here are all the stereotypes of fringe societal behavior that people often associate—correctly or not—with homeless people. The purpose is humor, but that begs some questions. Why are the homeless so easily, and so often, made fun of? What are the dynamics of power at play in this episode, and then in the larger societal context? And even though this television show is meant to amuse, how does it work to promote and reinforce the prevailing perception of homelessness in our culture?

The stereotype of the belligerent homeless is reinforced in the South Park episode I examined: “Night of the Living Homeless.” In this episode a multitude of homeless people—who look, walk, and talk like zombies—overtake the town, asking for change. The parents and townspeople are driven to the top of the community center for refuge, which is ironic considering that the community center is a place where people in need should be able to come for help. The boys seek out the “Head of Homeless Studies,” who actually dissects homeless people in his basement laboratory to see how they differ from “normal” people.

Significant in this episode is the writers’ use of language to label and stigmatize the homeless people. In true South Park manner, the depiction of the characters is exaggerated for humor, but the words themselves reveal many of the deep underlying stereotypes associated with the homeless. At one point one of the boys’ parents wants to go to town, and he’s stopped with the words: “You are getting into town, it’s completely overrun with these…things.” When the boys try to explain the homeless people’s behavior to the “Head of Homeless Studies,” he says: “Boys, boys! I don’t think you completely understand how the homeless function. Perhaps you should come downstairs. To my laboratory.”

Documentaries are a form of media that serve to expose less known or hidden aspects of subcultures. When it comes to homelessness, documentaries tend to focus on a specific issue or perspective and provide a more in-depth analysis than one might receive from a typical newscast. The two documentaries I studied focused a demographic of homeless people largely overlooked—homeless couples. The first is called Love In The Streets, and tells the story of a husband and wife who struggle to stay together without a home. They live in England, but the situation is similar in America—there are few shelter beds for couples.



The people in this documentary do participate in some stereotypical behavior, like drinking alcohol and loitering on the streets, but they show a strong devotion to one another that is virtually absent from the homeless person’s myth. Their dream is not just for a shelter but for a place where they can come home to, together.





This documentary presents a much more complicated image of homeless life than anything seen before. These women are young and smart, but they don’t have a home. They are in a committed relationship. They go everyday to a job, and work hard to improve their life situation. They make sure they look clean and nice so that no one will know they are sleeping each night on the floor of a shelter. If you sit by one of these women on a bus there’s little chance you will know she is homeless. This video also makes clear that there is a stark difference between people who live in shelters and those that are forced to sleep on the street each night. It might even be difficult to classify them as the same group.

Many advocacy groups and humanitarian organizations have utilized the media to disseminate their messages. Most often in the form of websites, these media resources serve to educate the public about the real causes of homelessness, the people who it affects, and the ways to alleviate it across the country and the world. One example is the National Alliance to End Homelessness offers a broad perspective of homelessness, including information on families, chronic homelessness, youth, veterans, and more. It includes links to podcasts, video, and other multimedia resources.

A recent advocacy group, Homeless Youth Television, parodies reality TV shows in order to highlight and “bring home” the message of teenage homeless. The site boasts shows like Project Runaway, My Street 16, Meal or No Meal, and Life Swap. At first glance the website even looks like a typical cable television channel—only at closer inspection do you see that the teenagers in the pictures aren’t wearing fancy clothes and the caption for American Idle is “Who has the talent to survive—and who will be sent homeless?” They even have previews for their new TV shows:

For more information please go to HomelessYouthTV.com

Click the link to be a contestant, and you’ll find a questionnaire that challenges your ability to tough it out on the streets. Supporters can “sponsor a show” by donating just a dollar. Organizations like this challenge the assumption that general all homeless people are old, and further complicates assumptions about who teenage homeless are.

In “Visualizing Homelessness: A Study in Photography and Estrangement,” Radley, Hodgetts, and Cullen (2005) study homeless people’s perceptions of their own worlds. They also offer keen insight into the reality of homeless life—the reality that exists beyond the stereotypes. Resisting the idea that homeless people are “lazy” or have somehow intentionally negotiated themselves into their present situations, Radley et al. (2005) claim that:

Research from the US has shown that, in spite of their vulnerability, homeless people are not merely passive. They attempt to improve, or at least sustain their lives through participating in a culture that fashions a material world, one that allows them to develop a sense of ownership…Acknowledging that homeless people may have an active life, in spite of being dispossessed of numerous advantages, has implications for defining their situation as being more than an undesirable point on a pathway. (p. 274)

My research of news media, television shows, documentaries, and Internet sites proved that there is no simple answer to the question of how the homeless is portrayed in popular culture. The stereotypes are challenged as often as they are supported, and good work is done every day to present a true, more holistic picture of homelessness and of the people who find themselves without a place to sleep at night. As with any media consumption, it serves viewers best to be critical and cautious, to keep in mind the goal and purpose of the specific media—sensationalized information in the case of news, humor in the case of television, empathy in the case of advocacy groups—and form judgments and opinions accordingly. What media can never do it tell us how to interact with and support the homeless in our own neighborhoods; that’s something we have to figure out for ourselves.

Reference List

Lee, B.A., Link, B.G., & Toro, P.A. (1991). Images of the Homeless: Public views and media messages. Housing Policy Debate, 2 (3). 649-682. Retrieved from http://www.mi.vt.edu/web/page/913/sectionid/580/pagelevel/2/parentid/580/interiorHPD.asp

Radley, A., Hodgetts, D., & Cullen, A. (2005). Visualizing Homelessness: A Study in Photography and Estrangement. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 15. 273-279.

advertising

For this week's focus on advertisements, I decided to do an analysis of one of Wal-Mart's latest TV commercials. It's one of their holiday ads, and depicts a "typical" Mom thanking Wal-Mart's low prices for her ability to give her kids a Christmas "as big as their imaginations." It ends with the company's newest slogan: Save money. Live better.



Anyone who's paid attention to Wal-Mart advertising over the past few years or so will notice a big change--gone is the happy little yellow smiley face who bopped all over our television screens, announcing new roll-backs and discounts. Wal-Mart has gone for a classier look, and the new logo is a simple sun-like symbol that appears on the bottom right of the screen at the beginning of the commercial, and then again at the end. Has that made a difference in their sales? It certainly speaks to their audience--they are going after the middle class.

And the middle class is what this ad is all about. The family in this commerical screams "average" in every way. White mom in the kitchen. Two kids. Dad absent during the day but there in the background on Christmas morning. Everything stereotypical we might think about when we think of suburbanite families is here, all the way down to the cute house itself. It serves to comfort and assure--"these are the type of people that shop at Wal-Mart." This discount store is no longer for just the working class, the lower class--it's for you and me.

And Wal-Mart cares about your issues. The economy is bad, so you should shop where prices are low. Save money, live better, right? Don't sacrifice and buy less--just pay less for what you want. This ad is about the holidays, and starts with the young boy asking for all sorts of toys. The mom's line--"Thanks to Wal-Mart, I can give them a Christmas a big as their imaginations, even if my budget isn't"--adds to the value the ad is trying to place on the stuff they're selling. It's a great use of language, actually, because the word "imagination" makes it seem like the boy is being creative, when in fact he's just participating in the commercial. It makes the case to viewers that if the mom were to not get her kids all of the material goods they asked for, she'd be limiting their very dreams. All of this in a 30 second commercial.

The boy does get what he asks for of course--name-brand toys that have been "rolled-back" only at Wal-Mart stores. We see him playing with his rocket ship and robot in front of the Christmas tree, his dreams fulfilled. But where's the family now? It's the picture of the individual versus the community. Maybe I'm going a bit extreme here, but this is what the commercial says to me. For not too much money you can buy these specific toys to make this one boy happy. You don't need to spend time with him, think about limiting his material desires, or concern yourself with what the holidays might "mean" beyond gifts and goods. And you certainly don't need to worry about consequences of your low-price shopping.

Because there are consequences. Hundreds of studies have been done about the far-reaching and often horrible reprecussions of Wal-Mart, both to the individual and to the community. The company pays most employees poverty wages. When a store comes to town it wipes out local economies. Whole organizations, like Wal-Mart Watch, have been formed with the sole intent to protest the companies harmful practices and make the public aware of the impact of their buying decisions.

Wal-Mart's slogan, "Save money. Live better," paints a false picture. Or, it paints the picture that the company wants its customers to see--that by looking out for the self and paying the lowest prices available, we will have better lives. But as critical consumers we have to ask ourselves: the lowest price at what cost?