American politics and public policy lecturer Stephen Pimpare interviewed by NHPR

Friday, August 18, 2017

Stephen Pimpare, senior lecturer of American politics and public policy, joined New Hampshire Public Radio's Peter Biello to discuss the depiction of poverty and homelessness in 20th century films. Pimpare's latest book, Ghettos, Tramps, and Welfare Queens: Down and Out on the Silver Screen, examines the representation of homeless and poverty-stricken people in nearly 300 American-made films released between 1902 and 2015.

"When we’re talking about Hollywood movies, we don't find an awful lot of careful attention to the reality of the ways in which these policies function among real people," Pimpare says. "What we get is a lot of echoing of those public stereotypes and the less empathetic public rhetoric around poor people and homeless people."

Listen to the full interview at NHPR.org

 

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