Ghettos, tramps, and welfare queens : down & out on the silver screen

377 Pages·2017·17.394 MB·English

by  Pimpare, Stephen

GHETTOS, TRAMPS, AND WELFARE QUEENS

GHETTOS,
TRAMPS, AND
WELFARE QUEENS
Down and Out on the Silver Screen
Stephen Pimpare
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Data Names: Pimpare, Stephen author.
Title: Ghettos, tramps, and welfare queens : down & out on the silver screen /
Stephen Pimpare.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016045873 (print) | LCCN 2017010956 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190660727 (alk. paper) | ISBN 9780190660734 (epdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Poor in motion pictures. | Homeless persons in motion pictures. |
Motion pictures—United States—History and criticism.
Classification: LCC PN1995.9.P63 P56 2017 (print) | LCC PN1995.9.P63 (ebook) |
DDC 791.43/6526942—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016045873
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
Portions of Chapter 5 were first published as “The Welfare Queen and the
Great White Hope,” New Political Science, Vol. 32, No. 3. Reprinted by per-
mission of Taylor & Francis.
Portions of Chapter 8 were first published as “The Poverty of Relentless
Disappointment,” Talk Poverty and the Center for American Progress
(August 22, 2014). Reprinted with permission.

CONTENTS
Key U.S. Films Discussed, 1902– 2015  ix
Introduction  xiii
PART I: In the Ghetto: Poor Places and the People in Them
1. The Evils of the City  3
2. Modern Gangs and Ghetto Gurls  25
3. The Urban Hellscape  43
4. Social Workers and Charity Reformers  50
5. Welfare Queens  74
6. Teachers to the Rescue  87
7. The Architecture of Poverty  99
8. Escaping the City: Rural Poverty  117
PART II: On the Street, On the Road: Poor Out of Doors
9. The First Tramp  139
10. The Last Free Tramp and the Hobo Played for Laughs  159
11. Impostor Tramps  170
12. Forgotten Men  182
viii • Contents
13. The Depression Through the Eyes of a Clever Child  215
14. The Modern Tramp: Villains  223
15. The Modern Tramp: Victors  239
16. The Modern Tramp: Victims  247
17. Women and Children Last  270
Conclusion: The Propertied Gaze  288
Key U.S. Films Discussed, 1902– 2015  297
Books and Articles Cited  307
Index 325
KEY U.S. FILMS DISCUSSED, 1902– 2015
187 Bound for Glory
A Corner in Wheat Bowery Blitzkrieg
A Dog’s Life Boxcar Bertha
A Film Johnnie Boy of the Streets
A Little Princess Boys of the City
A Night Out Boys Town
A Piece of the Action Boyz N the Hood
A Raisin in the Sun Brick City
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Broken Blossoms
Acid Rain Brother Can You Spare a Dime?
Adventures of Robin Hood Brother to Brother
American Heart Bulworth
American Hobo Bum Man: Hero of the Homeless
An Angel on Abbey Street C.H.U.D.
Angela’s Ashes Candyman
Angels with Dirty Faces Carrie
Ann Vickers Chains of Gold
Annie! Chi- Raq
Ask the Dust Chop Shop
Ballast Cinderella Man
Barfly Citizen Ruth
Beasts of the Southern Wild City Lights
Beggars in Ermine Claudine
Beggars of Life Clockers
Being Flynn Coal Miner’s Daughter
Between Showers Complex: Life Inside a Sect 8 Apt
Billion Dollar Hobo Conrack
Bindlestiffs Country
Blackboard Jungle Crime School
Body and Soul Crooklyn