Poverty is a complex social phenomenon. It reflects the structure of the social system as well as its norms and values. It can easily become a stigma while being a heavy burden to carry with which whole families have struggled for generations. Poverty has inspired a whole range of visual and verbal representations in the fields of literature (as it is post-Christmas time, let us recall the characters of poor men winning the favor of princesses, or the innocent Cinderella), visual art (such as the stereotype of bohemian artists living on the fringe of society with the poor) and contemporary TV and film production (such as the Good Times series in the past and the Shameless series today). In everyday life, society has taught us to discern poverty through established signs related to a person’s appearance as well as their behavior and intellectual capacity. Not surprisingly, contemporary visual culture primarily contains images of poverty that were not created by the poor but by others who have access to technologies, the public digital space and the media world.
Why is poverty a rather invisible issue in the Czech society? How is it highlighted, stereotyped or mocked by the contents of popular culture? How can poverty become a relevant topic thanks to marketing? The first edition of the tenth year of Fresh Eye will be streamed live on our YouTube channel and our website.
DANIEL PROKOP, sociologist
IRENA REIFOVÁ, media theorist
LUCIE STEJSKALOVÁ, PR Salvation Army, Czech Republic
Stream the event via Fresh Eye YouTube Channel or our website.
