{"id":1184,"date":"2014-09-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/17-09-2014-this-is-life-among-the-roma-stereotypical-documentary-about-the-rroma\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T11:42:07","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:42:07","slug":"17-09-2014-this-is-life-among-the-roma-stereotypical-documentary-about-the-rroma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/17-09-2014-this-is-life-among-the-roma-stereotypical-documentary-about-the-rroma\/","title":{"rendered":"17.09.2014 \u201cThis Is Life Among the Roma\u201d: stereotypical documentary about the Rroma"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 10-minute \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocumentary \u201cRoma\u201d by British filmmaker Sam Davis (2014) attempts to show the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlife of Rroma in Albania. Unfortunately, the movie does not create a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdifferentiated picture of the minority, but reproduces numerous stereotypes: \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe Rroma marry at the age of thirteen or fifteen, claims an American \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmissionary, and live in unbearable hygienic conditions, almost like animals. A \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlocal politician makes the statement that one can only integrate Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsuccessfully if one takes into account their travelling lifestyle and gives \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthem space to act out their traditions. This is complemented with recordings from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ta Rroma ghetto in Tirana. All this leads to a highly one-sided, distorted notion \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the Rroma lifestyle. In reality, many members of the minority are integrated \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand not in slums. Many marry only as adults, not earlier than members of other \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tethnic groups. In addition, most Rroma are precisely not travellers, as the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlbanian politician falsely claims. Poverty is not a cultural characteristic of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe Rroma. Unfortunately, the highly aesthetic images cannot make up for these \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmassive shortcomings in content. The Rroma are still heavily discriminated \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tagainst, this fact is emphatically shown by the documentation. However, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tportrayed life circumstances match by no means those of all Rroma in Europe or \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teven in Albania, as Jake Flanagin (2014) of the New York Times incorrectly \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinterprets: \u201cDespite a millennium of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tshared history with Europeans, Roma remain one of the Continent\u2019s most \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmarginalised and underserved groups. A 2012 report jointly compiled by the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUnited Nations Development Program and the European Union\u2019s Fundamental Rights \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAgency found that only 15 percent of Roma adults surveyed \u201chave completed \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tupper-secondary general education, versus more than 70 percent of the majority \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpopulation living nearby.\u201d Similarly, less than 30 percent of Roma surveyed \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twere employed in an official capacity at the time of questioning, and roughly \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t45 percent \u201clive in households lacking at least one of the following: an indoor \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tkitchen, toilet, shower or bath, or electricity.\u201d<\/em> What Flanagin does not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmention is that the cited study only surveyed Rroma who live in neighbourhoods \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twith a over proportioned amount of Rroma, which were usually already marginalised. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma living really integrated were almost not considered for the study \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(compare European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights 2013). However, in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treality, Rroma belong to all strata of society and not just the lower class.<\/p>\n