When we began this film, I did not have expectations since I had no clue as to what the Pruitt-Igoe Myth was. I assumed it would be a documentary about housing, which it was, but I did not expect it to have such a big impact on me. The interviews of people who had lived and grew up in Pruitt-Igoe made the documentary effective in displaying how public housing can go wrong. When I learned about slums in history class, and how terrible they were, I sympathized for the people who had to live through such conditions. After watching this film, I felt horrible that such living conditions even existed.
The woman who did not regret living in Pruitt-Igoe left a strong impression on me. I thought she was an extremely strong and positive woman to be able to think so optimistically about the time she lived in Pruitt-Igoe. When she described what the buildings were like when they were first established, it seemed like a wonderful place to live, especially when they were showing the interior of the rooms. Then they began showing how the buildings were deteriorating: vandalism, broken windows, garbage strewn about the floor, etc. After seeing the diminishing quality of Pruitt-Igoe, I found it hard to understand how the woman could treasure her time at Pruitt-Igoe; that the positives outweighed the negatives. She was the only optimistic perspective in the documentary.
Another person who I thought created a strong impact was the man who became the buildings elevator repairman. Although this man’s story about being stuck in a smelly elevator with his brother was not meant to be funny, he provided a small moment of relief from all the depressing narratives. I thought it was clever how he made his narrative into something positive. It is strange to think that two young boys were climbing through the elevator and opening the elevator doors to get out. Also, hearing that no one would come help people stuck in the elevator is outrageous. Luckily the boys were kind enough to be there and help. If there were stories about kids helping out people stuck in elevators, there would be criticisms about how the government is slacking off and taxes going to waste.
The narrative that left the strongest impression on me was the story of the man who lost his brother due to violence in the building. This man’s story was so emotional that I felt myself on the brink of tears. No child should have to grow up and/or live in a dangerous area. Although there are better public housing than Pruitt-Igoe today, there are still dangerous neighborhoods with gangs and other criminal activities. I think there is a common aspect of these two problems. I believe that trouble travels to troubled areas and continues to grow as a result. Thus, this story of how criminals took over the community brings a connection to today’s society, indicating that there are problem areas that are still present.
If Pruitt-Igoe was well kept, would there be a different outcome? Personally, I think there would have been. However, I felt that Pruitt-Igoe rapidly deteriorated because the tenants there began to not care about the quality of the housing, because the government stopped caring. If the community got together and tried to keep Pruitt-Igoe in its original condition, I think there could have been a different outcome of Pruitt-Igoe.
