For this assignment, you will watch a film and offer a response:
Film: Class Divide: Effects of Gentrification in West Chelsea, NYC – https://dmacc.kanopy.com/video/class-divide-0 (If you don’t already have a Kanopy account through DMACC, you will have to create an account. Use your DMACC email address. You will be able to access the entire Kanopy library. It also includes popular films, FYI).
After watching the film, answer 4 out of the following 9 questions for this assignment.
1. In Class Divide we learn that since 2009, the average rent for Chelsea apartments rose 10 times faster than for all of Manhattan. What have the implications been?
2. What was the role of the High Line in the gentrification of West Chelsea? How has the High Line changed the neighborhood overall? Justify your response with reference to the film.
3. What are some of the perceptions that Chelsea-Elliott Housing residents have about the Avenues students and vice versa? Do you think those attitudes are fair or unjustified?
4. Why is gentrification emotive and controversial? Justify your response with specific references to the documentary.
5. The filmmaker chooses to interview a number of subjects but puts particular emphasis on interviewing youth from both sides of the ‘divide’. Do you think this is an effective choice? Why or why not?