Custom «Persuasive Tactics» Essay Paper Sample

"Born into brothels: Calcutta's Red Light kid" is a documentary written by Zana Briski and Kauffmann Ross, Briski Z. and Kauffmann R., (2004). This documentary is about the children born by prostitutes in Sonagachi. It shows how these two photographers succeeded to develop the creativity of some few sons and daughters born by prostitute parents in the red light district of Calcutta. The documentary shows that the life of the prostitutes and how it affected the life of their sons and daughters. The girl children in this district were forced to join their mothers in prostitution immediately after puberty and usually the girls could not have access to education because of their mother's prostitution, Briski Z. and Kauffmann R., (2004).

In her documentary, Briski has used a lot of persuasive techniques to succeed in her work. When she met the children of the prostitutes in the red light district, she faked a relationship with some of them and the relationship was nurtured well and within a short duration, they referred to her as aunt Zana. One of the persuasive techniques she used at this time is that she gave her selected children some cameras and she trained them on how to use them to take pictures of their living areas like dirty houses and the works done by their parents. Through her persuasive tactics, Briski managed to get photos of the people of Calcutta who had hated photographs because of the poor living conditions. She had to be persuasive enough to gain the trust of the people of Calcutta, Briski Z. and Kauffmann R., (2004).

Another persuasive tactic used in the documentary Born into brothels: Calcutta's Red Light kids is that when Briski taught the children how to take photographs, she arranged for the photographs to be sold and the money to be used in funding their education. In doing this, Briski was persuading the children to continue with their education to ensure that the female ones did not join the prostitution careers of their mothers. She remained a teacher to them exposing them to new things that they had not seen before. In trying to persuade the children to remain in school, Briski also worked hard to get money to send the children of the prostitutes into schools far away from the red light district where prostitution was a common. In doing this, she was trying to separate the children with their parents to ensure that the girls did not turn to prostitutes after puberty, Briski Z. and Kauffmann R., (2004).

While teaching the children about photography, the documentary also shows that Briski took the children out for field trips in places like zoos, beaches and farmlands. The reason for taking out the children to such far places was disjoin them from their mother's every day life and to show them that there was a totally different life in the outside places with the one the children experienced within the red light district. Briski used all her persuasive tactics to ensure that she developed the creative talents of the children in order to make their lives better than those of their mothers. Briski was very committed in persuading the children to go on with their education and avoid copying their parent's behaviors. To ensure that they pursued their education without distraction, Briski wanted the girls to study away from their parents.

Inspiring is the other persuasive technique that is used in the documentary, Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids. The writer, Zana Briski inspired her kids to take photographs of the lives of their parents. Using these photographs, Briski taught the kids about the disadvantages of their mother's poor live. She also persuaded them to be educated so that they could have a life that was not similar to that of their parents. The main theme of persuading the children to continue with their education is to ensure that they excel in their lives and that the poor living conditions in their district do not destroy their dreams, Briski Z. and Kauffmann R., (2004).

In this documentary, Briski is portrayed as someone who is cares and loves humanity. She loved the kids and the people of Calcutta and this is why she struggled hard to change their pathetic lives. Though many of the parents did not want their daughters to join the boarding schools developed by Briski, she was persuasive enough and they had to let their children join such schools because the schools were necessary to transform the lives of the children. To Briski, every child was talented and all what was required was to nature their talents to help them gain constructive skills that could help them fight poverty in their lives. In addition, it was only persuasion that enabled Briski to work well with the children of Calcutta, Briski Z. and Kauffmann R., (2004).

The documentary has employed a lot of persuasive tactics. It was only through persuasion that Briski managed to teach the children how to use cameras to take photos of their poor living conditions and their mother's prostitution works. More so, persuasion helped Briski get pictures of the prostitution business of the mothers in Calcutta which were taken by their daughters. Through these photos, Briski succeeded in teaching the children why such behaviors were not the best and instead he taught them how in the outside world there were better employment opportunities through education.

The documentary is very persuasive and I have felt persuaded by the tactics that were used to transform the lives of the kids. Briski used her persuasive techniques and this enabled her to positively change the lives of the kids.