Watching the film Life and Debt, I was exposed to ideas I probably never would have even thought twice about before. Being a white, middle-class, American citizen I have been privileged enough to go on vacations to beautiful destination beaches, just like the ones of Jamaica. When you plan your vacation, you think only of your hotel, the beaches, and what sort of attractions that destination has to offer. You never think about the stress that tourism can put on the environment of that said destination. One thing that really intrigued me most about this documentary was the local Jamaicans. When you are on vacation the employees that work at these hotels main concern is to make sure you are the most fun there is to be had. These employees cater to your every need, provide abundant entertainment, and are always in the highest spirits. This documentary shed light on the fact that outside of their daily jobs, these employees have lives and stories of their own. When the women at the cabana is handing you your drink in a coconut, I bet you are seldom thinking of the fact that maybe she is a single mother of 4, struggling to make ends meet every single day.
I feel that being a tourist comes with a lot of ignorance. When we go to different places, we do so in pursuit of entertainment and luxury. This documentary shows that behind the gates of your all-inclusive resort, poverty lurks at every corner. An interesting thought I had while viewing this film was, even if we knew of the struggle that these workers go through, would we really care? When we are on vacation, I doubt anyone would concern themselves of the fact that the banks are closing and people do not know where their next meal will come from. Granted, I realize that tourism boosts economies, and that maybe without these hotels these local people would be jobless. However, it still is an interesting to pose the question of are we really concerned about what happens outside of luxury when it comes to tourism? I feel that ignorance is a sort of security blanket that is easy to be comforted by.
I feel in a way we as tourists come to see the natives of our vacation destinations as a rare sort of species and because we are so awe struck we fail to see the person behind the image. Its ironic that to us a vacation luxury, but to the people who occupy the places we visit, they have no time for such a luxury. I wonder just how much tourism helps economies, because there can't so much that a countries debt could vanish with in a night. Should we even continue vacationing when people suffer so much? Would that in a way clear our conscience or just cause more harm?
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