The American general public tends to think of an adolescent sex market as a far and distant issue. The subject brings to mind places like Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand where sex trade, especially with young children, is a commodity that helps drive the economy. But what do Americans say about their own youth sex trade? What if I told you that over 300,000 American children are part of domestic sex trafficking at this moment?
I believe most Americans would be shocked. In fact, I’m sure that many would deny this problem. This is the attitude that filmmaker Libby Spears set out to change with her newest documentary Playground, that was shown at Southern Methodist University last Wednesday through the Department of Human Rights Education.
“This is happening right here in Dallas, Texas,” said Officer Christina Smith in an after screening panel. “And this movie brings to light what is happening in our own community.”
“Playground” is an artistic and disturbing look into the lives of several children, most between the ages of nine and 15, who are involved in prostitution rings. It uses a collaboration of still photos and interviews, as well as short, sketched, metaphoric animation.
For example, a little girl draws herself on a wall as a flower that is then plucked by a large hand with no visible owner. The hand places the flower child in a vase and puts a $5 tag around her neck, symbolizing the way pimps pluck vulnerable children out of society and put a price on their bodies.
The documentary contains other symbolic techniques such as blurry B-roll. It is tasteful and ambiguous, representing the confusion the youth that are in this situation feel. It’s as if the audience sees the world through their eyes and feels the normality of every situation.
The music is eerie as well as recognizable (artists such as Bjork and Coldplay) to match scenes of deserted playground slides and toys.
This movie would be astounding aside from production and creativity because the subject matter is highly sensitive. According to the movie, one in five young girls and one in 10 young boys will be sexually exploited in their lifetime. It also listed Atlanta as the No. 13 sex tourist spot in the world.
The camera crew follows two vice police officers through Portland watching them arrest girls as young as 14 off the streets. They use hidden cameras to record conversations with the girls and you can truly hear the genuine lost nature of each one.
“We’ve been doing this a few years now,” said one girl. “Me and my sister both.”
Throughout the documentary, the audience meets a number of recovering and struggling adolescent sex slaves, the most captivating being Michelle Brown. Michelle lived through hell as the oldest child of four living with a drug addicted mother. She was raped by the time she turned five years old and ran away from home at age nine.
The movie crew goes on an ultimately successful search for Michelle and meets up with her (and her?) two kids, deep and determined to stay off of drugs and out of exploitation. Later, the audience finds out she has relapsed on both accounts and is serving jail time.
There is nothing more heart breaking than to watch a teenager attempt to clean up her life and fail. It is riveting and compelling. This movie left me begging, “What can I do to help?”
