Assignment task: Watch Through a Blue Lens and answer the following:
Use examples and details to support your answers.
1. In the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, where this documentary was filmed, there are many people living in rooming-houses and single-occupancy apartments which can be rented on a weekly or month-to-month basis. Do you think that providing this kind of housing is good or bad for the area and for the people living there? Defend your answer why or why not.
2. There are other businesses in the area, such as pharmacies, grocery stores, convenience stores, pawn-shops and restaurants. How do the owners of these businesses benefit and / or suffer from the problems in the area. Give at least two examples of how they benefit and/or suffer.
3. The police officer in the video makes a comment about the police being, "like a blue tide" as they walk through the alleys of the Downtown Eastside. How are the police's actions like the ocean's tide? If you were the chief of a police force which had unlimited resources, how would you deal with the problems in the Downtown Eastside?
4. How and why did the attitudes of the police officers in the Odd Squad change as they began working in the Downtown Eastside? Why do you think the police officers didn't arrest the addicts they encountered in the alleys?
5. What was the underlying theme or message of this film in your opinion? Was it effective (did you get the message)? Why or why not?
6. What was the most powerful or memorable part of the film for you?