The seven up series is something
very interesting to watch. Some of what is going on in the videos is a little
confusing to me because of the children’s accents and the clarity in which they
speak. I also had a tough time keeping up with the names of each of the seven
children. It’s easy to recognize a few of them but not all. Although you can
tell that some of the seven are rich it’s still easy to get a little confused
about who is who. Another thing that is a little confusing is how the video is
cut and edited. It may start out with the seven as kids but when they are shown
as teens the video switches randomly to them as kids again as the interview
progresses. The faces don’t always match up and it’s not clear what point is
trying to be made with the questions asked of the children versus the questions
asked of the teens.
Some of the questions asked by the
interviewer are hard to hear, and when the kids respond it difficult to tell
why they are saying what they are saying. Some of the responses the seven give
are very interesting to hear because of each kid’s backgrounds. It surprises me
to hear some of the rich kids make the comments they do. When the question
about race comes up from what I can tell most of the kids respond positively.
They say they don’t care about the difference between skin colors, but it’s the
poor kid who complains that the reason why there are less jobs is because
people of color are taking them. Another topic that was touched was money. None
of the kids said they wanted to be ‘rich’ but they all knew and understood that
money was a necessity for people to live. One of the girls even said that she
doesn’t like that some of the people who have money waste it but she also knows
that some people who have money give it to those who need it. I’m not sure if
it was the same girl but there was a comment made about poor people needing the
rich because if the rich didn’t give them money they would die out.
I am very surprised by how smart all
of these kids are. They all have the ability to formulate answers to the
questions asked by the interviewer. Whether they are rich or poor I think they
do a pretty good job of communicating their opinions. None of the seven kids
stand out to me. I feel like they are more or less the same. If I had to pick
I’d say that the young man who says he want to become a politician was my
favorite. I like the answers he gives and seems to be an over all good kid. The
fact that he’s rich doesn’t seem to affect his ethical views like you would
expect.
Overall I like this series buts
it’s not something I would look to watch when I’m bored. It’s interesting but I
guess I’d have to wait until the end to give a good review on the series.
