Representing Others: Could it be this simple?

Could it be this simple?

Our world is inundated with a global crisis that contains so many components that a solution seems far away. The plight of humans around the world is shocking and politicians and world leaders are aggressively battling over what is the exact solution. As these crises endure, a shielding effect is often present around children so as not to overwhelm them. Our project set out to slightly bring back that veil to gain a child's insight into the world around them. We particularly focused on the core topics of food shortages, war, global warming, immigration and the role of a president.

Children often resonate more clearly and fully than those of their adult counterparts when sharing their insights about a topic that has become a crisis in today's world. We both quickly found that out when we decided to interview two girls for the project. They were sisters and Aaron had a friendship with the family, so the comfort level wasn't forced in any way. Delaney is nine years old and outspoken and loves the attention of being questioned. Savannah is seven years old and is the opposite as she is very thoughtful and often in repose.

These two differing personalities gave us an opportunity to pose a question and see the different responses. Delaney is very clever and would answer with such innocent simplicity that it captured the true essence of the child's perspective. As we began editing, the title was born due to our experience with the girls. "Could it be that simple?" offers the notion of a child's innocent answers to a complex problem that has been plaguing the world for years, if not for centuries. Though our wording of the question left out the specific wording that would allude to the exact issue, it still contained the baseline structure of the crisis.

Our prewriting stage was not strict as we felt that if we went into the interview with a sketch of what we wanted to touch on that we could better respond to the children's responses. Working with children is an interesting experience as they are very honest with their thoughts but also what state they are in (tired, angry, happy, etc). However, Delaney and Savannah both were true to their unique personalities with Delaney immediately answering the questions and Savannah holding onto her thoughts or agreeing with her sister.

Writing in the medium of video was an interesting experience as we tightly linked audio with imagery in this instance. With each key word or phrase that was either spoken by Delaney or us we chose a photo or image that would best suit the context. This assisted in transmitting the message of what exact issue we were addressing in alternate wording for the children. Then as she responded, we offer up imagery to translate her simple answer into an actual solution that can be implemented.

Our hope is that our project illuminates that constant hope for a better human existence that children all embody in the face of horrible conditions and multiple crises that exist in the world today. The quaint presence of children is often not taken as a voice to be heard but rather something that needs protection. However to stop and listen to a child's perspective may perhaps make you wonder if simplicity is indeed the answer.

~Aaron Geiger & Jen Hanson