Nairobi Half-Life: Exploring the Economic Challenges of Living in the City - Essay Sample

Introduction

Africa has been portrayed differently in most cinemas and articles. Nairobi is one of the metropolitan cities in Africa that has changed to a great city since the colonial era (Campbell, Rising, Klopp, & Mbilo, 2019). In Nairobi's half-life, living in the city has its problems because a person faces many challenges. According to the film Nairobi Half-Life, Mwas embarks on a journey to find better employment opportunities in the town where he is faced with many economic problems related to lack of finances (Hodapp, 2014). The poor conditions of the city make Mwas turn into a gangster even after being promised a career in acting. The friends he makes in the town are members of various gangs in the society. The members of the groups make it hard for him to pursue his career as an actor (Hodapp, 2014). Life as not suitable for him at last that makes him live a low life. The film Nairobi Half Life elaborates the rot in the society and the poor conditions of the city that makes Mwas live a low life after being introduced to gangsters.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Life in the city is not easy because Mwas is forced to start stealing to make a living. Although there are many challenges faced by people in various environments, the challenges faced by specific people can affect the level of outcomes in the long-run period. Mwas was a perfect example because his pursuit of a better life in the city was turned into dreams afterlife became hard. Living in Nairobi, as shown in the movie, is full of glamour and opportunities (Hodapp, 2014). Each person is expected to survive, and aspects such as poverty make it hard for people to start surviving within the city. The film Nairobi Half Life helps in showing the theme of social changes in a town. The influence and the mood created in the city have made it hard for people to come up with any useful outcomes. Lastly, the residents of the town who have no hope are forced to be engaged in prostitution and robbery.

In the article "Growing Old in a New City: Time, The Post-Colony and Making Nairobi Home," Ng'weno highlighted more about growing old in the city. The city of Nairobi had poor conditions, as shown in the article. The railway's region, especially the Muthurwa area, had many problems because of the sewage system (Ng'weno, 2018). It is a place located near a river that makes the area a dumpsite. Living in the area back in the 1960s, as shown in the article, showed how worse life could be staying in the city (Mundia, 2017). There were consistent air and water pollution, and the environment had many thieves. The lowlife in the region and the availability of several industries increase the concentration of thieves in the area. Through an analysis of the railway housing and the demand for space within the city, the article exposes the rot in the city and the changes that have taken place since the colonial period.

Overall, life in the city has been changing over periods based on the materials. The changes in the life of the town showed a move to the creation of a world-class metropolitan from being a slum country. The various changes that helped in creating the perception of a slum in the city are the conditions of the railway housing facilities in the town. The moral decay and the weak structures in some areas of the city helped in exposing the poor conditions people had to tolerate when living in the city.

References

Campbell, K. B., Rising, J. A., Klopp, J. M., & Mbilo, J. M. (2019). Accessibility across transport modes and residential developments in Nairobi. Journal of Transport Geography, 74, 77-90.

Hodapp, J. (2014). David Gritonga, dir. Nairobi Half-Life. 2012. 96 minutes. Kikuyu, Swahili, and English. Kenya. One Fine Day Films. No price reported. African Studies Review, 57(1), 231-233.

Mundia, C. N. (2017). Nairobi metropolitan area. In Urban Development in Asia and Africa (pp. 293-317). Springer, Singapore.

Ng'weno, B. (2018). Growing old in a new city: Time, the post-colony, and making Nairobi home. City, 22(1), 26-42.