Sort of Films Animates Supply and Demand

by Amanda Kloer · 2009-12-03 13:00:00 UTC
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If there are three things I'm a sucker for in the video world, it's awesome animation, creative storytelling, and a powerful social message. Meet the nexus of my suckerdom: the new Supply/Demand video from Sort of Films.

I've been griping lately about the lack of creativity in human trafficking awareness campaign videos. Most of them cycle through the same images -- sad girls, airports, passports, even sadder girls -- interspersed with the same statistics. Yawn. We get it: trafficking makes people sad and sometimes involves airports. Enter Sort of Films to rejuvenate me! Sure, there are still some sad girls and some airports, but this short features very cool animation, no annoying dialogue, and no tired statistics. It's a refreshing new presentation of the issue. Here's the film, with more commentary after the jump.

Perhaps my favorite part of this video is the way it shows the girl's body slowly become a fuzzy, white noise body as each man comes and buys her. I'm not sure if the art that I'm calling "fuzzy white noise" is supposed to represent evil or pain or anything specific, but the symbolism of both her body and spirit being slowly broken apart is chilling. It's one of the best visual representations I've seen of what happens physically and emotionally to a person trafficked into commercial sex, with each successive buyer who has sex with her. I also love that they showed how trafficking can be cyclical, with the same victims trapped in multiple forms of trafficking, again and again.

My only criticism is the video's cynical view that law enforcement would know someone is a trafficking victim and still deport them. We have a long way to go in training police on how to handle situations that might be trafficking, but there have been some significant improvements. And often, when someone is identified as a trafficking victim, they're treated as such. The bigger issue is people being identified as prostitutes or illegal immigrants and not as the trafficking victims they are.

My verdict? More cool animation and creepy techno music. Less sad girls in airports.

Amanda Kloer is a Change.org Editor and has been a full-time abolitionist in several capacities for seven years. Follow her on Twitter @endhumantraffic
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