Detroit's false portrait

By Danny Fiorentini in Sydney, Australia

9 November 2011

The following is a response to "Detroit state of mind," an earlier post on this blog by Jonathan Bradley about the phenomenon known as "ruin porn."

Detroit image

The Global Financial Crisis hopefully taught us that we can no longer succeed economically by artificially inflating or falsely portraying product quality at the expense of society, simply to enter or remain on the Fortune 500 list. The “Big 3” car manufacturers in Detroit are finally realizing this, and so are financial institutions. Similarly, we cannot portray the current state of Detroit in a light that isn’t exactly what it is today: a once artificially inflated economic community now ravaged by often disingenuous, profit-driven business that neglected societal impacts. I hear you, Detroit ― as a Las Vegas native, I can relate.

The truth is, Detroit isn’t the ideal place to buy a house, raise a family, or start a business. In fact, it may have only been a place to do so in the past because it capitalised on the already-existing machine tool and coach-building industry in the city, making it a virtual goldmine for the automobile industry to set-up shop and persuade workers to reside there. However, once the gold is gone, so are the primary reasons for a significant number of working-class American’s to live there (just ask Goldfield, Nevada). Let’s face it: California faces astronomically worse economic conditions than Michigan, yet even after hearing media reports of their Government Offices closing daily, something tells me people won’t exactly be fleeing the Golden State’s culture, society, and living conditions. “Ruin-porn,” does not portray Detroit poorly, but finally offers the chance for common Detroit citizens to depict the devastation exemplified when a fabricated picture of economic prosperity is overexposed, which subsequently generates awareness of the fundamental fallacy of capitalism. Portraying an attractive picture to persuade citizens to return to Detroit has to now be focused on developing genuine culture and living conditions rather than economic stability ― something “ruin-porn” is, at least, representing artistically.

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If Detroit wants to rebuild they simply have to start by building a genuine society internally and gain the trust back, not only of the market, but of their own community, who now make up its existence as a society rather than just a hub for profits. It is no secret why the support for the Honey Bee Market continues while the rest of the city nosedived ― genuine business practice that supports and understands what local people “want” rather than what they “need”: jobs. Though the city is now portrayed as a ghost-town, maybe that is reflective of what its genuine business practices once were: ghostly. To change that, the city must reevaluate why living in Detroit is beneficial to anyone, including those who are already there. Who knows, maybe Detroit has a future in being the next art and photography capital of the world?

Bringing a positive image back to Detroit cannot be artificially inflated to help progress its growth, nor should the artistic depiction of its critical condition be discouraged to entice new residents. The viral imagery of its critical state is necessary to ensure future generations refrain from engaging in business practices that may result in similar devastation. At least the creative depictions of it’s current outlook are more genuine than generating growth by pretending its a great place to bring the kids; especially for working-class Americans who all-too-often base their families around the geographical location of their employment. Capturing Detroit as it is now is eventually more beneficial in promoting its genuine culture than painting a false portrait of what it desperately wants to be: placed on a “Top 100 Cities” list. After all, we shouldn’t adopt the exact, failed methodology of what helped ruin it in the first place.

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