The film was focused not on the nomadic lifestyle as a whole but on the issue of the poverty of the working poor and the difficulty it brings for survival. If anything it humanized individuals as being real people who are in a struggle for housing, health care and transportation. Real people, good citizens who are not just some type of loser in life. Showing that in a film is not exploitation, that is called “raising awareness”. But there will always be some people who take the other viewpoint and call it exploitation. In the long run it does not matter what you call it if the message gets received and perceptions get changed.
Great answer, by the way. I will add this. I think strife and struggles are suitable for people because most of those who survive a hard life are the ones most likely to have all of their marbles neatly in one bag, if you catch my drift. They're also the most happy. They tend to understand what life is and about. It's said that half the people are poor, and half of those are happy on a dollar a day; there's a lot to this. Those who had things handed to them via wealthy families or raised in an everyone-gets-a-trophy environment managed by helicopter parents tend to be helpless when the going gets rough because they've never been allowed to fail, and one learns by failing. I'm fixing to be 69, rolling towards 70 in a few days, and at one time thought I knew it all; how foolish. If you have your eyes and ears open, the other senses are alert, and in the moment, you learn new things every day. That was a fancy way of saying put the darn phone down and smell the roses.
Anyhow, I've lived in a pickup (extended cab), a van, and a pinto wagon of all things, and presently living in an older (like me) class C RV. At one time, I made big money, married twice (expensive), and spent a lot of money on stuff I thought was supposed to make me happy, but it didn't. My rich friends weren't happy either; they were just satisfied with the illusion. It was when the excrement hit the fan and my life came tumbling down that I discovered it wasn't the money that made me happy; it was doing what I wanted by learning to survive on anything I could scratch up that gave me the warm fuzzy feeling and helping others like me do the same. After they take out my Medicaid premium, I have a little left each month to live on. As I said, I don't need much, and it used to be enough, but since "the powers that be" crashed the economy, things are getting scary.
As to the word/term exploitive, life exploits opportunity to survive and evolve. No, I don't think young folks in shiny new and expensive RVs or vans are exploitive either; they're fulfilling the needs of their audiences because a lot of folks who can't do these things love to "do it with their favorite personalities" on Youtube for instances; there's something for everyone. Envy and greed are two things that will mess with your karma, be warned.
So, that's my two cents worth.
