Wasteland Vik Muniz Summary

Throughout one’s life, he or she will encounter an opportunity that will likely impact his or her perspective on a given situation. In Wasteland, Vik Muniz embraced the opportunity to travel to Brazil in hopes of making a difference with the pickers. Muniz traveled to the landfill in Brazil in hopes of using art to improve the lives of the pickers at the landfill. While at the landfill, he experiences the life of the pickers which helps him to create the art that will transform the lives of the workers; these experiences allow Muniz to develop as a person. Vik Muniz’s perspective regarding the landfill and the pickers evolved from expressing pity for the situation in Brazil to embracing the pickers as a group of friends. Vik Muniz initially …show more content…
An overseer greets Muniz and explains the importance of the pickers “The pickers take out 200 tons of recyclable materials per day from the landfill”. The encounter with the overseer enables Muniz to witness the larger scope of the landfill and the reason for the pickers; the pickers decide which garbage is recyclable and “sells it to the market” which allows for more garbage to be brought to the landfill. After spending time at the landfill, Muniz explains “it’s not as bad as I thought it would be”. Once he witnesses the pickers working at the landfill, he acknowledges the pickers are not drug addicts, they are able to tell jokes, and they are not depressed. When the video pans to the top of the hill and shows the barrels of trash, it is expected to be unorganized except Muniz describes it as “organized by material”. Even though people associate landfills with being chaotic, the landfill actually uses a system of organization to maintain operation which Muniz observes. When Muniz experiences the landfill and the pickers in person, he realizes the pickers are humans as well, and even though initially the landfill looked awful and dreary, the landfill performs as an intricate part of the lifestyle in …show more content…
As he visits the pickers, one of them explains how initially she refused to reveal that she worked at the landfill, but since she embraced her role at the landfill. Once Muniz used his expertise to translate their lifestyle from garbage to art, the pickers are able to expand outside their comfort zone which allows Muniz to respect the pickers more. As Muniz reveals to the pickers that the artwork traveled around the world, the pickers realize that they are “famous”. Even though Muniz initially hesitated going to the landfill, the pickers’ reactions reveal that they have been impacted positively by the experience. In addition, their reactions show Muniz incorrectly expected how the pickers would act because he thought them of them as drug addicts, but the pickers experience feelings and are determined to accomplish a task. As Muniz travels back to Brazil, he witnesses the transformations that everyone experienced, and he realizes the pickers are like everyone else in the aspects of wanting to be happy and proud of what they have