Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell (2016)

After watching Streetwise, I had wanted to see this follow-up to the life of Erin Blackwell. There had been a couple of other short updates over the years. I wish I had watched those before seeing this one as they provide a much better introduction than immediately starting with Erin’s more recent life. This film jumps between original footage from Streetwise to the shorts to recent footage with little division or clarity even to which of Erin’s ten children are being featured. I wish they had chosen to include an intro similar to the Up series and then jumped into the current update instead of interspersing the timelines. While there is evidently a pattern to be seen from generation to generation, there is no commentary on that or any other contemporary issues that could be explored with the subjects. The film stays solely in the Where Are They Now category.

I watched the two shorts after watching Tiny. As they focused on a smaller time frame, they also offered a deeper glimpse into her life and decisions at each time period. I watched the Streetwise Revisited: Rat short after watching the original Streetwise. One can’t help but consider the differences gender plays in the very different results of these two lives.