The “Trailer Park Boys,” on Netflix and the movie.  “8 Mile,” movie with Eminem. Some zoning board, near you…

 

Day by day, for whatever reason, numbers of entertainers, officials and in media find an excuse to spotlight mobile or manufactured homes, and routinely do so in a negative light.

So, the new Steven Spielberg movie, “Ready Player One” – which uses steel framed multi-story older manufactured homes as a backdrop to their dark future – is sad, but given the trends – should be no surprise.

“From filmmaker Steven Spielberg comes the action adventure “Ready Player One,” based on Ernest Cline’s bestseller of the same name, which has become a worldwide phenomenon. The film is set in 2045, with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse.” says the official YouTube page.

“But the people have found salvation in the OASIS, an expansive virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance). When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune to the first person to find a digital Easter egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world. When an unlikely young hero named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) decides to join the contest, he is hurled into a breakneck, reality-bending treasure hunt through a fantastical universe of mystery, discovery and danger,” adds the movie’s promotional trailer’s commentary page.

 

What’s the Answer?

In a phrase, positive engagement.

“Routine education and an ADL/NAACP type of response is needed to counter this,” says publisher and consultant L. A. “Tony” Kovach.

Last year at the Deadwood 5 state event, Kovach told attendees that manufactured housing should position itself in part as a new civil rights movement.  “Bashing so-called ‘trailer trash,’ and the owners of ‘mobile homes,’ and manufactured homes businesses are among the last acceptable prejudices,” says Tony.  “Why?”

It’s on the minds of home owners, as articles like the one linked below demonstrate.

“Home Sweet Home” – Assistant Mayor Wants to End Housing Choice Stigma – manufacturedhomelivingnews.com

Portsmouth, New Hampshire assistant mayor Jim Splaine is doing what he can to put an end to the stigma that’s often felt by people who live in manufactured homes. Too often, the areas where manufactured homeowners live are improperly referred to as ” trailer parks.”

Replace manufactured homes – the T-word with the N-word – and such mockery would never be acceptable, says Kovach.

It’s what Marty Lavin has said is “the industry’s other image campaign.”

Or what Frank Rolfe lamented a year ago was the industry’s Arlington, VA based association’s failure to engage the media, and demand such bigoted slander be changed.

“It’s a post-production issue, and the industry has to realize that this is serious.  A reverse look at MHI’s own claims reflects just how little acceptance there is for manufactured housing today,” says Kovach. “If indeed millions of people have visited their social media, and have read their articles, why are so few new manufactured homes being sold?”

It will be interesting to see what impact, if any, the movie has on the industry and public perceptions, he mused. If it doesn’t have a harmful impact, it may only be because there is so much negative news about “mobile homes” and manufactured homes already.

But this is an opportunity in disguise, he says, for those willing to stand up in their local market and debunk the myths, as tests in various markets have successfully demonstrated.

The Masthead

Let’s be crystal clear at the outset. Only One can claim to have been betrayed by a close comrade, arrested, found guilty at three separate rigged trials, beaten, brutally whipped/scourged, mocked, marched off on public streets, crucified, died, and was buried in a borrowed grave for our sins on a Friday that’s paradoxically called Good.

On Good Friday, the reflection linked above is just one possible way to consider this phenomenon.  As a disclosure, this writer has not seen the well-hyped movie, and doesn’t plan to buy a ticket.  “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (News, analysis, and commentary.) 

Related:

Intelligence Report – MHI Producer Spotlights “the Plan” for MHCs, Community REITs

(Image credits are as shown above, and when provided by third parties, are shared under fair use guidelines.)

Submitted by Soheyla Kovach to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.com.