Comparison of Trash by Andy Mulligan and The Beautiful Game directed by Thea Sharrock. One common theme in both the novel Trash written by Andy Mulligan and the movie The Beautiful Game directed by Thea Sharrock is homelessness. Both stories are based on the challenges of being homeless and although neither of the texts has their entire focus on homelessness, this theme is a crucial part of both of them. Through the struggles related to homelessness, bonds are formed between characters. This is evident in The Beautiful Game as individuals come together to create a soccer team with one thing in common that they can bond over, being homeless. The movie uncovers many issues relating to homelessness such as drug/substance abuse and health issues, …show more content…
The uniqueness of the events and situations in these stories demonstrates the diversity of the definition of homelessness as the stories are set in different locations across the world. From England to Rome to the Philippines, millions of people worldwide can relate to the issue of homelessness in unique ways and on different levels of extremes. In 2021, the World Economic Forum reported that 150 million people were homeless worldwide. Global Homelessness Statistics — Homeless World Cup, n.d. This statistic can never be exact as the definition of homelessness changes across counties but this estimation proves how extreme the issue of homelessness is. Statistics on homelessness are incredibly difficult to accurately record as census data is mostly taken from households and homeless shelters, meaning that those who are homeless and don't live in shelters, or are frequently moving are not likely to be recorded in the data. In 2021, the Australian census collected information suggesting that “122,494 people were estimated to be experiencing homelessness” (Estimating Homelessness: Census, 2021, 2023) with 23% of these people existing within the age bracket of 12 to 24. This statistic shows that a large percentage of homeless people are young, which can be a