Working Questions to the film: Slumdog Millionaire. Collected Class Notes.
- Slumdog Millionaire is in many ways a “feel good” film, why is that? Discuss the genre(s) the film represents, and give examples. Discuss hereafter why these genres are used, and what they add to the film
There are two primary genres in Slumdog Millionaire. The genre tragedy is one of the genres which clearly is reflected in the film, since lots of different tragic aspects are happening in Jamal’s life. In the beginning we follow Jamal’s childhood and the whole process about Jamal’s mother being killed and later on, we follow Jamal's life and incidents through many small flashbacks. The film is also characterized by many romantic episodes, including the long battle about whether Jamal is able to get hold of Latika.
The movie develops through time. In the beginning is the movie very tragic and it makes the genre tragedy. Later on in the movie the themes are love and therefore does the movie develops into a romantic movie. These different genres makes the movie so great and exciting.
It’s a feel good movie because in the end the main character finally gets his big love, Latika. In the whole movie we see how difficult it is for them to get together. There is always a problem in their lives or neighborhood that brings them away from each others. The two brothers are very poor and therefore they have to travel around all the time to get food or money to stay alive ... But Jamal (the main character) is really in love with Latika, and he never forgets her. He always tries to find her again, because they are always losing each other. Eventually Jamal finds out that his brother knows where Latika is, and the movie has a happy ending because they find each other again. That’s why this movie is very romantic.
The film has been made in such a way where the combination of the three genres, romance, tragedy and comedy intends to complement each other. This causes that the film's message is disseminated in a more gentle way and caters to a larger audience.
- Faith: the film opens with a question – before the quiz begins – about what causes Jamal to win the game show. The four possible answers are: destiny, love, luck and passion. Each of these concepts of human emotion influences the life of the protagonist, but how? And what do each of the terms really mean? Discuss, for example, also how faith and luck is related in the movie, as well as the relation between love and passion.
Destiny is definitely one thing that causes Jamal to win the game show. Destiny is the “correct answer” in the end of the film. Jamal experiences all of the four emotions throughout the movie. The love to Latika, and luck in the sense that, EVERY QUESTION HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH HIS LIFE!!!! But that has definitely also something to do with destiny, because he was meant to win the quiz, so he could end up with Latika. He has the passion burning through his soul. lol.
His chances of winning all rely on luck. Pure beginner’s luck. He’s just lucky that the questions deal with things that he can relate to due to his adventurous life in which he has experienced a lot of things. He is just lucky enough to be asked questions that are about the things he is passionate about.
- Central to the film we find the personal, individual destiny/faith, and the fight for the good. It is impossible to separate “good” and “bad/evil”, as they are each other’s opposite, and if we don’t have one of them, the other one loses its value. Discuss how the concepts of “the good” and “the bad/evil” are expressed and presented in the film, as well as why it is important to the film. Use examples to substantiate your points.
Destiny. Good vs. bad/evil
In the group we have talked about the difference between good and evil. We have come the conclusion that both good and evil are represented in the movie, in terms of the obvious good in Jamal and the obvious bad in the guys abusing the children, in the host of the show ‘’who wants to be a millionaire’’ and partly in Salim. Salim goes through a development turning from good to evil and then back to good towards the end of the movie, where he helps the girl, Latika, and Jamal to be reunited. He therefore symbolizes that all humans contain good and evil and that it therefore isn’t possible to categorize people in good and evil. We believe that your outer appearance often depends on which circumstances and situations you’re put in, provoking either your good or your evil self to show. It is important to the movie to clear-cut the good and the evil because it is supposed to be a pretty simple film with an easy-to-understand message. The movie ends up being a fight between good and evil all along and in the end the good wins. For example, Jamal is always good and pure, he does nothing wrong no matter how pressured he is. The evil is important to highlight in the movie due to the fact that the good in Jamal becomes even more apparent in the contrast of the bad.
- How do East and West meet in the film? Give examples and discuss the effect of this.
When the city become much bigger, the city has been westernized. The whole concept of the westernization of the slum where Jamal grew up. When he returns he realizes that the slum where he grew up, suddenly have become big apartment buildings. The slum has become westernized. The movie portrays the American as a bit gullible and naive, especially when Jamal shows them Taj Mahal, here it is clearly that the american believes in Jamal instead of the history books. They also give Jamal money, and tells him that here he have something of the real America.The East and the West meet when the two brothers makes a living out of guiding Western tourist around at the Taj Mahal, without really knowing anything about it. The East and the West does also meet in the program ‘Who wants to be a millionair?’ - Western program, but a big popularity in India. It is popular because it is a chance for someone who have nothing, to become rich and important. That is probably very rare in India. They don’t believe that he knows all the question (in the show), because he is from india. And because he is just a boy from the slum. Salim works at a phone company, a western concept. They are also learning about British culture at the phone company, and thereby having to understand the british costumers. In India does a large part of the population talk english. Jamal believes in love and not wealth, I don’t know if that has something to do with it, but it is maybe important. Also because the West think a lot about wealth and to be the best!
Keywords, “Other” & discourse
- What picture is drawn of India in the film? (you could include: rich/poor, the slum, religion, etc.). Discuss also how the film can be labeled a social-realist film?
In the beginning of the film we see the poor side of India. This is the real slum, and this is where Jamal and Salim lives. We see the place, where all of the families are washing their clothes. This is a big lake, which is nearby the slum. When a train passes through the lake, a big group of men suddenly stands in the middle of all the women, who are washing clothes. The men starts hitting the women and one of these women are Jamal and Salim’s mother. Their mother is killed and now Jamal and Salim are alone. They are hiding in a random place, because they do not have a place to live. This symbolizes that they are very poor.
Later in the movie Jamal, Salim and the girl Latika ends up in a childrens home where they are meeting other kids, who are working on earning money for their boss. Salim starts being a kind of headmaster, because he helps the boss a lot. This stay at the childrens home makes Salim kind of angry, because he now wants to control everything, and especially the relationship between Jamal and Latika.
In the end (and the middle) of the movie, we see the rich side of India. The man who “owns” Latika is very rich, and he has a lot of power. We see how men buy women (Latika - she is very precious because she is a virgin), and we see how she live with the rich man in a very big house.
The films draws a picture of India, that shows that in India there is a big difference between being rich and being poor.
In the movie, there is not named a religion, but still it is clear that there are some right and wrong ways of doing things. In the middle of the movie Latika is shown, while dancing for some man who is not named. At this point Latika is owned by a rich man, and Jamal and Salim wants to save her from this man. But this man will not let her go, because a young virgin is very valuable. This show that women is not meant to have sex before the marriage, and this must be some kind of a religious thing. It is at this same point that Salim kills a man, and go to work for another evil man, and turns evil.
The film can definitely be labeled as a social-realist film. It shows the hard way of life for two young kids, but the way the kids’ lives is shown with an edge of satire. The film shows economic- and social injustice, but still with an edge of satire, and this is very social-realistic.
- Religion: The history of India draws a picture of a conflict-ridden encounter between the polytheistic Hinduism and the monotheistic religion Islam, which with the British withdrawal from India in 1947 led to the separation of the subcontinent and the formation of the Muslim state of Pakistan. Use the Internet to do some research of religion in India, and what problems are related to the topic. Religious elements appear several times in the film, but how? And why do you think that religion has place in the film?
Religious problems in India
- The main religious conflict in India is between Muslims and Hindus and it has a long history. Under the medieval period India experienced an islamic expansion resulting in a persecution of hindus. This persecution was not only violent but did also involve destruction of hindu temples. You can part the conflict into 3 different sections: Before 1947, from 1947-1991, and after 1991.
1. Before 1947: The conflict is said to have begun in 711 with the Jihad of the Umayyad
Caliphate in Sindh (this caliphate was one of the four major caliphates established after the death of the big prophet Muhammed). Following this time period was the previously mentioned islamic expansion resulting in hindu persecution.
2. Between 1947-1991: When India became independent in 1947 it increased the sectarian violence. Though the first years after the partition was strongly affected by the violence, the whole period only experienced sporadic outburst of religious conflicts. The conflicts stem from the difference in religious ideology between Hinduism and Islam - it is the conflict between two extremes: Hindu nationalism and Islamic extremism. Since independence, India has been secularised upheld by the constitution.
3. After 1991: When the disputed mosque in Ayodoya was demolished in 1992 by the Hindu Nationalist party the conflict once again flourished.This episode was followed by a “tit for tat” violence by Muslim and Hindu extremists throughout the whole country (including Bombay with the Bombay riots and the Bombay bombings in 1993). One of the most violent events was in 2003 under the Gujarat riots where (sources say) 2,000 muslims were killed. The latest riot was in 2010 where the army was deployed to help end the conflict. The conflict is still alive today!
Religious elements in the film
The religious element appears in “Slumdog Millionaire”, but primarily as an “exotic touch” to the film. The clash of religion is not really one of the main themes - you can say that it is not really the point of rotation in the story. The clash of religion does have a crucial impact on Jamal’s life though. This is shown in a flash back in which Jamal and Salim becomes motherless. A muslim rebel group enters the Dharavi slum where the family lives. This confrontation between hinduism (embodied in the god Rama) and islam (expressed through sentences involving Allah) is just one out of more clashes that forces the main characters of the movie into powerless actions.
This conflict has not been of high importance to the director. Off course if it hadn’t been for the incident with the rebel group killing Jamal and Salim’s mother, the movie would have turned out very different, so in that way it is important, but besides this, the movie does not refer to the religious conflict.
This is probably because this movie does not want to point out religious conflicts - it is movie about a slumdog becoming a millionaire - all because of destiny.
- The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas plays a central role in the film. Discuss, what Dumas’ classic story means to the film as a whole. What does it for instance say about faithfulness and solidarity? And discuss why you think the film uses this reference.
The story about the three musketeers:
D'Artagnan, a poor but noble young man from Gascony, leaves his home to make his fortune in Paris; he is carrying a letter of introduction to his father's friend, Monsieur de Treville, captain of the King's Musketeers. On the way to Paris, d'Artagnan's impulsive nature gets him into trouble; he is beaten and the letter of introduction is taken from him. In Paris, he nevertheless is granted an interview with Monsieur de Treville, and is promised acceptance in the Royal Academy free of charge, where he can learn fencing, riding, and good manners; later, with experience, d'Artagnan, can expect to become a musketeer.
The values like loyalty, solidarity, brothership, friendship of the film are also represented in Slumdog Millionaire and that is why they use it.
The film Slumdog Millionaire shows us how important loyalty and friendship is to the three kids Salim, Jamal and Latika. They are going through a lot of bad things and they need each other’s support. The film uses the Three Musketeers to show the importance of friendship for the kids to be able to survive in the slum. A good example from the film is that Salim suddenly a day wants to be the leader of the group and this destroys their friendship and brothership. Like the three musketeers they have to be equal and no one can be the leader.But in the end of the story they all stand up for each other and Salim helps his brother to get Latika back in his life. This shows the importance of solidarity and loyalty.
- The question is about the Three Musketeers, is that coincidental, do you think?
It is not coincidental, that the movie uses this reference. In the end they stand up for each other and that is also what the three musketeers do.
Ingen kommentarer:
Send en kommentar