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Cross Cultural Analysis of Slumdog Millionaire

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Alexa Romancewicz Everyone experiences dilemmas in their lives. These situations help shape the people that we are today. These events can occur because of the culture that we are exposed to. This idea is prevalent in the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Slumdog Millionaire tells the tale of 18 year old Jamal, a kid from the slums, “slum dog” of Bombay/Mumbai as he is about to answer the final question on India’s version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”. The movie opens on Jamal being interrogated by police who think the only way a kid from the slums could make it that far on the show is by cheating. Throughout the movie we see Jamal get asked each question and as a result of his experiences, how he arrived upon each answer. Through these …show more content…

Furthermore, at the end of the movie Jamal uses his “Phone a Friend” lifeline, knowing that his only option is to call his brother. Jamal mainly went on the show so that Latika would see him and know that she was safe by using the “Phone a Friend” lifeline. For most of the later part of the film Salim shows off very individualistic traits by pulling a gun on his own brother and recapturing Latika and returning her to his boss, a crime boss named Javed, once it is figured out that she tries to rendezvous with Jamal. He only cares about maintaining his status as a high ranking official in Javed’s gang. By the end of the movie however, seeing how much Jamal cares for Latika, his shows some collectivist traits by letting Latika escape. This is a very bold and brave move for him because he knows that he will be killed for his actions which unfortunately he was. He does this in an attempt to right all the wrongs that he has done over the years to both Latika and Jamal. Considering all that Jamal goes through over the course of the movie, it is incredible to see that he is still an optimistic and caring man. This idea falls in with the Five Factor Model of Personality (pg. 233). The five factors are, openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. The factor that Jamal portrays the most is neuroticism. After watched his mother die, being covered in

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