Narrative Conventions in Slumdog Millionaire

In Katherine Boo’s “Opening Night: The scene from the airport slums,” we see the continual contrast in Mumbai between the extremely poor and the rich. She describes the effects of extreme poverty. The juxtapositions highlight the social disruption, economic disadvantages can cause. We also learn that movie’s depiction of slums is glamorized and unrealistic. Most shocking the author focuses on several characters, mostly young people (like Sunil), and describes the environment they live in. We see the overwhelming effects of extreme poverty in every aspect of their lives and realize they will not be able to escape and rise out of the slums. The lack of education and jobs are preventing these people from progressing. We realize how the rich

‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is a film that features a character, Jamil Malik, who lives in Dubai and is considered an ignorant young boy. Jamil Malik had never went to school or college and would not have known any of the answers for the game show, “Who wants to be a Millionaire” but was given the prejudge of being on the show because he grew up in the slums of India. Jamil’s life experiences allowed him an

Slumdog Millionaire is a British Drama Film, set in India. India is the second largest country by area in Asia, and with over 1.2 billion people it is the second most populous country in the world, after China. The film was released in 2008 and portrays the different aspects of India as a country. Throughout the film different themes are addressed especially the issue of poverty. The word Slumdog refers to someone who lives in a slum, as does Jamal Malik the protagonist in the film.

In the film ‘Crash’ directed by Paul Haggis in 2004, several lives cross paths because of an adage, ‘it’s a small world’. The characters come from different backgrounds and social class, consequence, the underlying tone of race is presented in a facet which is a cause for concern. In today’s current tension infested race topic, stereotypes tend to push the notion that one’s perception of race, gender and class must be reality. The question becomes, where does an individual develop these notion and perception and does the blame belong to media and film. Looking at the movie ‘Crash’, it was nominated for over 100 awards and won 3 Oscars; impeccably depicted the intertwining of gender, race and social class that one would assume that the movie’s a depiction of reality. One may conclude that movies are responsible for the perpetual class and virtue given to the middle and upper classes only. Although Parenti’s belief that Hollywood films always attach virtue to the well-off middle and upper classes this is not always the class. Hollywood media and films are guilty of assigning privilege to some and strife to others, however the characters in the movie Crash, Brenden Fraser, Chris Bridges and Thandie Newton all form different economical classes display different types of class and virtue.

This text allowed me to write a summary of the novel in a way that I felt would do it justice. By using imagery I was able to create a unifying voice. This text shows how making the wrong move due to ones selfishness could eventually ruin their life and attempting to fix it would be very hard and they would have to sacrifice a lot. Hosseini has developed the essential question of choice influencing direction of life through the use of Amir. Amir sacrifices his friend for his own selfish desire to not get beat up but in the end he redeems himself by going out of his way and saving Sohrab. Hossieni has showed us how Amir not helping Hassan in the alley and Amir helping Sohrab, as an act of redemption, has changed his life.

Miriam's mom died, she was given up by her dad ever since she was born even although she does get weekly visits from him. Miriam was also put into an arranged marriage by her father even though she was only 15. Rasheed, Miriam's husband, was very abusive and forceful to her. She also was never able to have children even though she became pregnant 7 times, all ending up in miscarriages. Laila experienced a good childhood, she had friends and a good family. Soon all her friends either moved away or died. Laila and her family were going to move away from Afghanistan until their home was struck by a rocket, her mom and dad both died in the house while she was rescued by Rasheed who cared for her wounds. She was than convinced that he would be the safest person to be with, so then they married. Soon she became pregnant with Tariq's baby but had to act like it was Rasheed's. Miriam and Laila were both abused by Rasheed if they did anything wrong. They both experienced difficult lives. The driver states "the story of our country, one invader after another... we're like those walls up there. Battered, and nothing pretty to look at, but still standing." Miriam and Laila are like the Buddhas, they are constantly receiving bad things one after the other. Miriam and Laila slowly falling apart, yet still holding their will. They both show how much they've gone through but what they are still trying to get to. Afghanistan has

The life story of the protagonist Jamal Malik in Slumdog Millionaire is built through the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and a series of his flashbacks revealing how his life experiences gave him the right answers to every quiz question in the show. It displays the way he formed his destiny. On the day when running away from the Hindu rioters who brutally killed his mother just because of the religious difference, Jamal accidentally met Latika. Driven by the

Siri was not the average person for Porto Corsa, Italy. she was used to tall hotels and bright lights. Not fancy stone bridges. She had no interest in wearing fancy clothes. Instead, she wore a short sleeved t-shirt with her hair knotted and messy, wearing a disheveled look. Ever since she moved from Las Vegas a week ago, people eerily looked at her in disgust. She would start school tomorrow not knowing the name of the school. She was so nervous. As she gazed out of her grandparents medium-sized house at the beautiful Italian bay, she began to cry. She did not want to start in a new school even though she did speak Italian. She was worried.

Borat pushes lush 35mm film against shaky handheld shots in its genius commentary against American culture. He takes the viewer along his journey through contrasting colour and camera schemes. The film is covertly stylized in a brilliant way; pushing the viewers’ assumptions and emotions to the brink through colour and shot design.

Salim turned down the money and took the man’s life because it made him feel powerful. Salim’s eyes showed how much he enjoyed it and had no remorse for the life he just took. He was now hungry for more power so he went and found a new gang to join. After joining Javed’s gang, Salim returns to the room where the three are staying, asserts his power status, and orders Jamal to leave so that he can have sex with Latika. When Jamal takes a stand Salim pulls his gun on Jamal and threatens to kill him. The relationship of the brothers from this point on is drastically changed because of Salim’s lust for power. Even though Salim knew Jamal’s feelings for Latika, Salim still violated her because he could. Salim is in charge now and he takes what he wants, whenever he wants without regard to anyone else including his brother. All these that Salim has made up to this point are to feed his ego and further more push him into an ego driven thug with a gun who believes he can take what he wants at any time.

When it comes to Indian popular culture, there is no film more ingrained in the public consciousness than Ramesh Sippy’s iconic thriller ‘Sholay’ (1975). The film revolves around two criminals, Jai and Veeru (Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra), hired by a retired police officer (Sanjeev Kumar) to exact revenge on a ruthless bandit, Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan), responsible for murdering his family. The film blends several genres such as the Western, Comedy and Musical in its use of mis en scene, cinematography and editing. Sholay can also be deconstructed as a relevant commentary on the political unrest and instability of India in the 1970s, a period marked by regional tensions, war and internal fragility of a nation.

In 2009, the Oscar for Best Motion Picture of the Year was awarded to Christian Colson for the movie Slumdog Millionaire. This is the success story of an uneducated youth, raised in slums of India, who was granted the opportunity to compete in the Indian version of the popular US TV game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire. In the end our main character, Jamal Malik (played by Dav Patel), wins the 20 million rupees. A big question wondered by the game show host is how a young man from the slums knows the answers to every question when other worldly and scholarly men, in high ranking positions were never able to answer every question. By chance each question he is asked manages to

Jamal Malik in Slumdog Millionaire is a character who is faced with many sacrificial and tough decisions and is always put in unwanted positions. There is a scene in Slumdog Millionaire in which Jamal is upset at his brother for leaving him. Jamal meets him after years and his brother tries to convince him that he left a message when he left to which Jamal replies by crying “There was no message!” three time each time getting louder after which he finally replies in a calmly “I will never forgive you” with tears rolling down his eyes. This scene highlights the anger that is bottled up in Jamal when he sees his brother Salim after spending years apart.

India is a country in central Asia with a population of over 1.22 billion people making it the second most populous country in the world. Its high population is one of the factors that results in India having such a high poverty rate. In India today over 37% of the population live below the poverty line. The reality of such a statistic means that these people live in conditions unimaginable to people of the western world. In the film Slumdog Millionaire by director Danny Boyle deeper ideas associated with this poverty are developed including destiny, loyalty and how poverty frees us. These deeper ideas are developed through visual techniques

3 Idiots is the highest grossing box office hit in India’s movie history. To date, the film has collected USD 60M worldwide from theatrical ticket sales. But, 3 Idiots is better known for the story credit controversy that surrounded its release in December 2010 than the actual content of the movie. The author of the book Five Point Someone, from which the movie is allegedly adapted, has accused the makers of the film from denying him due credit. This is a classic problem in the Indian movie industry where unknown writers are pushed over by more financially secure directors and producers. However, in this