Essay Prep

To what extent are your chosen texts typical of their genre?

Slumdog Millionaire is definitely typical of its genre - the Romantic Drama. It has codes and conventions which tell us this, mainly the storyline of a man 'searching for lost love', which is a generic plot of the Romantic Drama genre. Throughout the narrative, the audience see our protagonist, Jamal, overcome all odds to 'get the girl' in the end. This can be related to the 'hero' in Propp's character types which suggests that the hero will overcome evil to get the 'princess' as a prize at the end of the film, which in this case is Propps 'princess' character Latika. Throughout the various stages of his life, Jamal constantly overcomes odds, from escaping from the grasp of the evil villains before they blind him, to knowing the answer to every question that Prem, the TV host, asks him. This ties into a key generic theme of the film, Destiny. The theme Destiny is heavily present in the film, this can be seen most prominently seen throughout the dialogue of the film, for example, Jamal says "it is written" and "I've finally found you" to his lover, Latika. The use of the Close Up technical device plays a very important role in the film and of the Romantic Drama as a whole. In the film, we see this used to show the connection between two characters, like when Jamal peeks through the door and sees Latika dancing, this shows us that Jamal has feeling for her via the use of technical devices. The Close Up shot type also positions the audience to identify with a character, usually the audience know who the protagonist is due to his screen time and the Close Up shots that he may have in the film. Arguably the most generic aspect of the end is the ending of the narrative, not only does a kid from the Slums of India win 20'000'000 rupee to get the TV coverage to contact his long lost love, but he manages to find her and give her the conventional 'final kiss' that is seen as the closing shot to many Romantic Dramas. 

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