Representation of poverty in Slumdog Millionaire.
Slumdog Millionaire explores the rags-to-riches story of Jamal Malik; he rises from the slums of Mumbai to wealth overnight by winning 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' Throughout the entirety of the film, poverty is a key theme. Jamal is an uneducated orphan, making the fact he won the show more shocking when, in reality, if he had not become an orphan, he would not have won the show; his journey through life is how he learns the answers to each question.
The film is heavily focused on the slums. To Western society, 'slum' has connotations of dirt, overpopulation, poverty and deprivation; which is definitely explored within the film. Following the opening sequence, the camera zooms out and more and more rooftops can be seen, showing the unbelievable amount of people living within the slums - the level of overpopulation is shocking to the audience and sets the scene for the slums, they have an awareness of just how many people live there and the environment they live in. Alongside this, the film explores new connotations of the word 'slum'. The slums are shown as a place that is thriving and bustling, which is how they are viewed in India.
Poverty is instantly shown in the opening scene of the film, Jamal, his brother Salim and their friends are running from the police after being found illegally playing cricket on a landing strip. Despite the alleys of the slums being maze-like, the children navigate through them with ease and manage to escape the police chase. This indicates that this is a regular occurrence in children's life when living in the slums; linking poverty to crime. This is supported by the lack of care for the consequences they will face shown by the children; they do not seem to be bothered by the police, or what would happen to them if they were caught. This shows that to them, police have different connotations to what they would have to children living in Western society - who would express more worry to being in trouble with the police. Similarly, this scene can be viewed as an exploration of the attitudes that people have towards children who live in poverty; the police show no sympathy towards them and show no regard for their age, they seem to treat them as young adults rather than children around the age of eight. This is shown when the children bump into the drug dealer's car, the police take no action against them and, instead, are apologetic towards them for bumping into their car - their focus remains on chasing the children. Furthermore, this scene shows that the children have limited resources and not many things to do for fun through the mise-en-scene. The children seem as though they enjoy the chase from the police, showing the lack of activities they have to do. As well as this, their game of cricket was played with makeshift bats, showing their need and ability to make use of any materials they can due to the lack of money. Elaborating on this, they are wearing dirty clothes and no shoes, showing the limited amount of money they have and the way they place less importance on material goods - they have no desire for expensive clothes. Therefore, one way in which the film represents poverty is that it is hard on children, they live very different lives to children living in Western society.
The children move from the slums only to become abused child laborers in the orphanage they believed was their escape route. They were found by the people on a landfill, further exploring the level of deprivation and poverty they were living in. They escaped the awful conditions of the landfill to an orphanage filled with children; all of whom slept on the floor together. They traded in one poor living condition for another which was only slightly better. This explores the hardships of poverty on children - particularly orphans - they are continually moving around without their living conditions improving; they have no way of escaping or improving.
Seemingly, the only way for 'slumdogs' to escape poverty is through a miracle or death; Jamal only found wealth through the chance of winning the game show, he did not work his way to being rich, Salim escaped through his sacrificial death. This represents poverty in India as being something of permanency, it can not be escaped easily and will never be overcome. This can be viewed as the film exploring the social issues within India.
The film is heavily focused on the slums. To Western society, 'slum' has connotations of dirt, overpopulation, poverty and deprivation; which is definitely explored within the film. Following the opening sequence, the camera zooms out and more and more rooftops can be seen, showing the unbelievable amount of people living within the slums - the level of overpopulation is shocking to the audience and sets the scene for the slums, they have an awareness of just how many people live there and the environment they live in. Alongside this, the film explores new connotations of the word 'slum'. The slums are shown as a place that is thriving and bustling, which is how they are viewed in India.
Poverty is instantly shown in the opening scene of the film, Jamal, his brother Salim and their friends are running from the police after being found illegally playing cricket on a landing strip. Despite the alleys of the slums being maze-like, the children navigate through them with ease and manage to escape the police chase. This indicates that this is a regular occurrence in children's life when living in the slums; linking poverty to crime. This is supported by the lack of care for the consequences they will face shown by the children; they do not seem to be bothered by the police, or what would happen to them if they were caught. This shows that to them, police have different connotations to what they would have to children living in Western society - who would express more worry to being in trouble with the police. Similarly, this scene can be viewed as an exploration of the attitudes that people have towards children who live in poverty; the police show no sympathy towards them and show no regard for their age, they seem to treat them as young adults rather than children around the age of eight. This is shown when the children bump into the drug dealer's car, the police take no action against them and, instead, are apologetic towards them for bumping into their car - their focus remains on chasing the children. Furthermore, this scene shows that the children have limited resources and not many things to do for fun through the mise-en-scene. The children seem as though they enjoy the chase from the police, showing the lack of activities they have to do. As well as this, their game of cricket was played with makeshift bats, showing their need and ability to make use of any materials they can due to the lack of money. Elaborating on this, they are wearing dirty clothes and no shoes, showing the limited amount of money they have and the way they place less importance on material goods - they have no desire for expensive clothes. Therefore, one way in which the film represents poverty is that it is hard on children, they live very different lives to children living in Western society.
The children move from the slums only to become abused child laborers in the orphanage they believed was their escape route. They were found by the people on a landfill, further exploring the level of deprivation and poverty they were living in. They escaped the awful conditions of the landfill to an orphanage filled with children; all of whom slept on the floor together. They traded in one poor living condition for another which was only slightly better. This explores the hardships of poverty on children - particularly orphans - they are continually moving around without their living conditions improving; they have no way of escaping or improving.
Seemingly, the only way for 'slumdogs' to escape poverty is through a miracle or death; Jamal only found wealth through the chance of winning the game show, he did not work his way to being rich, Salim escaped through his sacrificial death. This represents poverty in India as being something of permanency, it can not be escaped easily and will never be overcome. This can be viewed as the film exploring the social issues within India.
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