Representation of Adults in Slumdog Millionaire

Right from the start, Slumdog Millionaire shows that adulthood varies from person to person, showing the numerous amount of roles and power that adults have. Those who are chasing Jamal and Salim, as well as other children who aren’t named, are wearing distinctive clothing that sets them apart from the children, signifying that they have the power, not just only the children, but also all other civilians. The Police in this scene seemingly lack a sense of common sense, or maybe even morality, as they are determined to catch the children just playing around, however as soon as the Police mistakingly run into an adults car, the police immediately stop to apologise. This adult in the car may also be a gangster, so instead of the Pokice stopping to search a notorious criminal, they’re still determined to over look that, in search of children. The shot is important, the police officer takes a step backwards and the camera pans into his face, showing his shocked expressions at the fact that he ran into a gangster, so while the children are running to protect their freedom, the police officer is now concerned about his life. This proves the vast titles that certain adults hold in society in India, and although the Police are there to enforce the law, they are willing to overlook certain situations to protect their life, so while showing a respectable, high position, Police Officers still have to be willing to maintain a good relationship with gangsters. Agenda’s and motives are represented in the youth, but on a smaller scale. A point in this film that empathises this is is when Jamal flashes back to Rams, where Jamal and Salim are playing in the water, and the adults from another tribe charge over to attack the people of the slums in India, purely for being Muslim, as one of them eve says “Get them, they’re Muslim!”, proving the age old debate of whether or not religion actually incites violence amongst people, because in this case, it was religion that led to Jamal becoming an orphan. Every attacker was an adult too, proving that although they are supposed to be mature and the ones the youths look up to, they still be live it is acceptable to kill everything in sight, due to a difference in beliefs. The attack seems inevitable by the slow motion of the trains passing, the disaster, which is based on a true to story (Bombay Riots of 1992), the audience take the perspective of one of the characters, potential Jamal, whilst watching the disaster occurring. All of these scenes provide the audience examples of adults in society, they can be corrupt, like the PC, evil, like the attackers, whilst also loving, like Jamal’s/Salem’s mother.

After this train scene, Jamal and Salim transition into a teenager by rolling off the train and landing at the Taj Mahal, and they start to realise they need to make money, so take up a fake tour guiding service for the Taj Mahal, and this provides a variety of representations of adults. Whilst running this illegal service, they still remain calm and re-assuring, however they still are naive as they are gullible to believe the trick that is played on them. In this service, Jamal makes up lies to the American tourists, who offer no sign of any confusion of question Jamal on his lies, proving that the American, Western adults are too scared to question a culture that they don’t understand. When they return to their car, and Jamal gets beaten, Jamal says “This is Real India”, and the adults respond with “This is America”, and offer financial support to Jamal, proving that adults are still sincere to children, unlike Indian adults, showing off the contrasting representations of Adults in India, and in America. Normal Indian adults are also portrayed to be unfair to the youth, when Jamal recalls the time in the call centre, the man who is higher than him in the job tells hi to take his place, while he tries to get on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, showing that the youth are taken advantage of for their social needs.

Overall, the representation of adults are often considered to be negative in Slumdog Millionaire, whether this is due to their corruption, or neglect ion of the youth, adults in India do not respect the youth as much as the Western Worlds, empathised by the Americans in the film who are caring to the child, even though he is not a Western child.