Youth is represented in Slumdog Millionaire when we see a young, blind boy singing in a tunnel. We know the boy is singing for money as he is controlled by Maman who uses the kids to get money. In order to get more money, he blinds them which we learn earlier on in the film. This young boy represents the innocence of youth due to them being manipulated and controlled by these men for money that wont benefit them. It also represents the lack of ambition in the youth of the slums, because they tend to resort to begging to help them survive. This scene could also represent Jamal as caring, which is not something we have yet seen in the film. I would say this because he seems to be empathetic towards to the young boy because he understands his circumstances, so he offers him $100.
Another scene in the film that represents youth as careless and innocent, is near the beginning when we see a group of children running through the slums from we can assume are the police. It represents youth this way because it shows their reckless and trouble making nature, rather than worrying about problems that maybe those who are older do such as money and corruption which is a recurring theme in the film.
Salim and Jamal can both represent two different sides to youth in slums. For example, in the scene where Salim sells Jamals autograph from Amitabh Bachah we can see the innocence and vulnerbailty of youth demostrated by Jalam as we can see hoe angry he is that Salim has taken his autograph which he valued and cared for. Salim on the other hand shows the themes of money and corruption which clearly starts at early age due to the way they have been brought up, due to his lack of empathy towards his brother by selling something he cared for.
Representation of poverty in Slumdog millioner
Slumdog Millioner is a rag to riches story, following a boy called Jamal Malik who is raised in the slums and goes onto a game show to find his lost love. From the beginning you can see that poverty is a key theme constantly being represented though out the movie. This can be shown in the first scene of the movie when Jamal and his friend are getting chased by the police through the slums.
The scene is fast and upbeat. The police chase them through the alleys of the slums. The children laugh and high five as though its game. The children are UN aware of the danger of what they are doing and the consequences if they got caught. Poverty is represented through these actions because it shows how UN educated the children are, as they see this ''game'' as a fun way to pass time. However, if they where in school at this time instead of playing games they may have not been put in this dangers situation. As well, the police have no sympathy toward children, they would treat them all the same as they only see them as children from the slums. In contrast to how they would treat people people with more wealth. This is shown in chase scence also, when the police officer run into the local drug dealers car while chasing the the children ,he apears apologetic to the man for bumping into his car, then returns on chasing the children. Awell, throw how they are dressed and presented in the scence shows how they would only have a limted amount of money, there clothes are dirty and own know shoes show that they have no desiare for material goods. When they are playing cricket they use sticks as bats
Straight away from the title, the audience can clearly see that the film will be based in someway around the slums, and the people from these places. The term "Slumdog" I would consider to be a derogatory term, referring to the people of slums as a 'dog', to me, would be quite offensive, but Boyle and Beaufoy possibly didn't mean any offence by it, and maybe only wanted Slumdog to simply mean a boy from a very crowded place in India. but straight away at the very first scene of the children running, the quick camera movement and shots, combined with several high angle shots and long shots signify how crowed these slums are, and how hard it could be to move around in the slums, despite the quick camera movement, which could also represent the slums never stopping, always at a fast pace. The trains don't stop too, Boyle actually mentioned this when filming with the small children, Indian trains don't stop, signifying how fast India moves, it simply doesn't stop. However, despite all of this being at the start of the film, as it progresses, the slums don't appear in the film as much, Boyle clearly wanted to show India in a completely different light. Beaufoy probably did too, as he took 3 separate trips to India, so perhaps he wanted a different Indian side, one that the audience aren't used to, to be shown in the film.
Something that the audience will be used to is the iconography. Dirty water that the children are swimming in, and then drinking, unfortunately is iconic of poverty, which sounds harsh to say. This iconography helps the audience know how bad the conditions are in the slums. Another iconic scene of Indian slums is the scene where Amitabh comes to visit one of the slums. Although Amitabh does not actually feature in the film, only his bottom half does, the long shots of the huge crowd of Amitabh show just how crowded the slums are, and how popular one Indian is. With Jamal prepared to jump in faeces just to get a signature of Amitabh, shows just how much he is loved by the people of the slums, and just how much they adore 'one of their own.' A third iconic scene of India, one that truly represents Indian culture and spot, is the very quick scene of where the children at playing cricket. If ever you needed a sport to signify Indian culture, it is cricket, as it is the main sport they play in the slums. Its a clever addition by Boyle and Beaufoy, as it very quietly drops in to remind the audience that the film will be centred around India, and will give a realistic and true representation of the country.
This true representation of India unfortunately takes a dramatic, and quite sad twist when Jamal and Salim walk in to find that their mum has been killed. The whole scene just before and after this shows the true side of India, as there was chaos just before they realised their mother was dead, witnessing many people being killed, including one shot where they see a man rolling on the floor being burned alive. this is a reference to the 1992 Bombai Riots, in which a peaceful protest turned sour, and 900 people, mainly Hindi's where killed. This is important, as the film gives a good representation of India, because this event is actually based on a true story! The very quick camera movement shows just how quick the devastation was, and also how quickly how the slum can turn from quiet and peaceful, to complete carnage. What is quite sad is how the event never gets mentioned again. Jamal never references his mothers death other than for reciting the question, which is an indicator of how normal the children treated the death. They weren't sad, or at least didn't show their emotions, as they quickly ran away from the scene in a shocked, emotionless face.
The scene with the children working as con artists in the Taj Mahal is also quite a sad representation of India. Firstly, because they are now living independently, they need to be able to make money, and the children obviously take extreme lengths to do this by robbing clothes and working as tour guides, without having any knowledge at first of the history of the Taj Mahal. This robbery of the clothes shows just how desperate they are for money. More importantly, when they are working for the American adults, no adult actually even questions why the children are working for the Taj Mahal, indicating that child labour is accepted in India, something that is frowned upon in the Western World. When the Americans car has been dismantled, and Jamal is beat up, he shouts "This is the real India", showing the audience that the real India is full of robbery and violence. The Americans respond by seeing "This is the real America", giving Jamal some money for his troubles, and offering their kindness to him, comparing and contrasting the two cultures, very subtly, but very effective, which was quite clever by Beaufoy to do, as it allows the audience to see how different Indian culture is to their own.
The ending of the film is arguably the best bit in the film. There are a few representations of India to note, specifically Bollywood. The scene ends with Jamal looking for Latika, which is in a POV shot, ehich is recognisabole thoughout the film as the shot seems to appear more thn once. Latika, sporting a yellow dress is very typical of Indian clothing and culture, and the kiss is a nod to Bollywood too, as traditionally, Bolywood films feature no kissing between a man and the woman, and with the freezeframe just before they kiss, this is a subtle nod to Bollywood by Boyle. Not so subtly, Boyle includes scenes with thousands of dancers in the background, very tradtional in bollywood films, with most romantic drama's
India is portrayed in many different ways throughout the film depending on the scene. The different locations such as the slums, the forrest, the Taj Mahal and Bombay transforming into Mumbai. The slums portray the idea and representation of India that most people have in their head. They picture and LEDC with insufficient housing and an overcrowded population. These slums are more than just an over populated area as they're in fact a living breathing community. the slums get described as being alive and constantly moving. The scene in which the Bollywood star fly's into the slums gives an good example of this. The toilet that Jamal is using portrays how the slums are definitely poor in terms of finance and cleanliness however they get on with this as its normal life for them and they don't know anything truly different. The large amount of people that swarm Amitabh Bachan show how many people truly live in the slums as this happens in the space of a minute and its suddenly hard to get near him.
The forrest that Mamon has the children living in shows how easily india can be viewed as quite corrupt and a hard place to be. These type of establishments are all over india because of the amount of poverty. People do desperate things when it comes to wanting to make money, which is why the use of children is always the route that most criminals will of taken. Child labour is popular throughout as its hard for police to keep track of due to the high amount of people. Therefore they don't bother to keep up with it as there is no possible way to.
The Taj Mahal shows both ends of the spectrum in india. This huge tourist attraction makes audiences wonder how somewhere like that can exist in the same country as somewhere like the Slums. How something so breathtaking exists along side something so down ridden and poverty filled. This paints a bigger picture of India's overall economy. The way Jamal and Salim con the tourists out of money is very accurate in how some people will make their money as it shows how easy it truly is to do, especially when someone doesn't know much about their surroundings.
The transformation of Bombay into Mumbai gives a more accurate representation of how India is a country that is constantly changing and in some ways getting better. India statistically is the country with the fastest growing economy and is the recommended country to invest in because of how quickly its growing. The scene with Jamal and Salim in which they're sitting on a tall building and Salim says how this current area used to be their slum portrays this. In the the ten years that they're away from it at least 3 or 4 huge buildings appear in their place. Mumbai is a constantly evolving place with new things and places appearing consistently
The women in Slumdog Millionaire, especially Latika, are treated very different to the males. We can see that men and women are not equal in this society and women are inferior. Through the use of limited female characters, Latika is the only one given a name. This shows that in scenes for example with Javhed and Salim when they are sat surrounded with women dancing, they are objectified and are only there to be looked at. Other times, for example the murder of Jamal and Salim's Mother, we only see several seconds of this character and the audience are not told her name. Consequently, it is clear to the audience that the women are given poor treatment, they're objectified are inferior to men. The treatment of women throughout the film projects how men are more dominant and have control over them, this makes the women look vulnerable, Latika in particular when she tries to break out of where she is being held by Javhed and cannot break free. Using Propp's character types, Latika would be considered the Princess. This is because Jamal is always chasing after her and trying to save her from danger. This paints Latika as a damsel in distress and that women need to be protected from the outside world.
In this scene, we see Latika and Jamal spot each other in the train station, before she is chased by Salim and put into a car. Jamal tries his best to catch up to them, but they drive away as he reaches the car door, seeing Latika struggling in the backseat with a blade held up to her face. This is an example of Latika fitting Propp's character type, as Jamal is trying his best to save her from danger. The use of Salim and the gangsta's, the villains, show Latika to be very vulnerable. This is because she is never safe and is always at the edge of danger. The fact that Latika is repeatedly captured by men and forced to work for them, connotes that they are significantly higher than women and have more power over them. The fast paced editing and following camera suggests the idea of a chase and how Latika is always being watched and followed. Her traditional Indian clothing, is coloured vibrant yellow making her stand out from everyone in the crowd and Jamal's facial expression when he sees her suggests that he is taken back by her beauty. This therefore suggests how at this time in India, most women where used as objects to be looked and Jamal innocently adheres to this.
Latika and Jamal meet again for the first time as adults in her new house and are very emotional to see each other, as they cry and hold their faces. Latika soon backs away, as she realises that her husband will be back home soon. Following this, her husband is seen shouting at Latika and demanding that she "makes him a sandwich". She obeys this and it is very clear to see here that the men are treated as inferior to the women. You can see how Latika is scared of her husband and we can therefore see how she is very vulnerable in her situation, even if she is at home. Jamal is here in this scene and once again is trying to get her out of danger, demanding that he comes with here. A clear representation of Propp's Princess is therefore displayed, particularly in this scene.
In Slumdog millionaire women and Latika are represented in many different ways for example they are represented as being vulnerable and inferior to men as they don't serve any other purpose in society other than to please the men. Latika herself is presented as the props character type princess and is a damsel in distress and it is Jamal's job to come and rescue her. They are also seen as a reward as she becomes Jamal's prize for going on who wants o be a millionaire and his inly reason to go go on it was because f her making her a goal rather tan just a person. The only other woman who are seen within the film are what look like prostitutes who are there again to provide pleasure for the men and serve no other purpose with in the film other than to serve them creating the ideology that women are inferior.
In this scene we see Latika as the prize for Jamal successfully completing who wants to be a millionaire, she is waiting patiently at the train station for him to come and find her. there is a series of close upshots of Jamal and Latika looking into each others eyes and eventually kissing reveal that Jamal 'the hero' has completed his task and has found his 'princess'. in this scene there is slo a wide sot of them both stood on an empt platform which could be symbolic to represent that they feel as if there is no one else in the room when they are together. The idea that she is a prize is also shown through the use of costume, she is wearing a bright yellow head scarf with golden buttons attached to it to represent her wealth as a person to Jamal and her beauty. yellow is representative of happiness and hope and by the use of this clever stylistic choice Latika is being represented as Jamals happiness, and now that he has found her he can now be complete. The use of the extreme close ups and slow motion shots we an see the true love and emotion portrayed both characters revealing again she is the prize and the purpose of women are that they are there to please the men.
woman are also presented as second class citerzens and there to provide pleasure for men and entertainment. in the scene where Salim and Javed are seen to e having a party/ gathering there are lot of close up shots and pans o the women body's providing the ale gaze giving off the ideology that these women are here for the purpose of the men and are objects to be looked at he fact that there is no dialogue from these characters and we are not introduced to the as individuals with name it also supports the idea that they are not individuals and are seen as a group and are not worthy enough to be classed as individuals. This supports the representation that women are also inferior to men in all aspects.
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.
I believe that Salim has been represented as a rebel without a cause, who is easily influenced by money and power. Although he loves his brother, he comes across as a sinister. This is illustrated in the scene where the trio (Salim, Jamal and Latika) escape from the 'orphanage' and ran towards a moving train to flee from their captor. Although Salim is aware that Jamal cares dearly for Latika, Salim purposefully leaves her behind knowing it would cause Jamal pain. We also see this when the trio reunite a few years later, Salim takes advantage of Latika knowing that it will provoke anger from his brother. In this scene we also see the influence of gang culture on Salim as he pronounces himself as the leader due to his age and authority.
Despite this recurring representation of Salim being the villain, he betrays this character role in the final few scenes of the movie. Instead, he trades this for a courageous hero, who gives up everything he has ever built for the happiness of his brother, he finally does the right thing. As Jamal sits down for his final round of questions for 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' Latika and Salim watch on from what can be assumed to be Javed's (Latika's husband's) apartment. It is obvious to see that after her attempted escape to reuinite with Jamal, Latika is bound to the apartment in fear of her husband and his gang. However, even with knowing the consequences, Salim offers Latika his car keys so that she can escape and find Jamal. This selfless act ultimately results in Salim's death at the fate of his fellow gang members. This act finally reflects Salim's true emotions, it shows that he does care for Jamal. As he hears the news that Jamal has won the show, he is shot to death in a bath of money showing the immediate twist in fate for the siblings.
Youth is represented in Slumdog Millionaire in the scene when Salim who is roughly 12/13 shoots and kills Maman. This represents youth in a negative way as it shows how they are common with violence from a young age which portrays the lack of innocence which they truly have. This also suggests how the youth are not scared of acting in a brutal way because their lack of ambition. However, the reason Salim shoots is to rescue Latika from Maman and to protect her from becoming a slave. Therefore this represents youth as being loyal to the ones they cared about and the intentions of Salim shooting Maman was to get Latika back. This also represents the youth to being familar and common with killing people due to how they group up alone so they have to fight for survival. They are portrayed to being comfortable with crime, they have to learn this stuff in order to grow up in the area they live.
Another way youth is represented in Slumdog Millionaire when we see a young boy singing in a tunnel. The young boy is blind and is singing because he is begging for money. Maman blinds young children as he believes they will get more money if they go out begging portrayed earlier on in the film. This scene represents the innocent of the youth and the lack of freedom that they have. They cannot disobey Maman as he will hurt them so they are forced to beg. Jamal gives the blind boy $100, Jamal's actions represents youth as being caring of each other and shows a sense of loyalty. This scene clearly represents the youth as being very poor and lonely, they have no one else to turn to so their lives are given up to Maman and they follow his rules. This shows the youth as being very weak and a lack of ambition to change their lives.
we believe Salim has been represented asa a rebel without a course, although he loves his bother, his influence from the local gangster results in him coming across as quite sinister. This is illustrated the scene where the trio (Salim, Jamal, Latika) escape the 'Orphanage' and flee towards a moving train to flee from their captor. Although Salim is aware that Jamal cares for Latika he releases her hand when she is trying to get on the train. We also see this when the three reunite a few years later and take shelter in an empty hotel, Jamal and Latika are woken b Salim and Salim forces Jamal to leave, Jamal refuses and eventually Salim threatens his own brother with a hand gun. Another scene we also come across where Salim is displayed as carless and menacing, is when Latika escapes her controlling and devilish 'husband' to meet Jamal at the train station, when they plan to leave together, and although Salim understands Latika and his brother belong together he captures Latika and slashes her cheek with a knife, due to him working for Latika's 'husband.' This proves his evil and dark persona as he knows that Jamal desperately cares for Latika, but still he insists to return her to his abusive and careless Boss.
The first chase scene in 'Slumdog Millionaire' demonstrates that adulthood is a broad spectrum, and that with various roles in society, comes different levels of power. The authorities that chase the kids (including young Jamal and Salim) are wearing a distinct uniform, which signifies their status as law enforcers, creating a symbol for citizens of all ages to look to and obey. One major difference between kidsandadultsisexperience,some may say it is the only major difference;within that chase scene wesee that the chasing officer is potentially lackingdistinct morality, as he is more than willing to chase kids acrossBombay but apologizes when he accidently runs into the car of a notorious gangster, indicating that adults are notalways good decision makers, in contrast to the image of sensibility thatadulthood perpetuates to youth.Furthermore, there is a brief pause where the chaser takes a step back and realizeswhose car he bumped into, suggesting the nuance that an adults life may hold; because while he is chasing kids for trespassing, he also doesn't want to get on the bad side of a criminal underlord, otherwise he may risk his own livelihood. Agenda's and motives are present in youth as well, but often on a much smaller scale. Apoint in the film that reflects this and another example of people being treated differently based on their position in life is the flashback to how Jamal knows about Rama and his bow. In this scene Jamal andSalim are playing in the water while their mother cleans, then a zealous mob charges over the train tracks to attack the inhabitants of the slums for being Muslim, forcing Jamal and Salim to escape and being rendered orphans. Thematically this is a microcosm for the violence religion often incites, as they were attacked due tobeing Muslim ('They're Muslim, get them!') and it shows that in the minds of the attackers (all adults) it was acceptable to assault maim and burn people for their choice of religion. Adults differ in their beliefs and sometimes those differences can escalate to unstable levels. This attack is brieflyforeshadowed by the lead's mother staring at the trains as they pass, hearing a faint noise approaching; literally watching a train wreck, an unavoidable disaster you can't look away from. Despite this buildup the attack seemed spontaneous, as the moment the trains have finished passing they are upon them.Adults can be fickile (The mob), caring(the lead'smother) and even conflicted (the chasing officer).
Following the train scene in which Jamal transition to an older age, they reach the Taj Mahal, in this scene they run a fake tour guide service in which there are very strong representations ofadults.One representation of Adults is thatwhilst they in the most part retain a cynical mind,they still have a naïve and gullible sidein which they are prone to being tricked.During the tour, Jamal and Salim tell made up stories as to the origin on the Taj Mahal and the story behind it, during which the tourists show very little cynicism in which it shows that Adults have a fear for cultures in which they don't understand andin order to quash their sense of fear they will suspend their disbelief making them more prone to scams. During this scene a sense of patriotism leaks in through the use of theAmerican character (Americans are typically stereotyped as patriotic).In an attempt to show that "the west is the best" the American tourists offer financial compensation to Jamal. Representation of Adults also comes from theIndian adults present as well. For example, their are representations of hierarchalstructure (most commonly frozen with very little changing of power.)which is shown throughout but most notably in the call centre scene. This hierarchy shows the higher ups having control over their subordinates and it is this which they use in order to delegate orders and instructions when the time suits them in order to pursue their own interests.This is shown through Jamal, the chaiwallah, being used to fill a place whilst his higher up seeks a place on 'Who Wants to BeA Millionaire?'.
