Slumdog Millionaire & David and Goliath
Ashley Kelley
Jeannie Isern
English 102
23 April 2015
Disadvantages and Difficulties can be Desirable
Disadvantages or misconceptions can be better prophets for success than what we might consider to be the obvious advantage. David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell describes that bigger is not necessarily better. Malcolm Gladwell applies this principle among other extensive situations, such as the battlegrounds of Northern Ireland and Vietnam, successful and unsuccessful classrooms, cancer scientists and civil rights leaders. Were as many misconceptions and disadvantages strike young Jamal Malik in the film Slumdog Millionaire. Eighteen year old Jamal answers questions on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and flashbacks show how he got there. Jamal and his brother Salim became young thieves after their mother dies in order to survive the streets of Mumbai. Salim finds the life of crime agreeable, but Jamal scrapes by with small jobs until landing a spot on the game show and wins. Gladwell describes in David and Goliath the possibilities of advantages and disadvantages (and the disadvantages of advantages) he talks about the theory of desirable difficulty and the limits of power. Slumdog Millionaire applies to Gladwell’s described concepts, and shows how an inspirational underdog will eventually succeed. Our biggest misconception is assumption; we automatically assume that bigger is always better. However “we misread them. We misinterpret them. Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the source of great weakness” (Gladwell 6). When David took the giant Goliath down with his sling everyone was stunned of the unlikely victory. David's nimbleness and skill with a slingshot was his advantage, and easily offset Goliath's size and lack of speed, which is Goliath’s disadvantage. "In reality, the very thing that gave the giant his size was also the source of his greatest weakness. There is an
Jeannie Isern
English 102
23 April 2015
Disadvantages and Difficulties can be Desirable
Disadvantages or misconceptions can be better prophets for success than what we might consider to be the obvious advantage. David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell describes that bigger is not necessarily better. Malcolm Gladwell applies this principle among other extensive situations, such as the battlegrounds of Northern Ireland and Vietnam, successful and unsuccessful classrooms, cancer scientists and civil rights leaders. Were as many misconceptions and disadvantages strike young Jamal Malik in the film Slumdog Millionaire. Eighteen year old Jamal answers questions on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and flashbacks show how he got there. Jamal and his brother Salim became young thieves after their mother dies in order to survive the streets of Mumbai. Salim finds the life of crime agreeable, but Jamal scrapes by with small jobs until landing a spot on the game show and wins. Gladwell describes in David and Goliath the possibilities of advantages and disadvantages (and the disadvantages of advantages) he talks about the theory of desirable difficulty and the limits of power. Slumdog Millionaire applies to Gladwell’s described concepts, and shows how an inspirational underdog will eventually succeed. Our biggest misconception is assumption; we automatically assume that bigger is always better. However “we misread them. We misinterpret them. Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the source of great weakness” (Gladwell 6). When David took the giant Goliath down with his sling everyone was stunned of the unlikely victory. David's nimbleness and skill with a slingshot was his advantage, and easily offset Goliath's size and lack of speed, which is Goliath’s disadvantage. "In reality, the very thing that gave the giant his size was also the source of his greatest weakness. There is an