The Use of Poverty Porn in Slumdog Millionaire and Its Effect of the Western View of India
Multiple Source Paper
Slumdog Millionaire: The Feel-Good Movie
When Danny Boyle’s film Slumdog Millionaire came out at the end of 2008, people instantly fell in love with it. In 2009 it was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won eight, which was the most won by any film that year. Everyone seemed to be very drawn to the “feel good” aspect of the movie where a poor kid like Jamal, the main character of Boyle’s film, can overcome the massive obstacles thrown in front of his path to success and eventually come out with the girl, 100 million Rupees and the love of the nation where he just become an overnight sensation. “Slumdog Millionaire”, a movie review written by Robert Koehler, and Alice Miles’, “Shocked by Slumdog’s Poverty Porn”, both criticize Danny Boyle’s movie, but greatly differ in their composition of the arguments as to why they were displeased with the movie. Koehler writes a very professional review of Slumdog Millionaire that criticizes it for problems such as an underdeveloped and predictable plot line and its skewed depiction of Indian social reality to help to appeal to a westernized audience, whereas Miles writes a much more opinionated essay that dwells more on what seem like her personal problems with the movie, and her very aggressive tone against the movie in the whole paper makes her seem too closed minded on the topic. Robert Koehler’s review on Slumdog Millionaire talks about how the film failed to touch upon the problems or culture that are truly present in India today. Rather it is, “Boyle’s feverish, woozy, drunken, and thoroughly contrived picaresque also conveniently packages misperceptions about India (and the East) that continue to support the dominant Western view of the subcontinent,” as Koehler states in his thesis statement. He continues in his paper to talk about how Boyle has created a skewed view on India that takes advantage of the westernization happening in India, but over exaggerates and glamorizes many aspects
Slumdog Millionaire: The Feel-Good Movie
When Danny Boyle’s film Slumdog Millionaire came out at the end of 2008, people instantly fell in love with it. In 2009 it was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won eight, which was the most won by any film that year. Everyone seemed to be very drawn to the “feel good” aspect of the movie where a poor kid like Jamal, the main character of Boyle’s film, can overcome the massive obstacles thrown in front of his path to success and eventually come out with the girl, 100 million Rupees and the love of the nation where he just become an overnight sensation. “Slumdog Millionaire”, a movie review written by Robert Koehler, and Alice Miles’, “Shocked by Slumdog’s Poverty Porn”, both criticize Danny Boyle’s movie, but greatly differ in their composition of the arguments as to why they were displeased with the movie. Koehler writes a very professional review of Slumdog Millionaire that criticizes it for problems such as an underdeveloped and predictable plot line and its skewed depiction of Indian social reality to help to appeal to a westernized audience, whereas Miles writes a much more opinionated essay that dwells more on what seem like her personal problems with the movie, and her very aggressive tone against the movie in the whole paper makes her seem too closed minded on the topic. Robert Koehler’s review on Slumdog Millionaire talks about how the film failed to touch upon the problems or culture that are truly present in India today. Rather it is, “Boyle’s feverish, woozy, drunken, and thoroughly contrived picaresque also conveniently packages misperceptions about India (and the East) that continue to support the dominant Western view of the subcontinent,” as Koehler states in his thesis statement. He continues in his paper to talk about how Boyle has created a skewed view on India that takes advantage of the westernization happening in India, but over exaggerates and glamorizes many aspects