Premium Essay

Slumdog Cometh

In:

Submitted By tarajoshi
Words 1572
Pages 7
Geetanjali Joshi Mishra Ravi Mishra Research scholars Department of English and Modern European Languages, University of Lucknow Lucknow geetanjalijoshi2008@gmail.com ravidnmishra@gmail.com

Slumdog Cometh!
A reading of the Oscar winning movie „Slumdog Millionair‟ in the backdrop of Althuser‟s theory of Ideology and Interpellation

This paper is an effort to read the Oscar winner movie „Slumdog Millionair‟ in the context of Althuser‟s observations on the subject of ideology. We shall, in the course of this paper, point to the case of interpellation in the movie and also demonstrate how the movie furthers an already existing ideology.

Althuser‟s theory of ISA (ideological state apparatus) and RSA (repressive state apparatus) are only too well known. They have been one among the many theories of realistic appraisals of the society and an extension of Althuser's study of Ideology. These theories must be touched upon briefly before we move to place the Hollywood blockbuster in their perspective.

Ideology is a very specific term used in the post-Marxist theories, such as Christian ideology, democratic ideology, feminist ideology, Marxist ideology, etc. Luis Althusser (1977) shows that there are two major mechanisms of State organization for ensuring the people of the State. The first is the RSA, or Repressive State Apparatuses that can enforce the public behaviour directly, like police, the

criminal justice and prison system. The ISAs are some kind of institutions, which manufacture ideologies like schools, literary studies, religions, the family, legal systems, politics, arts, sports, etc help people to build up ideas and values, and to believe the State as such is „eternal‟. In discussing the concept of Ideology as material existence, Althuser takes the notion of „subject‟ as his central term „upon which everything depends‟. His arguments that there is no

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Slumdog Millionaire Oscar

...PGDM 2009-2011 Business Communication II Did Slumdog Millionaire deserve the awards it got? Submitted to: Prof. Virupakshi Goud Submitted by Section C Names: Rachit Bhatia 2009156 Rachita Gulati 2009157 Declaration We, Rachita Gulati and Rachit Bhatia have prepared this report solely for our BC II project. We accept that every coin has 2 facets and we have tried to consider both the perspectives for the said scenario. But then again we might have been biased towards a single perspective. Here we declare that such an instance should be seen as unintentional. While writing this report we have included certain personal opinions and so, it must not be seen as containing derogatory remarks. Place: Nagpur Signatures: Date: 15 December 2009 Acknowledgement We would like to thank Prof. H Virupakshi Goud, Business Communication professor, for giving us this interesting and highly debated topic for the project. This helped us in attaining a lot of information about the film industry, films and awards. This project also helps us to sort out the differing view of people and thus giving a new line of thought to thinking. Thus, it helped us further in realizing the importance of considering all the facets of a situation before giving out a judgement. Abstract Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 film directed by Danny Boyle based in Mumbai, India’s most popular metropolis. The movie was critically acclaimed in the western world as well as in India. It...

Words: 10279 - Pages: 42

Premium Essay

India Rising

...the Indians, who taught us to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery would have been made!” –Albert Einstein. India is one of the brightest countries in the world yet is disowned by western powers, America and England. The movie Slumdog Millionaire was directed and written by biased British people. They unfairly and incorrectly portrayed India to the world. Slumdog Millionaire is not an accurate depiction of modern India; it is instead a very innovative, politically stable, and one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Slumdog Millionaire exaggerated the flaws in India’s political system. The movie showed police brutality in the scene where Jamal was interrogated for cheating on the game show. However, that is a rare case and does not occur in most of India. The scene in which police officers watched the violence in the village is also not common in today’s India. In reality India has one of the bravest police forces in the world. When the terrorist attacks of 26/11 occurred, law enforcements agents fought the terrorists to protect the public even though they knew that they would probably die. Finally, India is the world’s largest democracy. Contrary to the opinions of many Western people and as depicted Slumdog Millionaire, corruption has significantly reduced in the government sector. India has a stable democracy and is a global stalwart. The movie showed that the police were bribed by Prem but in modern India that does not occur. Newly elected Prime Minister...

Words: 1185 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

The Struggles in India

...Kyle Womack Humanities Slumdog Millionaire The struggles in India. The movie Slumdog Millionaire is one of the most inspirational movies in recent years. The movie takes place in Mumbai, India. Where eighteen year old Jamal Salik is a contestant on the India version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Jamal is one question away from winning the million dollars. But the host can’t believe that a boy from the slums of India can know all of the answers the questions. So he has Jamal arrested and interrogated after being convinced that he’s cheating. The rest of the movie employs flashbacks to narrate the story of Jamil and his brother Salim, and Latika a girl from there slum. Even though Jamals life wasn’t easy his life experiences gave him the knowledge to answer the difficult questions on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? In the movie Jamal and Salim take totally different paths in life. These paths lead to two opposing outcomes. Jamal ends up winning the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? While Salim dies at the hands of his gangster boss’ employees. Nevertheless, to say that Salim is a bad person who made all the wrong choices, whereas Jamal is the typical good-doer hero of the movie. To understand how they ended up in these different situations, we must first understand the experience that shaped their lives. Salim and Jamal are both orphans who lost their mother on an anti-muslim attack in the slum where they lived. They didn’t have the opportunity...

Words: 764 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Slumdog

...Slumdog Millionaire Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of a young boy from the slums, named Jamal, who finds himself a contestant on the highly popular Indian version of Who wants to be a millionaire. He ends up winning the grand prize, but is accused of cheating. The movie guides us through Jamal’s life experiences, which serves to explain how he knows the all the answers to the questions on the show. Some parts of this movie were confusing, especially the beginning. The opening, which consisted of flashbacks caused me confusion because they did not explain the scene long enough before switching back and forth. Consequently, I didn’t understand what was happening to the characters. However, as the movie continued, I began to understand the relevance of the flashbacks. I then began to enjoy the movie more. I thought that the music was a major part of the movie. It was an important contribution in that it helped to convey the emotion of the characters. Also, there was one scene which was brilliantly shot. This was when Jamal was running frantically in the train station trying to find Latika. He finally found her at the platform of the station looking into this eyes. This scene captured the connection between the two characters. After watching, I was really satisfied with the story. I liked how the director took a unique approach on a love story by introducing us to a fresh setting, characters and plot. Although the movie gained amazing reviews and even...

Words: 417 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Cross Cultural Analysis of Slumdog Millionaire

...This idea is prevalent in the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Slumdog Millionaire tells the tale of 18 year old Jamal, a kid from the slums, “slum dog” of Bombay/Mumbai as he is about to answer the final question on India’s version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”. The movie opens on Jamal being interrogated by police who think the only way a kid from the slums could make it that far on the show is by cheating. Throughout the movie we see Jamal get asked each question and as a result of his experiences, how he arrived upon each answer. Through these memories, we see Jamal’s experiences with being orphaned, surviving the slums with his brother Salim and trying to find out what happened to their friend Latika. Slumdog Millionaire was took home numerous awards at the 2009 Oscars including Best Picture. There are many cross cultural psychology concepts that are prevalent in this movie. The idea of collectivism vs individualism is a constant theme throughout the movie. Individualistic cultures are those which have many practices and customs encouraging individuals to prioritize their own individualistic goals and emphasize the ways in which they are distinct from each other as well as being self-sufficient. Collectivist cultures are ones in which interdependent goals are more emphasized people attend to close relationships and group memberships more (pg. 206). India is a country that has both individualistic and collectivistic traits. As seen in Slumdog Millionaire, Jamal very collectivist...

Words: 2119 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Slum Dog Milionare

...One of the main characters in the film Slum Dog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle is Salim. He is a slum dog who originally comes from the slum in India. He is the brother of Jamal who is a contestant on a game show called: “Who wants to be a millionaire”. In the first round of the game show, Jamal wins 10 million rupees, and only lacks one question from winning 20 million rupees. Since he is a slumdog, and could not possibly know all these answers, they accuse him of cheating. The whole movie shows why he actually know all of the answers, not because he is particularly smart, but because of happenings in his life. I would say that Salim is a round character. When we first see him, he is a little boy in the slum who watches his mother getting brutally killed right in front of his eyes. Salim and his brother Jamal is now on their own. In the start both of the brothers is kind of similar and equal. But after they meet Lateeka and end up in the house with all the future beggars, we can see that the Salim is developing. He is a much more rough character than Jamal, and is quickly given a “leader” position in the house. He is loud and is not afraid of saying what he thinks. When he finds out that they is going to make Jamal blind, he shows a good side of himself and rescues them. When they find Latheeka again after many years separated from her, Salim changes and throws Jamal out of an empty apartment they find. Again we see that he is a “bad” boy. And whole through the film we...

Words: 375 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Intertextuality in Slumdog Millionaire

...Narisha Reddy Professor Gohar Siddiqui English 2250 - 01 Intertextuality in Slumdog Millionaire Scenes: First question and back-story Slumdog Millionaire is a film adapted by the novel, Q&A (2005) written by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup. The film tells a story of a young boy named Jamal Malik who lived in the slums of Mumbai, India. While he was a tea server at a call center, he ended up on the Indian TV show version of a British TV show called Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? On the show he is asked a series of questions in which he correctly answers all of them. Because he gets so many questions right the police are suspicious that he is cheating. As a result, Jamal is taken to the police office and tortured into telling how he cheated. However, when the police officers replay each question, Jamal explains to them how he knew the answers with flashbacks that end up being linked to different key events in his life. Throughout this film there are many examples of intertextuality. Intertextuality is when some text makes a reference to another text. In the movie Slumdog Millionaire, intertextuality is used to reference Hindi Cinema and the original TV show, Kaun Banega Cororepati. The scene that I will analyze in this paper is the scene where Jamal is in the hot seat of the TV show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and he is asked his first question. The scene then goes onto a flashback to his childhood and unreels how he knows the answer to the question “Who was...

Words: 858 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Steven Spielberg: The Power Of Poverty In The Movie

...The power of poverty The story is about a teenager named Antony who wants to substantiate his father’s dream to be a famous movie actor. This story is all about his life, and the problem he faced during his career due to poverty. This story sheds light on the poverty problem that is the main issue in many countries. Poverty gives birth to many criminals and crimes. The scenario of movie is dark and emotional drama. The reason behind to write the story is to give message to all humanity that nothing is impossible if you have strong determination and positive attitude you can achieve anything in life like the Antony does though he was born in poor family but becomes a great personality and successful in his life. Steven Spielberg is perfect for directing the movie about Antony’s life, because he directed one of the famous movies “ Catch me if you can” that resembles the story we created. In that movie Leonardo Di Caprio plays the role of Frank Abnagale who was the most wanted fraud and most famous imposters in 70s in US. In the movie catch me of you can the boys family is facing difficult times and shortage of money. This encourages the Frank to do some illegal things to earn money. The life of Frank Abnagale is a live example of the power of poverty. The same issue we are going to show in our movie but in different story. The main characters in the movie: Antony Rixon (Poor boy and an actor) Joanne Rixon (Antony’s Mother) James Rixon (Antony’s father) Ewen Peterson (Atony’s friend)...

Words: 2034 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Morris Gleitzman's Boy Overboard

... In Morris Gleitzman's novel "Boy Overboard", Jamal and his family endure conflicts on their voyage to a new life. All the way up until their final destination, it is questioned if all of their hardships will be worthwhile in the end or not. Considering the fact that they scarcely dodged death, a temporary life on an island in the Pacific Ocean does not sound bad. More education opportunities and a better life are few of many justifications to prove that Jamal's journey was worth it. In chapter 2, The government found out about Jamal's Mum's school, which resulted in its destruction. It was also the family's home. Jamal's mum opened the school secretly because the Taliban prohibited education. The family is told by Mum on page forty-five: ' "It's the school." She says quietly. "The government has found out about our school." ' After hearing this the family flees their home, fearing the terrifying consequences that would have awaited them if they stayed. In Australia, there are many education and job opportunities. On the island, Bibi and a Jamal would get a chance to receive some form of education. The island would without a doubt provide a better life for Jamal and his family as opposed to Afghanistan. Towards the end of this novel, Jamal finds out that his family has not arrived at Australia, but instead on an island in the Pacific Ocean. This is because at that time, Australia's policies about refugees have differed. If they happen to stay on this island for a significantly...

Words: 555 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Business Communication

...on campus or in their careers. The author has chosen the film Slumdog Millionaire as his educational tool as a prime example to introduce Indian culture to Americans. In a business world full of communication, it is inevitable that a student will be faced to communicate with an individual with a different cultural background at one time or another. Many students sometimes do not realize how similar they really are with those who have been raised in a different culture. Peter W. Cardon feels that for students to grasp these similarities it is important to introduce real-life scenarios to bring awareness to cultural differences through multimedia. Teaching a generation that has been raised by watching TV, movies, and using their computers to become educated in certain areas students may be able understand cultural differences more effectively by displaying emotionally strong images. By doing this, students are able to visually see the communication process, cultural values, and acceptable behavior in a different culture. It is also widely known deep emotion, hearing and sight are most often the way people gain their first impressions of other people and cultures. By using their emotions students are able to stimulate how they would behave in situations when they are first introduced to a new culture and are more likely to remember what they have learned in the classroom during first time encounters. Slumdog Millionaire, a box office hit and...

Words: 530 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Oh Yeah

...agree with them, but on the other hand there's a lot of irony in play. People know that it easily could be them in that situation, but still cannot even look at them. The entire idea that something like that could happen is abholing but unfortunately also common in India. In fact there are worse things taking place as for example: child “production” & trafficing. A lot of movies about india also have this subject in common, The over population of children. You always see children running around in flocs and asking for money/food & sometimes even autographs(slumdog millionaire). The autograph's could easily be sold for money or collected on. It does happen from time to time though that people (Also a lot of tourists) find compassion in these children, as in the text “chokra” that the quotation is from. It does not seem like the children cares about the compassion they get, more than the money they it gets them. In the movie “a slumdog millionaire” jamal and his brother and the girl arrive at the “orphanarium” where some more grown-up men take care of them, in exchange for...

Words: 404 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Dharvi Video Response

...Six new facts or issues: A. Stereotypes (page 107)- assumptions of what people are like, whether true or false a. This definition fits perfectly with how the outside communities, business, tourist, and governments view the little “town” of Dharvi. To the outside world Dharvi is a despicable place. Its filled with one million poor individuals. These individuals live in illegal shacks and often are victim of work abuse, like sweat shops. Dharvi is the “recycling center of Mumbai” so one would assume it is a massive waste deposit. Many make out this entire area to be a slum. Now when thinking of slum you would think the worst of the worst. But there and entire society and underlying life style that most do not care to look deeper into. Yes Dharvi is practically a landfill, but without those who work doing all of the recycling Mumbai would have a major problem. Families in Dharvi have been working for this recycling business for generations and generations. It has become, for most, their way of life. They wake up and work until they fall asleep. Do the people of Dharvi lose hope? No. Most of the people who work for this business are doing so to provide food for their families, help out with charities, send their children to school, or even to make something of themselves. Dharvi, on the surface, is looked at as a slum; it’s beneath the surface that counts the most. Dharvi is made up of individuals who have a dream to become something. They want to make a lot of money, provide...

Words: 2326 - Pages: 10

Free Essay

Swaglordxxx

...Student’s Name Instructor’s Name English 120 September 10, 2013 Recognizing Hybrid-Genre: A study of film posters. Abstract This report focuses on the use of Hybrid-Genre technique for films. For this purpose, I have chosen three film posters as tools to show how hybrid-genre films look like. Films chosen for poster analysis are Slumdog Millionaire, Twilight and Bride and Prejudice. Each poster is thoroughly scrutinized in order to see how posters inform the viewers of what to expect in the film. It is also highlighted that a good film poster comes up to the expectations of the audience of the film by representing all the genres incorporated. Introduction Film itself being a genre of performing art has its own multiple sub-genres. Hybrid-genre, also commonly known as cross-genre, is a practice of blending two or more genres. In the film posters selected for this report, I have tried to highlight this genre-blend by critically analyzing the posters. For a single genre type film, it is comparatively easy to analyze the posters since each and every element of the poster is contributing to one genre that the film is based on. Hybrid-genre film posters, on the other hand, are trickier to analyze. Not only their audience can miss some of the information present in the posters but there are also chances of the posters failing to project what actually is the sole purpose of the posters, or some posters may be intentionally designed so as to focus one dominant genre and leave...

Words: 2187 - Pages: 9