Poverty Porn Promoting The Popular Stereotype - 2116 Words

Poverty Porn: Promoting the popular stereotype More often than not, poverty is represented in the general narrative that labels poverty as the same for every single individual in the situation and fails to address the complexity of poverty. This is especially true in the film Slumdog Millionaire. Starring Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal Malik, an eighteen year old, uneducated, orphan from the slums of Mumbai. Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees on India’s Kaun Banega Crorepati? (equivalent to America’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?). But when the show breaks for the night, the police arrest him with the allegation of cheating. Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slums, where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of Jamal’s increasingly layered story, reveals where he learned the answers to the sh ow’s seemingly impossible questions. The film won a total of eight Oscars in 2009, out of the ten it was nominated for. The film also won 5 Critic’s Choice Awards and 4 Golden Globes. Set in the year of 2006, the novel based film explores a â€Å"different† perspective of India. However, director Danny Boyle, paints a selective portrait of Mumbai, ignoring the middle class and only involving the aspects of the lives of those who belong to the lower socioeconomic class of