The subject that I've chosen is a film called Slumdog Millionaire (2008). The movie, directed by Danny Boyle, received 8 Oscar prizes for brilliance in the domains like Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Blending, Original Score and Original Tune. The movie can be an adaption of any novel 'Q & A' compiled by the proclaimed Indian publisher and diplomat, Vikas Swarup.
The movie is defined in an Indian backdrop and the storyline revolves around an uneducated Muslim son known as Jamaal, and about his quest from the slums in a typical 'rags to riches' record. The story starts with Jamaal and his brother's life in slums, and how they were left homeless after having a Hindu Muslim riot which eliminates their mother. It continues using their journey to other towns and lastly ends at Kaun Banega Crorepati (Indian adaption of 'Who Wants to be considered a Millionaire') where he wins the contest using the data he had picked up during his impoverished life. Other than the several accolades, the film also experienced criticism for the ugly potrayal of India and the abusive vocabulary that was used. In this posting, I'd be studying the movie in conditions of genres it potrayed.
Genre is a French term used for 'type'. It is a term that has existed since very early on times in theatre. Some frequently used genres are romance, crime, comedy, illusion or actuality, episode, thriller, horror, suspense, cowboy, skill/ independent(school note). Basically this can be a repetition of certain features while making a film, that later act as a genesis for its identification under a specific genre. But steadily, it was came to the realization that such a narrowed down way of filmmaking and categorization lead to productions that were recurring and predictable. Thus arose the need for genre motion pictures to be not just 'more of the same' but also different things.
This business lead to an interesting occurrence of categorizing the same movie in various genres like theatre, action, secret etc. Such movies are called multi genre videos. It's been said that the more recent movies target consciously for genre cross-over. This concept of cross-over results multi genre films that can be referred to as postmodern in conditions of movie theater. The amalgamation of styles leads to combining of the already existing styles and thus produces new possibilities. The mixing mutually of genres is often referred to as bricolage, and such movies are called hybrids. In bricolage, one can often observe elements of various different videos that are grouped mutually.
" Why? Why limit a film to 1 set of emotions when it gets the potential to explore so much more? " - Danny Boyle
The idea of multi genres can be obviously seen in the movie Slumdog Millionaire. The genres identified are relationship, drama and offense. The story informed in the film seems to be a retold from the movie 'Salaam Bombay', which is report of a boy Chaipu who's remaining homeless and lives on the roads of Bombay. The storyline is about how precisely he survives by doing peculiar jobs at an extremely young age and struggles to get over the harsh actuality of the metropolitan that is Bombay. One can certainly bring a parallel between Chaipu in 'Salaaam Bombay' and Jamaal's figure in Slumdog Millionaire (Infact the first reaction of Indian audience to Slumdog Millionaire was its contrast to Salaam Bombay). The other elements of the movie such as the underworld, criminal offense and Hindu-Muslim riots in the location of Mumbai have been portrayed in a far more realistic way in movies Satya [Place Yr], Sadak[] and Bombay[]. The closing of the movie is quite happy where Jamaal finally reunites with his ladylove and also miraculously wins the show 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'. These joyful endings have been common in cinema for a long time. The theme of the movie is formulaic and appears to be a repetition of the prior movies predicated on the same lines.
Genres can even be discussed with regards to industry, market and the audience. The industry makes film so long as there is a demand from the audience. The categorization of motion pictures into genres quite simply allows the industry to separate the number of films that be made and thus sets a definite demarcation. The study of films of different genres in the market gives a good idea of the response of the audience and so based on this study of all profitable response, movie of the same genre are made. A particular kind of genre movie attempts to specialize at a lot of the levels to be able to maximize the probability of revenue. Analyzing Slumdog Millionaire in this light we can observe that the use of locations, props, stars has been carefully chosen according to the genre and script of the movie. As the movie is about a, homeless, uneducated Indian guy and all the hardships he undergoes, it was very vital for the movie to use the correct locations and props. The positioning chosen for the taking pictures was metropolis of Mumbai itself. The young superstar ensemble of the will be the in fact children of the slums which lends a very original result to the movie. The director very cleverly chose the other celebrities as well keeping in mind the International and the Indian audience. The stars are largely debutants and fit completely in the non-glamorous portrayals of the functions. The international people have a stereo system typical image of the Asian theatre and the director has held this at heart while choosing the many areas of the movie
Genre videos have a deep effect on the cultural and ethnic contexts. These videos become ' social products; which can carry the prominent and prevalent ideologies of the modern culture in which these are produced. Though more than often films aren't a reflection of the true society but instead are based on common belief of the population.
The pursuing two texts relate with the genre in films. I have attempted to analyze Slumdog Millionaire in the light of the two texts:
"Moral issues are lifted, questions are asked and answers given. We could invited to judge a character's actions and imaginary alternatives are offered to real problems within the society"
If we go through the movie Slumdog Millionaire, it has showcased many problems like poverty, criminal offenses, trickery and deception in a fairly exaggerated way and in the end the perfect solution is offered an imaginary solution would make sense only in a dream land. An example of the imaginary solution in the movie is that the boy who grew up without any education whatsoever starts off tricking non hindi speaking vacationers with impeccable British and later in the movie locates his sibling by using a computer. This is merely something fantastical which fills people who have desire and optimism, and makes them assume that there's a solution all problems. This is something that definitely will not happen in the real world, but the movie came out at a time when the world was witnessing one of the biggest recessions ever, and almost everyone faces a bleak future. At this time, the movie gave the perfect solution is to the culture that it a great deal wanted to believe.
"Maybe it's stated that such motion pictures (genre videos) are not 'reflections' of culture but are particular perceptions of your society. How exactly we see such motion pictures might in the end be dependant on if recurring patterns and themes can be identified"
In Slumdog Millionaire, the director has used the thoughts of audience. It really is made in way it draws sympathy from the Lady and re-affirms their age old thoughts and opinions about India. The story in the movie doesn't speak about anything that today's developing economy offers of (a typical example of this is the fact that many foreigners still think of India as a land of snake charmers in US, whereas I am yet to visit a solo snake charmer in my own 24 many years of stay static in India). Genre movies sometimes challenge dominating ideas, question cultural values and this just leaves a far more positive and optimistic effect on people as they do not find themselves helplessly linked with a society's notion system. In this particular context the film Slumdog Millionaire challenges the fact that an uneducated and lowly placed person in contemporary society can get as big a success as receiving the mega jackpot. This theme subtly re-assures the audience that despite their short comings, they could also be another Jamaal. Also, within an primary theme of the nice overcoming the bad makes the movie adjust to the perception of the audience. The fact that Jamaal even after being embroiled in so many unpleasant incidents and pot holes of crime and vulgarity, remains good, and in the end wins the jackpot. This plays on the audience's desire to see the stopping that they sub-consciously have confidence in, and want to see on display, even if that doesn't make much sense in reality.
To conclude, we can say that Slumdog Millionaire is a movie that was packaged very deftly in to the genres that were decided for this by the movie-makers. From the idea of view of culture, audience and industry, the movie weaves itself correctly into the panorama it aspires to task itself into. The movie was hit on a worldwide size, and after inspecting the wise inter-play of styles, the underlying 'rags to riches' theme, fulfilling the audience's sub-conscious wishes regardless of location and releasing at a time when the world was in downturn, seems but a robust potion for an enormous on on-screen success.
