Janet CollinsThe Slumdog Message
February 23rd 2009 21:44
Slumdog Millionaire may have blitzed it at the Oscars but are we missing the real message?This slums to riches story has been the movie on everyone’s lips these past months but it it not just a movie.
It is really a story about India and it shines a light on a world where disparity between the very rich and the dirt poor is something no economic model has managed to rectify. What will be interesting is whether or not this movie makes any difference.
Behind all the hype since it premiered internationally, the movie has generated some pretty controversial media stories. In January, The Times Online, reported a protest in East India when the movie opened there. Insulted by the term “dog” being used for a slum dweller, hundreds came out in protest, picketing the homes of all those involved in the movie.
In an article in The Asia Times in February, “Slumdog Communists”, Chan Akya writes about so much of what he hates about this film despite its “feel good” nature. He talks about how the government “gets away with making welfare payments but without infrastructure investments” and “where communist sympathizers monopolise the distribution of government funds where waste is a national pastime”.
Although he does concede that this is an important film for Indians, Akya acknowledges the potential power of the movie to get the message out about the poverty that exists among an otherwise rich and vibrant city.
What has been even more controversial are “The Slumdog Tours” that have been growing in popularity since the movie filmed there in 2006. In the UK in January, reporter Nigel Richardson wrote in The Telegraph on the growing phenomenon of the slum tour. Richardson’s own personal view of the tours is much more positive than those of other writers and he gives a first-hand account of the tours having done the tour himself two years ago.
While there have been many articles and television programs condemning the tours as “poverty tourism”, Richardson sees them as something totally different. The tours, he says, are far from exploitative. They are organised with the co-operation of the residents and conducted with extreme sensisitivity. Eighty per cent of all profits, he says, are donated to local charities.
The tours are done in Dharavi, a shanty town that is described by one tour operator as “the biggest slum in Asia”. More than a million people live in the town of open drains, tin-roofed shacks and alleyways.
Richardson does concede that the conditions of production made him uncomfortable while on the tour, noting that young men were paid the amount he paid for a beer at an expensive Mumbai hotel for doing quite dangerous molten metal-work making belt buckles and that women and children making popadoms only received 20p per kilo.
Despite this, Richardson found his tour of Dharavi to be more of an education rather than an exploratory mission into the world of poverty. Far from being oppressive he said, it was exhilarating and the shanty town was abuzz.
This to me raises other questions. Maybe it is good for westerners to come face to face with the poverty in towns such as Dharava and yes, it probably does educate them. Then they go home to the comfort and lifestyles they have in their western communities.
This type of education to me seems absolutely pointless if nothing is done about the huge disparity between the very rich and the very poor. Has any good for example come out of these tours since they began operating back in 2006?
In January, The Huffington Post, reported on another tour operator, Salaam Baalak Trust, a non-profit kids’ charity founded by filmmaker, Mira Nair, director of “Salaam Bombay”, in 1988.
This tour operator takes visitors through the area around the station where more than 2,000 street kids dwell. Former UK prime minister, Tony Blair, took the tour himself back in 2005 meeting many of the kids who lived there. The tour only costs about $4 and all the money goes to help fund basic medical care and schooling for the kids. Despite this, rough estimates have the number of street children living in India at around 11 million, 100,000 of whom are in Delhi.
So will “Slumdog Millionaire” change all this? Will international acclaim and large audiences flocking to see it be the catalyst for change, if only for India's international reputation? Probably not a great deal in the near future but then it could be this movie more than anything else that provokes enough emotion internationally to make a difference. Maybe the government in India will no longer be able to look the other way.
There is no doubt that the international success of the movie has triggered mixed feelings for the people of India. On one hand they are bound to feel proud of a movie about them that has done so well in the west. On the other, it exposes the underbelly of their home – poverty many in the west will never know.
That message has come to us all in Hollywood’s best movie of 2008. Now what?
Source:
Huffington Post
Times Online
Telegraph UK
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Comment by Chris Champion
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Great post, great research.
Differences of opinion, disagreements and exploitation - they are about as inevitable and perennial as taxes and death.
Perhaps one lesson here is that the clever person, like the clever film (and the clever bloggist), understands this and presents a balanced version of a reality.
Slumdog Millionaire has entertained as a film, educated as a documentary, and provoked thought and commentary.
Comment by Janet Collins
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That's it in a nutshell really.
Thanks a lot, Chris.
Comment by Teresa Ralton
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Great post, as usual. I saw a newspaper article, a couple of days ago, which showed how the kids in the film - including the little star - were still living in poverty because they hadn't been paid as promised ( the mother being quoted). This was counterbalanced with comment from the filmaker claiming that the children's schooling was being paid for, that money was available for the kids later(?) and that small sums were being doled out because they wouldn't be able to handle a large sum. In spite of this assurance, you(or I) still have to question how could the family be left to live in those squalid conditions when that film has made a fortune.
Comment by Janet Collins
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In these situations it is usually the main actors who really end up with all the royalties because of negotiations done before they come on board.
Still, that doesn't prohibit the producers from sharing out some of the profits but with all these things, the major actors have managers or agents doing the negotiations for them.
It's often the second movie where many of them make their money - that is if the first one has caught the attention of many in the movie world. With a bit of luck, offers will start flowing and the families will get out of these slums once and for all.
Thanks again for your great comments.
Comment by The Rusty Can
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I saw a brief interview on the news with a man who lived in the slums. He was quite bitter when he said that a slum-dweller would never have made it on the tv show in real life. I hope this movie can help improve the living conditions of the people living in poverty and hopefully bring about more equality...
Great post, Janet - very informative and to the point.
Comment by Janet Collins
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That is really the beauty about the success of the movie. It may be great movie but the stories behind it are bound to get more attention.
Thanks for dropping by.
Comment by Cibbuano
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Comment by Lilla
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I am looking forward to this one, more so now.
Having lived in India for three years and witnessed the slums myself I am beyond curious as to the accuracy of this film and its ability to take liberties of license for artistic intent. For example, I stayed with a very wealthy family there (by Indian standrds) and we had servants who came in from little cardboard *towns* just in the next block... yet there was no burglary, rape or crime of rich against poor. It all worked well and because of the deep Hindu belief in karma, no one held angst or hate towards another, there was little or no superiority as it was evident each was working out his own level of karma through reincarnation and an effort to better their situation spiritually for *next time*.
I am left to wonder socially, how making people *hungry* for success by foisting the American paradigm upon simple, peaceful people will change the situation where I used to live, if at all? ... also raises the ethics of interference and its ability to cause derrision where karma is obvious as a self evident truth. Only Americans continue to be arrogant enough to believe they can cheat such things, by disregarding the natural flow of nature and attaining material wealth ...yet boasting some of the biggest slums in history within their own back yard?
As I said, I am VERY interested in seeing this film, on so many levels ...
Great Post,
Lilla ...
Comment by Janet Collins
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There was an article in this weekend's Sydney Morning Herald where two Australians (with their kids) live in a slum in India by choice. It's at:
Really Long Link
Thank you for the great comment and view from someone who has been there.
Comment by Lilla
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Amazing couple!
Comment by Teresa Ralton
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Two things went through my mind reading your comments. One is that the concept of karma is so entrenched in Indian society and while people have accepted their lot, the lowest on the Karmic ladder cannot be happy - they are just led to believe that the terribleness of their lives is inevitable.
Also, I looked at your link and, while it is commendable that the family lives that way and it must be a fantastic education for their kids, I bet they have plenty to come back to in Australia so it's really not the same. And that room looks plenty cosy to me. I'm a cynic, I know, but I think a lot of rich people love to see how the other half lives and if they're academic they've got the social conscience thing going too.
Comment by Janet Collins
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I can understand people who opt out of the whole capitalism/commercialism thing. It is really everyone's own choice how they want to live their lives. But, as Teresa has said, it came across to me that these people could leave whenever they wanted to. The male in the situation also had a "job" and I sometimes wonder if these people are taking away resources that could be given to someone else.
The movie is worth seeing even if it has been made for Hollywood.
Thanks for the conversation on this one.
Comment by Janet Collins
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Thanks for your interest in this whole issue. I loved the movie and it is well worth a look but the issues surrounding the movie are just as, if not more important than the movie itself.
Do we just let this poverty prevail? It might make good movie fodder but it just doesn't sit right with the abundance of wealth in the world.
It will be interesting to see if the movie really does have any influence in the long run.
Thank you.
Comment by storyteller
Yes, I believe it had brought India to the attention of the Western World, and yes, it has brought attention to the difference between rich and poor.
Personally, having seen the movie, I'd like to think that maybe it will open doors for Westerners and India itself to help its poor and narrow, if not diminish, the rich poor divide.
Yes, many of us will never experience the horrors and struggles that these children live with each day, and yes, many of us will never experience hunger unless we choose to diet!
There are no coincidences - this movie was made for a reason and at the right time. Let's see what comes of it.
For me - I'm very pleased I watched it and proud someone took the time to make it.
Again, your article was spot on and a good read.
Comment by Janet Collins
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I really hope it does something. We can only hope.
And...thank you for dropping by