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You're using "Slumdog Millionaire" in the same context that Indians here despise the movie for. Using it as a pretext for focusing on the poverty in India as al

You're using "Slumdog Millionaire" in the same context that Indians here despise the movie for. Using it as a pretext for focusing on the poverty in India as almost a fetishized poking from the West (ironically by the British)

UIUC_06 4y ago
I haven't actually been to India, but I'm reliably informed that there IS some poverty there. Is that incorrect?
- jlg23 4y ago
  No, that is not incorrect; but there also is much more.
  - UIUC_06 4y ago
- svat 4y ago
  As someone wrote:[1] > Let’s say I made a movie about the US where an African-American boy born in the hood, has his mother sell him to a pedophile pop icon, after which he gets molested by a priest from his church, following which he gets tied up to the back of a truck and dragged on the road by KKK clansmen. Then he is arrested and sodomized by a policeman with a rod, after which he is attacked by a gang of illegal immigrants, and then uses these life experiences to win “Beauty and The Geek”. > Even though each of these incidents have actually happened in the United States of America, I would be accused of spinning a fantastic yarn that has no grounding in reality, that has no connection to the “American experience” and my motivations would be questioned, no matter how cinematically spectacular I made my movie. [1]: https://greatbong.net/2008/12/29/slumdog-millionaire-the-review/ https://greatbong.net/2008/12/29/slumdog-millionaire-the-rev...
  - UIUC_06 4y ago
    It would probably be a flop in India, but I'm not the best person to judge that. I think depictions of the US in overseas movies are pretty much as silly as that, though. Everything takes place in very rich or very poor parts of NYC or LA. As for "I would probably be accused" -- maybe in India. In the US it wouldn't even rate a review.
  - BeetleB 4y ago
    If it's entertaining, I'd watch that movie. It'll be a lot better than most Hollywood movies, and frankly, most Hollywood movies are pretty far off from reality (almost every movie involving the police or detectives is crazy unrealistic). I'm not a fan of Slumdog Millionaire, but that's mostly because it's a poor story, and one that could have been a great one. Arguing it's portrayal deviates like crazy from reality is, well, like most other Hollywood movies. (Yes, yes I know it's not a Hollywood movie).
    - UIUC_06 4y ago
      +1 on the Hollywood trashing. Whether something is a "good story" is hard to be objective about. It depends heavily on whether the actors sell it or not. Why do you say Slumdog is a poor story? "Poor boy makes good" is the plot of a zillion movies and books. The audience knows going in that he's going to get rich and/or get the girl. It's how that either works or doesn't.
      - BeetleB 4y ago
        They story had many interesting arcs that could have been richer, but halfway through it was clear there wasn't any interest in developing them, and that it was just about finding/connecting with the girl. Also, the fact that the trivia questions always seemed to align with his accidental experiences was just not that interesting. A story about a poor boy making it big by things other than "always being lucky" would have been better.
        UIUC_06 4y ago
fsckboy 4y ago
> "Slumdog Millionaire" in the same context that Indians here despise the movie for. to put that in context, Indians here and there don't seem to despise the film https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactions_from_India_and_the_Indian_diaspora_to_Slumdog_Millionaire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactions_from_India_and_the_I...
gamblor956 4y ago
My family back in India loves Slumdog Millionaire. It's a relatively accurate portrayal of poverty in India. The American equivalent was Hillbilly Elegy. The book was well reviewed (though the movie adaptation was not), and friends who grew up poor described it as relatively faithful to the general experience of growing up poor in rural America.

UIUC_06 4y ago

I haven't actually been to India, but I'm reliably informed that there IS some poverty there. Is that incorrect?

jlg23 4y ago
No, that is not incorrect; but there also is much more.
- UIUC_06 4y ago
svat 4y ago
As someone wrote:[1] > Let’s say I made a movie about the US where an African-American boy born in the hood, has his mother sell him to a pedophile pop icon, after which he gets molested by a priest from his church, following which he gets tied up to the back of a truck and dragged on the road by KKK clansmen. Then he is arrested and sodomized by a policeman with a rod, after which he is attacked by a gang of illegal immigrants, and then uses these life experiences to win “Beauty and The Geek”. > Even though each of these incidents have actually happened in the United States of America, I would be accused of spinning a fantastic yarn that has no grounding in reality, that has no connection to the “American experience” and my motivations would be questioned, no matter how cinematically spectacular I made my movie. [1]: https://greatbong.net/2008/12/29/slumdog-millionaire-the-review/ https://greatbong.net/2008/12/29/slumdog-millionaire-the-rev...
- UIUC_06 4y ago
  It would probably be a flop in India, but I'm not the best person to judge that. I think depictions of the US in overseas movies are pretty much as silly as that, though. Everything takes place in very rich or very poor parts of NYC or LA. As for "I would probably be accused" -- maybe in India. In the US it wouldn't even rate a review.
- BeetleB 4y ago
  If it's entertaining, I'd watch that movie. It'll be a lot better than most Hollywood movies, and frankly, most Hollywood movies are pretty far off from reality (almost every movie involving the police or detectives is crazy unrealistic). I'm not a fan of Slumdog Millionaire, but that's mostly because it's a poor story, and one that could have been a great one. Arguing it's portrayal deviates like crazy from reality is, well, like most other Hollywood movies. (Yes, yes I know it's not a Hollywood movie).
  - UIUC_06 4y ago
    +1 on the Hollywood trashing. Whether something is a "good story" is hard to be objective about. It depends heavily on whether the actors sell it or not. Why do you say Slumdog is a poor story? "Poor boy makes good" is the plot of a zillion movies and books. The audience knows going in that he's going to get rich and/or get the girl. It's how that either works or doesn't.
    - BeetleB 4y ago
      They story had many interesting arcs that could have been richer, but halfway through it was clear there wasn't any interest in developing them, and that it was just about finding/connecting with the girl. Also, the fact that the trivia questions always seemed to align with his accidental experiences was just not that interesting. A story about a poor boy making it big by things other than "always being lucky" would have been better.
      - UIUC_06 4y ago

fsckboy 4y ago

> "Slumdog Millionaire" in the same context that Indians here despise the movie for. to put that in context, Indians here and there don't seem to despise the film https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactions_from_India_and_the_Indian_diaspora_to_Slumdog_Millionaire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactions_from_India_and_the_I...

gamblor956 4y ago

My family back in India loves Slumdog Millionaire. It's a relatively accurate portrayal of poverty in India. The American equivalent was Hillbilly Elegy. The book was well reviewed (though the movie adaptation was not), and friends who grew up poor described it as relatively faithful to the general experience of growing up poor in rural America.