Slumdog Sourpuss
It may be the best picture, but Hirsh Sawhney writes in the Guardian that "Slumdog Millionaire" is a simplistic text that "far from spreading the blame for global poverty actually suggests that the west is the solution to India's problems".
It may be the best picture, but Hirsh Sawhney writes in the Guardian that “Slumdog Millionaire” is a simplistic text that “far from spreading the blame for global poverty … actually suggests that the west is the solution to India’s problems.”
Your support is crucial…The Guardian:
Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, the runaway favourite for the best picture Oscar tomorrow night, is precisely one of these simplistic texts. It contains a smattering of all the major Indian hot buttons: call centres, religious riots, urban development, sex workers, the Taj Mahal –and, of course, slums.
The film, which traces the life of Jamal Malik from the devastatingly poor streets of Mumbai to his deliverance on the TV game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire, has elicited some furious reactions in India. Many have pointed out that the slum children Boyle used as actors weren’t fairly compensated for their performances. A group of protestors in the city of Patna burned Slumdog posters and ransacked a theatre where the film was being screened, claiming that film’s depiction of slum dwellers was a “violation of human rights.” Some Indian commentators insinuated that the movie has been successful in the west because uses “poverty porn” to “titillate foreign audiences”.
With an uncertain future and a new administration casting doubt on press freedoms, the danger is clear: The truth is at risk.
Now is the time to give. Your tax-deductible support allows us to dig deeper, delivering fearless investigative reporting and analysis that exposes what’s really happening — without compromise.
Stand with our courageous journalists. Donate today to protect a free press, uphold democracy and unearth untold stories.
Health & Wellness
Despite a growing public health crisis, physicians cite many reasons for not talking about firearm safety with patients.
Social Justice
As many as 70,000 child care centers are projected to close in the next several months as pandemic-era federal funding ends, pushing an industry already in crisis to a breaking point.
Health & Wellness
Many store shelves remain bare as the private and government response struggles to produce results.
World
Aid workers blame a climate change-induced drought that’s turned the Horn of Africa into a parched, barren wasteland.
State official says information being mined at schools includes locations, websites visited, videos watched, passwords and contact lists.
"Humanitarian catastrophe” unfolds in Idlib province as Russia-backed effort displaces hundreds of thousands, including 500,000 children.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.