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Reading Slumdog Millionaire across Cultures

2011; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 46; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/0021989411404994

1741-6442

Rebecca Duncan,

South Asian Studies and Diaspora

This essay examines the film Slumdog Millionaire and its reception as an intercultural encounter focused on romance and class conflict. While the Eastern and diasporic critical response registered outrage at the global exposure of India’s slums, an emerging critical discourse on Indian popular cinema adds cultural context and nuance to discussions of the film. Western viewers and critics, in contrast, are culturally prepared to approach the film as a generic hybrid or a postmodern romance. Innovative under both paradigms, Slumdog invites new consideration of the archetypical romantic quest in twenty-first century cinematography. Ultimately, the clear division between Eastern and Western responses challenges the notion of the global or transnational response to a regional or national narrative.