Regardless of whether or not the film fulfills the conventions of a romantic drama genre or whether Danny Boyle has put his own auteur's stamp on the film, it is immediately cleatr that there is something less than ordinary about the narrative structure of the film.
The presentation below raises some questions that need answering, and below that is the article about Portmanteau storytelling.
Here is the article mentioned on the second slide. When you're reading it think about the extent to which Slumdog Millionaire can be considered Portmanteau, this might be easier to do if you consider the episodic nature of the film - however you should also be aware there are some things that are very conventional about the film.
The article raises interesting questions - think about the answers you've given for the questions on the slides. Firstly what words would you use to describe the narrative of Slumdog Millionaire?
- Non-linear
- Episodic
- Unconventional
- Parallel
- Multi-strand
- Interwoven
- Flashback
- Circular
Some of these words describe devices that have been used, some of them might be close to describing the structure - but not quite accurate. Some of these words may actually seem to contradict each other.
So what is actually going on? Perhaps the more important question is: Why? Why has Boyle decided to tell the story in this order? What does he hope to achieve? Is this to do with audience, character, themes?
This rather crude drawing hopefully explains the way the story is told...
Describing the three plotlines as parallel, isn't quite accurate as the flashbacks get closer and closer to the present - describing it as multistrand possibly ignores how closely related they are.
If we think of each question that Jamal answers as a small episode or story of its own then perhaps this moves towards seeing the film as a portmanteau?
All of these things may be seen to challenge an audience, to make them think, to actively engage them with the film. When audiences are so familiar with bog standard storytelling, it may be necessary to keep an audience on their toes!
However, we can also look at the unusual structure as helping the audience to understand the film and the characters better.
Perhaps it can even explain to us a character's arc.
Consider the juxtaposition at the very beginning of the film - an 18 year old Jamal has been tortured and beaten, he is deprived of sleep and believes that he has lost the one chance he had to find his true love - he seems to be in an impossible position, he is bloodied and bruised. Contrast this with the wide eyed playfullness, innocence and naivety of the youngest Jamal, playing cricket - running from trouble, being late for school. The audience see how he has changed and can physically see the journey he has been on. The form of the film gives us insights into the characters throughout.
If we look at more reasons why this narrative structure has been used we can see that there are other narrative codes operating here -
Enigma Codes
Each question that Jamal answers, ironically makes the audience ask a question - How does he know the answer? Therefore the questions act as enigma codes throughout the movie.
Action Codes
The flashbacks help the audience to understand how Jamal knows the answer and the plot can then move along - ending one of the mini-narratives and moving ever closer to Winning the show and more importantly winning Latika! In this sense the flashbacks act as action codes.
The flashbacks may also be seen to represent the themes of the movie - the circular nature of the recurring flashbacks going round and round may reflect the theme of Karma - that life is a great wheel, and that what goes around, comes around!
Perhaps Danny Boyle is reminding us that any film is about making choices, two directors with the same script will make very different films based on the choices they make - his decision to tell the story in the way he has, maybe reflects the theme of choices that recurs throughout the film?
However, the more we pick and unpick at the way the story is told, the more we find that it is actually quite conventional.
Whilst the narrative is non-linear, Boyle has far from thrown convention out of the window. Consider our most basic model of narrative structure...
Todorov's Stages of Narrative
Whilst not presented in this specific order, this story is still here...
Equilibrium - Jamal, Salim and Latika are three inseparable orphans who survive on their wits in Mumbai's slums.
Disruption - They are taken in by a criminal called Maman who makes them beg in the streets for money and has plans to exploit them all further.
Recognition of Disruption - Maman's evil intentions result in the three fleeing for their lives - but the two brothers are separated from Latika as they escape.
Attempt to Repair - Jamal is determined to find his childhood sweetheart and will do anything to get her back; this includes fighting the Mumbai underworld as well as his own brother, and even appearing on a national game show in the hope that she will see him.
New Equilibrium - Jamal wins twenty million Rupees and is reunited with Latika but in order for this to happen and for them to begin their relationship, Salim sacrifices his own life.
Whilst this is a little oversimplified, it demonstrates that this is still pretty conventional, it's just edited in a way that achieves all the things that have been described beforehand.
The purposefully controversial statement at the end of the presentation is for you to decide - whilst telling this story in an unusual order may achieve some developments in character, give audiences the satisfaction of having enigma codes solved and may even reflect the themes of the film - it may be accused of covering over the simplicity of the story and the simplicity of the characters.
On the other hand - we may consider the form of a film as important as the content. If the auteur theory tells us anything it's that a director's choices are vital to understanding a film, otherwise a screenwriter, or even the source material would be considered as the most important element of a film - not the director.
Here are all of these thoughts in summary and a plan for an answer based on Narrative Structure and Slumdog Millionaire...
Slumdog Millionaire's unusual narrative structure may engage the audience even challenge them, but this is nothing new. In fact, the fancy editing and multiple plots unfolding at once actually serves to cover over a rather generic romantic drama with 2 dimensional characters, a stereotyped view of India and nothing much important to say about anything in particular!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the film can be generic as we predict that Jamal and Latika will end up together and it happens, it lives up to our expectations making it conventional. The view of India is stereotypical as we expect to see poverty which is portrayed. Although the ending is conventional, the events that happen throughout the film are seen as a shock as nobody would expect Salim to kill himself. I personally thought he would of got killed.
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DeleteAlthough the film may be generic, which i agree with to extent due to the predictable ending of them being together and the main girl being the prize, i also disagree with this comment as there are many non-generic parts to the film with twist and turns such as Salim killing himself. This movie keeps its audience on its toes while still having the popular and generic theme that audiences love.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the film may be generic of the romantic genre based on the narrative because Slumdog is conventional through the use of characters such as the princess (Latika) who is a prize for the hero (Jamal) based upon propps theory. it also does this through the plot line, as an audience we expect that by the end of the movie the boy will get the girl as this is typical of the romantic drama and this is exactly what happens. however, through the jump backs through different times it may challenge the conventions of a romantic drama for an audience as they may be use to a simple structure of a beginning middle and end whereas Slumdog is constantly reverting back to the past and the present.
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DeleteWhilst the narrative is rather simple when you get past the fog of the introduction, I believe it lacks multiple features of a generic romantic drama and the structure and themes of the film seem more aimed at a representation of India and Indian people rather than a representation of true love etc. I personally, do not believe that the unconventional narrative is used in order to mirage a sort of generic structure but in order to represent the chaos of India as a whole. On the other hand, I can see how a viewer may see this as generic as it contains very generic hero, anti-hero, damsel in distress and villain type characters as well as this story of true love, but I believe these are just themes in order to simplify a more complex representation of the environment around them as well to wrap the story up.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I disagree with this opinion on the idea that this film encases something much more important however, I do believe it does fall under some categories of generic romantic drama films with Latika being nothing in the story but a love interest.
I agree mostly with this criticism, the film's structure does indeed mask a linear story that relies on cause and effect, this is evident on how the events unfold one after another, with few opportunities to expand on previous scenes (Jamal's mother is an example as she serves as a plot device to move the story along, once they reach their teenage years she is barely referenced or mentioned). Jamal's character show's some depth as an opportunist, as seen with the Taj Mahal scheme's and with the whole idea of going on the show to reach his love interest. Salim falls into the trappings of an antihero, betraying the leads only to redeem himself in the end; likewise, Latika has little depth and only serves as a motivation for Jamal, evident in the lack of scenes that flesh out her character apart from signifying her role as the love interest.
ReplyDeleteOverall i can agree and also disagree with this opinion of Slumdog Millionaire. Slumdog Millionaires narrative does indeed cover over a blatantly predictable plot that is guessable from the start. The characters apart from Jamal are incredibly under developed as we get no insight to anything about Salim or Latika apart from when the movie needs them to do something. We never truly see the world from their eyes which differs from how we see it from Jamals. India is not stereotyped however but more represented correctly. The hustle and bustle of everyday India is clear throughout the film.
ReplyDeleteHowever the idea that the film is just a romantic drama isn't correct as it is much more than that. The fast paced action scenes and edge of seat moments that feature throughout the film are alien to the romantic drama genre and not something that appear very often. The dialogue throughout is quite sharp and progressive rather than generic romantic drama dialogues. Theres a clear lack of love ridden dialogues in the film till the the last scene. Slumdog on the whole is generic in some senses but also quite different in others.
I agree that when all the editing, the charm of an Indian setting and the dramatic appeal of the game show are removed, the narrative is typical of a romantic drama. Jamal falls for his first love as a child, extraneous events tear them apart, then he spends years chasing to find her again whilst she makes little effort to do the same. This generic structure can be applied to almost all romantic drama films and summarises the narrative of Slumdog Millionaire.
ReplyDeleteAs for the characters, they all follow generic roles such as Latika the princess, Jamal the hero and Salim the villain. Although the characters are given dimension through their backgrounds, their typical role corresponds with the generic narrative to create a sense of familiarity as these exact elements run through almost all romantic dramas.
The structure of this film may be a generic romantic drama but it shows us what it is like in the area the main protagonists grew up in and so it gives us information and an insite to what it is like to live in the slums. it also gives us more on the characters as we see them grow up in each time line so the characters are not as simple as the generic characters in another romantic drama as we rarely get to see an insite into the past of those character in as much depth as in slumdog millionaire.
ReplyDeletealthough i feel that slumdog milionare performs the complete opposite of a linear narrative and uses conventions such as flashbacks to portray a refreshing narrative to an extraordinary story, i do agree with the idea that the 'fancy editing' and 'multiple plots unfolding' serves to cover 'a rather generic romantic drama,' as we could argue that if the editing and flashbacks were not used to full advantage and the film was told in a simple chronological order with nothing intervening in the typical linear narrative, the film would simply be a romantic drama.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the statement as I do not think the view of India it provides is stereotyped, rather, it provides an insight into the true lie of people living within the Slums. Therefore, it does have something important to say - it reveals the child exploitation that is happening as well as the deprivation that 'slumdogs' live in. Additionally, the film is a generic romantic drama but there are many more influences on the genre; one being Bollywood.
ReplyDeleteIn a way I agree with the statement because the main characters of the film are a young boy and girl who we can assume will end up together in the end, and the narrative is linear made more complex by combining 3 different timelines. Also, the plot of the film can be explained using Todorovs 5 stages and Propps character types. However even though the ending is conventional of the romantic drama genre, the way its discovered is unconventional in my opinion, as it leaves the audience asking questions throughout.
ReplyDeletei disagree with this as i believe they are multidimensional characters and we have to see the progression of Jamals life to get to the end point rather than a mundane story with one conflict. The structure its self coming back and from from the 3 narrative strands and flits between it breaks away from the norm of a romantic drama and we close in on the aspect of jamals journey of self discovery along side his search for Latika, rather than it living up to the expectation of just getting the girl, the story itself and the constant uncertainty of it not being quite over yet there will always be other hurdle that needs to be faced sets it apart from other romantic dramas with its level of complexity into the protagonists life.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, it is unfair to label the characters in Slumdog Millionaire as 2 dimensional, because they do have depth to them. For example, Jamal is more than just a 'hero' for saving Latika, he has been one all of his life for trying to get back to her and for the struggles he has faced. I think that a stereotypical representation of India, would include the sense of a busy place and this film does do that, however it shows the Slums and the Indian Mafia in a more realistic light, as we see the harsh realities through the more mobile cameras used.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with this comment, even though Slumdog millionaire may have a theme of romantic drama i don't feel as tough its portrayed in a generic way. The way the narratives structure of the film is used gives us a different insight into Jamals and Latikas relationship, you hardly see them together only in certain scenes . Also the representation of india is more realistic than
ReplyDeleteIn some ways, I'd agree and disagree with the statement. I'd agree with it, as chronologically, the film simply serves as a typical romantic genre. Jamal finds Latika, and falls in love with her, however loses her to a third party, in this case, another man. He then spends the remainder of the film searching for her, trying to find where she is, and trying to free her. In most romantic genre films, this is the same case. The hero of the film realises that the princess is 'too good to be true' and spend a huge bulk of the film trying to find her, and Slumdog Millionaire is no exception. The addition with the representation of India adds some variety to a typical romantic genre film.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I largely disagree with the statement. Despite the fact it includes similar conventions of the typical romantic drama genre, it is quite unique due to its bizarre narrative. The representation of india is used in someways like a character in the film, the constant changes to India ad the variety of India we see could be considered like a character developing. The poverty, wealthy and 'normal' side to India is always referenced, as well as the violence and utter chaos. Not many romantic drama's do this, the main storyline of them always revolve around the two main protagonists, and very rarely pay much attention to the background, but Slumdog Millionaire is unique, and not like the typical romantic drama.