Power In Slumdog Millionaire

Throughout history, from the expansion of the Romans by military means into the surrounding countries in 150AD to the colonisation of the America’s in 1942 to the introduction of the English to Australia in 1788, the introduction of a new, more advanced culture has the same resulting change to the indigenous people and their culture – suppression. This idea of colonisers wielding having power over the natives is a common one throughout history and continues to be true now, when Western influence is exerted across many less-developed nations, including India. Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle and produced in 2008, is a story that has two parallel cultures, Indian and Western, and the balance of power between them is quite clear. Through
Inside the studio of the game show, there are equal shots of the people (the host and Jamal) and the equipment and cameras surrounding them. However, Jamal and host are nearly always shown in shots where they are heavily framed, ‘boxed in’ or ‘trapped’ by the cameras and technology. This leads to the focus of the scene being not on the people in it, but equipment around them and thus the operators of this equipment – the West. Having the focus directed constantly towards the West and its inanimate objects shows how the power in the scene belongs to the West. When Jamal first enters the studio, a birds-eye shot of the studio shows him entering a giant circle of cables and metal poles. This birds-eye angle constructs the stage as a cage or large eye – a place where Jamal and the host are trapped and put on display for the amusement of others. These ‘others’ refer to the creators of this cage – the West, and this reinforces in the viewer how Westerners are the ones that hold the power in this scene. Furthermore, the birds-eye shot depicts Jamal and the host as tiny and insignificant – swallowed by the enormous eye of the stage – further emphasising the disregard the West has for the individuals who they see as below them and fit only for entertainment. All the camera shots in the studio are steady and shot flat, with no tilt or jerky
The repeated use of guns is one such example of this. Guns, throughout history, have always signified power and more often than not, have been used by Westerners to exert influence over others – think of the colonisation of the New World, the taming of ‘savages’, even the killing of wild beasts. Guns have always been a way to maintain Western superiority and this continues throughout Slumdog Millionaire through the use of guns as a representation of Western power. In the scene when Jamal and Salim are attempting to rescue Latika and Maman finds them trying to escape, immediately the power is constructed as being with Maman. This is constructed through framing, dialogue (‘never forget a face I own’), camera angles that look down on Salim, Jamal and Latika and up at Maman and through traditional power balances between the older (Maman) and younger (Salim, Latika and Jamal). However, as soon as Salim pulls out the gun, this old balance of power collapses and a new one takes its place. The power shifts away from Maman and to Salim, but it is really the gun, not Salim, that holds the power. As soon as the gun comes out, the camera angle immediately straightens, changing from being skewed to straight – which signifies the arrival of the West, in the form of the gun. The gun then remains the focus of the shots and Salim holds it straight out