Who Wants to be a Secret Slumdog Millionaire?
Travel Blog • Eva Holland • 02.09.09 | 12:53 PM ET
Uh oh. As we’ve noted, there’s been a slow-building anti-“Slumdog Millionaire” backlash—and the latest news should bring it into full bloom. According to E! Online, there’s a new, “Slumdog”-inspired reality TV series in the works. Tentatively titled “Secret Slumdog Millionaire,” the show will feature real, live rich folks going “undercover” in Mumbai’s slums, befriending the impoverished residents, and eventually—ta-da!—revealing their true identities before handing out wads of cash. Said a show insider: “The millionaires who sign up will see real poverty in Mumbai and it is going to be very moving when they reveal their identity and offer these people help.”
Right. Because nothing inspires gratitude in the desperately poor like hidden cameras, secret millionaires slumming in their midst, and advertising revenues that they’ll see only a fraction of. I’ve been inclined to defend the movie against charges of exploitation and voyeurism thus far—and it’s worth noting that the show and the movie are not affiliated in any way—but in this case, I’d say those labels fit the bill. (Via Get the Big Picture)
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previously.bitten 02.09.09 | 3:05 PM ET
While I recognize there may be something upsetting about people wanting to experience poverty when they themselves have money. But this is no different than tourists, people who research, or anythign else to that end. Certianly it’s on tv - but this may bring awareness. Bill Gates was turned around due to a chance happening, and now he’s helping thousands. There is potential here.
Eva Holland 02.09.09 | 3:43 PM ET
I think the televised aspect is the key difference here. These people will be televised without their knowledge, for the purpose of entertainment. The help is an afterthought, and will more than likely be overshadowed by the revenue made on the backs of unknowing poor people.
Faye-Linh 02.09.09 | 5:08 PM ET
why do people always look at something in a negative light even given their positive outcome. It may be great for us to sit and judge weather this is “exploitation”, “voyeurism”, or what ever, but we’re not changing any body’s life….at least the company that’s doing this does a number of things
1) educate viewers in how people survive, their culture/life in abject poverty, give them a wider perspective of the world
2) if it would mean one less horrendous, meaningless “reality-tv” out there then I’d be the more happy to support this one
3) Most Importantly, people lives are CHANGED forever because of it!!!!, I’ve seen a few shows of The Secret Millionaire in the US/UK? and that was touching, even as money in the US don’t carry you all that far….imagine how far a $1,000 can go in India, much less $20,000?!?!?!
I don’t watch TV but if there’s one show I would watch if I do, it would be this one, something with meaning and inspiration in it for once….God, I wish some millionaire had come to my village when I was young and give my family the much needed money!
Eva Holland 02.09.09 | 6:02 PM ET
But Faye-Linh, don’t nearly *all* reality TV shows claim to be helping people? Changing lives? And you yourself called them “horrendous” and “meaningless”.
Sure, American Idol is about discovering someone new and deserving, and making them a star. But realistically, most people tune in to watch people being publicly humiliated, and the show is geared accordingly. I’m all for helping Mumbai’s slum-dwellers, but the reality TV format always seems to subvert even the best of intentions into something very ugly.
Jeff Daniels 02.13.09 | 3:39 PM ET
Truly has to be one of the very best movies of the decade so far
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuepuSokn9M
Michael 02.13.09 | 4:20 PM ET
Read a excelelnt critique of Slumdog porn today at
http://thewhereblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/slumsrus.html
Slumdog is a watered-down version of the slumsploitation genre that grew popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, revealing the violent drag of Parisian banlieus, digging into the favelas of Rio and hovering over vecindades in the outskirts of Mexico City. Aside from the continental displacement (the sizzling streets of Mumbai and the swollen alleys of its informal appendix, Dharavi) the most notable shift is from the dominant dark undertone of the previous films to a cut-up, fast-track mode where darkness is reduced to “spice” and sideline for a puerile plot the masses can relate to: good guy vs. bad guys, rags to riches and love (and money, let’s not forget) conquers all.