In her recent UK Times piece, Alice Miles calls Slumdog Millionaire "Poverty Porn" and yesterday guests on NPR's Talk of the Nation discussed whether these types of films exploit, distort or glorify the poorest people on the planet.
Apparently, tours of Mumbai slums are experiencing a boon since Slumdog Millionaire won eight Academy Awards -- more evidence that this film created an emotional connection between Western audiences and the characters it depicts.
Whether the film is exploitative or educational, what really matters is that this film has focused attention on the poverty that's so prevalent in this part of the world. This creates a unique opportunity to leverage the extraordinary success of this Best Picture winner into action -- to help improve the living conditions of the world's urban poor.
Can this feel-good movie of the year also end up doing good? Popular culture has proved an awesome agent of change throughout history -- from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and labor reform to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and global warming, media can shock, educate and, yes, even entertain people into taking action for a compelling cause.
OneWorld Health launched a campaign the day after the Academy Awards, with the goal of challenging Americans to channel their enthusiasm and energy for Slumdog Millionaire into supporting nonprofit organizations like ours that help the millions who die from curable diseases.
"Poverty Porn" is catchy, and if that's the way some want to frame continued Western interest in Slumdog Millionaire, let's have that conversation ... as long as it ends with a call for meaningful action and involves writing checks to help improve living conditions for the world's poor.
In 1991 I spent several weeks shooting a Filipino movie called Umiyak Pati Langit in slums that were every bit as desperate as the ones in Mumbai. What struck me, and has stayed with me, is the degree to which people living in such conditions manage to maintain their dignity. People do laugh; children do play; life does go on. I remember being struck when we were filming overnight scenes that kept us going until daylight when we would see wave after wave of "slumdwellers" leave for the day, fresh-washed children in school uniforms, young girls dressed in uniforms of department store workers; young men in barong tagalog carrying their briefcase. It was shocking, tragic -- yet also inspiring and a reminder of the strength of the human spirit. Slumdog gave me that same feeling, and that's not porn.
no skills ,no education , no resources. However they may come with those, what is the responsibility of powerful country and the political parties of each countries. but there are countries has good approach for this problem and some of them cant be change there attitude because of varies reason those people need empathy of look after them.