Slumdog Millionaire is a feature film that give us an in look of the slums in Mumbai, India. It shows the ups and downs of the slumdog Jamal Malik, his family and friends. The song Kerosene Kid by Jimmy Wayne fits into the lifestyle of the character. The character I have chosen to reflect on is Jamal because his characteristics were easier then most of the characters, and I am very intrigued by his character. The purpose of this assignment is to match lyrics from the song I have chosen to the film, picking details and examples to help for a better understanding.
Jamal is not wealthy, he is being raised in the slums and doesn't have much to live off. The first line of the song is "I know what it's like growin' up poor." This can relate to him because he is poor, and has been his whole life, he does as much as he can with his brother to make money. When Jamal's mother is killed him and his brother are taken in to work for a man who makes them go and bag for money from people in the city. Throughout his life, he is put to the test to meet his needs, from stealing from others and selling what he stole. This all leads to the game show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" where he is one question away from winning the show, he tells the host hes not in it for the money, but to see if someone is watching. How does a slum know these answers?
The chours of the song can be used to show many different views from the movie. "Just hold your head up and be proud kerosene kid, they don't understand everythin' we got is a gift." With this we could change the lyrics "kerosene kid" to slumdog, as throughout the movie Jamal is learning to accept who he is. He is proud of himself for overcoming everything he has gone through, and that he ended up on the game show. Towards the end of the movie, and woman stops him and asks him "Are you Jamal, from the game show?" she then begins to say "do us proud slumdog, go all the way and win it." Not only is Jamal proud of himself his community is also proud of him and will support him.
Going back to Jamal's childhood or when he was a teenager he never had the money to buy himself new things. He wore the same clothes until he found some he could steal. Washing was out of the question. The lyrics "Next morning at school in yesterdays clothes," is perfect for him when he went to school he always wore the same thing even if he wore it yesterday. Even after that he still wore the same thing, just because the lyric states school, does not mean we can apply it to anything because we can.
Jamal Malik is a slumdog, who somehow knows all the answers to the questions on a game show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire." How did he do it? At the beginning of the movie we are given four possible answers a. he cheated b. he is lucky c. he is a genius or d. it is written. Throughout the movie we are shown how he knows the answers and finally we know the truth. My purpose was to use lyrics from a song I chose to compare to parts of the movie. To answer the question we all have how did he do it, well the answer is d. it is written.
