Comparison of Slumdog Millionarie & Somers town

Slumdog Millionaire
Cast:
Dev Patel: Jamal K MaliK

Fredia Pinto: Latika

This film is directed by Danny Boyle & Loveleen Tandan( co-director:India). Slumdog millionaire is a film about an Indian boy who grew up in the slums & becomes a contestant on the Indian Version of "Who wants to be a millionaire?" . He is arrested in suspicion of cheating while being interrogated. Events from his life history are shown which explains how he knows all the answers. Therefore, slumdog millionaire is not entirely seen as a British film as it set & filmed in India . Also, the film was an adaptation of a novel written by Vikas Swarup. Slumdog millionaire was distributed by Pathe Pictures international, Fox searched light pictures who teamed up with Warner Bros.

Somers Town
Somers town was distributed by 'Film Movement' & directed by Shane Meadows. This film was funded by EuroStar. This film is about 2 boys, both newcomers in London, forge an unlikely friendship over the course of summer. The boys are both infatuated with the same girl & pass their day bickering over which one of them she loves the most. A black & white study of a social environment in London.

New blog

I have created a new blog for our practical project for examiners & teachers to see how we have developed as a group. So, my new blog will have all my practical work & i'll use this blog to post my work that i have done at class or for homework.

Representing Contemoprary Britain

This article considers the ways in which British Cinema has represented the perspectives& experiences of those dwelling in contemporary Britain. This article has detailed information on sexuality, class, men, women & ethnicity.

Sexuality: Although sexual desires is a persistent theme in british cinema, it is usually dealt in a manner that is 'over flippant'.Whereas, other films that push the boundry of sexual frankness such as The Principles of Lust(2003) sexual desire is potrayed as fundamentally self- destructive or seen as wrong.

Class: A poll carried put by the Guardian newspaper in 2007 shows that 'ten years of Labour rule has apparently failed to create a classless society'. Films such as Atonement are constructed upon problematic relationahips between characters postioned differently on the social scale. Notingham Hill also positions its middle class characters with in an area of the capital economy commonly associate with ethnic & social diversity.

Men: British films are still dominated by narrative of male experience. but there has been non-masculine 'performance' as part of the stragery of improvement. Films such as The Full Monty, Billy Elliot show the impact of these types of films in society. Films such as Goodbye Charlie Bright(2001), The Football Factory & the buissness have proven to be more capable for giving the message about the contemporary pressure upon working class men than the films of other 'respectable' socially commited directors. In family films such as Harry Potter series, Strombreaker(2006) etc, young actors act as young heroes targetting audience in saving the world.

Women: Male dominated films far outnumber those told from the female perspective. Historic films such as Elizabeth & Charlotte Gray have been praised & celebrated for the role played by women.Recurring Scenarios of men dominated films have occassionally been answerd by 'female equivalents'. E.g the narrative of collective male endeavour is echoed by stories of self-empowerment in school for seduction, calender girls etc.Whereas, Beautiful creatures(2000)& High heels& low lives(2001) offer a glossily femanist spin on the buddy' movie, the ganster film & the caper movie. There has been an increse in the no of female directors entering the british film industry who could possible change the face of British films.

Ethnicity: British films have failed to represent all ethnic minorities. Its only after year 2000 that british films have focused on other ethnic minorities. in recent years,British Asian narrative films, characters have been most successful in british cinema such as Bend It Like Beckham, East is East etc.

Media, Pleasure & Identity

The Meaning of Meaningless
There is a theory on diasporic audience & studies which 'explores how dispersed global audiences use media to maintain connections with distant radical, ethnic, religion or national homelands'. Socialogical escapism refers to forensic use of media to dissect social importance.The writer says ' what it would feel like to live in a world where we could be whatever we wanted to be' to explain this terminology. On the other hand, psychological escapism refers to aspects of the personality largerly affceted by the social setting.The writer concludes that watching moreTV has a effect on the interset you have in what life means.
Healey& Ross's(2000) show exploration of older television viewers show how such audiences indeed 'use' media to articulate what it means to be vennerable.In conclusion, this article shows how people use media such as TV to escape from the 'real world'.

Observer Film Quarterly- Richard Curtis

This article is about the film maker Richard Curtis & how his films such as Four Weddings are somehow related to politics. This article also shows his success as a film maker with movies such as Four weddings(1994), Mr Bean (1997), Notting Hill (1999), Bridget Jones(2001) & Love Actually(2003).
Four Weddings (1994) was seen as an optimistic & insatiable film which brought a new approach to his films.It was a very different british film as it was neither a 'kitchen sink drama' or 'carry-on smutty'.The movie had rich, educated middle class characters. This movie was released just after the death of John Smith from New Labour which created a new mood in britain, a sense that things will get better.But his recent film The Boat That Rocked was seen as 'College skit & big-budget disasters by the film reviewers but once again Curtis captires the political Zeitgeist.

Cover work

Folk Devil: Folk Devil is a person or group of people who are potrayed by the media as being deviant & outsiders. They are also blamed for socail problems & crimes.

Moral Panic: Moral Panic is the intense feeling expressed in a population about a specific group of people who appear ro be a threat to the social order.

HAPPY-GO-LUCKY presentation

Happy-Go-Lucky

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