Mimicking Bollywood in Slumdog Millionaire : Global Hollywood’s Newest Co-Optation of Culture

Abstract

In an age when mass media transcend geographic barriers, Slumdog Millionaire (SDM) represents a new type of film in the global media market—a seemingly Bollywood, although not technically Bollywood, production. As film-going provides a site for ideological and cultural production, this article examines SDM’s success as a product imitative of Bollywood film. Due to its recency, SDM has yet to be examined as a product that crosses both cultural and geographic boundaries with commercial ties to major Hollywood media conglomerates. Applying political economic theory, this research examines the reasons for Hollywood involvement in a film production that is mimetic of the Bollywood genre, in an attempt to better understand the global political economic factors that drive the film industry today.

Keywords

film cinema political economy critical communication studies media economics

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