Mimicking Bollywood in Slumdog Millionaire: Global Hollywood's Newest Co-Optation of Culture. (January 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cox, Nicole B.; Proffitt, Jennifer M.
• Is Part Of: Journal of communication inquiry. Volume 38:Number 1(2014:Jan.)
• Page Start: 44
• Page End: 61
• Publication Date: 2014-01
• Subjects: film -- cinema -- political economy -- critical communication studies -- media -- economics; Communication -- Periodicals; Questioning -- Periodicals; Inquiry (Theory of knowledge) -- Periodicals; Communication -- Périodiques; Recherche (Théorie de la connaissance) -- Périodiques; 302.205
• DOI: 10.1177/0196859913512868
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0196-8599

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.