Slumdog Millionaire: The rhetoric of chance or sentimental management of inequalities in pulp fiction

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to reinterpret rhetorical inventions in global multimedia andrnto re-conceptualize the theoretical analysis of processes of sentimental representation of globalrninequalities, unfair terms of exchange and attempts to balance them ("Bollywood" of Mumbai vsrnHollywood of LA).rnDesign/methodology/approach - Philosophical and qualitative analysis of the rhetoric ofrncommunication forged by global power games and applied to symbolic strategies of resistance,rnwith a case study of a particular highly successful movie in global multimedia network, namelyrnSlumdog Millionaire, which had been coproduced jointly by professionals from the former "colonialrnpower" (the UK) and from the former "conquered colony" (India) in order to challenge the latestrnsuperpower (Hollywood and the USA).rnFindings - Yesterday's underdogs are talking back and winning the symbolic game ofrnmultimediated communications by inserting a new professionally shaped response to therninternational inequalities laid bare and exposed to a growing critique. However, the ironies of therninternational division of labor and local cultural contexts can turn "sweatshops" into "boudoirs"rnsubverting the rhetoric of Western domination. More Bollywood-like strategies are needed to redressrnthe imbalance.rnOriginality/value - Apart from the very specialist studies in the aesthetics of the film as an artrnform, this is the first attempt to demonstrate the common theme of resistance to the dominant rhetoricrnof multimedia industries on the level of coding symbolic meanings and disseminating them throughrnaesthetically successful cultural commodities by groups and regions "cast" in subordinate roles byrncultural industries.