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Rubina Ali, the adorable little girl from Slumdog Millionaire, is writing a book! About her life! Um, she is nine years old! From the AP:
Transworld Publishers said Rubina Ali’s book will tell the story of her life in the shantytown where she grew up.
They added: “It will be written in crayon, and it will be four pages long, because she is nine. Just kidding no one in Mumbai can afford crayons.”
Look, I want nothing but the best for the Slumdog Millionaire children, instead of nothing but the worst, which is what they are constantly getting, but perhaps the endemic problems of abject poverty that “inspired” the terrible movie, and from which the child stars continue to suffer, will not be solved by a 9-year-old’s ghostwritten rags-to-riches-to-rags memoir about how she went from a lifetime of suffering to SPOILER ALERT the Academy Awards and then SPOILER ALERT back to suffering. Just like how they weren’t solved by the brightly colored fairy tale music video about how magical poverty can be that was Slumdog Millionaire, winner of eight Academy Awards, including Best Achievement in Sound. Clearly exploiting this child for publicity has not been working out so great so far.
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Where is she living now? I mean they teared down her house, so wouldn’t she still be living in just a different shack? How does this book end? (I know. I always have questions, it’s because I’m a sponge.)
*tore down her house
Thank you. I was going to do that earlier.
Sorry! Actually that even made ME cringe.
I read that that nice Mr. Danny Boyle bought them flats because he cares.
Ok Gabe, do you seriously get swayed so easily by the hype machine that now you are calling Slumdog Millionaire “terrible”?
You definitely posted about loving it, back before it started appealing to the MTV audience.
You’re thinking of a different Gabe. Whose name is Lindsay.
I still don’t entirely get why you think this movie is terrible. Is it because it is inspired by the real life poverty that these children live in? If so that is like saying that the wrestler is terrible because it is kind of inspired the terrible life of mickey rourke. Would you have liked it more if it had ended with their homes being destroyed and a life of sadness for all the characters instead?
I’ve actually been really clear about why I think this movie is terrible in numerous posts. Because it aestheticizes poverty and uses it as a colorful backdrop for an unrealistic, and unimaginative fairy tale about a superficial “love” narrative. Because it’s basically an after-school-special made to appease middle-class Western audiences about their relative indifference to global poverty whose major contribution to easing the problems of the world is seeing this movie on a date. Because the producers of the movie made millions of dollars and padded their resumes with awards and accolades, while the cute “real” children they used for their “art” were sent back to live in horrifying squalor. And no, saying that this movie is terrible is not like saying The Wrestler is terrible, because The Wrestler isn’t terrible, it’s great, and what the fuck are you even talking about?
And I can’t say whether or not I would have liked it more if it had ended with their homes being destroyed and a life of sadness for all the characters instead, because if that was the ending it would just be A DIFFERENT MOVIE.
Not that you don’t make a ton of super valid points and really serious arguments, Buttface.
As a Slumdog-was-nothing-that-special-why-does-it-win-so-many-awards’er, I will never get tired of Gabe’s Slumdog Millionaire indignation.
(and yes, I did see it before the hype)
Every time I see a post about these kids I want to skip it and pretend it doesn’t exist because it makes me feel really sad. Also, I really liked the film. I fear I am the worst.
I’m still very confused about why these kids are still living in slums.