Using Slumdog Millionaire to Fight Slavery and Human Trafficking
I've got to be one of the last people to see Slumdog Millionaire, having only gone to see it this past week. Pretty much everyone I know has seen it, and as you might expect, all my friends know the work we do in human trafficking. I also read almost any blog post or news story that Google can find on trafficking or slavery, so I have a pretty good sense of what is going on. So while I knew that the movie had some trafficking it it, I was really surprised how strongly it was featured in the movie.
Obviously the film is not about trafficking, it just uses trafficking as part of its Dickensian landscape. But why did none of my friends tell me "you have to see this because it includes a lot about trafficking" and why is no one that I can find is trying to use the film to raise awareness about trafficking? It seems like this should be a great opportunity to capitalize on its success to raise a little awareness.
As I demonstrated in a prior blog post, the Lifetime film Human Trafficking was one of the single most important tools in raising awareness. So we know film can be a big help to the issue. We also know we can lose opportunities very quickly. The film Born into Brothels completely missed the opportunity to highlight trafficking and the anti-trafficking community still talks with annoyance about that missed opportunity.
Are we missing another great opportunity? After all, Slumdog shows two forms of slavery, trafficking for begging and sex trafficking. Ok, the film is not horribly realistic (child beggars lead much worse lives, and there is no way a trafficker is going to save someone's virginity until she is in her late teens - that girl would have been sold at 7 years old). But that’s not the point, it’s a great opportunity to start discussions, to let people know that this is not poverty porn (as some have accused) and that the slavery in the film is a reality for millions. More importantly, we can let people know that they can help end this kind of slavery.
So how do we capitalize on Slumdog's success?
Thanks Lars, For me
Submitted by John Berger on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 20:19.Thanks Lars,
For me the film was not as much about wealth as a way out as it was a celebration of the scrappy Indian spirit. The money was kind of fantasy, and the idea that anyone gets out of the slums is pretty much fantasy. But the 'work hard make something from nothing' spirit is something you see everywhere in the slums. Its really quite amazing how they build their houses and use and reuse everything.
I don’t want to get too deep into the Born into Bothels back-story, but those kids were part of a program run by an anti-trafficking shelter (one of our partners) so I think there was a really good opportunity to use the film to help promote their work.
You are very right about the trust game, it is a common tool used by traffickers. False marriage for example is common. "I will marry your daughter because I love her and you don’t have to pay me a dowry" is a simple trust game, value proposition that has resulted in millions of girls getting trafficked in India.
As per the age, the youngest rescued girl I have personally met was 7, meaning she was trafficked much younger. Ive met many 12-13 year olds in our partner shelters, again meaning they were trafficked before then.
slumdog, trafficking and poverty
Submitted by lhtorres (not verified) on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 17:48.what seems to be an important point in slumdog millionaire is that wealth is the way out - of poverty, trafficking, oppression. this is the modern parable that is both a blessing and a curse. until humans can unpack and deal with the reality that a lack of economic choice amounts to bondage in the world we've created, we're a bit stuck - souls being poured into poverty (and its commensurate ills eg trafficking) and some souls being poured out. it'll take something really big to change the equation.
more important than slumdog millionaire (an escape fantasy - money or death) for today's conversation is the global economic recession. womens jobs are vulnerable, and as more are thrown out of them, their choices will become both more limited and more desperate.
i can't speak to when a girl would be thrown into slavery in india, nor how long "cherry" had been working as a sex slave before she was set free, but what seemed most plausible from my limited experience in such things is the trust game. in an absence of security, trust is a powerful drug. the sense of security in someone we think has our interests at stake, who then uses that "power" over us. it was interesting how this was played out at the childhood level (between the brothers), the adult-child level (the beggar-trafficker and the children) and the adult-adult level (the contestant and the host) - among others. but this central dynamic is one that feeds much of the trafficking world, and is inescapable. what is needed in these cases are choices - the choice to walk away because a greater security lies elsewhere, and confidence in one's capacity to access that other security.
of course, this is simplistic and there is much that is forced. but for what these films can do, each can bring to the viewer a lesson. I thought Born Into Brothels was an excellent film, and not sure it was duty-bound to speak to the trafficking community's expectations. What it demonstrated is how complex and circumbound these children's lives are, and yet - like many children in poverty here in the US who puncture through the membrane of an insular world - how full of ambition and eagerness for learning they remain - and that curiosity can be a ladder out. The injustices of their trafficked parents and family members left the tension of their futures in the balance unspoken, yet palpable.
A few thoughts. Thanks for inviting the conversation, John!