Draft 1:
Outline
1. Presentation of relevant background, including other
research, related to your project
In order to better understand how social inclusion heightens
the cruelty and darkness of social exclusion by contrasting, it is necessary to
have a rough concept about what are the origin and development of social exclusion
and inclusion. What’s more, knowing the background of Mumbai slum also plays an
important role in enhancing the understanding about of I will mainly focus on
later.
Social exclusion first originated in the 1970s in France to
describe those people who live on the margin of the society without the access
to some social institutions, such as education, health care, social insurance
and so on. Then in the early 1980s, the term social exclusion was used to refer
to those social problems, which occurred during the economic crises. Later, the
term social exclusion spread over the whole Europe fast. In 1989, In order to
fight against social exclusion, European Commission put forward a new concept
“social inclusion,” which was regarded as the obverse of social exclusion. Social
inclusion referred to reduce marginalized groups like disabled people, old
people, abused children and so on. Room (1995) stated that, “social exclusion
is now written into the Maastricht Treaty and is an objective for the European
structural funds (1).”
Mahmud (2010) stated that, “set in Dharavi, the infamous
slum of Mumbai, Slumdog Millionaire is an acerbic snapshot of law and
illegality tangled in a brutal drama of power and resistance in the life of
slum- dwellers (3).” Because of the dense population in Mumbai, “more than
twenty million citizens cram into 169 square miles, with population density
exceeding one million per square mile in some parts of the city (Murphy,
2010).” The slum in Mumbai is a smudgy crack of society, which is full of
crime, poverty, filth and so on. People who live in the slum don’t have the
access to major social institutions like physical security and public health.
They stand “condemned to the world of the excluded, the redundant, the
dispensable, having nothing to lose, not even the chains of wage-slavery
(Sanyal, 2007).”
2. Discussion of the relevance/importance of your focus to
(identify the “problem” or gap in knowledge that your research will provide
more information about)
Alan Walker and Carol Walker (1997) consider social
exclusion as a dynamic process of being fully shut out from the social,
economic, political and cultural systems (8). Maxwell (1998) defines social
exclusion as "the process through which individuals or groups are wholly
or partially excluded from full participation in the society in which they live
(2)." Haan (1998) put forward similar view that although social exclusion
can be defined as a state or a situation, it is more inclined to processes, to
the way by which people are excluded (13). While Hillary (1994) stated that
social rights of citizens had the foremost relation with social exclusion
(566). Bhalla and Lapeyre (1997) argued that social exclusion happened when
citizens could not have their social rights of participating in the major
social institutions such as health care, education, and so on (415).
In short, while some scholars discuss full participation in
society is the essential element of social exclusion, and others discuss other
elements, such as citizenship, social rights and social relationship are the
essential elements of social exclusion. In my perspective, the definition of
social exclusion should include full participation in society, social rights,
and social relationship.
Pradhan
(2006) stated that social exclusion and inclusion “are considered obverse of
each other, like two sides of a coin (9).” O'Reilly (2006) argued that social
exclusion and inclusion were the “extreme poles (84).” While Cameron (2006)
claimed that the concepts of exclusion and inclusion were asymmetrical (401).
my
argument is that the relationship between these two terms is symmetric to some
extent, and inclusion can better illustrate exclusion as light and shadow. In
order to contrast inclusion and exclusion, there must be an obverse of each
other. My research will mainly focus attention on the symmetry of these two
concepts.
While some scholars emphasize that social
exclusion and inclusion are opposite concepts, and others emphasize the their
relationship is asymmetric. I will focus on that there is no asymmetric or
symmetric relationship between social inclusion and exclusion.
3. Clear statement of a research question to focus your
analysis=what the analysis will show
I will focus on
the relationship between social inclusion and social exclusion. Brief moments
of inclusion in Slumdog Millionaire make Jamal’s exclusion more obvious and profound.
Inclusion is the contrast of exclusion
as the brightness of light can heighten the darkness of shadow.
4. Clear identification
& explanation of methods to conduct your research
Using literary analysis and movie analysis,
I will study how inclusion can better illustrate exclusion in Slumdog
Millionaire.
5. Presentation
and analysis of data or information (see requirements for short analysis essay)
Here
is the first instance of the contrast of inclusion and exclusion in Slumdog
Millionaire. When Jamal and Salim flee to the dim train carriage and spend
several days in hiding, the Sikh family sits comfortably in a large carriage.
The first scene in the former carriage is a flock of old men with muddy and
glassy eyes. They lay on the ground in disorder. This carriage is very crowded
with no place to stand. It is dim, sticky, and dirty. Jamal and Salim can only
sleep on the sacks. While in the latter carriage, we can see a variety of
cooking tools, half-eaten apple, and a bounty of fresh vegetables fruits.
People eat food with tableware fastidiously. The carriage is large, bright, and
clean with comfortable seat. These two carriages are like two completely
different worlds; one is full of rotten smell of death, the other is leisurely,
joyful and hopeful. The second carriage’s inclusion contrasts the first
carriage’s exclusion and also heightens its darkness and cruelty.
Here is the second instance of the contrast of inclusion and
exclusion in Slumdog Millionaire. Taj Mahal consists palace, bell tower,
steeple, pools and so on. The elegant fountain spurted water into the air
continuously. All of the buildings are made from pure white marble, glass, and inlaid
by onyx mosaic. The pool, bordered by palm trees, is full
of clear baby blue water. The avenue extending forwardly is spotlessly. Constant stream of visitors makes it become particularly lively.
Visitors scramble for taking picture with it
on the delicate stone bench. In contrast, Jamal can’t even find a house to sleep. He lives in the
forest near the river, which is full of muddy water. The place is very dirty,
dark, quiet and remote. In this sense, the lively Taj
Mahal contrasts the quiet forest; its clean pool water contrasts the dirty and
muddy river water; its elegant and noble style of buildings contrasts Jamal’s
unsettled lifestyle. Jamal’s exclusion is more obvious and miserable under the
contrast of the inclusion of Taj Mahal.
Here is the third instance of the contrast of inclusion and
exclusion in Slumdog Millionaire. The palatial villa with a beautiful garden is
amid the squalor of the slums.
The big iron gate is used to be a security measure. The porter is
monitoring the outside situation all the time. In the villa, delicate crafts
can be seen everywhere. The living room is bright, clean, capacious with three
comfortable sofas, and two luxurious carpets. The kitchen is also well decorated.
The large refrigerator is full of various food materials. The television opens
all the day. While Jamal lives in a small and messy house. The room is bare of
furniture. The empty bottles of beer are thrown everywhere on the ground. The
house is very dark with on light. Jamal sleeps on the ground. The strong contrast between the palatial villa
and Jamal’s house makes audience better understand Jamal’s hard life environment.
6. Discussion
of findings
In Slumdog Millionaire, Jamal’s changeable and bad life environments
are used to contrast other environments, which are accepted by the society. I
have noticed that if the director didn’t describe the detailed portrays of
those great environments such as comfortable carriage, magnificent Taj Mahal, and palatial
villa, Jamal’s terrible and cruel life environments cannot be so apparent to
audience. In another word, it is the strong contrast between other great
environments and Jamal’s life environments that makes his marginalization more
obvious and pitiful.
7. Conclusions
that connect findings to the research question
Therefore, we can assume that the role of the brief moments
of inclusion in Slumdog Millionaire is to heighten the cruelty, darkness and tragedy
of Jamal’s exclusion.
