Although the setting of Slumdog Millionaire by Danny Boyle and A Girl Walks Home Alone by Ana Lily Amirpour are different, they both use the narrative styles and symbolism to present the common theme: the destiny, which can be shaped by choices and actions.
Jamal Malik in Slumdog Millionaire is a boy growing up in the Muslim slums. On the day when escaping from the Hindu rioters who brutally killed his mother just because of the religious difference, Jamal accidentally met Latika. Driven by the compassion, he said to that lonely little girl “Let’s run!”, “Come with us”, and then offered her a shelter in an empty container at a hardly raining night despite his elder brother Salim’s opposition. Latika started to become Jamal’s destiny that
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Unlike other bloodthirsty predators, she set her own code of ethics for her aim. Her targets are the drug dealer and pimp Saeed, the prostitute and drug addict Hossein. Besides feeding on the bad dudes, she also focused on the ones that seem to be the prospective good guys. For example, she followed a beggar boy (0:35:35), barred him from coming home, kept asking him, “Are you a good boy?”. Then she showed her fangs to frighten him and said, “Till the end of your life, I’ll be watching you. Be a good boy!”. She created her own way to live a vampire’s life and made choices of her justice-driven actions. One night, she met Arash in Dracula costume when he was staring at one of the street lamps due to getting lost after taking a drug in a party. Their relationship started when he felt her coldness and tried to warm her by embracing her in his cape. Then, she took him to her home by using her skateboard. If Latika is Jamal’s destiny, we can say Arash is The Girl’s destiny. During the scene at her house, Arash stayed behind her, she turned back, stared at his eyes and then his neck. She approached his neck as if she was going to suck his blood. However, she leaned her face against his chest instead (0:54:00). Her choice developed their relationship and shaped her destiny later on when she decided to leave the Bad City with Arash to start a new life. The …show more content…
In Slumdog Millionaire, the color yellow, the color of sunshine, in some element of Latika’s clothing symbolizes the deeper meaning of Jamal’s destiny. When he was thinking of her during the game show, the image of Latika in his mind was a beautiful girl in a yellow tunic, the bright color that stands out amongst the crowds in the bustling railway station. Additionally, during the last scene of the film, she wore a shining yellow scarf when they finally reunited after the twists and turns of life. In India, the color yellow represents the happiness, it implies that the destiny Jamal created is the happiness of being with the girl he loved. She is the brilliant sunshine in his impoverished and tragic life and a motivation force driving him to choose the paths and actions to take in order to get his destiny. In A Girl Walks Home Alone, the chador of The Girl is used to enhance the theme of destiny. When she was riding her skateboard in a deserted street of Bad City at night, her chador was billowed behind her like the cape of a superhero, and also like the wings. Wings are associated with the power and freedom. The Girl’s chador of indicates her freedom and power in shaping her destiny by choices and