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In this clip from Slumdog Millionaire, a Marxist view might be that the children are not only exploited, but they are victims in a capitalistic society where they suffer mentally and physically for their cheap labor at the hands of their oppressors. This suffering is more than just a basic class difference. The children are not only well below the poverty level, their thoughts and opinions are disregarded because of their age, therefore causing an even wider gap between them and the authority figures.
One could argue that, if in deed, there was nothing morally wrong with the idea that the children pan for things and beg tourists for money only to give it over to the higher authority (the orphan ring-master), their return payment for their prolific labor is balanced unequally. In being so young, the children are unable to enter into an amicable agreement that their payment in the form of food and shelter is in direct correlation to their labor value of spending entire days running around the streets of Mumbai begging for money.
In the end, when realizing that their lives are in danger because of what the men will do to them (gouging out their eyes in an effort to gain further sympathy from tourists – which only increases profits for the capitalists), the children revolt against the men and flee as a means of escape similar to other proletarians who rise up to fight for their rights.
Marx’s idea of dialectical materialism, in believing that "all change results from the constant conflict arising from oppositions inherent in all ideas," (648) is supported by this economic structure of the society in which these children live. Their world is shaped at the hands of the capitalists and by having the courage to run, the children have taken the first step toward changing their condition.
Works cited:
Karl Marx 1818-1883; Friedrich Engels 1820-1895; The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism
Leitch, New York, 2010, 2001 - p 648
Slumdog Millionaire, 2008
Dir. Danny Boyle
Perf. Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Rajendranath Zutshi
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