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Happy New Year, everybody! After two wild and woolly years, we’re finally busting into a new calendar-year, and there’s a tingling feeling of fresh chances and new possibilities wafting through the air. Will COVID be in our rearview mirror by this year’s end? Will we finally start eating more quinoa and fewer cookies? Will our new life’s passion come exploding onto the scene this year? On January 1st, we all get to kick back and bask in the glory of these new possibilities. Is it a random day on the calendar? Sure. But new beginnings, even the artificial kind that only exists because of a calendar, are still a great time to take stock, make goals, and start new habits.
Slumdog Millionaire is an especially great way to capture this feeling of new possibilities because it’s all about the hope of building a new and better life. Although the movie is undoubtedly heartrending, it’s also deeply uplifting. In the film, the two main characters find salvation by some combination of fate and … gameshow winnings. And it’s honestly a pretty big bummer that this kind of long-shot prize money is the only way that the characters are able to find a way out of what is otherwise a pretty dangerous situation (especially for the female lead, Latika). BUT, I’m a big fan of metaphors, and to me the movie feels like a clever metaphor for good people finding new opportunities in life through hard work, good character, and a willingness to take on both big challenges and big risks.
The movie still underscores how unfair life is. The main characters are all people who face tragedy and exploitation, through precisely no fault of their own. But life then deals them some sweet cards and they find a way to safety and happiness in the end.
So all this raises a big and important question that all of us should consider – especially those of us fortunate enough to live in a society where the kinds of tragedies we see in the movie are less common. That question is, of course: Can money buy happiness? This question comes up again and again, and there have been quite a few studies trying to pin down an answer. Google turns back over 2 BILLION results if you search the phrase “can money buy happiness.” Clearly, this is a topic people care about.
It is a fascinating topic but … it does seem like the answer is kind of obvious. It’s the answer that, when you go to law school, they tell you is always the right answer to everything:
Yep – IT DEPENDS. If you are living paycheck to paycheck on a small income and are worried about where your next meal will come from or whether the next disaster will be the thing that forces you into homelessness, then … yeah. Money will buy you happiness. A windfall of money would free you from crippling stress, worry, and fear. It would allow you to build up some savings and maybe even purchase items you need to enjoy some new and fulfilling hobbies. All those things will cause an enormous uptick in your life satisfaction. If, on the other hand, you’re Scrooge McDuck and you get a big windfall of money, you genuinely might not even notice, let alone become happier.
In SlumDog Millionaire, the characters are certainly not Scrooge McDuck – they’re the first example. Actually – their situation is way more dire than that. Latika is held against her will and presumably forced to sleep with her captor. She’s facing horrible abuse. And the love of her life, Jamal, is not allowed to even see her. They are forcibly torn apart, and they each face bleak futures. For them, the money Jamal wins on the show means a way to safety and an opportunity for them to finally be together. The Beatles may have sung that money can’t buy me love, but uh … I don’t think they had Latika and Jamal in mind when they said that.
What a clueless, privileged, ignorant dope you’d look like if you said to Latika and Jamal: Oh, congratulations on all that money Jamal won, but … it won’t buy you happiness! Um, I think it just might. It probably literally saved their lives.
When people say money can’t buy happiness, surely (I hope) they’re not talking about people in extreme poverty or dangerous situations like in the movie. And of course it’s true that if you’re pretty stable and have your basic needs comfortably covered, but pine for some of the finer things in life, you probably need a reality check that attaining those things won’t equate to a meaningful jump in happiness. If you’re jonesing for a new car (after watching all those damn Lexus December to Remember commercials … grrrrrr), or maybe dreaming of a fancier home, a new set of dishes, or that new handbag, you have to remember that the little thrill you get from purchasing that new item is so, so fleeting.
For me, every time I fall into this trap of thinking a new thing will make me happier, I remember in a few short days that it’s all an illusion. I thought that new shirt would make me feel like a total badass but … it’s just a shirt. I thought that new set of sheets would make me feel like royalty and then … I’m only awake in it for a tiny bit before I fall asleep and have no idea what sheets I’m in.
Maybe Jamal and Latika will have to learn these lessons, too. But after the movie ends, we get to make up our own versions of what happens to the characters in their future. And for me, I imagine that they’ve caught wise to the ploys of marketing. I imagine that after all they’ve been through, they’re smart enough not to fritter their money, but instead use it to move somewhere safe and far away from the horrible men that held Latika against her will. I imagine them saying no to fancy houses, cars, and clothes, and instead focusing on chasing their dreams, maybe raising children, and living their lives happily and peacefully. Maybe Jamal finds a passion for painting and Latika becomes an advocate for women’s rights. What do you think happens to them?
In any event, here’s hoping that your 2021 closed with a happy ending and that your 2022 is full of joyful new beginnings.