Clemence D.

I found White Tiger a great film that kept me at the edge of my seat. I found myself at once offended, amused, empathetic, and disgusted within the first 10 minutes of the film. What I really enjoyed about the film is that it deviated from what we (read: western) would "traditionally" expect from an "indian" film- no bollywood style dance scene or boy-girl love story. It is about the life of a lower caste man in Indian who is trying to break free from socioeconomic norms on his own terms. The story is also narrated in his own voice which makes the story even more so powerful. I also commend the author for pushing the audience's perception of what it is to be a protagonist; what is moral versus immoral, etc. At the same time, there were elements in the film that felt flat and/or didn't make sense such as the geopolitical commentary about the future of the brown and yellow skinned man in the backdrop of the film which didn't mesh well with the plot or the use of hip pop music at the beginning and end of the film which was puzzling to me. Overall though I found the film very entertaining and definitely kept me thinking after the film

While I found the show entertaining, it is nothing more than a telenovela with english-speaking characters. It's full of scandals, mischief, romance (including the unrequited kind), gossip, and lots of sex. It's also a story we've heard before - basically the plight of women in high society whose faith is tied up to whom they are able to secure as their future husband. Class, gender, and societal norms (for both the men and women) bound the characters to their fates. Some chose to go against these norms and others choose not to or simply cannot. For sure it makes for an entertaining show but there's nothing groundbreaking here. The only peculiar aspect of the show is that there are black characters. It's not until 4 or 5 episodes later that we find out why but really the show doesn't dwell on it. It falls in the background and class and gender take center stage. I found Simon and Daphne's love story so annoying  and a bit of a stretch (he rather risk death rather than bear children because of his hate for his dad?)- such a telenovela! The real protagonist here is Siena who chooses self over some goofball who treats her less than she deserves. Honestly I don't understand the hype around this show but okay...