Week 12 Reading Diary: Sita Sings the Blues

This week I watched the first half of Sita Sings the Blues.

I'm not a huge fan of this movie so far. The intro was pretty confusing. I know that Laksmi and Vishnu were two of the people portrayed. I'm not sure who the others were, especially the guy with six spinning heads. There are three versions of the story you get:  Sita sings about what's happening, three narrators talk about the story, and a modern-day version of the story is shown.

When Sita sings, the style of music doesn't really fit the style of art or the rest of the film well. You don't really think of jazzy blues when you're watching a film highly influenced by Indian art. The art used when Sita sings is also interesting. Sita's waist is itty bitty, while her boobs and butt are huge. This reminds me of something I read in another version of the Ramayana (I think Buck's, but I'm not sure). That author said Sita's waist was so small Rama could wrap one hand all the way around it. Rama is this huge, handsome muscle man, which goes against how I've always envisioned him.

The narrators ramble on about the story in a way that makes you think they have no clue what they're talking about. They even say Ravana did nothing bad except capture Sita. I'm not sure if the creator of this film intended to do this or not.

Then there's the modern-day couple. When they first came on screen I was very confused. As the movie has gone on, I realize it's a retelling of part of Rama and Sita's story.

Week 10 Reading Diary B

Kshatriya is a caste

They formed their troops in the shapes of animals, one animal was chosen by one side and the other side would form an animal that would eat it

Duryodhana told his brother Bhishma to off himself just so Karna would join the fight

I’m still confused as to who’s who

The author’s notes are very helpful, especially since I haven’t done all of the readings

Bhima defended himself with horse legs

Bhima ripped Dussasana’s hand off like it was nothing, then sucked all of the blood out of his body

Duryodhana has the power and desire to hide at the bottom of a lake

Gandari curses Krishna to die alone after all of his kinsmen

Storytelling options on pages 180, 181

“I do not want to be called a Kshatriya if slaughter alone is the rule of life”—Yudhistira page 181

“Religious activities, pleasure, enjoyment, and every fulfilment of life proceed from wealth…. It is from fighting that glory is earned and from glory proceed all the good things of life…. We can never see wealth acquired without some harm or injury to others.”—Arjuna page 182

Arjuna is aware of microorganisms

Week 9 Storytelling: Satisfying Agni

I am Agni, God of Fire. Like everybody, I get hungry sometimes. Unlike most people, though, I can’t just decide to kill something and eat it. No. I can only eat those creatures that lose their lives in a fire I do not start. Most people don’t intend to start fires, though. So I don’t get to eat too often. 

Not too long ago I had grown quite hungry. It had been several months since any fires that claimed lives had been set. 

A man named Arjuna heard of this. He desired to win my favor, so he set out to start a fire. “How should I go about properly satisfying Agni?” he asked himself out loud. “No ordinary fire will do. I must get him plenty to eat!”

He went on talking to himself for quite a while before he settled on setting the Khandava Forest aflame. “The Khandava Forest is so big and full of life. All of the animals in there shall do!”

So he went to the edge of the forest. “How can I make sure that all of the animals go to Agni? And how can I make sure no men or women in there die?” he wondered to himself. “I know! I’ll cast a spell over the forest trapping in all of the creatures except for humans!”

Forest Fire Source

He cast a spell blocking off all of the exits to the forest. Only humans could cross the barrier. Then, he set fire to the forest. 

The trees went up in flames. The smoke billowed into the sky and could be seen hundreds of miles away. Animals and hermits rushed to the edges of the forest, but only the men could get through. 

All of the animals were trapped inside and eaten up by the fire. They went to nourish me. Oh, there were so many of them! Thousands of little squirrels and opossums and deer! I could barely eat them all!

At the end of the fire, all of the lives in the forest had been consumed. I was so full! I can’t remember a time when I was more satisfied!

Now it will be quite a while before I hunger again. 

To show my gratitude towards Arjuna, I blessed him with gifts. I gave him the great bow Gandiva and a quiver that never runs out of arrows. This has made him nearly unconquerable to his enemies.

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Author’s note:  This story was inspired by Narayan’s 1978 version of the Mahabharata. I’m not a huge fan of the moral of this story, but I couldn’t think of a way to change it without changing the story too much. The situation that plays out here reminds me of the meat industry in this country. People want to eat lots of meat as long as they don’t kill it themselves. I thought about telling a modern-day version in this setting, but couldn’t think of a good reward for the meat producers.