Sita Sings the Blues
Jun. 11th, 2018 05:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerI want to know the creative process that resulted in Sita Sings the Blues. The end product is a joy and a delight, but nonetheless, how on earth did writer/director/producer Nina Paley come up with “I want to do an animated retelling of the Ramayana, with the heroine Sita singing songs by popular 1920s American singer Annette Hanshaw, interspersed with three shadow puppets providing commentary on the story and also scenes from my divorce”?
Actually, I’m not sure I do want to know. I’m envisioning Paley drinking champagne with a couple of friends while listening to Annette Hanshaw records and somehow... somehow as they got increasingly tipsy, this idea spilled out. This ought to be the reality even if it isn’t.
Odd as the combination seems, it’s totally delightful - even the divorce scenes, which I definitely thought would be the weakest link. (Paley sensibly gives this plot thread the least screen time, and sweetens the deal by including adorable cartoon cats.) Hanshaw’s songs fit strangely well with Sita’s story - as I commented to Julie, “Better than the songs in Mamma Mia, and the movie was actually built around those songs!” - and there’s something bizarrely wonderful about Sita singing a peppy 1920s ditty as her husband Rama destroys the palace of the man who abducted Sita.
However, I think my very favorite part of the movie where the three shadow puppets, who seem to be modern-day Indian fans discussing the story. It’s captured that dynamic of fans arguing about the source exactly, the discussions about complicated canon detail - in this case, the names (many of the characters have three or four names) the timeline, the historicity of the events (the Ramayana is probably about as historical as the Bible, they decide), and most of all the arguments about how to interpret the story.
I think my very favorite bit is when Hanuman the monkey prince flies over to the island of Lanka where Sita is being held captive, and then flies back to Ram after scouting around. “Why didn’t he fly her back and save all the trouble of storming the island?” I asked, and two seconds later, the shadow puppets are discussing this very question. Yes! This is the kind of high quality shadow puppet commentary that I want!
There’s a delightful variety of animation styles, too. The shadow puppets are actual shadow puppets, whose discussions are accompanied by Indian paintings of the Ramayana; the retelling itself, however, is in a brightly-colored style sort of like My Little Pony, while the divorce sections look reminiscent of a New Yorker cartoon.
It’s just a delight all around: so uniquely itself, always offering up new surprises. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Actually, I’m not sure I do want to know. I’m envisioning Paley drinking champagne with a couple of friends while listening to Annette Hanshaw records and somehow... somehow as they got increasingly tipsy, this idea spilled out. This ought to be the reality even if it isn’t.
Odd as the combination seems, it’s totally delightful - even the divorce scenes, which I definitely thought would be the weakest link. (Paley sensibly gives this plot thread the least screen time, and sweetens the deal by including adorable cartoon cats.) Hanshaw’s songs fit strangely well with Sita’s story - as I commented to Julie, “Better than the songs in Mamma Mia, and the movie was actually built around those songs!” - and there’s something bizarrely wonderful about Sita singing a peppy 1920s ditty as her husband Rama destroys the palace of the man who abducted Sita.
However, I think my very favorite part of the movie where the three shadow puppets, who seem to be modern-day Indian fans discussing the story. It’s captured that dynamic of fans arguing about the source exactly, the discussions about complicated canon detail - in this case, the names (many of the characters have three or four names) the timeline, the historicity of the events (the Ramayana is probably about as historical as the Bible, they decide), and most of all the arguments about how to interpret the story.
I think my very favorite bit is when Hanuman the monkey prince flies over to the island of Lanka where Sita is being held captive, and then flies back to Ram after scouting around. “Why didn’t he fly her back and save all the trouble of storming the island?” I asked, and two seconds later, the shadow puppets are discussing this very question. Yes! This is the kind of high quality shadow puppet commentary that I want!
There’s a delightful variety of animation styles, too. The shadow puppets are actual shadow puppets, whose discussions are accompanied by Indian paintings of the Ramayana; the retelling itself, however, is in a brightly-colored style sort of like My Little Pony, while the divorce sections look reminiscent of a New Yorker cartoon.
It’s just a delight all around: so uniquely itself, always offering up new surprises. I’ve never seen anything like it.
no subject
Date: 2018-06-12 01:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-06-12 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-06-12 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-06-12 03:51 pm (UTC)