Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues, Part A
Notes as I watch:
9:12 -- This animation style is hilarious, with the interpolation of realistic images onto the animation. The sexy nurse Kaikeyi got a giggle-snort out of me. Also, I love the narration. The narrators' unsureness with which they relate the story of Rama gives a pleasantly meta, relatable tone to the story as it is told. (I love metatexts! That's why I wrote the intrusion of myself as narrator into my last Storytelling assignment.)
14:35 -- I really enjoyed the Sinatra-esque song sequence. The song clashed tonally with the scene in a perfectly discordant way; despite their poverty and Rama's occupation killing demons, Sita sings happily about their love as they stand under a beautiful arch of blood spurting from demon corpses. I love absurdity! Satire! So good! (Sidenote: Where is Lakshmana?)
15:00 -- The contrasting animation styles of Nina and Dave with Rama and Sita give really good distance between their stories: the story of the modern couple anticipates the story of the ancient one, as Dave leaves Nina for India as the story of Ravana is introduced, as he is soon to abduct Sita and separate her from Rama.
17:40 -- I definitely do not remember the intestines-playing-an-instrument part. And Rama's bridge still exists!! In real life!! Also, the argument about pronouncing Soorpanaka's name is hilarious. Super meta and super funny. But not as funny as Soorpanaka's lotus-y description of Sita's features; that was hilarious.
22:36 -- The second song is a different kind of effective, since it starts uncomfortable with Ravana stalking Sita and ends really sad with her singing of how devoted to Rama she is as she is flown away from him. The following narration is funny as well, with the discussion of the contradiction with Sita's dropping the jewelry she did nor have. The comment not to challenge the story was funny.
27:33 -- I love the triumphant music accompanying the introduction of Hanuman and Rama. But the story of Vali and Sugreeva is completely omitted. Also, it's definitely sketchy that Dave never sent his girlfriend his phone number after being gone a month, and then immediately and very happily announces that he will be staying in India for another year. And Dave's "uhhhhs" are not a good look. Then, the narration scene where Sita says that Ravana's "ass is grass" was incredible, followed by the dramatic closeups on Ravana's face -- so funny! And the threat of cannibalism juxtaposes uncomfortably with Ravana's desire to bed Sita. Plus, her declaration of immense power is fun and an interesting aside which is not addressed in the Narayan version.
31:35 -- Hanuman's dancing to Sita's sad song is oddly funny, and it really underscores Hanuman's displacement from her circumstance as prisoner. His comical destruction of the city adds as he dances contributes to the weirdness. A good weirdness. But why didn't Hanuman just rescue Sita? He definitely could have--something that the narrators are quick to point out. (Also, all of Ravana's tongues are disgusting.)
36:07 -- Aw! Poor Nina, having to leave the cat behind. But she went to Dave, like Rama is about to go to Sita. And the discussion of the relative humanity of the monkeys with Hanuman is something I considered and wondered about when I read the text. And did they not build the bridge in the movie version? Also, throughout the musical number, I wondered: Are these original songs written and recorded for the movie, or are they old recordings repurposed for the movie? Probably not the latter, for copyright reasons. Anyway, the superhero "BAM" and "WHOMP" imposed on the screen during the battle scene are amazing.
39:40 -- Poor Nina, it seems like things have changed at the airport. And despite her best efforts to look sexy for her boyfriend, he totally ignores her. This anticipates Rama's testing Sita. The narrators then recount this, one of them saying that they can make up the reunion of Rama and Sita's reunion if they don't remember it. The dramatic eye contact montage that follows, with the slow-mo running toward each other accompanying it is super melodramatic, but the hard cut with Rama's suspicion is a nice satirical contrast. Then, the narrators continue to be brilliant, questioning the importance of purity and recognizing that Ravana went agains the expectation of a villain in his place in epic, not forcing himself on her. The merits of lauding someone for not raping someone else are discussed, as they should be. A woke part of this rendition, as it continues to pick at inconsistencies with interest and not blind ignorance.
42:55 -- During the song, when Rama boots Sita into the fire, that's a really on the nose way to present, essentially, what happened when he spurned Sita and made her undergo the test. Also, the image of her in the fire made me think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago from the Bible. And as Sita emerges from the fire with the gods at her back, I like the fear in Rama's eyes -- he's earned that (and not the immediate reconciliation, which I find odd).
43:16 -- "Whoops." -Rama
45:12 -- The reality of the rotary phone in the office was odd. And I think that Nina leaving Dave is interesting, as Rama and Sita do not separate after they are reunited.
48:08 -- Hanuman shielding Rama from the rain and letting Sita get wet is a funny way to underscore Rama's lack of chivalry at points in the Ramayana. Sita sings about the rainbow as she, Rama, and Hanuman hurry back to Ayodhya in time for their fourteen years of exile to end as they arrive. Then, Intermission!
Bibliography: Nina Paley's film, Sita Sings the Blues
9:12 -- This animation style is hilarious, with the interpolation of realistic images onto the animation. The sexy nurse Kaikeyi got a giggle-snort out of me. Also, I love the narration. The narrators' unsureness with which they relate the story of Rama gives a pleasantly meta, relatable tone to the story as it is told. (I love metatexts! That's why I wrote the intrusion of myself as narrator into my last Storytelling assignment.)
14:35 -- I really enjoyed the Sinatra-esque song sequence. The song clashed tonally with the scene in a perfectly discordant way; despite their poverty and Rama's occupation killing demons, Sita sings happily about their love as they stand under a beautiful arch of blood spurting from demon corpses. I love absurdity! Satire! So good! (Sidenote: Where is Lakshmana?)
15:00 -- The contrasting animation styles of Nina and Dave with Rama and Sita give really good distance between their stories: the story of the modern couple anticipates the story of the ancient one, as Dave leaves Nina for India as the story of Ravana is introduced, as he is soon to abduct Sita and separate her from Rama.
17:40 -- I definitely do not remember the intestines-playing-an-instrument part. And Rama's bridge still exists!! In real life!! Also, the argument about pronouncing Soorpanaka's name is hilarious. Super meta and super funny. But not as funny as Soorpanaka's lotus-y description of Sita's features; that was hilarious.
22:36 -- The second song is a different kind of effective, since it starts uncomfortable with Ravana stalking Sita and ends really sad with her singing of how devoted to Rama she is as she is flown away from him. The following narration is funny as well, with the discussion of the contradiction with Sita's dropping the jewelry she did nor have. The comment not to challenge the story was funny.
27:33 -- I love the triumphant music accompanying the introduction of Hanuman and Rama. But the story of Vali and Sugreeva is completely omitted. Also, it's definitely sketchy that Dave never sent his girlfriend his phone number after being gone a month, and then immediately and very happily announces that he will be staying in India for another year. And Dave's "uhhhhs" are not a good look. Then, the narration scene where Sita says that Ravana's "ass is grass" was incredible, followed by the dramatic closeups on Ravana's face -- so funny! And the threat of cannibalism juxtaposes uncomfortably with Ravana's desire to bed Sita. Plus, her declaration of immense power is fun and an interesting aside which is not addressed in the Narayan version.
31:35 -- Hanuman's dancing to Sita's sad song is oddly funny, and it really underscores Hanuman's displacement from her circumstance as prisoner. His comical destruction of the city adds as he dances contributes to the weirdness. A good weirdness. But why didn't Hanuman just rescue Sita? He definitely could have--something that the narrators are quick to point out. (Also, all of Ravana's tongues are disgusting.)
Repulsive. Me too, Sita. Source.
39:40 -- Poor Nina, it seems like things have changed at the airport. And despite her best efforts to look sexy for her boyfriend, he totally ignores her. This anticipates Rama's testing Sita. The narrators then recount this, one of them saying that they can make up the reunion of Rama and Sita's reunion if they don't remember it. The dramatic eye contact montage that follows, with the slow-mo running toward each other accompanying it is super melodramatic, but the hard cut with Rama's suspicion is a nice satirical contrast. Then, the narrators continue to be brilliant, questioning the importance of purity and recognizing that Ravana went agains the expectation of a villain in his place in epic, not forcing himself on her. The merits of lauding someone for not raping someone else are discussed, as they should be. A woke part of this rendition, as it continues to pick at inconsistencies with interest and not blind ignorance.
42:55 -- During the song, when Rama boots Sita into the fire, that's a really on the nose way to present, essentially, what happened when he spurned Sita and made her undergo the test. Also, the image of her in the fire made me think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago from the Bible. And as Sita emerges from the fire with the gods at her back, I like the fear in Rama's eyes -- he's earned that (and not the immediate reconciliation, which I find odd).
43:16 -- "Whoops." -Rama
45:12 -- The reality of the rotary phone in the office was odd. And I think that Nina leaving Dave is interesting, as Rama and Sita do not separate after they are reunited.
48:08 -- Hanuman shielding Rama from the rain and letting Sita get wet is a funny way to underscore Rama's lack of chivalry at points in the Ramayana. Sita sings about the rainbow as she, Rama, and Hanuman hurry back to Ayodhya in time for their fourteen years of exile to end as they arrive. Then, Intermission!
Bibliography: Nina Paley's film, Sita Sings the Blues
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