Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues, Part A

Video: Sita Sings the Blues

Source: Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley, 2008

Rama, Sita, and the Gods, Source: sitasingstheblues.com

I thought the film was very interesting. You follow two storylines, one from the present, and also a retelling of the Ramayana. In the storyline from the present, we see a couple, Dave and Nina from San Francisco. The film also has three narrators that casually narrate the story in between Sita's singing scenes and the present storyline. 

The present storyline unfolds simultaneously as the Ramayana is being told. At first, we see Dave and Nina happy in San Francisco, then Dave gets a job in India and goes there for 6 months. He gets his contract extended for 1 year, at which point Nina decides to come and stay with him in India. When Nina gets to India, Dave is cold with her. We are left with Nina traveling to New York for a work trip.

In the Ramayana storyline, they go through the epic from when Rama marries Sita and then is Banished to the forest; all the way until Sita is rescued from Ravana and is tested by fire. The story skips over a lot of what happened when Rama is trying to find Sita. One of the things that I didn't like is that Lakshana was not included in the story. They did mention Rama's brother at the beginning, but they did not mention the fact that Lakshana accompanied Rama and Sita in their banishment. 

One of the things I really liked was their focus on Hanuman. The narrators talked about the origins of Hanuman.

Origins of Hanuman:

• A bunch of demons were attacking the earth. The Gods went to Vishnu seeking his help. Vishnu told them that he was going to be born as Rama and that Shiva will be born as someone who helps him. 
• Shiva was reincarnated as Hanuman, and he was destined to meet Rama (Vishnu) and help him. Hanuman was born with the purpose of meeting Rama and helping him.

This will be very helpful for my project.