Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues, Part B

Okay, so this is more about the film than the actual Ramayana, but it has to be noted: Dang, that fire/heartbreak sequence right after Nina’s breakup was rad. (From about 00:52-00:55.)

Also, the version of the Ramayana I read ended with the events of the first half of this film, so it’s interesting to see what goes down after Rama and Sita’s triumphant return to their kingdom after the fourteen-year exile.

Especially the fact that Rama tries to ditch Sita in yet another forest because his “wife’s dubious reputation is harming [his] own,” and the fact that he took her back is undermining his authority with some of his subjects. It’s a different side of Rama, willing to sacrifice the people around him to maintain the power he’s spent so long trying to reject, and it could be interesting to explore a character with a similar complicated relationship with power.

It’s also story fuel that even though Sita was proved innocent and was actually technically the victim of the situation, everyone blamed and judged and shunned her when she returned anyways. That could be an interesting crux of a character, and I’d be curious to see how she responds to the rest of the town that’s treating her like that.

Or when the female narrator voices that “I always felt [Rama] had this doubt that [Sita] might not be pure,” that’s a striking seed for a story, too. I love the idea of two people who used to be so close and still at least try to be, but have been torn apart by the fact that something Went Down, and now one of them can’t quite trust the other, can’t quite believe the other. Could be fun to play around with.

That last part is especially interesting because of the fact that the fire god or whoever already corroborated Sita’s innocence when she tried to immolate herself after she was rescued and Rama doubted her. I feel like it could be fun to look at a story in which a protagonist does have that high-ranking, pure backing—but it’s actually false, the result of them striking some kind of deal. A god or supernatural enforcer who’s supposed to stand for honesty and purity but is actually kind of stained and crooked sounds like an interesting character study, and pretty compelling on a writing level.

I also didn’t realise that the writer of the Ramayana supposedly learned the story when Sita was banished to the forest and explained the entire ordeal to him, but that’s a fun way of inserting him into the lore, and matches stuff that’s done a lot with Lewis Carroll and the Alice books.

The “praise songs” Rama’s twins sons are taught was really striking, too—it starts out like it genuinely is praising him, but then quickly turns to criticizing him, his treatment of Sita, and his hypocrisy too. 

Bibliography: Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. Source: YouTube.

Image Credit: "Ten Talas to a Disco Beat: Jhaptal" by Ed Hanley. Source: Vimeo.