Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues Part B

Today I'm finishing up Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. I've really been enjoying this adaptation so far!

0:55 - Even after Sita proves herself and shows that she is pure, Rama still gives into the whispers of his subjects and banishes Sita. She's just found out she is pregnant and is filled with joy, but he casts her out because he can't cast aside the wonderings of a laundryman.

0:57 - Sita singing the blues about Rama casting her out when she's pregnant. Rama's walking all over her and she's heartbroken. I think it's clear that he always doubted Sita even after the gods backed her up and he just couldn't get past her having been in Ravana's dwelling, even though it was literally forced upon her. This is where we really start to see the comparison between Nina and Sita, having left everything for their love and then just being cast to the side.

(The narrators discussing Rama's wariness toward Sita even after

the funeral pyre; Image Source)

1:01 - Valmiki meets Sita, who tells him all about Rama and what they've been through. Valmiki writes this all down to create The Ramayana. 

1:02 - Sita singing the blues while laying around crying - she is so upset over having been cast out by her love. She's been through a lot of crap, exiled with her husband, then kidnapped, then exiled by her husband while very pregnant. She doesn't even know what to do with herself and she literally turns blue while lamenting her woes.

1:04 - Lava and Kusha are born and Sita gets color back in her life again - they are her reason to be happy now.

1:05 - Valmiki teaches the twins to sing about how perfect Rama is. Sita is a much more forgiving woman than me, because I certainly wouldn't want my sons to be singing praises of their deadbeat dad who exiled me.

1:11 - Rama hears his sons singing about him and of course wants them to come rule alongside him, asking Sita to come too as an after note, once she proves her purity again of course. As if standing in a funeral pyre or praising Rama every day despite being exiled didn't prove her devotion.

1:12 - Sita shocks everyone by asking Mother Earth to take her back into her womb if she is pure. She, of course, is pure, and is taken away, surprising everyone. This was an interesting twist because you'd think that Sita would be so ready to go back with Rama since she adores him, but I think she's just so tired of it all. She knows this way that her name will be cleared and her sons have a place to go, but she gets to leave it all behind.

1:17 - At the beginning of the film, we saw Lakshmi (Sita) rubbing Vishnu's (Rama's) feet, but here at the end it's reversed, with Lakshmi enjoying the foot rub.

Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues Part A

This week, I'm watching Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. I was excited to jump into this film this week since I am focusing on Sita for my Storybook project, so it should be interesting to hear some of the tales I've read the past two weeks from her perspective.

0:11-0:14 - Sita sings the blues, describing her and Rama's love together in the forest and Rama kills rakshasas by the thousands. Lakshmana is nowhere to be seen, so Rama and Sita are happily enjoying their days together.

0:15 - The narrators discuss that Ravana isn't necessarily bad other than taking Sita. However, I don't really understand this because in the readings, Rama and his brothers were literally born as Vishnu's avatars because Ravana was enslaving and oppressing other gods since he can't be hurt by gods or demons, and Vishnu split himself in order to defeat Ravana as a mortal. It was interesting to hear that Ravana was so devoted to Shiva that he plays instruments for him with his intestines, we definitely didn't see anything about that in the Ramayana. 

0:17 - When Ravana isn't listening to Surphanakha about Rama, she decides to describe Sita as being the most beautiful woman around in an attempt to get Ravana to go after her. This is all quite manipulative, with Surphanakha knowing that Ravana will be unable to resist going after Sita, even though Surphanakha just cares about hurting Rama.

0:19 - Sita loves Rama so much, she's just standing around singing about her love for him. She's like a Disney princess enamored by the prince, she's even got butterflies following her around and dancing to the beat.

0:23 - I didn't realize that Hanuman is an incarnation of Shiva! It makes sense that one of the other gods came to earth as a "mortal" to help Vishnu with Ravana, but I hadn't realized this! Hanuman's sole purpose is to help Rama on his quest to find Sita and defeat Ravana.

0:27 - Okay Sita is freaking awesome. She tells Ravana off, explaining how Rama is going to wreck him as soon as he gets to Lanka, then proceeds to let Ravana know that she could kill him at any time she wanted, but she's holding back because Rama hadn't ordered her to. Ravana had no idea what he was getting himself into.

(Sita telling Ravana of his soon to be death by Rama; Image Source)

0:40 - Sita's singing the blues about how Rama's being so mean to her. She's confused about why Rama is so cold when she waited for him and honored him.

0:43 - Sita forgives Rama so easily, saying "I live only for you."