Comments on: Sita Sings the Blues http://bhakticollective.com/2009/11/22/sita-sings-the-blues/ Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:23:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: deva http://bhakticollective.com/2009/11/22/sita-sings-the-blues/#comment-1685 deva Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:48:00 +0000 http://bhakticollective.com/?p=1030#comment-1685 i really liked sita sings the blues...for the "irreverent, feminist" content. while i thought the music was a necessary touch for the title to really work, i found those parts boring and the animation that went along with it cheap looking. but hey, that's just me. i found the interplay between paley's depiction of herself and depiction of sita--that identification with sita--very real. even devotees of religious traditions do this...identify with a character and make that character a friend or a role model...some kind of trope for their trials and tribulations. my husband liked and didn't like the movie. he found parts offensive. after watching, he was saying things like, "but this ignores the aspect of transcendental love" and stuff like that. he is still in the fold. i left a few months ago. so that could explain our differences in opinion. or.... i think the value of this work, in relation to hindu/vaisnava communities, is that it is a great jumping off point for discussion. sure, there is the party line, which is the safest way to go when talking about god (which i am not accusing you of pulling...i found your critique very "balanced" as they say). but wouldn't it be interesting to know what followers really think? especially the women. who knows, maybe it would be revealed that devout female practitioners may actually have some issues with how sita was treated, despite rama being god and all. but then again, maybe not. i know many women who are followers of srila prabhupada who seriously have a problem with the gambling away of draupadi in the assembly. i know...it was pastime. i know it is addressed with within the mahabharata. but still. it is disturbing to many women. it just is not okay. but how or where can people talk about this stuff? when i first came to study/practice vaisnavism, i was surprised how there was no hare krishna equivalent to midrash aside from the purports...which elaborated upon or explained the scripture, but does not encourage real personalization. this is just my perspective. my husband, i would guess, wouldn't feel the same way. but then again, our experiences are so different...and that is often because of our gender/bodies/whatever you want to call it. and i know that identifying with the body is low on the realization totem pole, but i am not pretending to be more transcendental than i really am. so what am i trying to say here? even i don't know....other than i think having vaisnavas view and talk openly about this film in a safe environment would be very telling for a spiritual community. i really liked sita sings the blues…for the “irreverent, feminist” content. while i thought the music was a necessary touch for the title to really work, i found those parts boring and the animation that went along with it cheap looking. but hey, that’s just me.

i found the interplay between paley’s depiction of herself and depiction of sita–that identification with sita–very real. even devotees of religious traditions do this…identify with a character and make that character a friend or a role model…some kind of trope for their trials and tribulations.

my husband liked and didn’t like the movie. he found parts offensive. after watching, he was saying things like, “but this ignores the aspect of transcendental love” and stuff like that. he is still in the fold. i left a few months ago. so that could explain our differences in opinion. or….

i think the value of this work, in relation to hindu/vaisnava communities, is that it is a great jumping off point for discussion. sure, there is the party line, which is the safest way to go when talking about god (which i am not accusing you of pulling…i found your critique very “balanced” as they say).

but wouldn’t it be interesting to know what followers really think? especially the women. who knows, maybe it would be revealed that devout female practitioners may actually have some issues with how sita was treated, despite rama being god and all. but then again, maybe not.

i know many women who are followers of srila prabhupada who seriously have a problem with the gambling away of draupadi in the assembly. i know…it was pastime. i know it is addressed with within the mahabharata. but still. it is disturbing to many women. it just is not okay.

but how or where can people talk about this stuff? when i first came to study/practice vaisnavism, i was surprised how there was no hare krishna equivalent to midrash aside from the purports…which elaborated upon or explained the scripture, but does not encourage real personalization. this is just my perspective. my husband, i would guess, wouldn’t feel the same way.

but then again, our experiences are so different…and that is often because of our gender/bodies/whatever you want to call it. and i know that identifying with the body is low on the realization totem pole, but i am not pretending to be more transcendental than i really am.

so what am i trying to say here? even i don’t know….other than i think having vaisnavas view and talk openly about this film in a safe environment would be very telling for a spiritual community.

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