Week 4: Reading Diary A

Sita Sings the Blues


Because we had a little more freedom this week, I decided I wanted to watch the film, instead of doing another reading since we have done so much reading up until this point.  I had enjoyed the readings, but thought watching the film would be a  fun way of getting a different perspective and actually putting a face to the characters and scenes.  I loved the animation of the film, I thought it was done so well.  My favorite animation was of the rakshasas.  That was not at all how I was picturing them while reading the story, they were much cuter in the film.  The story flowed pretty consistently with the original telling, at least the main components.  They went a little too quickly explaining all of the characters, and had I not already read the story, I probably would have been a little lost on who was who and who was related to who.  

Sita Sings the Blues (Wikipedia)

There are two characters, Nina and Dave, we see in the beginning who live in San Francisco with their cat.  Their own, modern day story is being told in the background of the retelling of the Ramayana because Dave is being relocated to India.  There are three narrators that kind of bicker over the correct telling of the story the whole time, and make it really entertaining.  I love that it wasn't just a voice over of someone telling the story, they made it seem like if someone was to really try to just retell the story on the spot.  They were all so funny, which I was not really expecting.  I wished I had started the film earlier in the day so I could have just finished it all in one sitting, because I definitely did not want to pause it and wait to finish until tomorrow.  I was pleasantly surprised how fun and and well done the film was!  The first half closes with Nina visiting New York for a week, the narrators tell the story of Rama and Sita being taken back to Ayodhya after he seeks her forgiveness for telling her she serves no purpose to him because she had been staying in Ravana's house.  Sita then "sings her blues" at the very end of part one.





Sita Sings The Blues (Nina Paley)