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GDNet at the Movies: Sita Sings the Blues

Started by Oluseyi Feb 17, 2009 at 11:36 PM 4 replies 2.6k views
Original Post
Oluseyi
Oluseyi
Sita Sings the Blues is an impressive independent, animated feature that draws inspiration from the Ramayana as well as the life of its creator, Nina Paley. Ms. Paley, now an instructor at the School of Visual Arts in New York, was living in an apartment in San Francisco with her husband and her cat when her husband got a temporary job offer with a studio in India. Rather quickly, her world was turned upside down. When she finally went to India to be reunited with her husband, he seemed aloof, and when she returned to the United States she received an email from him: Don't come back. Her marriage over and her life falling apart, she was inspired by the story of Sita which she had been exposed to as a comic book in India, and Sita's treatment at the hands of her husband. She was also inspired by the music of Annette Henshaw, recorded in the 1930s, which she discovered while staying with a friend in her first weeks in New York post-break up. This would provide an interesting mix of elements, but also lead to tremendous problems for Ms. Paley. Often, when authoring these... reactions to films (because they're really not reviews; while I encourage people to see the films I enjoyed, the purpose is entirely to chronicle my own responses to the films, not to provide consumer reports), I can rely on the public being familiar with the property thanks to advertising campaigns designed to raise awareness. As an independent feature without a publisher, however, I expect few people to have heard of this film. Fortunately, we live in the era of streaming video sites; you can view the trailer for the film here, and the first 10 minutes at this Cartoon Brew TV post. The film is structured as two parallel narratives: one retelling Ms. Paley's own misfortunes in the squigglevision animation technique, the other recounting scenes from the Ramayana using silky smooth Flash animation set to Annette Henshaw's blues recordings. The latter is wrapped in a meta-narrative in which three people discuss the events of the Ramayana, debating its veracity and the merits and demerits of the actions of Ram and Sita. These are presented using a style reminiscent of Indonesian shadow puppets, as well as what look like traditional paintings of the Ramayana animated in cut-out. The variety of styles might seem set to clash, but it all works, creating a fabulous pastiche. Sita Sings the Blues is fresh, original and lots of fun. And if you're not interested in a discussion of copyright issues, you can stop reading here.
The problem with Sita Sings the Blues happens to be the blues - specifically the blues songs recorded by Annette Henshaw. The songs are effectively still under copyright (there is some obscure technicality as to whether Ms. Henshaw's voice recordings themselves are in the public domain, but the mechanical reproduction rights are still owned or something like that; the net effect is that the songs are not free to use without permission. This was so before Ms. Paley began creating Sita Sings the Blues, yet she decided to build her film around them and is now irate that the rights holders are asking for compensation. Now I am personally of the opinion that copyright (in the US) has been extended to far too long a term - works created after 1978 are under copyright for the lifetime of the author plus 70 years, or 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever is shorter, in the case of work for hire, all thanks to the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act" - but the law is the law. Fighting to change the law is your right, and it can be worthwhile to exercise that right, but Ms. Paley acts as though she is being persecuted, which is ludicrous. Through several months of negotiation, the fee for all the songs has been lowered to about $50,000, which Ms. Paley is currently trying to raise via donations. For whatever reason, no distributor has voiced significant interest in the film, despite a strong showing at a number of film festivals. It will air on March 6 on my local public access station here in New York, and I hear it is also to be streamed form their website (THIRTEEN WNET). Catch the movie if you can.
capn_midnight
capn_midnight
This is interesting, because I've been watching a lot of movies recently involving some preposition followed by the name "India" (most notable among others, Slumdog Millionaire and The Darjeeling Limited, two movies that I absolutely loved). And I think that, Slumdog Millionaire notwithstanding, other Indian films and films about or set in India point to why this isn't receiving much attention from the publishing houses: Indians receive vanishing little attention in Hollywood. Granted, Bollywood can be guilty of more derivative bull crap than Hollywood could ever dream (it helps when organized crime is central to the largest film industry in the world industry), but there are some quality gems that are squeezed out from amongst the coal every once in a while. More often than not, Indians are employed (on the rare occasions of when they are employed) in Hollywood to portray racial stereotypes ("would you like a slurpee?"), perhaps to a higher degree than any other ethnic group.

I think it's going to take independent art films like this to bridge the vast cultural gap between American and Indian film audiences, because standard fair is just too incompatible.
Oluseyi
Oluseyi
Quote:
Original post by capn_midnight
This is interesting, because I've been watching a lot of movies recently involving some preposition followed by the name "India" (most notable among others, Slumdog Millionaire and The Darjeeling Limited, two movies that I absolutely loved).

I haven't seen The Darjeeling Limited, and I came across some criticism of it that make me hesitant, but I saw Slumdog Millionaire last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it.

(If you're curious, the criticism was that Wes Anderson doesn't afford his Indian characters any internal life - they're effectively just props and set pieces against which the emotional journeys of his main characters, who are all white men, are charted.)

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And I think that, Slumdog Millionaire notwithstanding, other Indian films and films about or set in India point to why this isn't receiving much attention from the publishing houses: Indians receive vanishing little attention in Hollywood. ... More often than not, Indians are employed (on the rare occasions of when they are employed) in Hollywood to portray racial stereotypes ("would you like a slurpee?"), perhaps to a higher degree than any other ethnic group.

When the narrative is set in the US, yes. But that's really what Hollywood does with all minorities: Asians get to play "math geniuses" (and Asian women can be "bad drivers"), black men get to play "thugs" while black women are hypersexualized when young and mammies when old, latin males are drug dealers if light skinned or gang bangers if dark, while their females are effectively prostitutes. Hollywood racial shorthand, ftw!

(Btw, it applies to the game industry, too. And, as with Hollywood, the only way it's going to change is if others get a significant opportunity to represent themselves in media - as the creators and controllers of the narrative - on a frequent enough basis to reshape the default construction of their mass identity.)

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I think it's going to take independent art films like this to bridge the vast cultural gap between American and Indian film audiences, because standard fair is just too incompatible.

I think it's going to take Indian films created collaboratively with Americans - like Slumdog Millionaire - targeting the American audience, to change the American perception. Americans are insular; they know very little about the world, but are exceedingly arrogant in their ignorance. No matter how sensitively an American may wish to treat a foreign culture, without editorial-level investment and participation by members of that foreign culture, biases will pervert the narrative. In seeking to portray people of another culture as "noble," for instance, a director may lose a handle of their complexity, and reduce them to caricature.

Making a film - or, really, any creative enterprise - is editing. It's choosing what to include, but also choosing what to leave out, both of which are informed by our notions of what's important. Here, culture becomes a major influence, and when dealing with the culture of another, our own lack of perspective can be a shortcoming. In an ideal situation, every people would have the opportunity to represent themselves - and the modern trend of collaborative filmmaking brings us closer to it. But we're not there yet.
capn_midnight
capn_midnight
Quote:
Original post by Oluseyi
Quote:
Original post by capn_midnight
This is interesting, because I've been watching a lot of movies recently involving some preposition followed by the name "India" (most notable among others, Slumdog Millionaire and The Darjeeling Limited, two movies that I absolutely loved).

I haven't seen The Darjeeling Limited, and I came across some criticism of it that make me hesitant, but I saw Slumdog Millionaire last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it.

(If you're curious, the criticism was that Wes Anderson doesn't afford his Indian characters any internal life - they're effectively just props and set pieces against which the emotional journeys of his main characters, who are all white men, are charted.)

Well, to be fair, it is a Wes Anderson film, which I'm beginning to believe is basically a party amongst friends that we get to watch afterwards. Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman (and Bill Murray, he makes a repeating cameo that I think is somewhat poignant) are Anderson film regulars.

My take on the Indian characters in the film was that they were specifically meant to be succinct in their portrayal, but complete enough to unfold in the viewers mind, in the same way that Hemingway constructed "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." If they were just paper cut outs, they wouldn't have as much dialogue or screen time as they have. Their story is between the lines.

At any rate, given your appreciation for cinematography, you should see The Darjeeling Limited for the camera work alone. I also enjoyed it as just another Wes Anderson piece, as I typically like to experience works by authors in the context of their other works; single one-offs don't have as much impact on me.
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And I think that, Slumdog Millionaire notwithstanding, other Indian films and films about or set in India point to why this isn't receiving much attention from the publishing houses: Indians receive vanishing little attention in Hollywood. ... More often than not, Indians are employed (on the rare occasions of when they are employed) in Hollywood to portray racial stereotypes ("would you like a slurpee?"), perhaps to a higher degree than any other ethnic group.

When the narrative is set in the US, yes. But that's really what Hollywood does with all minorities: Asians get to play "math geniuses" (and Asian women can be "bad drivers"), black men get to play "thugs" while black women are hypersexualized when young and mammies when old, latin males are drug dealers if light skinned or gang bangers if dark, while their females are effectively prostitutes. Hollywood racial shorthand, ftw!

While that is absolutely true, there are at least some examples to the contrary, some edifying roles. But I struggle to think of any main- or significant supporting characters of Indian ethnicity have had such roles.
Oluseyi
Oluseyi
Did you see The Namesake? Who knew Kal Penn could really act!

Also, I've decided that I'm going to say the word "millionaire" the way Anil Kapoor does in Slumdog Millionaire - "Welcome to Who Wants to be a Milliner!" (Now that would be an interesting show...)

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