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| Fig 1 |
Nina Paley’s “Sita
Sings the Blues” (2008) is a film rich in animation and design, and
envelops the culture of India and snippets of the directors own life.
Nina’s previous films are about 3-4 minutes long, making “Sita Sings the Blues” her first feature
film to date. Other works include “Fetch” (2001) which is 2D computer animation,
“Goddess of fertility” (2002) that also uses 2d computer animation as well as
clay animation. Her style is a consistent show of 2D animation and mixed media,
making the animations unique and closer to traditional ways of animating, as
well as embracing more modern forms of animation.
 |
| Fig 2 |
“Sita Sings the Blues”
is a film that has four styles in one, and depicts story of Rama and Sita,
as well as Nina’s personal life. One style is of traditional Indian paintings
that are 2D and animated, as well as uses of collages, narration by shadow
puppets, musical 2D digital animated sections and a “squiggle-vison” style of
the director’s part. The variety of animation makes for a unique piece of
storytelling, albeit a complex story, but it is successful in the portrayal of
Rama and Sita’s story. The fusion of American and Indian is clearly shown; the
Indian with the styles of animation when showing Sita and Rama’s story, and USA
when showing Nina’s portion.
 |
| Fig 3 |
The film has four major styles and shows two main stories.
The film has a light hearted and up beat way of showing its story and is fun to
follow along with. The first story is of Prince Rama’s exile, at the command of
his father’s favourite queen, Kaikeyi. The wife of Rama, Sita, is determined to
stay with him, however the woods they travel through is filled with evil
demons. The demon king, Ravana appears, and kidnaps Sita, all the while
distracting Rama with a golden hind. Ravana sets a deadline for Sita to be rescued
by Rama to show her dedication to him.
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| Fig 4 |
Hanuman, the monkey prince and his army arrive to help Rama
find Sita, and rescue her. Her loyalty is questioned however, and is submitted
to a trial to throw herself into a fire, where she is rescued by the Gods and
her devotion is clearly showed. Sita soon falls pregnant but Rama isn’t sure it’s
his, so he tells his brother who reluctantly leaves her in the forest, but in
the later years he hears hymns of her and her child about himself (Rama). When
reunited, Rama is still unsure and so Sita prays for the Earth to swallow her,
as final proof of her devotion.
The segments that show a “squiggle-vision” style are taken
from the directors personal life; her partner has a 6 month contract to work in
India, but after a month of no contact between each other, he calls her to say
he’s got an opportunity to work there for a year, and so Nina comes to India
and leaves behind her cat. When she arrives, he shows no interest in her, and
when she has an opportunity for work in New York, she flies out, only to get an
email from her husband saying not to come back. Her heart breaks, but finds
comfort with her new cat and reading Ramayana.
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| Fig 5 |
Roger Ebert states: “There
are uncanny parallels between her life and Sita's. Both were betrayed by the
men they loved. Both were separated by long journeys. Both died (Sita really,
Nina symbolically) and were reborn--Sita in the form of a lotus flower, Nina in
the form of an outraged woman who moves to Brooklyn, sits down at her home
computer for five years and creates this film.” (Ebert, 2009). Agreeing
with this, the intertwining of the two stories shows just how personal this
film is to Nina, and it sweeps the viewer away into her world.
Bibliography
Ebert, R. (2009) rogerebert.com (Accessed on 17/02/2017) http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sita-sings-the-blues-2009
Illustration List
Fig 1: (Accessed on 17/02/2017) http://www.adem-geneve.com/useruploads/module_galleries/4e37f3c9666e1.jpg
Fig 2: (Accessed on 17/02/2017) http://viddsee.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SSTB-SS2.png
Fig 3: (Accessed on 17/02/2017) http://www.lassiwithlavina.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Nina-Paley-Rama-meets-Hanuman.jpg
Fig 4: (Accessed on 17/02/2017) http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/SitaEPressKit/09.SitaCriesARiver.png
Fig 5: (Accessed on 17/02/2017) https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qsZ3-KANwm4/maxresdefault.jpg
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