Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues Ramayana, Part A

In Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley Ravana, the demon king, caught my attention. There are three authors in story. At times during the movie, they would discuss different versions of the story or expand on a character. It caught my attention when one of the authors mentioned that before Ravana kidnapped Sita he did not have a bad rep. Apparently some people thought he was a good king. He was also an educated man who knew all of his weapons and prayed to the right gods. Ravana was so devoted to Shiva that went his veen broke, some say that Ravana used his intestines to keep playing the song. Ravana kidnaps Sita because his sister, Surpanakha, asks her to. His sister explains that she is so beautiful that her eyes, skin, breasts, and hands were like lotuses. Ravana becomes convinced and schemes of a way to kidnap Sita. After Ravana kidnaps Sita he tries to convince Sita to love him instead of Rama. However, Sita remains loyal to Rama. When Rama finally rescues Sita, he is distance to her. He does not believe in her purity until she passes a test where she enters a funeral pyre. She does not burn therefore she was pure. One of the authors mention that Ravana was in a sense noble for not raping Sita. It makes me believe that Ravana was not that bad of a person who if was a given a chance may have truly loved Sita. If I were to retell the story I would create a love story between Ravana and Sita.

Also, I like this video of Ramayana. The visuals were beautiful. I thought it was a little distracting a first that they would change the character type. For example, the Sita that sings in the songs and the Sita who is acting out in the story look very different. However, I got used it and I really like the songs she sang. The songs were modern giving a more modern feel to the story.

(Picture of Ravana Wiki)