One of the videos I watched for a previous blog post was called “Harry Potter Meets Hindu Mythology”. I had no idea that so many prominent elements from the movie series were inspired by Hinduism, so I had wondered if there were other media in pop culture (movies, TV shows, books, etc.) that were heavily influenced by Hindu mythology. I find it interesting when film and literature take elements from religion and incorporate them into their work, especially if it is subtle to where the audience does not notice the religious or cultural elements initially. That is why I loved the Harry Potter video so much and why I included this as a potential project topic. I would like to explore how Hinduism and Indian culture have inspired other works in pop culture that contain “hidden” Hindu concepts. My initial investigation into this led me to 2 movies that I am familiar enough with to discuss that are based on Hinduism. I also found that the Divergent book series is loosely based on Indian caste systems, so that could also be something to look into further. From my perspective, this project topic would be more educational than creative.
The concept of reincarnation in Hinduism has fascinated me since I first learned about years ago because the idea of rebirth was so different from the beliefs I was taught growing up. I am familiar with the cycle of rebirth, life, and death as well as the ultimate goal of breaking free from the cycle, but I would like to learn more about the details of reincarnation through this project. I have noticed a motif of a ‘wheel’ in Hinduism, so I would like to learn more about the origins and why it is so important to aspects of the religion and Indian culture. My idea for applying reincarnation to this project is to create three stories where the concept of karma in reincarnation differently affects the subjects of each story after death. Each story would have a different outcome. For example, a king who performs bad deeds being reborn into something "lesser"; an animal that can do no harm being reborn into a higher level; and someone reaching moksha.
I wish I could credit the story I read ages ago that inspired this idea, but I cannot remember what it was called. The premise of this story was that a pair of star crossed lovers were destined to be together by fate, but something always happened to cut their time together short and thwart a happy ending. They meet and fall in love with each other again and again in every new life, but the same cycle continues time and time again. The love story of Vishnu and Lakshmi and the love story of Rama and Sita reminded me of this story. I learned from an assignment earlier this week that Rama and Sita were reincarnations of the deities, and from a basic Wikipedia search I learned Krishna and Radha were another pair or avatars, so I thought it would be a fun twist to take these three love stories but change the ending, instead having this cycle continue every lifetime. Because of this continuous cycle, I would also like to explore telling each love story in a different setting, like in the heavens or ancient times for one, in the modern era for the second, and in a sci-fi, futuristic realm for the third.
The last idea I came up with was Hindu holidays. It is a more simple approach to the project idea, but it also allows for more creative freedom in the story-writing process than my other ideas, which is why I chose to consider it. I used to watch a lot of Bollywood/Indian films when I was younger, and many of them included Hindu holidays in major scenes or musical numbers. The sense of community, pride, and joy I saw from these scenes intrigued me to learn about some of these festivals. So, my idea was to create short stories centered around different holidays but to keep the focus on the characters of the stories and how these holidays affect them, either positively or negatively. Think the Netflix show Dash and Lily: it is a holiday series with Christmas being a major theme and plot point throughout, but the show primarily focuses on the titular characters’ relationship with one another and how the Christmas season affects each differently. That is how I would like to go about these stories. I do not want each story to be so similar that it becomes repetitive, but I would like to have something connecting each story together.
The concept of reincarnation in Hinduism has fascinated me since I first learned about years ago because the idea of rebirth was so different from the beliefs I was taught growing up. I am familiar with the cycle of rebirth, life, and death as well as the ultimate goal of breaking free from the cycle, but I would like to learn more about the details of reincarnation through this project. I have noticed a motif of a ‘wheel’ in Hinduism, so I would like to learn more about the origins and why it is so important to aspects of the religion and Indian culture. My idea for applying reincarnation to this project is to create three stories where the concept of karma in reincarnation differently affects the subjects of each story after death. Each story would have a different outcome. For example, a king who performs bad deeds being reborn into something "lesser"; an animal that can do no harm being reborn into a higher level; and someone reaching moksha.
I wish I could credit the story I read ages ago that inspired this idea, but I cannot remember what it was called. The premise of this story was that a pair of star crossed lovers were destined to be together by fate, but something always happened to cut their time together short and thwart a happy ending. They meet and fall in love with each other again and again in every new life, but the same cycle continues time and time again. The love story of Vishnu and Lakshmi and the love story of Rama and Sita reminded me of this story. I learned from an assignment earlier this week that Rama and Sita were reincarnations of the deities, and from a basic Wikipedia search I learned Krishna and Radha were another pair or avatars, so I thought it would be a fun twist to take these three love stories but change the ending, instead having this cycle continue every lifetime. Because of this continuous cycle, I would also like to explore telling each love story in a different setting, like in the heavens or ancient times for one, in the modern era for the second, and in a sci-fi, futuristic realm for the third.
The last idea I came up with was Hindu holidays. It is a more simple approach to the project idea, but it also allows for more creative freedom in the story-writing process than my other ideas, which is why I chose to consider it. I used to watch a lot of Bollywood/Indian films when I was younger, and many of them included Hindu holidays in major scenes or musical numbers. The sense of community, pride, and joy I saw from these scenes intrigued me to learn about some of these festivals. So, my idea was to create short stories centered around different holidays but to keep the focus on the characters of the stories and how these holidays affect them, either positively or negatively. Think the Netflix show Dash and Lily: it is a holiday series with Christmas being a major theme and plot point throughout, but the show primarily focuses on the titular characters’ relationship with one another and how the Christmas season affects each differently. That is how I would like to go about these stories. I do not want each story to be so similar that it becomes repetitive, but I would like to have something connecting each story together.
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