I finished the second act of Sita Sings the Blues, which began at Sita's exile and ended with her proving her purity to Rama for the second time. Well, the act really started with a scene in which Nina gets dumped by Dave. I did not realize until this moment that those characters and their story are based on the creator Nina Paley's personal experiences leading up to how she was introduced to the Ramayana in the first place. That was coincidentally the actual final scene of the film: Nina's character reading the Ramayana. I had wondered what the purpose of these scenes were, but understanding that the events between Nina and Dave led up to essentially the creation of this film makes sense now.
Watching this again, I stand by my opinion that I mentioned in my last post; the narrators are hilarious and are a great addition to the film. They speak to each like they are on a podcast or something, bickering about the smallest things, talking over each other, stating opinions about certain plot points, etc. I just love them. But my favorite part about this act was the twins' song. I don't know whether it was the lyrics, the actual music, or something else, but their song made me laugh so much. Especially when all of the background characters started dancing and singing along. Also, I appreciated the subtle digs taken at Rama in the song, like the line "duty first, Sita last". Though true, that statement can be interpreted in a way that paints Rama in a negative light. This again goes to a point I made in my last post where I felt that the creator was sympathetic to what Sita had gone through. It is moments like this where it is clear to me that Nina Paley agrees that Sita was treated unjustly.
Lastly, I thought the small detail right before the credits was so clever. In the introduction of the film when all of the deities are shown, Lakshmi and Vishnu are depicted together with Vishnu on his throne and Lakshmi kneeling before him, rubbing his feet and tending to him while he just lounges. This time, the roles were reversed. I thought that was an empowering moment that again indicates the creator's opinions about the way women are treated in stories or epics as old as the Ramayana.
Bibliography: Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. Youtube.
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