"And that's all we have for you today. Stay tuned for our next week's episodes and don't forget to join us for our final episode of the year. Byeee."
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“Admit it, we’ve hit a roadblock. I think we've dried up just about every story we could talk about.”
“That’s what happens when someone makes the stupid executive decision to have 5 episodes a week, Billy.”
“tHaT’s WhAt HaPpEnS wHeN yOu HaVe 5 EpIsOdEs A wEeK, BiLlY. Pfft!”
“Seriously? You really want to play this game right now?!”
Annie and Billy bicker all the time. Colin learned ages ago to just tune them out, instead turning his attention on this story he found last night. It was just buried in his bookshelf, pages bent and yellowing. He remembered reading it way back in high school, but it has been so long that he completely forgot about it. He was curious and bored, so he just decided to read it again. Why not, right?
“You agree with me, Colin. Right?” Annie asked.
“Huh? Oh sorry, I didn't catch that.”
“What could possibly be so interesting that you didn’t even listen?” Billy asked as he snuck up behind Colin and ripped the book from his hands.
“The Ramayana? Wow, it's been a while, I think I read this a couple years ago for one of my college courses. ”
“So did I,” said Annie. “It was pretty good. I’m not the biggest fan of how Sita was treated by Rama though.”
“Yeah, that was pretty messed up. But did you watch that animated film that came out a while ago? That one with the blues songs mixed into the plot?”
“Yes! It was so good. And the animator didn’t beat around the bushes with details about the story that were so unfair. She just wove it into the music and the dialogue. It was really subtle though, which I really —“
“Wait hold up, you guys both know this story?”
“Colin, buddy, its a pretty well-known epic. I’d be surprised if I met someone who didn’t know it,” said Billy.
After that, the conversation drifted back to potential topics for future podcasts and what they’ll do after their live event in a couple months. But Colin just couldn’t stop thinking about what his friends said. He hadn’t really gotten far enough in the book to notice anything that they were talking about, like how Sita was treated, and he didn’t really have any strong opinions so far. He promised himself that as soon as he got home, he would finish this book. He’s got a long way to go, but it’s been pretty good so far, so he has high hopes for the rest of the story.
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“You guys! Remember that book I was reading, the Ramayana? Well, I finished it last night and boy do I have a lot of things to say. I need to talk about it. Can we please talk about it?”
“I don’t know Colin...” Annie told him. “We’re a little stressed with figuring out what to do for our this year's last episode. It needs to be great, but we’ve still got nothing.”
“Why don’t we just talk about the Ramayana? It’s fresh in my mind, and I need to get some things off my chest about it. And y’all both know the story and have your opinions about it, so it's a pretty easy story to talk about? Besides, that film that you guys mentioned yesterday, I’ve never seen it. But you could talk about that too. It sounds like an entertaining movie, and maybe our listeners who wouldn’t be interested in reading the book would want to watch it. What do you say, guys? You in?”
“That’s actually not a bad idea, Colin. I’m down. Annie?”
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“Welcome back to ‘History Retold,’ Billy here with Colin and Annie. We wanted to make this last episode one to remember for you guys. We were at the drawing board for a while with this one, but we finally decided on a topic. So, this episode will be a little different from what we normally do, but I think y’all are really going to enjoy it. “
Author’s Note: This week I watched the animated film Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. The film covers the general plot of the Ramayana, but it also includes some of the creator’s personal stories that led up to and inspired the creation of this film. She incorporated musical numbers performed by jazz singer Annette Hanshaw that help to further and/or explain the emotion behind the bigger events in the story. In the film, Sita sings these songs, hence Sita Sings the Blues. Another aspect of the film is these shadow puppet narrators. As I watched the film, I couldn’t help but compare the way the narrators bantered with each other to how podcast hosts interact, so I decided to center my story around a podcast show that discusses different historical legends, and for this story they chose the Ramayana and Nina Paley's film. Specifically, I wanted my story to explain why they chose to talk about this topic, similar to how the film includes scenes about why Nina Paley made a film about the epic.
Bibliography: Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. Youtube.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI also watched this animated film, and I thought it was so cute! It did a really good job of explaining the Ramayana and also including music and different styles of animation. I like how the majority of your story is dialogue, it allows for the reader to be more involved in the story rather than observing it from the outside in.
Hi Lydia!
ReplyDeleteI also watched Sita Sings the Blues, Laura sent it to me when I expressed interest in doing a modern retelling of the Ramayana for my Storybook. I thought it was great and a fun way to learn the story of the Ramayana instead of reading for hours. And I completely agree that the narrators were reminiscent of podcast hosts, so I love the way you went with this story!
Lydia!! I loved this story! I think you did an awesome job with the dialogue, and I really think you built up the podcasters' choice of Ramayana and Sita Sings the Blues well. I read your story so quick because you drew me in and I stayed invested up until the end. I also like how you included their discussions on how Sita was treated by Rama. I think this might be my favorite of your stories so far. Great job!!
ReplyDelete