Week 5 Reading Notes: Nina Paley's "Sita Sings the Blues" Part A

Sita and Ravana in "Sita Sings the Blues" By Nina Paley. Source: Wikimedia

Nina Paley's "Sita Sings the Blues" is an innovative creation of Sita's perspective of the story. The first half of this story shows how devoted Sita is to Rama. She does as he says, follows him to the forest, and lives her life as he desires. However, one thing I noticed was how they left out Rama's quest to win Sita with Shiva's bow. Shiva was completely left out of this version of the story.

Yet, through all this devotion it seems as though she is not receiving proper treatment by Rama. This is slightly skeptical since towards the end where Sita has to walk through the fire, Rama still sends her away due to his reputation in the community. This sparked the feminist in me and makes me wonder why they portray Sita as the impure one. Sita, in particular, is a Goddess that was portrayed in a demeaning way. In the beginning, Lakshmi was portrayed as serving Vishnu. Although Goddesses, they still conduct these womanly roles as seen in the beginning. Little do people know how powerful they truly are.

On the other hand, these tales came from olden times where women were degraded as so. So, I appreciate this modern version as it continues to change perceptions of others.

"Sita Sings the Blues" by Nina Paley. Source: Youtube.