While we're on the subject of irreverent treatment of religion(s) ;-) , here are some nifty little Flash Movies which combine the Hindu stories about Rama's wife Sita with the jazzy 1920's-era blues songs of Annette Hanshaw and lavish art deco style of that era.
They were created by cartoonist Nina Paley, better known for her comic strips "Nina's Adventures", "Fluff" and "The Hots", and inspired after a painful divorce.
"These songs -- Mean to me, Am I blue, Daddy won't you please come home, Moanin' low -- tell the same story I found in the Ramayana," writes Paley. "They're the blues; they're Sita's story, and mine. It seemed a natural fit."
These mini-movies have been receiving international attention and acclaim, including in India -- although according to one article, a website which hosted the animations received a death threat from one right-wing extremist Hindu group.
Some things, it seems, will never change...
(P.S. Paley also created Fetch and "Pandorama", an earlier direct-paint-on-stock-footage film set to music by the Revillos. Isn't that the theme song for Vonage now?)
Well, as a Hindu I guess the right thing to do is to now pronounce a death threat for you having dared to link these flash movies. Anyway, I loved the vids, and the epic is actually the Ramayana, not the Sitayana - Sita is Lord Rama's wife. On another note, the reason that Hindu's and Muslims are essentially squabbling in India today is because Hindu right-wingers believe that the Muslims built a Mosque on top a temple which marked Rama's birthplace. One temple demolished in 1991, countless riots and hundreds of terrorist attacks later, we still haven't worked out a solution. And all this over a god who chucked out his wife.
Posted by: Kushan | August 30, 2005 at 03:35 AM
Small world! I knew Nina when she was here in San Francisco. Somewhere I even have a napkin sketch she did of my ex-wife. I adore her work and am really glad to see her getting out there.
Posted by: M.Christian | October 19, 2005 at 04:52 PM