Reading Notes: Paley Sita sings the Blues, Part B

 
 

Sita Sings the Blues

 

 

 Bibliography: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzTg7YXuy34#action=share

Author: Nina Paley
Title: Sita Sings the Blues
Year: 2008

Part B:

intermission ends 

new york city -Nina is at her computer and she receives an email from dave who is in india. The email tells her to not come back and nina's heart starts poundng faster and faster.  Her heart breaks and she screams. 

songs playing and a series of different dancing women singing. 

opening scene is sita going to Rama and telling him she is with child and Rama tells her how wonderful the news is. The narrators explain that there are some who think the baby's father is not rama . meanwhile a dhobi is hitting his wife and saying that he does not accept women like rama who have slept in other mens bed comparing his wife to sita. Rama says that he cannot rule if his people do not respect him so he banishes sita and tells his brother lakshmana to take sita into the forest and abandon her.  Rama has doubts who was the real father of child sita was holding. 

scene opens to nina alone, lonely, crying,old , and reminiscing about the times when she was with dave. Sita sits in the forest at the edge of a river alone and sad questioning what she could have done to deserve such suffering. she would kill herself if she were not pregnant and valmiki resues her. sita sings the blues on the shore of the river. she gives birht to her baby bot twins. the twins are named lava and kusha. valmiki teaches them how to sing the praises of rama. 

back in new york nina calls dave and he picks up and she begs him to take her back. Sita still loved rama and sang to him and adored him. 

Rama hears praises of lava and kusha and ask who they were and then he finds out sita is there and that they are his sons he offers them to go back to the palace and rule with him. He asks sita to prove her purity by going in the river and if she floats she is pure is she sinks she is unpure 

she says that she can prove her purity and that is she has always been pure and loyal in body and soul then may mother earth take her back in her womb and then mother earth opened up and took her back 

then its back in NYC and nina goes into her apartment and her cat greets her and she seems happy. The next scene is her and her cat reading a book comfortably together- she is reading the ramayana.