This actually made me pretty uncomfortable. I can tell a lot of time and energy was put into making it. But, I think it is actually a shame this is getting so much attention. I felt like the story was basically about a woman that visits India, has a bad experience in her personal life, and then decides rather arbitrarily to try and relate that to Hindu religion. Except, the connection is not as strong as she would imply-- to the point that she is literally misrepresenting Hindu religion to the Western world.
I guess it's sort of like... if someone was suggesting Christianity is a religion about baby killing because of that one Bible story about Saul, except even worse, because this utilizes an uncommon *interpretation* of a *disputed/controversial* text (that some people even believe was written with malicious intent).
The issue is, not everyone even interprets the texts she is referencing like the film presents. In fact, I am genuinely sad if this is someone's first introduction to these deities, because this is not a very common interpretation of this religious text. For example, a belief I have heard often is that Rama truly loves Sita, and he drives her to give oath by fire not because he himself ever even doubts her fidelity, but because he wants her name to be cleared and that she will be respected and accepted as queen.
For those that *accept the legitimacy of*, and even like, the controversial "last chapter" represented in this film (which contains stylistic and other differences from the rest of the text and some believe was written at a different date by a different author, possibly even with ill intentions!), where he ultimately leaves her at the ashram with the sages... generally, they liked it because the idea was more that Rama had to make a choice between the duty of a king and his own personal happiness, and ultimately gave up even what he loved most in the world - being with his true love - for duty. So, in other portrayals taken from the same text, it might be that he leaves her outside the ashram, where the sages live, but he is shown sobbing and considering death, and he is clearly devastated when he sees he cannot be with her. The context is supposed to be there, that those deities are actually soul mates. The idea that he was throwing her away because he doubted her, and continued to doubt her fidelity, is actually not what everyone necessarily even believes! (It is best to just ask people how they felt and why!)
In this way, I feel it's spreading misinformation about Hindu religion, and was not very considerate. Yes, there are ethical issues which could be discussed respectfully, but, this wasn't quite on the mark. I felt so bad for Ms. Paley about her husband. But, this husband that left her, obviously, was just a man, and not God. And he was not having to make any hard choices.
So the comparison was weak and really was not done in the best taste, either. Unfortunately, I don't think this movie was a particularly academic, particularly helpful, nor particularly respectful handling of the subject matter. It just seems more about unrelated personal feelings than anything else. The animation was lovely, though, and personally I also liked the very end because I liked the idea he would serve her and try to comfort her after such a hard life. Also, I could feel so much pain and passion in this work, and really liked a few scenes. Though overall, I'm afraid it might be seen as hurtful.
I'm really sorry about this awful husband, Ms. Paley! However, I think people perhaps should just take with a grain of salt the idea that her husband was like Lord Rama; as per my own reading and discussions with others, I expect not everyone is going to agree with that.
I guess it's sort of like... if someone was suggesting Christianity is a religion about baby killing because of that one Bible story about Saul, except even worse, because this utilizes an uncommon *interpretation* of a *disputed/controversial* text (that some people even believe was written with malicious intent).
The issue is, not everyone even interprets the texts she is referencing like the film presents. In fact, I am genuinely sad if this is someone's first introduction to these deities, because this is not a very common interpretation of this religious text. For example, a belief I have heard often is that Rama truly loves Sita, and he drives her to give oath by fire not because he himself ever even doubts her fidelity, but because he wants her name to be cleared and that she will be respected and accepted as queen.
For those that *accept the legitimacy of*, and even like, the controversial "last chapter" represented in this film (which contains stylistic and other differences from the rest of the text and some believe was written at a different date by a different author, possibly even with ill intentions!), where he ultimately leaves her at the ashram with the sages... generally, they liked it because the idea was more that Rama had to make a choice between the duty of a king and his own personal happiness, and ultimately gave up even what he loved most in the world - being with his true love - for duty. So, in other portrayals taken from the same text, it might be that he leaves her outside the ashram, where the sages live, but he is shown sobbing and considering death, and he is clearly devastated when he sees he cannot be with her. The context is supposed to be there, that those deities are actually soul mates. The idea that he was throwing her away because he doubted her, and continued to doubt her fidelity, is actually not what everyone necessarily even believes! (It is best to just ask people how they felt and why!)
In this way, I feel it's spreading misinformation about Hindu religion, and was not very considerate. Yes, there are ethical issues which could be discussed respectfully, but, this wasn't quite on the mark. I felt so bad for Ms. Paley about her husband. But, this husband that left her, obviously, was just a man, and not God. And he was not having to make any hard choices.
So the comparison was weak and really was not done in the best taste, either. Unfortunately, I don't think this movie was a particularly academic, particularly helpful, nor particularly respectful handling of the subject matter. It just seems more about unrelated personal feelings than anything else. The animation was lovely, though, and personally I also liked the very end because I liked the idea he would serve her and try to comfort her after such a hard life. Also, I could feel so much pain and passion in this work, and really liked a few scenes. Though overall, I'm afraid it might be seen as hurtful.
I'm really sorry about this awful husband, Ms. Paley! However, I think people perhaps should just take with a grain of salt the idea that her husband was like Lord Rama; as per my own reading and discussions with others, I expect not everyone is going to agree with that.
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