Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues, Part A



Sita emerging from the test of fire with the protection of Agni and other gods
Source: Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley via Wikimedia Commons

In Nina Paley's Sita Sings the Blues, after Sita asks Rama to capture the golden deer for her we see her alone in their hut singing about her love for Rama.

This scene focuses on Sita's devotion to Rama which is depicted with the song "What Wouldn't I do for that Man" by Annette Hanshaw. Sita is supposed to be the ideal devoted wife in the Ramayana, and the lyrics in the song are similar to her character in the epic. The song says "love was blind to me, now it's kind to me" just like Sita never loved another man before Rama. Also she says in the song "I'll be so true to him, he'll never doubt me." Sita is always true to Rama and believes that he will trust her even after she has been held captive by Ravana. She then vows in the song to "make his troubles [her] own" like when Sita decides to follow Rama into exile even though she didn't have to. Finally the title of the song that is repeated throughout "what wouldn't I do for that man" is also true of Sita an example would be later in the story when she is willing to through herself onto a funeral pyre because Rama doesn't believe she has been true to him while Ravana kept her captive.

I thought that by focusing on how Sita's thoughts immediately turned to her love for Rama when he was away from her and how she would be happy to do anything for him could be the basis for a good story. The love we feel about our significant other is a theme that would be relatable in any situation. And the setting of Sita at home alone waiting for her spouse to return and thinking about how much she loves him is another common situation that is easily relatable.

Bibliography. Nina Paley, Sita Sings the Blues, Source.

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