Deepa Mehta's _Fire_

[Michael Rabe]

In a separate post, I respond to this personal communication, worth forwarding:

>Date: Fri, 08 Jan 1999 17:43:43 -0500
>From: Georgana Foster <jfoster at resecon.umass.edu>
>Subject: Re: Deepa Mehta's _Fire_
>To: mrabe at artic.edu
>MIME-version: 1.0
>X-UIDL: e9093eda9508ff414273cac817ae1ab2
>
>Dear Michael,
>        I have been following the discussing about "Fire" with great
>interest.As I first saw the movie almost two years ago, I had not begun
>thinking about it again until the recent articles in India Abroad about
>what is happening in India in regard to the sending back the film to the
>censors. Also there were two events recently around the film in the
>northeast. At Smith College this fall, the South Indian students at this
>women's college opened their weekend with a discussion with the director
>and a showing of the film. Unfortunately, I was sick and didn't get to
>this; And in early Dec.at the Asia Society in New York City they had a
>premier of Deepa Mehta's newest film, "Earth" with a discussion. This is
>made from the book "Cracking India" by Bapsi Sidhu, and is a child's view
>of partition from Lahore. Also on our NPR station there was a review of
>Fire, by a film critic who thought Earth was better, asthe people in Fire
>just represented types. .
>        As I remember in seeing the film, I felt the scene of fire in the
>kitchen was evocative of dowry deaths in India, which are often called
>"accidents" which happen in the kitchen. . I know there were two scenes
>from Ramayana being done by different drama groups, but I do not remember
>if they were Sita's fire sacrifice.  I need to see it again.
>        I did however,feel very impressed by the blending together
>different strands which I know about from my courses and research. First
>was the relation of the young modern couple, used to pornography, affairs,
>and how their arranged marriage was held up against the ideal for Sita in
>the Ramayana. I don't think I even thought of Sita's fire sacrifice. But on
>the part of the older couple there was the very complex situation of the
>husband, who was trying to live up to an ideal of being chaste in marriage,
>as prescribed by his guru, and testing himself, like Mahatma Gandhi
>sleeping with his niece; this is also a ideal of the Brahma Kumari
>organization, (for description see Alan Babb's "Redemptive Encounters-
>Three Modern styles in the Hindu Tradition" Oxford, l986,) and Morris
>Carstairs, "The Twice Born-a study of a community of High Caste Hindus"
> l96l which describes this doctors contact with his patients. The idea that
>the spiritual powers of a person can be built up by conserving sexual
>fluids and if they are "spilled" one loses power is very central to much
>Hindu mythology, and I have studied it in connection with the mythology of
>the goddesses.  Also it seems that the wife could not have children, so the
>husband was taking this path.
>        I felt that there was almost too much symbolism once all of these
>things were put together, and the Lesbianism seemed  just a bit gratutious;
>but of course, was necessary to the plot if one were not making a
>documentary.
>        I have seen Anand Pardwardhans "Father, Son and Holy War" which in
>its presentation of the the cases of Sati, and other things about Indian
>chauvanism, is much much more radical than Fire.   I heard him show the two
>parts of the movie and discuss it with students for above five hours, a
>couple of years ago.
>        So I would say, it is wise to be prepared with knowledge about all
>kinds of contemporary political/ social issues in India and not to be naive
>if this movie were to be used for an Indology class.
>        Where am I coming from on this: I am affiliated with Independent
>Scholars of South Asia, and belong to ACSAA. I lived in India first in
>l949, and have lived there six plus years over 50 years. In l990, I lived
>in Hyderabad AP when there was "frenzied killings" following the first try
>at the Babri Mosque-Ramajanambhomni. I had just finished a second BA in SA
>studies with an interdisciplinary program, and the use of the Ramayana in
>India at that period was striking and horrible. I made a slide paper of
>pictures from the media and my own, and showed it at the South Asia
>conference at Wisconsin in Oct. l990, and at CRISI in l99l, and have
>revised it for use in visiting classes in the Five College consortium the
>last six years.My field of interest is contemporary folk art of the goddess
>and I am giving my collection to the U. of Iowa I have many of the things
>which are in Barbara Rossi's book on Ocean of Painting.   Art historians
>are now beginning to look more at contemporary iconography in India  which
>is related to ancient, an idea which Gary Tartakov, my first art history
>professor, taught me in l974. and was illustrated by Richard Davis at the
>Charlestown symposium in his Bharat Mata paper.
>        I do not know exactly how to send messages to the whole site which
>you maintain, so am sending this to you. I also noticed recently that I
>have two listings on the site address list, one of which is incorrect. So I
>don't get anything from anyone but you, but I find your items very
>interesting.
>                        Georgana Foster
>
>