Deepa Mehta's _Fire_

[Michael Rabe]

>Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 00:47:59 -0500 (EST)
>From: Maureen Fadem <fademm at castle.beaver.edu>
>To: Michael Rabe <mrabe at artic.edu>
>Subject: Re: Deepa Mehta's _Fire_
>
>i had a few thoughts on this excellent message; wonder if you'd also send
>it to the author, michael?
>
>> >>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.
>
>i am glad about all the air time this film is getting, because as i have
>remarked in the past, taken in total, it would be a 'landmark' event
>provoking controversy in most cultures; my daughter will be previewing the
>film at her college, hamilton college, this spring for their celebrate
>sexuality week, along with numerous other thematically gay/lesbian films.
>
>> >>just represented types. .
>
>by "types", do we mean stereotypes? if so, i had similar thoughts, but a
>minor issue, to my mind.
>
>> >>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.
>
>yes, actually, the story --and each time sita's immolation-- is
>represented at several points throughout the film, both dramatically, and
>on the television numerous times. maybe overdone a bit, i am not sure? the
>filmmaker  uses the story as a symbol to make a very clear point that she
>does not want overlooked, that is sure.
>
>> >>        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.
>
>yes, the filmmaker(s) took no pity on certain indian traditions, none
>whatever, including arranged marriage. the affair he was having and
>the kind of relationship they had made the whole thing that much uglier,
>and i don't think that was accidental.  mehta is heavily, *strongly*
>criticizing/critiquing indian culture with this film and much as i would
>criticize certain aspects of the film myself, such as i feel the film may
>have gotten better reception and thus may have been a more effective tool
>in the long run had certain strategies been modified, i greatly admire
>this effort and feel those criticisms to be minor compared with the
>relative value of such a film/such messages.
>
>> >>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 also thought of gandhi but was not aware of the rest of those details...
>
>> >>        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 agree about the dense symbolism -- sometimes greater subtlety can be a
>much stronger tool. but i am not sure i felt the lesbianism was
>gratuitous; i think it is something we are not used to seeing on film and
>that maybe part of the shock factor people experience?
>
>michael, your message from the other evening has made me move 'god of
>small things' closer to the top of my to-be-read pile. :))
>best,
>maureen.
>
>