Nina Paley - America's Best-Loved Unknown Cartoonist

Please stand by...

2007-05-11T12:21:00.000-04:00

I'm switiching Blog software and moving my archives around. Hopefully will have everything resolved soon.

guhhhh

2007-05-08T10:44:00.000-04:00

Well, I missed the ASIFA-East Animation Festival because I was busy puking my guts out. Salmonella? E coli? Staph? Demonic posession a la The Exorcist? I hear "Agni Pariksha" won an "Excellence in Design" award. Thanks, ASIFA!

Brad Neely's Bible History

2007-04-24T15:59:00.000-04:00

To everyone who keeps asking why don't I do cartoons about Jesus or whatever Abrahamic whatnots, the answer is, how could I top this? Enjoy!

Big ups to Parsons student Shanna, who turned me on to this.

ASIFA-East Animation Festival

2007-04-23T21:46:00.000-04:00

THE New York animation event.

Sunday May 6, 6pm
Parsons Tishman Auditorium
66 W. 12th Street, NYC

As always, the event is free and open to the public. They'll be showing my newest Sita chapter, Agni Pariksha.

Art and Responsibility

2007-04-09T09:35:00.000-04:00

Some critics have said that making my movie "as a white, American woman" I have a "responsibility" to locate the work within a history of colonialist oppression account for my white privilege bla bla bla zzzzz. Yes, it's White Man's Burden all over again. So I'd like to get clear on what an artist's responsibility is:

An artist's responsibility is to be true to their own vision.

In other words, to be honest. That's it.

Ironically, but not surprisingly, similarly well-intentioned guardians of culture are also trying to dictate Indian artists' responsibility. I recently received a very nice email from an artist studying in Mumbai, who wrote

There is a great deal of emphasis here of being true to our Indian roots and integrating that Indian-ness into our work here. honestly I'm a little tired of it.

I saw the same thing when I taught animation in Nairobi. UNESCO, who sponsored the program, wanted the partcipants to create animation that was "authentically African." My feeling was that anything they made would be authentically African, because they were authentic Africans. But UNESCO wanted their work to "look African", be based on traditional folklore, set in rural villages, etc. All this in 2004, in a big city, working on computers - many of the participants were understandably looking away from rural villages and towards the rest of the world. That's what artists do, and it's just as authentic as looking at your roots.

It's great when an artist's vision dovetails with an honorable social cause, and is naturally politically correct. I'm as eager to see homegrown Indian animation about Indian history and folklore as anyone. I'm also eager to see Indian, African, rest-of-the-world-ian animation about every other conceiveable subject - as long as it's honest. My Mumbai penpal articulated it well:

I share your opinion about the integration of identity in our work through honesty of thought. It also ensures the fact that the end result is truer to the context than the other more contrived one.

Meanwhile, I try to remember this:

...forgive us our criticisms
As we forgive those who critique against us

Quote of the Day

2007-03-30T10:12:00.000-04:00

"There are three things which are real: God, human folly, and laughter. Since the first two pass our comprehension, we must do what we can with the third."
--Aubrey Menen

The son of an Indian father and Irish mother, Aubrey Menen was born (1912) in London and died (1989) in Thiruvananthapuram. In India during World War II, he organized pro-Allied radio broadcasts and edited film scripts for the Indian government. He wrote many books including a satirical Ramayana, from which the quote above is taken. The book is banned in India.

Art

2007-03-24T13:07:00.000-04:00

Kali Ma

Kali's helpers (detail)

Coatlicue

Hello Kitty

Kali Ma

Shiva Natraj

White Male Imperialist Cultural Appropriation (kidding! I keed!)

Mahadevi

2007-03-24T12:59:00.000-04:00

Sita's Eternal Form catches some Eternal Music on the Eternal Waters.

Meanwhile, in another part of the web...

2007-03-22T11:51:00.000-04:00

Sepia Mutiny has an article and 240-post discussion about my picture of Desire/Kali, cultural ownership, the role of art and artists, "critical race analysis of your work in a postcolonial context," and more. Unfortunately the comments are now closed and I lost my cool and brought down the level of discourse at one point, but overall commenters were remarkably articulate and civil, and covered a broad range or related issues. Big thanks to everyone over there who took the time to contribute.

...and weighing in from another side:

2007-03-15T13:10:00.000-04:00

Chennai's News Today brings us this story: Ramayana will be burnt, says Veeramani. Via Sepia Mutiny.

I'm probably only encouraging them, but...

2007-03-13T13:16:00.000-04:00

...this email I got today from Mrunal Nanivadekar of the anti-speech HinduJagruti.org was too good not to share.

||Sree||

Ms. Paley,

Some irate Hindus have brought to our attention your attempt ("Sitayana") at retelling the Hindu Holy epic, Ramayana ( www.ninapaley.com/Sitayana).

Here are our concerns regarding your attempt:

Ø It appears that you are not fully aware that the Ramayana is a Holy Scripture for Hindus. Over a billion Hindus all over the world hold it in reverence. What you call as the characters in Ramayana are divine Incarnations worshipped by Hindus.

Ø While we understand your painful personal incidents discussed on your site, your "Sitayana", which basically re-tells the Ramayana as matches your own life, is contrary to the life of Lord Rama and Goddess Sita as given in the Hindu Holy texts. Thus, even if inadvertently, your "Sitayana" has proved to be deliberately disrespectful and downright denigrating to Hindus at large.

Ø One cannot understand divine Incarnations by trying to fit them into limited human paradigms. It takes rigorous spiritual practice to attain the spiritual maturity to understand and experience the attributes and functions of divine Incarnations.

Ø Even if one were to hold such views in private, out of lack of knowledge or understanding, you have gone on to publicly display your views on the World Wide Web. To publicly comment on something held in reverence by many, one should have some authority on the subject. Kindly let us know what spiritual authority you exercised to publicly alter and mock a Holy spiritual text revered by millions?

Ø If there is anything that the worldwide violence over Prophet Mohammed's caricatures has taught us, it is that religious sentiments are the most sacred of all to those who follow any religion. Denigrating them as the likes of the Danish cartoonists have done, or disregarding them as the likes of the Danish press have done, can incite communal disharmony, if not widespread violence. That is why, the UN ex-Secretary General, Kofi Annan in view of the crisis over caricatures of Prophet Mohammad has advocated that, "We must stress that rights carry with them an inherent responsibility, and should not be used to degrade, humiliate or insult any group or individual."

Ø You are well aware that had you used an Islamic Holy Scripture for retelling on the lines of personal incidents, you would have violent agitations on your hands by now. Is this to incite the usually tolerant Hindus to take up violence to protect their religious sanctity?

In light of the above, we request you to prevent further hurting of Hindu sentiments by immediately removing the "Sitayan" from public display and publishing an unconditional apology in its place, so as to prevent a public protest campaign and furore from the Hindu community worldwide.

Expecting your prompt action and response,

Mrunal Nanivadekar
5159885161
PR Manager, USA Chapter
www.HinduJagruti.org

I was disappointed I wasn't listed on the main defamations page, but only the lower-tier defamations reported by visitors page. Oh well, we can't all be M.F. Hussain.

Doordarshan don't darshan

2007-03-04T23:00:00.000-05:00

I've spent the last several weeks watching the Ramanand Sagar / Doordarshan Ramayan TV series on DVD (thanks, Sendhil!). Not all 78 hours - I skipped a few volumes. But I learned plenty:

*Rama's portrayal is convincingly righteous, even to a crankypants like me

*Sita really does cry constantly through the second half of the series (about 36 hours)

*The show is a study in the slowest, most drawn-out "action" I've ever seen

*You can never have too many zoom-ins

Suspiciously, the episode I most wanted to see was missing from the set. That's right, MISSING. The DVD code suddenly got gunged up right before the part where Sita should have gone through fire. No matter how many times I cleaned and reinserted the disc, it was impossible to play. Since that's the most controversial scene in the series, I wouldn't be surprised if it were rendered intentionally unplayable on the DVD. In spite of the crucial scene missing, I did get to see Rama defend his plan to put Sita through fire, using the Tulsi Das Rationalization. See, Rama knew Sita was going to be abducted, so before Ravana even showed up he asked Agni, the fire god, to protect Sita. So Sita enters Agni's protection (ie, burns up), leaving behind a "shadow Sita." It's the shadow that gets abducted, imprisoned, etc. (and cries for 36 hours). Once Rama rescues her, he needs to replace the "shadow" Sita with the real Sita - again by putting her through fire. See? Only the best intentions.

Naturally I turned to youtube to search for the missing scene. Instead I found something better: scenes from the sequel, "Luv Kush," aka the Uttara Kanda. I had no idea Doordarshan ever produced that! The Uttara Kanda is the highly controversial last book of the Ramayana, missing from Tulsi Das's commentaries and most mainstream versions, like the original Ramayan series. It's the part where Rama banishes Sita and she eventually returns to Mother Earth. It's what half my movie is based on. And here it is, Doordarshan style:

There are no subtitles, but I assume Valmiki is presenting the much-maligned Sita to Rama, and defending her virtues. Rama, I assume, says, "I'll take the boys, but Sita's gonna have to prove her purity again." Then Sita drops the big one, probably the equivalent of: "If I have always been true to Rama, may Mother Earth take me back into her womb." Which happens:

If anyone wants to leave translations of the Hindi in the comments, I'd be much edified.

Mixed Review

2007-03-01T18:42:00.000-05:00

From yesterday's inbox:

HEY NNA PALEY I REALLY LIKED THE RAMAYAN YOU DID I THINK THE SITA YOU CREATED WAS ALSO PRETTY CAN YOU SEND ME A PICTURE OF HER BUT DID YOU HAVE TO MAKE SITA TOO REVEALING I GOT INSULTED WHEN I SAW THAT IM A HINDU AND THAT WAS INSULTING KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK BUT DONT BE REVEALING NEXT TIME THANKYOU

Thanks, and keep those cards and letters coming!

Praising with Great Damnation

2007-03-01T18:32:00.000-05:00

Sometimes the greatest compliment comes in the form of being hated by the right people. So I was thrilled to discover this condemnation from the Forced-Birthers, who only took five years to notice my work exists. Five years, but so worth the wait.

SF Int'l Asian American Film Festival

2007-02-28T09:57:00.000-05:00

3 Sita chapters, including "Battle of Lanka" on 35mm FILM, will screen this March at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in a program called Third I South Asian Shorts.

SCREENINGS
Sun 3/18 5:00 PM
AMC 1000 Van Ness
THIR18

Sun 3/25 2:15 PM
Camera 12 Cinemas
THIR25

Sita Trailer at Cold Hard Flash

2007-02-28T09:54:00.000-05:00

This file downloads fast and it still looks good: Sita Trailer at Cold Hard Flash. Thanks, Aaron!

New "Sita" Trailer!

2007-02-24T10:56:00.000-05:00

I finally made a little trailer for Sita Sings the Blues. You can see it on the Internet Archive, but they squished all the streaming versions so you have to choose "Play/Download Quicktime 74MB" (big file, but worth it). Or just go here. You can catch glimspes of the alternate animation styles I'm working in now. There are snippets of rotoscope animation from "Agni Pariksha," and some of my fake-Indian-miniature-painting style.

The main music is by Rohan, the intro music by Todd Michaelsen. Sita's voice played by Reena Shah.

A picture from the Cinema Arts Centre screening

2007-02-20T11:28:00.000-05:00

Here's me with the lovely Anne Altman, whose many talents include writing a hilarious blog, taking beautiful photographs of her cat Doodle, and making me look tall.

Dis is cute, dis is cute...

2007-02-16T00:44:00.000-05:00

I first saw Mel Brooks' "The Critic" as a wee lass in Urbana, when my parental units rented it along with several other cartoons and a 16mm film projector for my brother's birthday. So many years passed without my seeing it again, I wondered whether it actually existed, or if I'd somehow invented it via my oft-faulty memory. Luckily, youtube came through - I just entered "Mel Brooks Critic" and got this. Yay youtube. Yay internets. Yay Nina's brain, which still works sometimes.

"The Critic" is awesome. Watch.

Feb 15, Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington Long Island

2007-01-24T20:46:00.000-05:00

Celebrate the day after Valentine's Day with a work-in-progress screening of the Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told: Sita Sings the Blues! This will be the most extensive show of the work-in-progress yet, featuring ELEVEN musical episodes (10 Hanshaw songs plus a new ditty by Rohan) and the first-ever public screening of the latest chapter, Agni Pariksha. Plus, chapter 4 - Battle of Lanka - will be on glorious, colorful, dazzling 35mm FILM! But hold onto your hats - we'll also be showing Fetch! and Pandorama on 35mm, and The Stork and some other goodies. I'll be there in person, answering questions and babbling away.

February 15, 7:30pm
Cinema Arts Centre
423 Park Avenue
Huntington, NY 11743

Taking the train: From Penn Station, 34th Street and 7th Avenue, take the LIRR, Port Jefferson Branch. Get off at Huntington. Train schedule is available at Penn Station, or call516-231-LIRR (718-217-LIRR). An off-peak round-trip ticket costs around $14.50 (one-way: $7.25 / peak one-way: $10.25). From the station, the easiest way to get to the Cinema is to take a cab (roughly $5.00).

The whole feature film won't be completed until 2008, but there's a good 40 minutes of it here.

Sanjay Patel Interview

2007-01-22T16:18:00.000-05:00

If you like Sita Sings the Blues, you may know I'm not alone in mashing up Hindu iconography with American-style cartooning. Sanjay Patel has an awesome new book out, and there's an excellent interview with him here.

Agni Pariksha

2007-01-06T13:11:00.000-05:00

Boy am I glad the holidays are over. I did get some work done, a new 3-minute segment in a new style to contrast with the Hanshaw/Betty-Boop-esque musical numbers. I'd post it online, but it just can't withstand web compression. There are some stills here. The music is by Todd Michaelsen and I rotoscoped off dancer Reena Shah. I will be showing a sneak preview on February 15 at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, Long Island; more about that soon.

Amateurs do it for Love

2006-12-01T10:19:00.000-05:00

Interview of Yours Truly over at Amateur Illustrator.

Public Cervix Announcement

2006-11-30T21:26:00.000-05:00

Why wasn't I shown this important PSA growing up? It would have kept me out of a lot of trouble. I might even still be married!

Buy Everything Day

2006-11-24T10:41:00.000-05:00

is today!