I don’t know a lot about Indian culture, but I’ve known a Hindu family for about 15 years. Two of the daughters were English students of mine at the community college about 5 years ago. I found it disturbing that Shanta was always in the presence of all those men. The young women I know, even though they are somewhat Americanized (but still had arranged marriages) did not hang out with men like that. While I’m not naïve enough to think that Hindu women don’t have encounters with men like the ones Shanta had, I didn’t find her constant male companions to be realistic at all. I was also very disturbed by the character of Lenny-baby. She obviously was not played by an 8-year old actor. And the fact that someone was constantly picking her up and holding her, particularly “all those men” again, was unrealistic and a bit sexual. She didn’t appear to have any problems with mobility, so I was distracted by everybody picking her up. Perhaps there is some symbolism there (although I think that’s a stretch)—trying to pick up, as a sort of solution, the crippled, unbending state of affairs. I saw much more of the movie through Shanta, not Lenny-baby--whose apparent presence was to give her parents a reason for existence in the movie.
Politically, the movie’s depiction of neutrality is skewed for me. You have one rich Parsee family (or are they British, I’m not sure!) representing an important theme of the movie. Surely there were other examples of neutrality that could have been woven into the story to give us some hope that there would be some sort of asylum for the hunted. L-baby’s family is too absorbed in themselves and their lifestyle to be sympathetic saviors. Moreover, the simplistic, OOPS way in which Shanta is discovered isn’t very creative...just the old game of hide and seek. I have deep sympathy for Shanta, a sacrificial lamb, representing all those who were murdered unnecessarily and for what?
I loved the scene where the man of God telephones Allah. When he refuses to make a call for another religion (I forgot which one), he simply tells the man requesting the call to, “Call your own God.” Perhaps “we are all equal in the eyes of God” (paraphrased from Earth), but whose God are we counting on? Go ahead, pick one. And then tomorrow, pick another one if you need to.
4 comments:
Nice post. Definitely different from mine (which you commented on) but well thought out. This is my first online class and I've been enjoying reading everyones posts and opinions. Lots of good thoughts out there. I liked what you said about the possible symbolism attached to everyone picking up Lenny. Who knows, right? I'll look forward to reading more of your posts. I don't usually watch movies twice, but there was a lot going on in this one and I had to view it again. Good luck in the course.
Great post again Teresa. I think you are absolutely right to raise some of those questions regarding Shanta hanging out with so many men. However, here it felt a bit more natural somehow and I think there were a few mitigating factors that made it not so iffy: 1) it's an urban setting rather than in a rural village, where such a thing would have simply been impossible; 2) it's usually in a public, open park, rather than a quiet, more secluded setting, which would have been questionable indeed; 3) Lenny-baby is always with them, which is crucial--after all, remember that Shanta's role is as nanny, and without Lenny-baby being there then certainly being around all of those men would have been unthinkable--it's as if the men are ostensibly there more as Lenny-baby's friend than as Shanta's friend, though, of course, we as viewers (and adults) know that to be ridiculous. In fact, I couldn't help but suspect whether on a certain level Lenny-b betrays Shanta at the end because of an underlying jeslousy of her? 4) Shanta's parents are not around--presumably they would have been much more strict with her than the Parsee family she lives with. Of course, I say all of this although we all know that Shanta does indeed break social mores by sleeping with one of her male admirers, which would have been the ultimate no-no regardless! So, to repeat, you definitely raise some legitimate questions here... Jeff
I had much the same response as Jeff regarding Shanta and all the men: she was a Hindu in a predominantly Muslim world, had no real friends of her own, was "shielded" by Lenny-Baby, and only met with the folks in the open, and was always demure in her behavior. It was a "safe" way of being a female in a male-domintaed society.
I read Lenny-Baby's actions at the end a little differnetly: she had previously shown her preference for the Ice Candy Man and her subtle dislike for Hassan; I think she was "match-making," from the start. Her move to tell Ice Candy Man where Shanta was hiding was one more attempt to match-make, and it had a horrible consequence she could NOT have anticipated. Remember: she viewed Ice Candy man as her knight in shining armor. A knight couldn't do anything as ugly as send Shanta to a horrible life or death.
"I didn’t find her constant male companions to be realistic at all."
Wow, you came up with some stimulating aspects that didn't occur to me. It didn't seem odd while watching, probably because of the nanny aspect, but upon reflection it does seem a little strange. If the movie was about a friendship with the same diversity of religion but all females, the rest of the story would have necessarily been much different That might be an interesting blog topic option to explore.
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