Myths and Fairytales In Final Comparison Blog

Water and Aladdin are very similar. Both the main characters, Kalyani and Jasmine live similar life. Kalyani pretty much gets lock up in her room until night fall then she is taken out to work, make money as a prostitute for the widows' house. Jasmine is a princess and lock up from the world for her safety. Their best friend is an animal, Kalyani has a dog and Jasmine has a tiger. They both have beautiful, long, and black hair. They both are hopeless romantic. They strive for freedom and a life outside their home where they are lock up.  

 They both fell in love with men that they know they shouldn't marry. A widow in India can not remarry, it is a sin to do so. A princess can not marry a man of lower status or whom status is not a prince. Aladdin and Narayan are the two man whom they both fall in love with. Narayan is an unmarried man who practice Gandhi's work. Aladdin is a lower class man with criminal records. Both their love is a sin. They all know that it was wrong at first but just couldn't stop them self from falling in love. It was love at first sight, now who can really stop that? Do you believe in love at first sight? Is there such thing as love at first sight?

Aladdin's Genie granted him three wishes and took care of him. I feel like Gandhi was Narayan's secret genie. He didn't grant Narayan's wishes but because Narayan follows his practices it did feel like Ghandi was granting him wishes. Wishes such as advices to live a better life or to follow a different path than what others believe in.

Narayan and Kalyani took the boat across the river to his house when she agreed to marry him. The river is what divided the rich people from the poor people. Also the river is where everyone go to take a bath, get drinking water, wash the clothes, be bless, and use to wash the people who have passed away. Aladdin and Jasmine use air and their magic carpet as they fly away to their happy ever after toward the moon. Narayan and Kalyani was suppose to get their happy ever after too but when they were approaching his house she realize that she's been there before. His dad is one of her client so she refused to marry him. Would you have done what Kalyani did or would you proceed to marry Narayan? Which take me to this question, does love and can love really conquer all?

Water does stay true to myth in a way that Kalyani still believe in love knowing that it's a sin to fall in love or to even think of the idea of being in love. She's a widow and widow are banned from all exciting things about life. They can't eat sweets. Their beautiful long hair is shaved off so it's like their womanhood got taken away from them. Same goes to their bangles and their colorful clothes, everything are taken away. It's even improper for them to smile in public or bump into other people. Kalyani may not get lock up literally but she does live in a secluded place by herself because even the other widows look down on since she's a prostitute. She's force into prostitution by the main head Didi of the widows' house. Plus this is the only reason why Kalyani out of all the widows have long hair. Jasmine is also locked up by her protective father just for her safety. She meets Aladdin in the streets full of merchant items when she sneak out of home. Jasmine same as Kalyani both get sweep off their feet by the act of kindness from Aladdin and Narayan. Both movies portray myth of fairy tales, more on the love conquer all side. They both use film elements such as different camera movements and music to aide in this.

(P.S. This part makes me of think of "happy ever after" where Narayan and Kalyani were traveling on the river to get marry just like in the gifs of Aladdin and Jasmine.

Interesting Use of Music

Music and Bollywood movie, why yes they have the best music and let's not forget about the scenes and the use of color. I recently watched this film, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo at Marcus Theater in Madison, last Thursday. I just found out that they air Bollywood movies there. My sister lives there so every chance I get to take a trip to see her, my night has to end with a Bollywood film. This film stars my favorite actor whom I have been watching ever since a young girl and have a huge crush on, Salman Khan. In the film he plays Prem who is an actor and narrator of classical plays. He falls in love with a Sonam Kapoor who plays the princess Rajkumari. It was love at first sight. She came to passed out free food and clothes to the people in his village. From there he collects money from his plays to put in a money jug to give to her charity. When his money jug was filled he decided to look for her so he can personally give it to her and that's when this music was played. In the film it was just him and is friend at the market but because this is a music video they included some other scenes from the movie. So basically this song is talking about him wanting to meet her and wanting to give her all the things that he can. It talks about how beautiful she is. It's pretty much a song of a man who is in love and wanting the best in life for her. 

This is a great film! I highly recommend it to any one who loves a great twist. The ending is very satisfying, so for all those who hates cliff hanger you won't be left hanging, trust me! When I said twist I mean it. The film like many other Bollywood film are long but this one I didn't notice how long it was because I was sitting on the end of my seat the whole time. Crying from laughter and wiping a couple tears from sadness. I watch a lot of Bollywood film and for a long time they haven't made any film this good. I was satisfied walking out of the theater last Thursday. Don't just take my words for it, go watch it!!

Response to Water From a Cultural/Spiritual Perspective

From what I've learned about the Hindu culture from this film is that it doesn't matter if your husband's death is your fault or not, if he dies you're consider dead too. It's sad to see little girls as widow when they're just a child who knows nothing about life. Life is just starting for them and just like that their arrange marriage, husband dies and now they're put away from the world. It's like jail and a punishment for something they didn't do. That's what happened to one of the main character in this film. Her name is Chuyia. In the beginning she's taken by her father to the widows' house because her husband dies. Her long hair is shaved off. Her colorful clothes are traded for white ones. Her bangles are broken off her wrist and she is put in a house where food is dull and there's no color. The widows living in the widows' house live off Kalyani. She's another main character too. She's beautiful so Didi the one in charge of the widows' house made her into a prostitute to be sent over the Ganges River to the rich people's house.

Eventually she meets Narayan and soon fall in love. It's a sin to be seen walking behind a widow yet now falling love and wanting to marry one was a bigger sin for Narayan but that doesn't stop him. He believes in the Ghandi's practice that everyone is equal. So I'm going to leave it here as if so you can watch the movie and find out yourself if they get each other or not. This film is a must watch. I've seen this film before and every time I watch it, is like the first time. 

Interesting Special Effect

I love Avatar! This is one of my favorite scene, no I lie I love all the scenes where it was night out and all you see is all these glowing plants. It's beautiful. I love this special effects. I could watch this part over and over again.

Response to Tsotsi Focusing on Sound and Music

In Tsotsi, I found music being played against the norm. Like the music would be fast when the scene is a slow pace. Or the music could be a lot of beat and makes the scene too complex and overwhelming. A scene I could think of would be when Tsotsi and his group of friend stabbed a man in the subway just to steal his money. The music being played just didn't match what was going on. Another example of this would be after this scene they were at a bar frustrated with what just happened on the subway. The music was kind of like a samba. It just doesn't make sense for that kind of music being played with all the frustration and tension going on.

Interesting Use of Transition

I finally caught up to my favorite TV show, Revenge. This is the last part and I love this transition. It's when Nolan's getting ready to walk Emily or the real Amanda down the aisle to her husband, Jack during their wedding. I would say that this is a cut transition. I'm so happy that after all the things that Amanda's been through, she's finally getting a happy ending. Everyone deserve a happy ending even the people who makes bad decisions.  

Response to The Whale Rider Using the Historical Framework

If you know nothing about the Maori culture then after watching this movie you will have a firm idea of their lifestyle. There's more to this movie than just a whale rider. A whale rider isn't just a typical person, this person is the chosen one. Not just anyone can ride a whale, you have to be destine to be a whale rider. I, myself was one who knew nothing about the Maori culture.

The Maori culture plays a big role in The Whale Rider. The main character is Paikea or also known as Pai whose twin brother and mother dies during child birth. Her twin brother's destiny was to become a whale rider because it's in their blood line. Only a boy can become a whale rider. Things that are too dangerous can not be done by a girl as mentioned by Pai's grandpa. Her grandpa started a school just to teach the boys around Pai's age the traditional ways of living. He taught them chants, sword fighting, facial expressions and etc. 

Pai show interest but because she was a girl she wasn't allow to be part of the school. She was secretly taught sword fighting from her uncle. She was better than the boy being taught by her grandpa. She was able to swim and find her grandpa's whale's tooth necklace when the other boys being trained couldn't get it. Even though she was looked down by her grandpa because she was a girl she was way better than all the boys. She has way more potential than all the boys combine. Lastly she was able to move the ancestor whale by sitting on top of the whale when all the people in her village fail  moving the whale by their strength, tractor and ropes. 

We saw the difference of how a girl and boy is view in the Maori culture but what I'm taking out of this film is that if you're destine to do greatness it doesn't matter if you are a boy or a girl.