I'm not 100% sure I see what's in it for them to make 400 books available to the general public, completely free. (Thanks, Bookish) But there will be time enough for analysis later. In the short run, I'm celebrating, passing it on, and hoping other presses will follow suit.
Here are some of the titles that interested me (not that I have time to actually read through many of them in the week before classes start). The books at the top of the list are generally books I've read parts of already:
Indian Traffic: Identities in Question in Colonial and Postcolonial India by Parama Roy
Nets of Awareness: Urdu Poetry and Its Critics by Frances Pritchett
A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity by Daniel Boyarin
At the Heart of the Empire: Indians and the Colonial Encounter in Late-Victorian Britain
The Irish Ulysses by Maria Tymoczko
J.M Coetzee: South Africa and the Politics of Writing by David Attwell
The Travels of Dean Mahomet:
An Eighteenth-Century Journey through India by Dean Mahomet (!)
The Magic Mountain: Hill Stations and the British Raj
Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia
Arabs and Young Turks: Ottomanism, Arabism, and Islamism in the Ottoman Empire, 1908–1918
A Nation of Empire: The Ottoman Legacy of Turkish Modernity
Behind the Scenes: Yeats, Horniman, and the Struggle for the Abbey Theatre
The Boundaries of Humanity: Humans, Animals, Machines
Caste and Capitalism in Colonial India: The Nattukottai Chettiars
Divine Passions: The Social Construction of Emotion in India
The Wrestler's Body: Identity and Ideology in North India
The French Revolution and the Birth of Modernity
Freud and His Critics
Hysteria Beyond Freud
Historians get Materialistic
I was hoping there would be some big controversy to report about some of the big disciplinary conventions that meet around now, other than MLA -- the American Historical Association, the Linguistic Society of America, etc.
Well, the LSA did get a little media, mainly because of their goofy annual contests for interesting new words. I was pleased to see that "crunk" was nominated, and sad that it lost out to "red state/blue state" as "most likely to succeed." Then again, it's not as if "crunk" is likely to be a word anyone is still using a year from now!
Tim Burke did have some interesting insights on Historians' discipline-wide neglect of Africa at Cliopatria, but it's hardly on the order of "Jane Austen and the Masturbating Girl." (The scandal of Eve Sedgwick's title never gets old.)
Well, the Boston Globe at least has something to report about Historians: they've got a tendency to be materialistic.
Ouch, bad joke; sorry. But I've been desperate to see some metacommentary on a discipline other than literature for once.
Well, the LSA did get a little media, mainly because of their goofy annual contests for interesting new words. I was pleased to see that "crunk" was nominated, and sad that it lost out to "red state/blue state" as "most likely to succeed." Then again, it's not as if "crunk" is likely to be a word anyone is still using a year from now!
Tim Burke did have some interesting insights on Historians' discipline-wide neglect of Africa at Cliopatria, but it's hardly on the order of "Jane Austen and the Masturbating Girl." (The scandal of Eve Sedgwick's title never gets old.)
Well, the Boston Globe at least has something to report about Historians: they've got a tendency to be materialistic.
Ouch, bad joke; sorry. But I've been desperate to see some metacommentary on a discipline other than literature for once.
One Nation, Under a Dimly Understood God...
Stephen Prothero, in the LA Times (via A&L Daily). He's arguing that the U.S. needs more education about religion in its primary schools, which is to be distinguished from religious education.
Seems plausible to me, though this argument could easily be twisted into "Prothero says cure for religious extremism is more religion in school." Still, it's interesting where he ends up in this op-ed:
Things are different in Europe, and not just in Sweden. The Dutch are four times less likely than Americans to believe in miracles, hell and biblical inerrancy. The euro does not trust in God. But here is the paradox: Although Americans are far more religious than Europeans, they know far less about religion.
In Europe, religious education is the rule from the elementary grades on. So Austrians, Norwegians and the Irish can tell you about the Seven Deadly Sins or the Five Pillars of Islam. But, according to a 1997 poll, only one out of three U.S. citizens is able to name the most basic of Christian texts, the four Gospels, and 12% think Noah's wife was Joan of Arc. That paints a picture of a nation that believes God speaks in Scripture but that can't be bothered to read what he has to say.
Seems plausible to me, though this argument could easily be twisted into "Prothero says cure for religious extremism is more religion in school." Still, it's interesting where he ends up in this op-ed:
A few days after 9/11, a turbaned Indian American man was shot and killed in Arizona by a bigot who believed the man's dress marked him as a Muslim. But what killed Balbir Singh Sodhi (who was not a Muslim but a Sikh) was not so much bigotry as ignorance. The moral of his story is not just that we need more tolerance. It is that Americans — of both the religious and the secular variety — need to understand religion. Resolving in 2005 to read for yourself either the Bible or the Koran (or both) might not be a bad place to start.
Power 99: Racial slurs lead to DJ Star's suspension
Final follow-up on the Power 99 controversy: Star is suspended for a day.
The point has been made, folks. I'm ready to move on.
The point has been made, folks. I'm ready to move on.
C.L. Smooth, widely cited poet
Apropos of nothing in particular...
C.L. Smooth was an artsy rapper in the early 1990s. His collaboration with producer Pete Rock, "Mecca and the Soul Brother," was one of the classics of early 1990s hip hop. Though he doesn't get appreciated the way KRS-One, Q-Tip, and the early Nas do for their artistry, C.L. Smooth gets a place in my -- but probably not just my -- Artistic Rap Hall of Fame.
The classic song -- really the one song that everyone should know -- is called "They Reminisce Over You". It's got a beautiful jazz saxophone sample, and pretty thoughtful lyrics as rap songs go. The following lines from the middle of the song have been hard-wired in my memory for about 11 or 12 years:
There are some moments that are a little confusing in a narrative sense to be sure. (For example, I've never really understood "My right hand poppa doc I see". Is that a reference to Haiti's Papa Doc Duvalier?) But despite its confusing points, fundamentally this is a song about memory, dysfunctional families, and death, especially from AIDS, which shows up later in the song. As (presumably) autobiography, it hangs together thematically in a way that few other rap songs do. It works as rap, but it also works as 'poetry' in a more technical sense.
I was happy to see that serious poets are citing it, as in this New York Times review of some new books of poetry out.
Elizabeth Bishop... and C.L. Smooth!
C.L. Smooth was an artsy rapper in the early 1990s. His collaboration with producer Pete Rock, "Mecca and the Soul Brother," was one of the classics of early 1990s hip hop. Though he doesn't get appreciated the way KRS-One, Q-Tip, and the early Nas do for their artistry, C.L. Smooth gets a place in my -- but probably not just my -- Artistic Rap Hall of Fame.
The classic song -- really the one song that everyone should know -- is called "They Reminisce Over You". It's got a beautiful jazz saxophone sample, and pretty thoughtful lyrics as rap songs go. The following lines from the middle of the song have been hard-wired in my memory for about 11 or 12 years:
When I date back I recall a man off the family tree
My right hand poppa doc I see
Took me from a boy to a man so I always had a father
When my biological didn’t bother
Taking care of this so who am I to bicker
Not a bad ticker but I’m clocking pop’s liver ["clocking," meaning "copying"]
But you can never say that his life is through
5 kids at 21 believe he got a right too
Here we go while I check the scene
With the Portuguese lover at the age of 14 [he's talking about himself now]
The same age, front page, no fuss
But I bet you all your dough, they live longer than us
There are some moments that are a little confusing in a narrative sense to be sure. (For example, I've never really understood "My right hand poppa doc I see". Is that a reference to Haiti's Papa Doc Duvalier?) But despite its confusing points, fundamentally this is a song about memory, dysfunctional families, and death, especially from AIDS, which shows up later in the song. As (presumably) autobiography, it hangs together thematically in a way that few other rap songs do. It works as rap, but it also works as 'poetry' in a more technical sense.
I was happy to see that serious poets are citing it, as in this New York Times review of some new books of poetry out.
In ''The Listening: Poems,'' Kyle Dargan writes an attractive, melodic line that no one would mistake for prose. But his first loyalty -- like that of his models, particularly the Black Arts Movement poets -- is to the language people speak. That's not to say his language isn't stylized. It's like a spoken shorthand, blending the creative elision of lyric poetry with the wit, brio and irony of black English and hip-hop slang (''The Listening'' is almost certainly the first poetry collection to include epigraphs from both Elizabeth Bishop and C. L. Smooth). In the sonnet ''Bluff,'' Dargan sketches the troubled relationship between his street-savvy father and his disciplinarian grandfather in just a few strokes: ''sometimes it's easier to beat the city / than to beat the house.''
Elizabeth Bishop... and C.L. Smooth!
Harassing call center workers for fun
This is sort of a follow-up on the Power 99 thing: Times of India.
Of course, because it is The Times of India, the whole thing could just be fiction (remember Bhaskar, the "serial killer"? [I miss Jivha]).
Notice how no quote is given a direct attribution or source! So, while it seems plausible, I wouldn't take it too seriously.
Of course, because it is The Times of India, the whole thing could just be fiction (remember Bhaskar, the "serial killer"? [I miss Jivha]).
Notice how no quote is given a direct attribution or source! So, while it seems plausible, I wouldn't take it too seriously.
Indian National Anthem to be changed?
Awhile ago I posted on the controversy over India's national anthem. A small number of people on the Hindu right wanted it to be changed from "Jana Gana Mana" to more spiritual/devotional sounding "Bande Mataram." But the issue went away pretty quickly.
Now there is a new issue, following notice from the Supreme Court that the word "Sindh" should be removed from "Jana Gana Mana," because Sindh is a province that is now in Pakistan.
Also, Sindhi poet Lekhraj Aziz has written a note of protest in the Times of India.
No opinion on this yet...
Now there is a new issue, following notice from the Supreme Court that the word "Sindh" should be removed from "Jana Gana Mana," because Sindh is a province that is now in Pakistan.
Also, Sindhi poet Lekhraj Aziz has written a note of protest in the Times of India.
No opinion on this yet...
Traveling bloggers
Unfortunately this winter break did not have anything in the way of exciting travels for me. But others were much more lucky.
Kerim and Shashwati, for example, have been doing interesting stuff in India. Read Kerim's posts on Dehradun, Denotified tribes (especially that one), and Adivasis.
Elck (Vernacular Body) also has been in India, and has great posts on it. I especially liked the post on Bombay.
And Ms. World has been all over Southeast Asia. There are a number of good posts there, so I'll just link to her whole blog.
And you should also read this week's bit from Fareed Zakaria (not a blogger, but I found his latest through Manish, who is one) has been in Delhi and Chennai recently. He is impressed -- to an extent -- at what's happening business-wise and otherwise. (Manish is less pleased... read his post too)
Kerim and Shashwati, for example, have been doing interesting stuff in India. Read Kerim's posts on Dehradun, Denotified tribes (especially that one), and Adivasis.
Elck (Vernacular Body) also has been in India, and has great posts on it. I especially liked the post on Bombay.
And Ms. World has been all over Southeast Asia. There are a number of good posts there, so I'll just link to her whole blog.
And you should also read this week's bit from Fareed Zakaria (not a blogger, but I found his latest through Manish, who is one) has been in Delhi and Chennai recently. He is impressed -- to an extent -- at what's happening business-wise and otherwise. (Manish is less pleased... read his post too)
IndiBloggies nomination; and Year in Review
I've been nominated in three IndiBloggies categories. It's the Indian version of the more U.S. focused "Bloggies." If you're so inclined, you can vote for me.
Though I'm grateful to be nominated (thanks especially to Nitin) I must say I do feel these awards things are a little strange. I'm nominated in the same category as Om Malik, whose blog is a high-tech oriented, "industry" news-aggregator produced by a professional journalist, and Tsunami Help, which is less a blog than it is a massive news and information aggregator (they've gotten 1.5 million hits in about 10 days!). We are talking about comparing a professionalized apple (Om), a massive humanitarian orange (Tsunami), and in my own personal case, a very small, brainy grape.
Another problem: I hardly write exclusively about things related to India. I'm deeply interested in India, and I spent two weeks traveling around there this past summer, but I'm firmly attached to the soil (really, the pavement) of the I-95 corridor of the eastern United States. And my range of interests extends to all kinds of non-India-ish things. This is really a cross-category blog, not an "India blog," or an academic blog. (Then again, I am hardly alone in this.)
In lieu of begging for votes, this might be a good opportunity to review what in fact happened in 2004, which was a very busy year with regard to the Indian Subcontinent and its various diasporas. In addition to the Tsunami, there were historic elections and some major intellectual/academic controversies. There were some depressing anniversaries (Bhopal, Indira Gandhi's assasination, Operation Bluestar, communal violence against Sikhs). And there was Behzti. Here are some of what I consider to be the better more substantial posts related to Indian politics, literature, and film that I've written from the past year:
I enjoyed talking about Suketu Mehta's new book, Maximum City, which is probably the main "must read" book about India published in the U.S. this fall. I responded particularly to Mehta's point about naming and re-naming in "Bombay." Another promising young writer and critic whose work I praised in this blog is Amitava Kumar.
I closely followed the Behzti controversy, involving the Sikh community in England. I even posted a short story I wrote, inspired by the events. On Sikh issues, I also posted a consideration of the 20th anniversay of Operation Bluestar.
I provided short reviews of Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide and Hari Kunzru's Transmission.
My post on Agha Shahid Ali tried to take an original approach to this sometimes neglected figure.
I've been following the ongoing trials and tribulations of Indian secularism, including the debates on Triple Talaq, and the half-hearted reforms of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board. I've also provided some background on communalism.
I've been following the implementation of the Hijab and Turban ban in France, and have posted my critique.
I've talked about a couple of big controversies this past year in the Indian intellectual scene. One is the controversy surrounding Hinduism Studies in the U.S., especially the vehement attack on Wendy Doniger instigated by Rajiv Malhotra. See parts 1 and 2. I've also responded to the controversy around V.S. Naipaul's support for the Hindu right, which is seemingly out of keeping with his historical self-identification as an atheist and a rootless cosmopolitan.
I followed the upheaval of the Indian elections back in May, and wrote detailed profiles of Manmohan Singh as well as President Abdul Kalam.
On a lighter (but not that much lighter) note, I've written about my experiences DJing Bhangra parties, here, here, and here.
And amongst my reviews of Hindi films, I put a fair amount of thought into my review of Yuva, which I think is an extraordinary film by India's best commercial filmmaker.
All in all, a very busy year in Indian subcontinent happenings, and also, therefore, in India-related postings on this blog.
Thanks to everyone out there for reading, linking to me, and commenting.
Though I'm grateful to be nominated (thanks especially to Nitin) I must say I do feel these awards things are a little strange. I'm nominated in the same category as Om Malik, whose blog is a high-tech oriented, "industry" news-aggregator produced by a professional journalist, and Tsunami Help, which is less a blog than it is a massive news and information aggregator (they've gotten 1.5 million hits in about 10 days!). We are talking about comparing a professionalized apple (Om), a massive humanitarian orange (Tsunami), and in my own personal case, a very small, brainy grape.
Another problem: I hardly write exclusively about things related to India. I'm deeply interested in India, and I spent two weeks traveling around there this past summer, but I'm firmly attached to the soil (really, the pavement) of the I-95 corridor of the eastern United States. And my range of interests extends to all kinds of non-India-ish things. This is really a cross-category blog, not an "India blog," or an academic blog. (Then again, I am hardly alone in this.)
In lieu of begging for votes, this might be a good opportunity to review what in fact happened in 2004, which was a very busy year with regard to the Indian Subcontinent and its various diasporas. In addition to the Tsunami, there were historic elections and some major intellectual/academic controversies. There were some depressing anniversaries (Bhopal, Indira Gandhi's assasination, Operation Bluestar, communal violence against Sikhs). And there was Behzti. Here are some of what I consider to be the better more substantial posts related to Indian politics, literature, and film that I've written from the past year:
I enjoyed talking about Suketu Mehta's new book, Maximum City, which is probably the main "must read" book about India published in the U.S. this fall. I responded particularly to Mehta's point about naming and re-naming in "Bombay." Another promising young writer and critic whose work I praised in this blog is Amitava Kumar.
I closely followed the Behzti controversy, involving the Sikh community in England. I even posted a short story I wrote, inspired by the events. On Sikh issues, I also posted a consideration of the 20th anniversay of Operation Bluestar.
I provided short reviews of Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide and Hari Kunzru's Transmission.
My post on Agha Shahid Ali tried to take an original approach to this sometimes neglected figure.
I've been following the ongoing trials and tribulations of Indian secularism, including the debates on Triple Talaq, and the half-hearted reforms of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board. I've also provided some background on communalism.
I've been following the implementation of the Hijab and Turban ban in France, and have posted my critique.
I've talked about a couple of big controversies this past year in the Indian intellectual scene. One is the controversy surrounding Hinduism Studies in the U.S., especially the vehement attack on Wendy Doniger instigated by Rajiv Malhotra. See parts 1 and 2. I've also responded to the controversy around V.S. Naipaul's support for the Hindu right, which is seemingly out of keeping with his historical self-identification as an atheist and a rootless cosmopolitan.
I followed the upheaval of the Indian elections back in May, and wrote detailed profiles of Manmohan Singh as well as President Abdul Kalam.
On a lighter (but not that much lighter) note, I've written about my experiences DJing Bhangra parties, here, here, and here.
And amongst my reviews of Hindi films, I put a fair amount of thought into my review of Yuva, which I think is an extraordinary film by India's best commercial filmmaker.
All in all, a very busy year in Indian subcontinent happenings, and also, therefore, in India-related postings on this blog.
Thanks to everyone out there for reading, linking to me, and commenting.
Power99 Controversy: The Question of "Racism"
In college (and even in grad school, as I recall), we used to have debates about whether you could be "racist" if you happened to be black. Most of my African American friends at the time said no, it doesn't make sense to use that term. The argument goes something like this: the systematic victims of oppression can instigate it themselves, but when they do it it's something less severe than when members of a majority community do it. To describe that species of behavior, my friends tended to use the term "ignorant" (or the more vernacular "ign'ant"), which is also derogatory, but nowhere near as strong.
I used to be sympathetic to that argument, but I'm less so now. Does the language a Power99 DJ used (listen to the MP3 of it here -- it's recently been pulled off the station's website) reflect systematic anger and hostility that "racism" requires? I tend to think so. Does it reflect unequal relations of power? Yes -- a call-center worker in India is not likely to have any legal standing to take action in response. Is it therefore "racism"? Is it a "hate crime"? I tend to think so, but I also think it doesn't matter much whether we use the race/hate idiom or not. It may not be "racism," but it is a racial insult, as it singles out a group behavior. It may not be a "hate" crime, but it is a crime in our current legal system. Libel and slander are crimes (they always have been) even though they are "just speech."
The term the DJ repeatedly used is "rat-eater." (He also used a misogynist term [B---], which is no better.) But "rat-eater" -- where does that come from? Like a lot of racial codes, it's a strange insult, something ugly that seems to have more to do with the DJ's own twisted imagination than with the person -- people, really -- he was trying to insult. It seems to be tied to anti-Chinese and anti-Phillipino insults (Dog-eater, etc.), which stand-up comedians still often throw around, especially when cracking jokes about Chinese restaurants. At the least, the insult is misapplied (similar to when Sikhs are hit with "Bin Laden" insults). But it seems more correct to say in this case that the insult makes no sense whatsoever; it's incoherent.
That too doesn't lessen its offensiveness. Contrary to the commonly held belief that racial insults are based on some kernel of truth, I believe it doesn't matter whether the attribute he's referring to has any basis in anthropological reality. Indeed, the specific content of racial insults (or any insults) doesn't matter; it's the relationship of power between the parties involved, and the the motive and form of the delivery that count. DJ Star meant to insult, and if you listen to the hurt in "Steena's" voice on the MP3, you can tell that it worked. The association of the insultee with a group behavior, however poorly defined or understood by the insulter, does give it its racial edge. Also, he knows that he won't be held accountable for what he's said, and that she isn't in a position to return the insult with one of her own.
I try and keep a thick skin about most things, but this hits home, partly because for two years I listened to that radio station all the time on my way to and from work (that and NPR). It's virtually an institution in Philly; everyone knows Power99. It has the biggest audience, and huge influence over the Philadelphia music scene. People who've grown up there have likely listened to the station for their whole lives.
Well, from now on it's all Terry Gross, all the time for me. And following Anna's lead, I'm sending in a letter of protest to the station, requesting an apology from the DJ.
I used to be sympathetic to that argument, but I'm less so now. Does the language a Power99 DJ used (listen to the MP3 of it here -- it's recently been pulled off the station's website) reflect systematic anger and hostility that "racism" requires? I tend to think so. Does it reflect unequal relations of power? Yes -- a call-center worker in India is not likely to have any legal standing to take action in response. Is it therefore "racism"? Is it a "hate crime"? I tend to think so, but I also think it doesn't matter much whether we use the race/hate idiom or not. It may not be "racism," but it is a racial insult, as it singles out a group behavior. It may not be a "hate" crime, but it is a crime in our current legal system. Libel and slander are crimes (they always have been) even though they are "just speech."
The term the DJ repeatedly used is "rat-eater." (He also used a misogynist term [B---], which is no better.) But "rat-eater" -- where does that come from? Like a lot of racial codes, it's a strange insult, something ugly that seems to have more to do with the DJ's own twisted imagination than with the person -- people, really -- he was trying to insult. It seems to be tied to anti-Chinese and anti-Phillipino insults (Dog-eater, etc.), which stand-up comedians still often throw around, especially when cracking jokes about Chinese restaurants. At the least, the insult is misapplied (similar to when Sikhs are hit with "Bin Laden" insults). But it seems more correct to say in this case that the insult makes no sense whatsoever; it's incoherent.
That too doesn't lessen its offensiveness. Contrary to the commonly held belief that racial insults are based on some kernel of truth, I believe it doesn't matter whether the attribute he's referring to has any basis in anthropological reality. Indeed, the specific content of racial insults (or any insults) doesn't matter; it's the relationship of power between the parties involved, and the the motive and form of the delivery that count. DJ Star meant to insult, and if you listen to the hurt in "Steena's" voice on the MP3, you can tell that it worked. The association of the insultee with a group behavior, however poorly defined or understood by the insulter, does give it its racial edge. Also, he knows that he won't be held accountable for what he's said, and that she isn't in a position to return the insult with one of her own.
I try and keep a thick skin about most things, but this hits home, partly because for two years I listened to that radio station all the time on my way to and from work (that and NPR). It's virtually an institution in Philly; everyone knows Power99. It has the biggest audience, and huge influence over the Philadelphia music scene. People who've grown up there have likely listened to the station for their whole lives.
Well, from now on it's all Terry Gross, all the time for me. And following Anna's lead, I'm sending in a letter of protest to the station, requesting an apology from the DJ.
Music Suggestion: Lascivious Biddies
Biddies4ever. Also, they have a blog. Try listening to the excerpt from Famous, for instance...
File Under: Ironic feminist jazz/cabaret
File Under: Ironic feminist jazz/cabaret
Blog roundup: Tsunami
This week's "Indian Blog Fair". Check out especially Amit Varma and Dilip D'Souza. Amazing stuff...
Another film review: Swades
Swades was one of the most hyped Hindi films of the year. It has some merits, but it is essentially a rather grand failure.
Written and directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar, who also wrote and directed the international hit Lagaan, this was expected to be a big hit both in the international and domestic markets. Like Lagaan, the film had a huge budget. Also like Lagaan, there is a pointedly "uplifting" message about Indian society (the film's title means "one's own country," and is an allusion to a famous anti-colonial agitation in Bengal in the early 1900s).
The premise of Swades is a little hard to swallow. Shah Rukh Khan plays a NASA engineer in Washington DC, who goes back to India to find the nanny who raised him after his parents were killed in a car accident. He finds her in a small village in Uttar Pradesh, cared for by her daughter Gita (Gayatri Joshi -- a fashion model making her screen debut). He wants to bring her back to the U.S. with him, but along the way he falls in love with Gita and takes an interest in furthering the Development of the village.
Positives: The emphasis on caste, merely a token presence in Lagaan, is here spelled out in much greater detail. Also central to the film are the many difficulties involved in bringing modern amenities to India's backward villages; one of the climactic moments in the film involves the installation of self-sustaining electricity. (Just as the NASA framing of the film seems to be an allusion to deceased astronaut Kalpana Chawla, the hydroelectric power sequence is certainly an allusion to Narmada.) And there are a couple of dynamite songs ("Yeh Tara Woh Tara") from A.R. Rahman.
But here's where it gets odd. More than Lagaan, this film feels like an old-fashioned 'social reform' film from the 1950s. (One thinks of the paeans to collectivized farming in Mother India, for instance.) Swades argues for: do-it-yourself Development, take Repsonsibility here and now, and don't stay Abroad too long making money. Nice sentiments, all.
But those sentiments seem to be out of touch with today's audiences. In an era of video-phone underage sex scandals, making a film this self-consciously naive seems risky, if not stupid.
Lagaan was equally preachy and hackneyed, but it had cricket for its saving grace. (There aren't very many Hindi movies that involve the sport, oddly enough; it was a novelty in more than one sense.) Perhaps it can be said that Swades fails because it has a picturesque village in need of Uplift without a cricket match at the center to divert audiences from all the heavy dogmatism.
That's not to say I don't agree with the idealism of Swades. I myself share many of those all old-fashioned sentiments...
And I think the recent explosion of concern for the victims of the Tsunami within India shows that civic responsibility is very much alive and well there.
Trivial Post #1: Sideways and Closer
We saw Sideways (last night) and Closer (a couple of weeks ago). Both are Oscar-contenders, and both can be placed in the "arty divorce drama" genre. I liked them, but was left feeling a little hollow in both cases.
On the positive, I appreciated the quality of both films. They are unquestionablly intelligent and nicely shot. Closer has some beautifully taut dialogue, and an interesting play between symmetry and asymmetry in the plot that would do Tristan Todorov proud. And Sideways has moments of neurotic, offbeat genius, usually involving the spilling of wine or the travails of flabby middle-aged masculinity. Also, Paul Giamatti's performance as the depressed wine aficionado and failed writer is a pretty classic -- the schlemiel sublime. (There were half a dozen moments when the dialogue reminded me of my own life: "So what's your book about? When's it coming out? Can I read it?" Argh)
That said, I found both films a little depressing. In contrast to romantic comedies and bildungsroman (coming-of-age) stories, divorce dramas are about coming to terms with a life that is somewhat less than expected. It's an important lesson, to be sure, but I still recoil from this type of film at an involuntary, emotional level.
I'm not sure where my faint sense of disdain for these films is coming from; three years ago I'd probably be raving enthusiastically. It's possible I've lately been corrupted by too many sunny Hindi films, which are almost always "comedy" (in that they end in a marriage), even when they have a serious component. Or maybe the American art house obsession with chronicling squandered intelligence (a tradition that goes back to Woody Allen, and before) has always been basically a waste of time, but it took me until now to notice it.
I prefer Before Sunset -- which I would happily watch again -- to either of these films.
On the positive, I appreciated the quality of both films. They are unquestionablly intelligent and nicely shot. Closer has some beautifully taut dialogue, and an interesting play between symmetry and asymmetry in the plot that would do Tristan Todorov proud. And Sideways has moments of neurotic, offbeat genius, usually involving the spilling of wine or the travails of flabby middle-aged masculinity. Also, Paul Giamatti's performance as the depressed wine aficionado and failed writer is a pretty classic -- the schlemiel sublime. (There were half a dozen moments when the dialogue reminded me of my own life: "So what's your book about? When's it coming out? Can I read it?" Argh)
That said, I found both films a little depressing. In contrast to romantic comedies and bildungsroman (coming-of-age) stories, divorce dramas are about coming to terms with a life that is somewhat less than expected. It's an important lesson, to be sure, but I still recoil from this type of film at an involuntary, emotional level.
I'm not sure where my faint sense of disdain for these films is coming from; three years ago I'd probably be raving enthusiastically. It's possible I've lately been corrupted by too many sunny Hindi films, which are almost always "comedy" (in that they end in a marriage), even when they have a serious component. Or maybe the American art house obsession with chronicling squandered intelligence (a tradition that goes back to Woody Allen, and before) has always been basically a waste of time, but it took me until now to notice it.
I prefer Before Sunset -- which I would happily watch again -- to either of these films.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)