Skip to main content

Response to "Marriage of a Thousand Lies"

I recently had the opportunity to read "Marriage of a Thousand Lies" by SJ Sindu and hear explanations of her work by Sindu herself. I found the book extremely interesting and was especially fascinated with how Sindu talked about rebellion. She talked about how she provided the main character with sisters to play against, who took different paths in life. One is in an arranged marriage, and one is off living a free, albeit disconnected life. The two sisters are both satisfied with their lives surprisingly, and I enjoy this part of the book because it provides us with a little complexity. A lot of writers taking on the subject of rejecting traditional norms would only cast an arranged marriage in a cold light, but Sindu chose to make it a successful relationship to give the impression that there are a variety of paths in life, not just two (the right and the wrong). One might choose not to rebel, but to bend to their society or parent's will, and still have a fulfilling life and relationship. Some may not as well, and some could be happy in either state of rebellion. In the end of the book Lucky, the main character, does not end up together with Nisha, her same-sex counterpart. Instead, Nisha agrees to a traditional marriage and Lucky is still married to her (gay) husband. I think this is especially daring for the author because it makes the story more about it's portrayal of societal norms and character, rather than relying on giving the reader what they want to see. It's a book that makes a statement; a statement that sometime rebellion isn't possible, and a statement that life is complicated, especially in cultures and societies that work against what as individuals we believe or feel is right. In the end, we should please ourselves and follow our own path regardless of others, but we are still subject to fate. We don't control our destinies, but we can guide it in the direction we think we will fit within most.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 13 - Curate Yourself

Trying to find content that interests me is pretty difficult, because usually when I’m done with homework I’ll try to meet up with friends and get out of the house as soon as possible. One format that I watch occasionally are inline skate videos, though! I skate, and the way I learned to do so was by practicing a ton, plus watching skaters who are better than me. At home in Colorado, I have friends who play hockey and regularly inline skate, but here in Florida it’s a little rarer. Because of that, I’ve found communities for inline, online. The community is actually really great because roller skating has hit a pretty massive slump from it’s dominance in the 80’s to 90’s, so the people who still skate are the most passionate, skilled, and do it mainly for the fun of it. Everyone in the community really takes a lighthearted approach to skating and don’t take themselves too seriously, and because so little people inline skate, the groups you form are tight. Nobody cares about image or ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 14 - Social Media (Why are we embracing studio culture?)

One cause which I really care about as an animator is the current state of the VFX industry. To understand the full story of how the industry, and the artist who work in it are being abused, watch the 2014 movie “Life after Pi” . Basically, every major movie uses VFX and digital art extensively, in every scene. Most live-action movies have at least one digital element in each shot, and this means lots of work for VFX artists. However, this large demand unfortunately means overworking respected VFX studios, or outsourcing work to countries where workers are similarly abused. The schedules that digital artists in the film industry keep are massively unhealthy, and the stress that these schedules put on them and their relationships are even more obscene. For anyone entering the industry, their choice is either to accept an unstable position under a director who won’t look at their work until post is wrapping up, and then give you changes to do with no additional pay and without shifting...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 9 - The Voice of Wes Anderson

I watched “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “The Royal Tenenbaums”, three films by director Wes Anderson. Each movie showcases Anderson’s authorial voice, Budapest and Mr. Fox more-so than the Tenenbaums. These two movies are completely fictionalized, while “The Royal Tenenbaums” is in a more traditional building in a real city. Anderson’s later movies, one a piece of stop-motion animation and the other featuring a make-believe hotel, lend themselves to more imaginative situations, and therefore lends more freedom to the filmmaker to make many more creative choices with the filmmaking. In a world or a structure where the viewer is unfamiliar with the ‘rules’ of the universe, more can be done directorially before immersion is broken. This is important, because Anderson’s actors always behave strangely. By strangely, I mean speaking curtly and often formally, with long pauses. The dialogue is very secondary to the visual storytelling. It’s used to supplement the vi...
Post a Comment
Read more