Rachel Fugate Blog #8 The Importance of Being HEARD

I think it is interesting how much this community has grown and developed over the past weeks. In this class I think we are somewhat overwhelmed at times with the amount and depth of the information that is coming our way. But I don’t think that it is in a bad way at all. It sometimes opens doors to conversations we would not otherwise have. The discussions in this classroom are amazing to say the least and I think that we could even perhaps take it even further.

Spivak has been flitting around in my head ever since she entered the conversation, hitting us with the thoughts of “who is actually speaking, and who is really listening, and who is being heard.” I really think that my work with the Sitayana this semester has been a huge help in bridging the gap between what little I know about these types of subjects and my understanding of the important concepts that Spivak is trying to tell the world. Do people listen when Sita speaks, when Mondodari, Ravana’a first wife and my character, speaks? I do now. I see it every time I read the script and think there it is, that’s 332. I do not think that I would have been able to grasp one of the main themes of the Sitayana, women and their voice, if I had not had Spivak to incorporate into my perceptions. And I think our class has that sense now as well when we watch films with women.

Billionaire for instance. The entire time I just saw these women all being pulled around in different directions none of them even seeming to speak or have an opinion. And when they did you wonder what the audience is actually hearing. The pleas of a mother for her child or that of a prostitute who smokes and doesn't deserve the money in question, even if it is for her son. We touched on it in class, but I think a good project would be to move the discussion away from the more obvious plot that the film has laying on the surface and try to grasp some of the deeper underlying themes. It’s not all about how mean Americans can be or how messed up this one guy was or not. It’s about those that are affected by this system, this hegemony. The ones who are directly influenced by these important decisions, but hardly have any Freedom to make a choice in the matter. That is what Spivak is looking for, that is what Sita embraces, and that is why Mandodari is so powerful to me. The power of speech, but the even greater power of being heard.