Blog#11 Sitayana

Sitayana is a story of womanhood that draws from one of the the world's richest cultures and touches on fundamentally human topics, that are universal. In director Tanglao-Aguas' vision, which is beautifully adorned with exotic auditory textures and colors, there is a reversal of perspective, a small-scale paradigm shift as Sita's becomes the lens through which the audience understands the world.

Sita is that which allows civilization to exist. Born of the interactions between man and land, she is the personification of fertility, the momentum that allows for human stories to continue. Her bow is a symbol of her self-respect, which grows into faith- in herself and her lover, Rama. Even when Rama is exiled she dutifully follows. When she is captured she waits for her hero and only her hero. 

Sita's purity and honor forces the world around her to act accordingly. Though she is not a mother, there a rather maternal influence that she nurtures. And like all mothers, she sacrifices herself for the satisfaction of others. 

The reason why this is such a pertinent end to our discussion of race or boundaries in general, that delineate the difference between one or another individual, should be obvious. Every one of us have mothers and to one degree or another, we can identify with that. The contribution of director Tanglao-Aguas' work is such that it makes salient the fact that we are all sisters and brothers, despite all the evidence of the contrary.