Thursday, September 10, 2015

Week 3 Project Styles - Women Characters

The topic I’ve decided on for my project is strong women characters. I definitely want to incorporate Sita’s story into my project, however I might just tweak a few details. I was thinking about writing about some strong women characters who played a “damsel in distress” but changing the story in the end to where they save themselves. I think I might be able to get some ideas for stories and characters from Devee’s book, Nine Ideal Indian Women. After doing some research, I learned that Suniti Devee was passionate about women’s rights and education. Her ideas about getting girls in school were ahead of their time, as she lived from 1864-1932. (Wikipedia) I also plan to watch Paley’s animated film, Sita Sings the Blues for my week 4 reading assignment. I think this will better help me understand Sita’s character from a different point of view. Other Indian characters that could be a part of my story could be from the Mahabharata which I know we are reading soon. I did some research on one of the main characters, Satyavati who was a fisherman’s daughter turned queen. This could make for a very interesting story, and I look forward to reading more about her character in the coming weeks.

Still image from Sita Sings The Blue,
By: Nina Paley, Year: 2010, Sources: Wikipedia


One possible style for these stories could be a talk show where the damsels tell “the real story” of their lives. They would explain how they were the heroines, and how the plot got twisted into what we know today. The stories would be guided in interview style, as a talk show host goes around the room and allows each character to tell their stories. This would be a type of frametale style where the host would connect each of the character’s stories. Each damsel would tell their story in first person.

I really like the idea of the women characters being the heroes and saving themselves, and re-telling stories we already know to make this true. Another style for these types of stories, besides a talk show, would be to introduce a new character whose journey crosses paths with each of the famous women. The new character would serve as the storyteller who, over a series of events, meets all of these characters at the pinnacle of their heroism. This would again be a frametale, with the new character tying together all of the other stories.

Another possible style could be a set of sequels for the women characters. I’ve noticed from what I’ve read in Indian literature so far that women are often very important characters, but very rarely are they the main protagonist. In these sequels the woman would be the main character, each taking their own journey befitting of their personality. This would be more of an anthology type of style, told by a third-person storyteller.

Another idea is to tell each of the stories of these famous women characters from epic Indian literature as modern stories. This would be an anthology approach, and each epic character could be reincarnated into a person in today’s society. The modern women would face similar challenges as the epic women. Perhaps the modern woman would overcome obstacles in a similar way as the epic character, or perhaps the plot would twist. I think these types of stories could be told effectively in third-person or first-person.

Bibliography
"Nine Ideal Indian Women" by Sunity Devee (1919). Source: here
"Suniti Devi" Wikipedia article by multiple authors (2015). Source: Wikipedia
"Satyavati" Wikipedia article by multiple authors (2015). Source: Wikipedia
"Sita Sings the Blues" by Nina Paley (2008). Source: Youtube

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