Water

[slingblade]

I found this film on my cable On Demand service. I plan to watch it later tonight, or tomorrow. I've only seen the preview, but it's very compelling, and I wanted to tell you about it, and what I've been reading about it.


Water

Deepa Mehta’s Water, set in India in 1938, begins with young Chuyia (Sarala), who sits in the back of a cart as an old man lies dying. He’s her husband, and she is soon to be his seven-year-old widow. Chuyia is taken to an ashram, where her head is shaved and she’s left with the other, older women who have lost their husbands and, subsequently, their freedom. Their days are spent washing and praying along the ghats (steps) of the river, receiving small alms on the street, and staying in the ashram. Unfortunately, as the epilogue to Water states, 34 million widows in India still live in these deplorable conditions.

Water caps a trilogy (Fire in 1996 and Earth in 1998) that became controversial after right-wing religious activists in India vandalized theatres and rioted in protest against the lesbianism in Fire. Mehta shrugs off the reaction to the fervent opposition. “I didn’t set out to make controversial films,” she says. “People decided—or right-wing Hindu fundamentalists decided—it was controversial, because there were ‘no lesbians’ in India. It’s very self-serving for them, so it’s not about a piece of art, or a book, or a film; it’s about what benefits them, and how they get the most publicity, because eventually all this is about getting the attention of the media and people.”

Not only widows, but many Indian women, continues Mehta, “remain oppressed by the religion that’s misinterpreted. They do this because they feel that this is their duty and they have to do it. That’s what they have to fight against, first, and then everything else, because that oppression of caste is not particular to India, it’s all over the world.” And neither, of course, is religious fundamentalism.

On a continent where racial and class problems have been exposed by the flooding which followed an act of God, Water’s issues are more pressing than ever. “And look at Christian fundamentalism—thriving, and vetted by Mr. Bush,” Mehta notes. “In Canada, there’s an awareness. And thank God that it’s not a melting pot like the States, which is really scary. Look at New Orleans. Is that shameful or what?”

This is what concerns me, as it does others, about the Religious Right, and fundamentalism in general, in any religion. These women are made to live a life I find unnatural, for the professed reason of religion, but for what I see as simply a means of control.

I know my outlook is affected by my culture, my race, my society. But to marry a child to an old man is unnatural. Yes, I know unnatural is in the eye of the beholder. That's what my eye beholds: little girls aren't wives. They aren't widows, and widows aren't Untouchables.

Now, I'm going to flirt with hyperbole here, but what other system can be as cruel and as cowardly as religion? To not only torture people, but to blame it on an invisible being! Other systems may be cruel, or they may be cowardly, but nothing combines the two quite as devastatingly as religion. Because religion is such an emotional thing. You believe. You dedicate heart and mind to it.

You teach yourself to love something that isn't there, and when it lets you down (as it must, because it isn't there), you are crushed. And often, the only target you have for any anger that arises is only yourself. Either you must be angry because you let yourself be duped, or you must be angry because you obviously failed and are not worthy. You could try being angry at those who indoctrinated you, and they deserve it, but your anger won't hurt them. They'll turn it back on you.

Just as KK does when she questions us about being "demon possessed." If it weren't for the pesky demons, we'd believe! And we let them in, so it must be our fault, our weakness, that made us vulnerable to invasion by Satan!

No matter what, when religion doesn't "work," it's the believer's fault.

The specific incidents in this film aren't what worry me. I'm not worried about being thrown into a convent or ashram or whatever, should my husband predecease me. but I worry that one day I may find religion ordering my life much more than I want it to, which is to say, not at all.

That's the biggest reason I get so pissed at KK when she posts that we "must accept God's will, God's plan!!!!!1!!"

No. I mustn't. And no one has a right to keep insisting that I must. No one has a right to keep trying to shove it down my throat or anyone else's, and I will fight the very attempt. That mind-set scares me. I find it a credible threat to my liberty, and to my right as an individual to believe or not believe what I choose.

So here, Kathy. Watch this film. Realize that this is what might happen to people when religion is allowed to rule a nation. Realize that you are so fortunate to live in a country which allows you to freely practice what you believe, and which also allows me, so far, to freely not practice it.

And realize that I, and many like me, will do whatever we can to keep that freedom.

 

[CP489]

They can make me practice it (theoretically) they can never make me believe it.

Oh, and I can frule8ing move.

Great post Sling.

 

[slingblade]

You can move. I can't.

I'm about to go watch it now. Thanks for the compliment, too.

 

[supercorgi]

So here, Kathy. Watch this film. Realize that this is what might happen to people when religion is allowed to rule a nation. Realize that you are so fortunate to live in a country which allows you to freely practice what you believe, and which also allows me, so far, to freely not practice it.

And realize that I, and many like me, will do whatever we can to keep that freedom.

Great post Sling. Unfortunately, people like Kathy will never understand the point of this film and the point you make. They can just dismiss such atrocities as the result of people following those other Satan-inspired religions instead of the One True Religion. Even if you point out atrocities done by Christians, she'll simply say that they weren't really Christians, or they weren't the right type of Christian, or that they were controlled by Satan. People like her will never get it and will always make excuses. They have to or else they can't cling to their beliefs in the face of all the evidence of the harm done by religions. It's really one of the ultimate forms of intellectual dishonesty.

 

[Mephisto]

Now, I'm going to flirt with hyperbole here, but what other system can be as cruel and as cowardly as religion? To not only torture people, but to blame it on an invisible being! Other systems may be cruel, or they may be cowardly, but nothing combines the two quite as devastatingly as religion. Because religion is such an emotional thing. You believe. You dedicate heart and mind to it.

I just love it when you flirt.

I suppose it's no surprise to anyone that I appreciated this excerpt the most. When you consider that religion is responsible for so many things wrong in this world, it's unbelievable that people can't simply STOP and realize what negative effects this cultural tradition is having on humanity. Centuries of human ingenuity have evolved us into fairly effective technological killing machines, so wars are always going to be "more costly" than originally intended. The saddest thing is, innocents from all sides inevitably pay the price. By allowing us to believe that God is behind us, religion provides the impetus to torture, invade conquer, occupy, enslave, abuse, neglect, punish . . .










Oh, btw, Merry Christmas.

 

[Mephisto]

It's really one of the ultimate forms of intellectual dishonesty.

Ahem, you mean faith?

 

[slingblade]

Thanks, Corgi.

I know you are righter than rain. This post and this film won't make a gnat's behind's worth of diff to KK. But to do nothing against her tirades makes me feel like I let her win through apathy.

When she comes shouting at us that we needs Jeebus, I want to shout "Oh, no, hell no," in my best Georgia accent. I know you are right, oh wisest of adorably cute puppies )), but I still want Kathy to know I'm fighting her dogma. I'ma run over it with my karma.

I heard she had surgery and is recovering. And I'm genuinely glad for that. I bet as a person she is quite nice. But as a proselytizer, she honks me off with the things she says.

When she asked Paulhoff:

What's wrong with you? Do you want me to cast that demon out of you in the name of Jesus so maybe you can finally know the truth?

I just began to fume. Not only at her, but at the system which is teaching her to think like that, to relate like that to her fellow beings. It's teaching her to see everyone "not like her" as not human. That's what these widows are in Water: not human. It makes them so much easier to control.

I wonder if Kathy has ever read The Handmaid's Tale?

I wonder if she's aware that if she were to have her way, and America were to become a theocracy, she'd get the rawest end of the stick, being a woman? A Christian theocracy isn't going to be good to you, Kathy.


Sigh.

 

[bluess]

I've a colleague who had a really hard time a bit ago about the whole 'husband is the wife's head' thing. As she thought in many cases her darling beloved was being a total horse's patoot. She loves him, he's a good guy, but there were serious family management issues at hand. She's an elder in her church, a youth leader, ya da ya da, and couldn't reconcile her real experience with the biblical teaching.

I don't know how she ever resolved this - probably by strategic ignorance. She's still a very active Christian who, like most I suppose, just ignores the stuff that doesn't work for her.

I think there are so many like her.

And, as a cultural Hindu, one reason I stopped 'being' a Hindu is the completely dreadful fashion in which widows or non-married women are treated.

If a religion appears that doesn't:
1. Treat half the human race as rubbish, and
2. Doesn't have massive contradictions between the behaviour of the deities and common courteousness, and
3. Doesn't have ritual which makes me giggle, and
4. Doesn't attempt to legislate sexuality other than to leave children alone

I might join. Might......

 

[meg]

Great post, Slingblade!

I just finished reading a book you might find interesting. It's called Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice by Jack Holland.

In this compelling, powerful book, the late Irish journalist and essayist Jack Holland set out to answer a daunting question: how do you explain the oppression and brutalization of half the world's population by the other half, throughout history? The result is an eye-opening journey through centuries, continents and civilizations as it looks at both historical and contemporary attitudes to women. Misogyny encompasses the Church, witch hunts, sexual theory, Nazism, pro-life campaigners, and finally, today's developing world, where women are increasingly and disproportionately at risk because of radicalized religious beliefs, famine, war, and disease.

Extensively researched, highly readable and provocative, this book chronicles an ancient, pervasive and enduring injustice. The questions it poses deal with the fundamentals of human existence — sex, love, violence — that have shaped the lives of humans throughout history, and ultimately limn an abuse of human rights on a nearly unthinkable scale.

From http://www.amazon.com/Misogyny-Worlds-Prejudice-Jack-Holland/dp/0786718234


I highly recommend it.

Something that really struck me when reading it was how many of the world's religions are filled with doctrines designed to make women into those non-human "others" you spoke of.

I think the eradication of religion would be the single greatest step we could make toward acknowledging real human rights around the world.

I'm totally with you on the not just "no" but "Hell No!" thing, too. I used to be way more tolerant of religious folk than I am now. Anymore, I just feel a complete disdain for the fundies and their pompous proselytizing, and I am angry that these people think they've got the right to inflict this disgusting madness on the rest of us.

Meg

 

[supercorgi]

When she asked Paulhoff:

I just began to fume. Not only at her, but at the system which is teaching her to think like that, to relate like that to her fellow beings. It's teaching her to see everyone "not like her" as not human. That's what these widows are in Water: not human. It makes them so much easier to control.

Yeah I couldn't believe it when she said that either. When did she become so special that god gave her the power to drive out demons? I was going to say something but then I thought "what's the point" - she's a crazy person. I don't think I could stand to live in your area of the country, I'd get arrested for sure. Fortunately here in Massachusetts we don't have many of her kind. I have a hard time believing people like her really exist.