Themes
Myth and Reality
The life of the people of the place is closely related with
their dependence upon myths and superstitions. Old and young believe in myths
and perform mythical rituals. The old woman who tell mythical stories to
children, the magician who thinks a woman’s illness is due to some supernatural
influence and the people who perform ritual dances are all sources for the
promotion of mythical beliefs in the society.
The aspect of reality as the outside world sees it or more precisely a
life of reason and logic is shown in the school life of the children. Here they
are taught about ‘suffrage, micro-organisms and the like. However the children
are not interested in these abstract ideas that are totally away from their
culture and place. Their world is the world of myths and folktales. This is the
reason why they easily make friends with ‘Kummatti’.
Old and Young
Dangerous Aspects of Myths
Myths exist in different cultures and are therefore culture
specific. According to Simone de Beauvoir, French feminist, myths will be used
to explain some inexplicable phenomena and sometimes they will be used to
represent reality itself. But during the process of representing reality myths
happen to overtake reality and are sometimes transformed into absolute truth.
In the movie we see how myth affects Chindan’s life after he made a close
connection with Kummatti. He then realized the price to pay for truly believing
in myths and for taking them seriously. On the process of getting acquainted with
the strange rituals and practices included in myth (which are often
intrinsically associated to it) Chinden lost his human life thereby the freedom
of human life. Considering Kummatti had also warned him (Chindan) by motioning
him to go away from him, it could be said that Kummatti himself had known the
dangerous aspects of myths.
Friendliness and Hostility
The aspect of friendliness and hostility between reality and myth is shown in the movie on the background of education and country life. The school is the place where this happens in an implicit way. There is a strong amount of friendliness that exists between the children and Kummatti and the children and the old woman. The explicit hostility is shown through the character of Chinan’s mother who scolds him whenever he goes to meet Kummatti and through the black dog which chased Chinden when he was turned into a dog by Kummatti. (The black dog which chased Chindan when he was transfigured into a dog, was the same dog to which Chinden had thrown a stone while he was on his way to meet Kummatti, earlier in the movie.). The black and white colors of the dogs metaphorically stand for the enmity between good and evil.
Freedom and Imprisonment
In the film there is a strong depiction on the duality of
freedom and imprisonment. After Chindan’s plight we see how he lost the freedom
of having a human life. In the wealthy house where he was taken in, he
experienced this in its entirety. He, like most of the other dogs was chained for a long time. In the end we see Chindan understands this lack of freedom which is what finally
leading him to set the parrot free. It could also symbolically mean the freedom
from myths and superstitions.
-Anjoe Paul-
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