Earth by Deepa Mehta Race Relations and Women and Children’s Positions

Outline General Introduction: –Partition and Race Relations;Partition and Race Relations –Deepa Mehta and the film;Deepa Mehta and the film Love and Hatred before & during Partition periodLove and Hatred Characters across the Racial DivideCharacters The Roles of Women and ChildrenWomen and Children

General Introduction Partition & Independence: clips 11 (reality vs. the government rhetoric)

Race Relations Hindus-- 83 % Muslims( 回教 ) %. Christians Sikhs( 錫克教 ), India's armed forces Buddhists Jains （耆納教） -- Parsee, descendants of Zoroastrian Persian immigrants, among the richest groups in India Jews -- in the Southern State of Kelara

The Partition of India August 14, 1947: birth of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan August 15, 1947: birth of India

Two speeches "Leave India to God. If that is too much, then leave her to anarchy." -- “ My Appeal to the British ” Gandhi, May 1942 "At the stroke of the midnight hour, while the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom...A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance..." — India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru

Reasons for Partition 1.The British had followed a divide-and-rule policy in India. 2.An ideological divide between the Muslims and the Hindus of India. E.g.1. 蒙兀兒王朝時 Mughal 回教徒當權﹐但英 統治之下﹐印度教徒較親英﹐回教徒則反英﹐因此 社會地位較低． 2. 印度教徒反食牛肉；回教徒主要吃牛肉． 3. 回教徒生活由可蘭經規律．

Impact and Aftermath Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs migrations and uprooting (6 million Muslims to Pakistan+ 5 million Hindus and Sikhs to India) Riots and violence: e.g. "ghost trains“ Division of the provinces of Punjab and Bengal Ruined economies and lands; no established, experienced system of government. Separation of Pakistan and Bangladesh in Wars between India and Pakistan; deadlocked over Kashmir.

EARTH (1998) Director: Deepa Mehta Adapted from Bapsi Sidhwa's semi-autobiographical novel Cracking India (the film a simplified version; see Sidhwa’s account)Sidhwa’s account Setting: Lahore

Deepa Mehta Born in India in 1949, based in Toronto since 1973 Her feature films 1. Sam & Me; Indian trilogy: Fire—lesbian plot Earth—the partition of India Water—lives of Indian child widows in the 1930s. (Her set destroyed in Varanisi, and her life threatened.) Hollywood/Bollywood – 2002

Love & Hatred before & during the Partition Period Qs: 1.Describe how the different races are presented. (e.g. Race Relations in the film: clips 2, 9; Parsee, clips 5 ) 2.How is partition presented? What are the symbols used? Ironies? (clips 4, 12) 3.What are the significances of the park scenes and the friends’ meetings? What is the symbolic meaning of the park? (clips 3; 7, 9, 16, 18, ending)

Partition: Seen thru’ Ironies & Symbols –Symbols: broken plate, torn doll; –Partition // the breakup of the group of friends –Ironies: kite flying riots; the changes in Shenta’s fate; happiness in the park and the desolate park.

Characters across the Racial Divide Compare the characters of Hassen and Dil Navaz. Discuss Dil Navaz’s changes in the film. Why do think the original novel is subtitled The Ice Candy Man? What do you think about the betrayal at the end of the film?

Characters across the Racial Divide Dil Navaz: 1.“Ice Candy”; Good at poetry and performances, 2.Tendency to violence, 3.“Lion in everybody’s heart.” Hassan 1. Quiet and gentle, 2. Wants racial harmony 3. Rescues Singh 4. Willing to convert to Hinduism for Shenta The other responses: escape; convert to Islam, Christianity, helpless in front of the mob.

The Roles of Women and Children 1.The child bride (untouchable) saved by marrying a Christian dwarf; 2.The Muslim refugee child (clip 14) 3.Shenta 4.Lenny: unhappy birthday; breaking plate and doll, nightmare

Lenny as the narrator Narrative frame: Lenny 58 (1997) Lenny 8 (1947) A child’s perspective—a witness of the trauma of partition in the individual dramas of love and rivalries  the breaking up of the nation/frienship, the violence, and the distortion of human nature Q: Why does the director choose to tell the story from Lenny’s perspective? innocence + Parsee’s neutrality

References 1.“My Appeal to the British” The first steps of a new nation uous.times/ uous.times/