Author's Note: I based this assignment off of the chapters in Narayan's Ramayana about Rama's 14-year exile to the forest, accompanied by his wife, Sita, and brother Lakshmana. Since the reading for this week cut off around where Sita is kidnapped by the demon Ravana after his sister has been rejected by Rama and mutilated by Lakshmana, I ended the account with Sita's kidnapping. I chose the medium of Facebook posts because, with how popular Rama is with his people, I thought they would be interested in keeping up with him during his exile. In the modern world, what better way to send people updates than regular Facebook posts?
Bibliography:
source: R.K. Narayan, The Ramayana: A Modern Prose Version of the Great Indian Epic (Penguin Books, 1977).
images:
Burmese Ramayana dance, by Nguyen Thanh Long, May 2010 (Wikimedia Commons)
Bharata Asks for Rama's Footwear, by Balasaheb Pandit Pant Pratinidhi, 1916 (Wikimedia Commons)
Anasuya Feeding the Hindu Treaty, anonymous c1907 wall painting from Krishna-Sudama Temple of Porbandar, India; photograph by William Pearl, 2013 (Wikimedia Commons)
Rama in exile with Sita and Lakshmana, print from Ravi Varma Press, 1920s (Wikimedia Commons)
Ravana fights Jatayu, from wall of Bhabanipur Chandranath Chatterjee Lane Sarbojanin Durga Puja pandal, South Kolkata; photograph by Arnab Dutta, 2011 (Wikimedia Commons)
Rama visits Atri, unknown artist, 1780-1785 (Wikimedia Commons)
Sita with golden deer, by Raja Ravi Varma (Wikimedia Commons)
Facebook posts generated with Simitator
WOW, Susanna, this is brilliant (...and am I remembering rightly that you did a Noah's Ark story with Twitter last time around...?) Anyway, this turned out great. I love the way the comments provide different perspectives on Rama's life... along with all the people who adore Rama: it's true!!! Plus the idea of sharing a painting like it is some kind of Facebook photo is fantastic. What a wonderful idea! And all those "write a comment" boxes make me wish I really could write a comment. Fabulous! I've been tempted during some long summer break to "tweet" the Ramayana from start to finish with some kind of faux-character-accounts that I might set up. Seeing your story here makes me think that could be really cool... weird, but cool! THANK YOU for this great way to start the storytelling in this class this semester!!! I need to add Simitator to the Tech Tips list!
ReplyDeleteThese fake social media accounts are so much fun to create! I haven't seen examples of someone retelling stories via Tweets only, but Youtube shows like The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Emma Approved have supplemented the videos with character accounts on Twitter and other sites. It's a pretty cool way to build an interactive fictional world online.
DeleteI made a giant purple sticky-note on my computer desktop yesterday to write up Simitator. I really like how it does multiple sites so people could even combine different formats. And I think you'll really like the Surpanakha-social-media story if you look at Breaking the Bow this semester. I was so happy when I saw authors in India doing some of the same kinds of storytelling experiments people do in these classes!
DeleteLoved the 2498 people adore Rama and the #6thcenturyselfitime
ReplyDeleteIts a playful retelling of the story and I enjoyed it
Thanks for reading my story!
DeleteLoved the 2498 people adore Rama and the #6thcenturyselfitime
ReplyDeleteIts a playful retelling of the story and I enjoyed it
Susanna, you are now officially an INTERNATIONAL sensation. I shared your fabulous story at Google+ this morning... and I see Joseph Gliddon, an educator in the UK (Bristol? am I remembering that right?), was lured to your social networking Rama. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm really impressed - well done!
ReplyDeleteSusanna,
ReplyDeleteThis is easily the most unique take I've seen out of any of the week 2 storytelling so far. I hope you didn't spend too much time on it. Outside of how visually striking it is, it does a great job of compressing down the story of Rama's time in the forest. I'm really interested to see what else you come up with this semester.
Andrew
Oh my gosh, Susie!
ReplyDeleteYour storytelling is so creative!! I love how you used facebook posts as your medium—what a fantastic way to put a modern spin on an old tale! Lakshama’s comment about Sita and the deer actually made me laugh out loud—you did such a good job of incorporating all of the characters in such a believable way. Very nicely done!
Hi again!
ReplyDeleteI had never thought of doing this! This is by far one of the most creative storytelling posts that I have seen... and I was in the Mythology and Folklore class last semester. You did such a wonderful job telling a complete story through social media. My favorite post was: "Never seen one of these before, but the wife is smitten! Looks like I'll be spending the day catching a golden deer...." It made me laugh because I have seen people post similar statuses.
Another part that I loved was the amount of likes some statuses had and the comments others left on them. With the thousands of likes, it made me think of some celebrity posts. Well, Rama is a celebrity in a way.
You did an amazing job! This truly made me really excited to see what you will come up with throughout the semester. Great job!
Hi again Susanna!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the creative approach you took with this blog! This is fantastic! I had to oggle the page, and gush about the genius of it, then go back and read the story! The story is equally as awesome as the clever images! I am glad I got the chance to read this story. You have a great sense of humor! I have really enjoyed reading your work in this class! Thank you for sharing your unique and awesome stories!