(no subject)

[pearwaldorf]

I finished watching RRR last night. It's really long, ridiculous in good and bad ways, and absolutely a piece of Hindutva propaganda (background). There are people who think nobody should watch the film because of how loathsome its tenets are, and I understand that. I also think it's useful to understand how this sort of thing works when it's done well, because honestly? Most Western propaganda fucking sucks. It has to work as entertainment first to make people receptive to its message, and it goes down so, so easy when you do it right.

The tonal whiplash of the movie is honestly incredible. I watched the first hour during a work night and felt like I staggered out of a pinball machine. It is so overwhelming all you can do is try your best to keep up. And that sort of exhuberance is attractive, in an age where it feels like every film is either calculated to show how fucking smart and clever the writer-director thinks he is or some sort of Disney mass-market grey nutritional paste.

It's so much it's almost camp, especially every interaction Ram and Bheem have. Like of course there are cultural differences in how men express affection towards one another, but it can only explain so much. There are literal! montages! Ram does a full Cyrano de Bergerac for Bheem to help him court Jenny! He takes an L in the dance contest so his bro can look good in front of his crush!

Please understand, I don't want to impose a Western gaze on something that should not be interpreted this way (and if I've missed the mark I'm happy to hear about it). But there are only so many fanfic tropes I can deal with dancing their way on screen, sometimes literally, before I can conclude it crosses the line from homosocial to homosexual. (Also given the Hindutva stance on homosexuality, it would not surprise me if somebody was just like "No they're just really good friends I swear.")

The dynamic between Ram and Bheem becomes so much more uncomfortable after Ram reveals his mission. Bheem is, and I say this with affection, strong of heart and dumb of ass. I know some of it is meant to reflect his naivete as a tribesman, but sweetheart, when your bestie shows up in the literal uniform of the colonizer I don't think the appropriate response is "Are you yanking my chain?"

Maybe I wouldn't make so much of it if I didn't know about the movie's nationalist stances. But in that context a man who hits so many of the uneducated but noble savage tropes explicitly submitting to somebody who we later see as the literal representation of Rama is, uh, really troubling.

Random observations I just wanted to throw out there:

• That first bit where the crowd is storming the barracks? Every person Ram beats down has a turban or a skullcap. And that's kind of gross.
• Every woman in a piece of media pushing nationalist messages is the same flat cutout, I swear. Seetha has no personality other than to exist as the exemplar of (Hindu) womanhood. Jenny is kind and compassionate but in an essentialist way that sets her off as uncorrupted by colonialism and empire, unlike her evil aunt.
• The portrayal of the British as ridiculously, cartoonishly evil but somehow still grossly incompetent (ie the Star Wars stormtrooper problem) trivializes the real harm and devastation suffered by the entire country under their rule.

It's not a movie I would watch again, but I think it was useful to get a glimpse inside a propaganda machine. Knowing more about your enemy enables you to understand how they're going to try and get into your head. And given that Modi doesn't appear to be going anywhere and there's plenty of people sympathetic to Hindutva ideals here in the States, it's good to know about.