My 2 cents on Creative License

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whatthewhat

@whatthewhat

Dazzler

Posted: 13 years ago

Hi all,

I've been meaning to post this for a while. And now that it's the weekend, I would love to discuss this.

I think we can all agree (at the very least) that this show has taken a lot of liberties in telling the Shiva myths.

I am not a purist (though I have read a lot of Shiva mythology) , so I don't object to that...There has been a lot of exaggeration and dramatization, which I have taken as inevitable (because the medium alters the narrative and TV as a medium has its demands). Moreover, the Shiva corpus is diverse and there is no one central, comprehensive, coherent and linear narrative that can be adhered to.

While my own attitude to the creative license is a liberal one, I have come to see the dangers of this as well.

My point is that, the exaggeration and the dramatizations might be taken as "truth" by some who may not care to do any further reading/research.

Take for instance, the way the Sati story was built up (not something I've ever encountered in the textual tradition). I think this was largely because of the demands of tv and I think it has resulted in some people seeing it as a simplistic love story (this my opinion). Even to the extent that there have been comments on this forum to the effect that Shiva loves Sati more etc...I fully realize that the narrative is not fully responsible for the way people (mis)interpret the story, but I think it does play a role.

But that's not necessarily only the responsibility of the makers. I feel that it is also our responsibility as viewers/consumers of entertainment to recognize the creative liberties that are being taken for what they are. And because this is a mythological, it is up to us to want to learn more and not rely on tv as the gospel truth.

That's my two cents on the creative license in this show.

Would love to know your thoughts! To what extent is creative license acceptable to you? What are the lines? What is acceptable and what is not?

Mira😊

Edited by narangi_77 - 13 years ago

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Sukhi

@sukhi...

Rocker

Posted: 13 years ago

Very well written MIra, and completely i agree with u 😊...see as this is a TV show we hav to deal with all sorts of their imaginative creativities... whether we like or not, we can only sit infront of our TV set and giggle over them...

Edited by sukhi... - 13 years ago

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whatthewhat

@whatthewhat

Dazzler

Posted: 13 years ago

Originally posted by: sukhi...
Very well written MIra, and completely i agree with u 😊...see as this is a TV show we hav to deal with all sorts of their imaginative creativities... whether we like or not, we can only sit infront of our TV set and giggle over them...

Thanks Sukhi!

You're right, 😆 or 🤣 depending on how "imaginative" the creativity is! 😆

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whatthewhat

@whatthewhat

Dazzler

Posted: 13 years ago

Originally posted by: samana17
Hey! Mira meri dost! Oh! I am so thankful to u for making this post!
Its ridiculous to see what the minds of some people has reduced to as they are comparing the 'love' of gods. I loved this show and mohit-mouni like anything but I never ever thought this mahadev luves sati more thing ever. To say the truth since my childhood I liked Parvati maa very much and felt really bad for her when I came to know Shivji had one more wife before. But later on I came to know the deal. Plus from this show their love story became an open book for me.
If the role of Parvati was to be given to Mouni and not Sonarika, believe me we wuldn't be discussing this topic! People hav to understand that this is a mytho and not some day to day fiction.
And yeah about the creatives, they hav given us a grt show with mesmerizing story but to every good there is a bad side and the bad thing is that many people have connected themselves with these characters and started creating their own myths! Believe me I hav said this before and will say it again I am very scared of the gods and any comment that directly/indirectly or willingly/unwillingly points at them is unacceptable for me. I mean Parvati maa must be getting furious up there! Lol..

Ah! meri pyaari dost Samana! 🤗 You are tooo sweet 😊 I am so happy to have made friends like you on this forum!

@bold:

🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

I am imagining Parvati ma getting all 😡 in Kailash. Mahadev! unhe shant kijiye! 😆

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Gunkesari

@Cloudcaverns

Explorer

Posted: 13 years ago

A very thought provoking post dear it was a pleasure reading it...the narrative about Shiv as you mentioned is always a non-linear, multi-dimensional, multi-layer discourse as is the case of every myth for over thousands of years it has either been scripted into religious texts by the scholars or passed on from one generation to the other in oral tradition or folk culture but in both bi polar school of thoughts one thing retains predominant and that is the manifestation of human creativity and reasoning..Our Gods in general are an epitome of virtue that humans are supposed to aspire for one group and for others they are the miracle makers but in both the belief system plays the pivotal role...Now coming to the show in a way it defamilarised the familiar for we are used to with the Shiv Sati story since childhood but they presented it keeping in mind the appropriateness of the popular taste...

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Gunkesari

@Cloudcaverns

Explorer

Posted: 13 years ago

i am continuing my last post please tolerate me...

We as viewers have an insatiable hunger for love stories and the makers of dkdmd fed us with one of the most familiar yet never before heard of romance of Shiv and Sati to add to it again going by the popular demand they opted for the two very attractive people for the role creating as mentioned by many earlier in both negative and positive manner the very Mills and Boons feel...Shivji is presented as God but with a passionate streak of a lover who transforms himself to a human sculptor just for Sati's sake this storyline is deeply embedded in the popular minds and as Parvati is supposed to have done great penance to attain Shiv hence the doubt of Shiv loves Sati more must have arisen in people's mind it is the result of the intermingling of mythology with the popular taste...but as mentioned by Samana if Mouni was ma Parvati this discussion would never have taken place.

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whatthewhat

@whatthewhat

Dazzler

Posted: 13 years ago

Originally posted by: gunkesari
A very thought provoking post dear it was a pleasure reading it...the narrative about Shiv as you mentioned is always a non-linear, multi-dimensional, multi-layer discourse as is the case of every myth for over thousands of years it has either been scripted into religious texts by the scholars or passed on from one generation to the other in oral tradition or folk culture but in both bi polar school of thoughts one thing retains predominant and that is the manifestation of human creativity and reasoning..Our Gods in general are an epitome of virtue that humans are supposed to aspire for one group and for others they are the miracle makers but in both the belief system plays the pivotal role...Now coming to the show in a way it defamilarised the familiar for we are used to with the Shiv Sati story since childhood but they presented it keeping in mind the appropriateness of the popular taste...

Thanks!

@bold: I completely agree with every word about the complexity of myth. 😊

I feel that there really is never one "true" / "original" myth, esp. in the Hindu tradition. And I actually think that the variants (over time and across geographical locations) are the strength of Hindu mythology. And that's partly why I feel the creativity in tv presentations is just another modern variant.

I guess the trouble comes when TV takes over as the predominant narrative, erasing all else. That would be a pity. But I think the oral/regional traditions will still thrive and will counteract the totalizing effects of TV.

Also re. popular taste:

I think it can sometimes be not such a great thing...in that it demands simplicity when the reality is more complex. 😆

Thanks a lot for sharing your views!

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Vrish

@Vr15h

Stunner

+ 6

Posted: 13 years ago

Actually, one big problem that I have w/ this serial, which is otherwise good, is that it makes it look like Mahadev's story is nothing but an extended love story, first w/ Sati and later w/ Parvati. And I have a lot of problems w/ some of the creative liberties.

For instance, in Sati's marriage, they showed her go and garland the statue of Shiva, which then came to life. This ain't Prithviraj Chauhan, and that's not how it happened at all. Brahma had prevailed upon Daksha to give Sati to Shiva in marriage. Some other accounts had it that she had a swayamvara. But women in the Satya Yuga would hardly do what was depicted there. Heck, even 20th century women were very reserved.

Then this fiction about Parvati growing up in the ashram of Dadhichi & Markandeya. The story clearly has it that she grew up w/ Himavan, who was not out on any campaign. But what I find even more annoying is them making another Daksha out of Mena and having her get upset over Parvati getting devoted to Mahadev. There is absolutely nothing in the scriptures to suggest that that was the case, so what right do the CVs have to put that in? 😡

Similarly, extending Tarakasura's life to Sati's era and having him try to assassinate first Sati, and later Parvati, is not just a blooper, but the CVs being complete loose cannons. Tarakasura lived in the era between Sati's death and Parvati's marriage. After Sati's death, he sensed that Mahadev would never marry again, and that's why, he asked that no one other than Mahadev's son would be able to kill him. And believing that Mahadev was never going to marry, he assumed that he had become immortal, and then started his part of the Devasura sangrams.

I also don't prefer, although I guess it's okay, earlier stories about Shiva being shown only in flashback, as opposed to being part of the story. The stories about Brahma, or Markandeya could have been shown in the beginning of this serial, as opposed to in narration now. And I do hope they show Shiva's other deeds that happened independent of Parvati.

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whatthewhat

@whatthewhat

Dazzler

Posted: 13 years ago

Originally posted by: gunkesari
i am continuing my last post please tolerate me...
We as viewers have an insatiable hunger for love stories and the makers of dkdmd fed us with one of the most familiar yet never before heard of romance of Shiv and Sati to add to it again going by the popular demand they opted for the two very attractive people for the role creating as mentioned by many earlier in both negative and positive manner the very Mills and Boons feel...Shivji is presented as God but with a passionate streak of a lover who transforms himself to a human sculptor just for Sati's sake this storyline is deeply embedded in the popular minds and as Parvati is supposed to have done great penance to attain Shiv hence the doubt of Shiv loves Sati more must have arisen in people's mind it is the result of the intermingling of mythology with the popular taste...but as mentioned by Samana

if Mouni was ma Parvati this discussion would never have taken place.

And I'll continue my reply! 😆

Yes that's what I was trying to point out: The dangers of "creative license"...the mills & boon-ification of this myth.

In fact, in what I've read, Sati also did penance to win Shiva. Nowhere have I encountered the long and drawn out romance and the parental and other opposition...that was the "creative license" and yes, I do consider that it led to the misunderstandings and doubts that are utterly without foundation. In fact, anything that can be described as "romance" I have encountered only in the context of Parvati and Shiva.

Anyway, I think the dangers of mingling myth and popular taste (which is simplistic) is evident.

As for the second part in bold:

I am not sure that is the solution (and I am not sure if you were suggesting it as a solution) - because it would give more credence to overly simplistic understandings and the confounding of reel and myth!

I think Samana (correct me if I am wrong dear) was also not suggesting it as a solution...she was also highlighting the conflict between the demands television-romance & Myth...

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whatthewhat

@whatthewhat

Dazzler

Posted: 13 years ago

#10

Originally posted by: .Vrish.
Actually, one big problem that I have w/ this serial, which is otherwise good, is that it makes it look like Mahadev's story is nothing but an extended love story, first w/ Sati and later w/ Parvati. And I have a lot of problems w/ some of the creative liberties.

For instance, in Sati's marriage, they showed her go and garland the statue of Shiva, which then came to life. This ain't Prithviraj Chauhan, and that's not how it happened at all. Brahma had prevailed upon Daksha to give Sati to Shiva in marriage. Some other accounts had it that she had a swayamvara. But women in the Satya Yuga would hardly do what was depicted there. Heck, even 20th century women were very reserved.

Well the premise of the show was Shiva as a householder.

And I think that's actually in keeping with the figure and mythology of Shiva, who has always personified the two opposing tendencies in Hindu culture - 1. to live in the world and 2. to renounce the world.

So far so good (IMO)

But you are right in that they have blown this up to make a mills and boon type "love story" with the usual villains etc. They made the Sati-Shiva story a "dilwale dulhaniya" type affair..."I will marry you only with your father's consent" etc...😕 Moreover, I agree that they are subsuming all other Shaiva mythology under this narrative.

And while I cringe at the OTT dramatics of it all...I can reconcile myself. But the dangers of this are becoming very apparent. People are taking all the "creative license" bits too seriously and are trying to re-write the myth radically to make one love story better than the other! 😕

Anyway, not sure what you meant by the stuff in bold.

Actually women in mythology exercised more freedom and personal choice, esp. with regards marriage.

Edited by narangi_77 - 13 years ago