The post war awakening

Virgin And Gipsy
Book Written: DH Lawrence (first published 1930)
Film version: 1970

It was a time when the Western society was evolving from one that lived for the collective good of the community to one that emphasised personal exploration and realising their full potential. The time was ripe for an individual break out from the yoke of social mores and search out for the real reason for his existence. The world was changing. They saw what conformity brought them - the greatest war to end all wars. Women realised they are more than what they are credence for. The Great War illustrated that they could perform jobs deemed only 'suitable' for men. The Suffrage Movement made great strides in wage equality and voting. They also found educational opportunities.

Women in the 'Roaring Twenties' were held back not simply by political, social and economic obstacles but by unconscious psychological “stops and inhibitions planted in childhood”. The rebel streak in them struggled to bring out suppressed desires, one of them being sexual desires. Novelists were quite open about women’s stifled sexual desires, be it clandestine or against the course of Nature. 'The Virgin and the Gipsy/Gypsy'  is one such book. 'Gentleman Jack' is another description of Anne Lister's sexual escapades written in coded journals.

The euphoria of the end of the war did not last long. The Great Depression, which rolled in 1928, also brought in unemployment, humiliating poverty, the rise of fascism, and another war was to muffle the postwar dreams of freedom, fulfilment and equality for women.

Women from the rest of the world may have followed the path shown by their counterparts in the Western of wanting to exhibit their sexual liberties. Although late for the party, even till today, they continue to find their new place in the sun. The struggle between conserving the sanctity of a biological process and controlling one's body is ongoing. One party calls it masculine toxicity, whilst the counterargument is that the female body is no business for societal scrutiny and rules.

'The Virgin and the Gipsy' is written by DH Lawrence. Lawrence had the dubious reputation of having many of his books banned for explicit sexual content during his lifetime. He was referred to as a pornographer in some circles, but many admired his openness. We grew up hearing about it through the forbidden book 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', which was surprisingly in the red spot section of my library. Still, we never laid our mere mortal hands on it as it was being passed around amongst the mafia of senior librarians and their inner circle. DH Lawrence also ran afoul with the law for being a British spy but was never convicted. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 44. 

This novella tells the tale of two sisters, their late teenage years, Lucille and Yvette, returning from France after finishing their studies to a lifeless village in the English countryside. The girls grew up with their vicar father without a mother. Their mother had apparently abandoned them to elope with her lover. This dark moment is constantly reminded to them by their domineering paternal grandmother, Mather, who moved in, filling in the place of the absent mother. Moving in together with Mather were her daughter (Aunt Cissy, Vicar's fussy unwed sister) and her son, the reclusive Uncle Fred.

The sisters, especially Yvette, find their stay back quite suffocating. Even though Yvette fills up her time partying and gallivanting with friends of her age, she finds it unfulfilling. She wants to find love. This, she finds in an unnamed character (at least till the end), a married gipsy who is scorned upon by her society. Yvette also finds acquaintance in Mrs Fowler, a soon-to-divorced Jewess, who lands in the village with her lover for a 'brought forward' honeymoon. 

Through the prism of her father's failed marriage, her domineering grandmother, the mousey behaviour of her father in front of his family and the restrictive atmosphere of the social mores, Yvette finds muscular virility in 'The Gipsy'.

It also looks at the invisibility of certain members of our society. The Gipsy, Joe Boswell, was a war hero in WW1, but he is just another social outcast in the post-war era. We can try to be politically correct by discontinuing the word 'Gipsy' and labelling them Romani instead. But the crux of the matter is that we have to change our mindset, not just the semantics. It is also a class issue.

Romani flag (Cakra!)

[P.S. For the record, the Romanis are said to have originated from Northern India. Known as nomadic travellers throughout Europe, and is often the subject of discrimination. They became a part of whichever land they sojourn. The Romani language is said to be almost 60% similar to the Punjabi language. During the WW2 Holocaust, Romanis perished in the concentration camp together with the 6 million Jews. In 1971, Gypsies from all over Europe congregated near London for the First World Romani Congress to stamp the existence. The representatives discussed multiple social, educational, war crimes, language, and cultural issues affecting the community. They agreed on a common flag for Romanis.]

[P.P.S. Gipsy evolved to Gypsy over the years]

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A priceless gem

And Then There Was None (Miniseries, 3 episodes; 2015)
BBC

I heard about this book even way back in Standard 6. I remember that we, young pre-pubescent boys, were intrigued by its title, 'Ten Little Niggers'. That was, of course, its original title when Agatha Christie wrote the book in the UK in 1939 and was based on a rhyme from minstrel shows and children's games. The poem goes to tell how ten blacks end up dead in ten different ways. In the story, the 10 murders happen similarly as described in the poem, but not so a pretty straightforward way.

When the book was reprinted in the USA, due to the sensitivities of the word 'nigger' even back then, it was renamed with the last line of the poem when old the figures died - 'and there was none'. Later publications also used the title 'Ten Little Indians', an 1869 poem and 'Ten Little Soldiers'. This book has the reputation of being the best selling book, selling over 100 million copies.

Ten Little Niggers (Frank Green) 1869

Ten Little Indians (Septimus Winner) 1868

Ten little nigger boys went out to dine One choked his little self, and then there were nine. Nine little nigger boys sat up very late. One overslept himself, and then there were eight. Eight little nigger boys travelling in Devon One said he'd stay there, and then there were seven. Seven little nigger boys chopping up sticks One chopped himself in half, and then there were six. Six little nigger boys playing with a hive A bumblebee stung one, and then there were five. Five little nigger boys going in for law One got in chancery, and then there were four. Four little nigger boys going out to sea A red herring swallowed one, and then there were three. Three little nigger boys walking in the zoo A big bear hugged one, and then there were two. Two little nigger boys sitting in the sun One got frizzled up, and then there was one. One little nigger boy living all alone He went and hanged himself and then there were none.

Ten little Injuns standin' in a line, One toddled home and then there were nine; Nine little Injuns swingin' on a gate, One tumbled off and then there were eight. Refrain: One little, two little, three little, four little, five little Injuns boys, Six little, seven little, eight little, nine little, ten little Injuns boys. Eight little Injuns gayest under heav'n, One went to sleep and then there were seven; Seven little Injuns cutting up their tricks, One broke his neck and then there were six. Six little Injuns kickin' all alive, One kick'd the bucket and then there were five; Five little Injuns on a cellar door, One tumbled in and then there were four. Four little Injuns up on a spree, One he got fuddled and then there were three; Three little Injuns out in a canoe, One tumbled overboard and then there were two. Two little Injuns foolin' with a gun, One shot t'other and then there was one; One little Injun livin' all alone, He got married and then there were none.

ref: Wiki

Many versions of this murder mystery story have been out in many languages, in newspaper serials, books, plays, movies and miniseries. Essentially, eight guests are invited to spend the weekend on a secluded island by unknown hosts, Mr and Mrs Owen. The invitees (a mix of retired army men, surgeon, aristocrat, teacher, governess, judge) and the two helpers have a dark history behind their regular appearance. Their misdoings are announced, and slowly one by one, they drop dead like flies. Fear mounts as each suspects the other as the murderer, and the guessing game starts of who the next victim could be.

I had the chance to watch the 1945 movie version and this 2015 BBC miniseries version. The 1945 one, as the whole story had to be rushed through one and a half hour duration, it failed to create depth in its storytelling. I enjoyed the 2015 one as it shows through various flashbacks what mistake each character had done wrong in their lifetime. There is a kind of moral dilemma whether what they did was wrong or justified. There was also a Tamil version of this story - 1967 Athey Kangal done in Eastman colour. If the BBC version excelled in storytelling and characterisation, the Tamil version made up in terms of pleasing eye-catching costumes and the ear-worm inducing songs and dances that have lingered in Tamil moviegoers minds all this while.

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When you see the light, you may wish you did not!

Agatha Christie's Poirot (S13E05) Curtain: Poirot's Last Case
(Final Episode, 2013)

This must easily be the saddest of all of Hercule Poirot's episodes. Throughout this episode, the tone set is sombre, and a tinge of melancholy hung around every scene. Times have changed. Poirot is quite ill, arthritic and is wheelchair-bound. He is physically challenged, but his mind is not. His sidekick, Captain Arthur Hastings, is aged, recently widowed and has an adult daughter. 

Hastings is invited to the Styles, the place they had solved their first case together. Poirot needs Hastings to be his ears, eyes and legs to complement his razor-sharp 'grey cell' to 'prevent' an imminent murder. The identity of the murderer is only known to Poirot but is kept away from a frustrated Hastings.

David Suchet

Many deaths still happen during their stay, and together the identity is known only much later, after Poirot's demise! Yes, this is the last case of Poirot, and the fictional detective dies in a way that can be construed as suicide. 

Agatha Christie wrote this story during World War II and kept it safe for thirty years and was published in 1975. It was the last novel published before her death. The book was both anticipated and dreaded by fans for it contained Poirot's death. Many of Agatha Christie's fans refused to read it. For old time sake, this 2013 TV adaption brought in the initial duo of David Suchet and Hugh Fraser, who appeared as Poirot and Hastings respectively, when the first episode of the series came out on ITV in 1989.

This episode is heart wrenching one. Here, we see Poirot using his grey cells to crack the case and trying to answer some philosophical questions about life, death, and doing the right thing as he approaches the tail-end of his career and his life, which we will see at the end. Poirot puts himself in a precarious position in the end, but with the hope of forgiveness from the Almighty. In the end, he realises that a wrong must be done for the greater good. 

Au revoir, Poirot. Goodbye, till we meet again!

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Money is never enough!

Money Explained (5 episodes, Documentary, 2021)

Netflix

Looks like the old adage 'there is no such thing as a free lunch' still holds true. The system is there so that the well-heeled is always at the top of the food chain at the expense of the poor. Whichever way one looks, the little man will always stay poor, and the rich man will always the last laugh. 

Money, wealth, luxurious lifestyle and aesthetically pleasing environment are dangled in front of those who can ill afford to own or even anywhere around it. Everyone wants to be rich as that is our measure of success.

The first carrot that is dangled upon us is the get rich quick scheme. Even as early as the time of the expeditions to South America, the designs have been going around. Gregor MacGregor, a professional trickster, managed to sell land and bonds of a supposedly heaven-on-earth kind of a paradise territory in Central America after their discoveries. The trouble is that such a place was non-existent. Gullible people wanting to be rich bought the story and bought stocks and got burnt. Such frauds never stopped and continue as we speak. Suckers are born every day. There are Ponzi schemes, Multi-level Marketing, info-commercial, pyramid schemes, and the list goes on.

Another way to entice people to spend and spend is via credit cards. Credit companies give the illusion, via their creative advertisements, that by possessing their cards, life will be so pleasant, leisurely and stress-free. They conveniently forget to tell that, unless the client is a serial transactor who does not bring forward any balance forward to the following month, the customer would be subjected to compound interest. This interest is high, and in the olden days, it would be termed usury.

It is said that the American government encouraged its citizens to attend college and delve into science and technology as the Soviets were making leaps and bounds in the space race in the late 50s. Private enterprises also joined the education race. College fees started escalating. School loans were becoming the best way to pay back after graduation. But then, the whole arrangement came to a tumble when the 90s crash came about. They had no jobs, and the students had to defer their repayments. Not only they had to pay compound interest to their outstanding balance, but they also had to pay interest to the interest. If it used to be that those who entered the labour force without attending college would be higher wages in the early stage of their lives, it is not so anymore. The low skill workers actually earn less now. 

Nobody becomes rich by gambling. Period. Despite knowing this, the enticement to give a go at gambling is becoming more difficult than ever to shake off. With flashes of advertisements flashing right in front of our faces ever so often and the ease of installing gambling devices apps, the one-arm bandit is literally at our fingertips. The system is rigged in such a way that the house never loses, no matter what the experts say.

In the modern world, every individual works for the nation and in return, the country will provide for its people, including those in the twilight of their lives. The retirement fund is set for that and never meddled with even at the worse of crisis. Slowly we realise that the money set aside for the sunset era is gradually becoming insufficient. The elders, it seems, have to continue working even at their post-retirement age. The cost of living has increased exponentially, and people are just living longer. The cost of keeping a person healthy is just too expensive. The returns that they hoping for from their retirement saving just did not materialise. 

This short presentation of five 20-minutes episodes shows in simple terms some of the problems with managing money.

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The blurring of real and reel life!

Wandavision (Miniseries, Season 1; 2021)
Disney + (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Now that memory and brain activity can theoretically be digitised and stored, and our cinematic presentation, (i.e. movies and TV shows) are essentially data that can be modulated and transmitted from port to port, nothing will stop these two forms of data (series of 1's and 0's) from intermingling. 

With our fixation with Tinseltown and penchant to immerse into instant visual gratification added with the obsession with having our TV/computer displays on 24/7, we may want to run our lives like they do on the silver screen. But, unfortunately, nothing will stop what is real and what is fake, fuelled by a fetish for hyper-reality, virtual reality, and obsession to experience in 3D and VR imaging.

How often have we seen children expecting their parents to be like those depicted on American sitcoms? How they wished their parents were cool like them too? When the hard knocks of life hit them hard at their tender spots, how they would have yearned for real life to be as easy as in the reel life? If only the script of our lives is written to our liking and draw to a conclusion at the end of the preset screening times, they would like to have. With the relevant technology at their disposal, it is only a matter of time, if they only could, that they would transform their worldly existence into the make-believe world of filmdom.

Elizabeth Olsen as
Scarlet Witch / Wanda

This must have been the premise to Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch turned to after her defeat in Avengers: Endgame, and she lost the love of her life, Vision. With her telekinetic and reality-altering abilities, she recreated her comfort zone that she remembered watching all through her formative years in Sokovia when love was in the air, and her family was intact. She took over a suburban town named Westview, turned its occupants into TV sitcom characters. She created a robust electromagnetic fence around the perimeter to ward off the FBI and SWORD. Wanda wrote the script of a narrative where she and Vision lead a man-and-wife life in a setting ala sitcom like 'Dick Van Dyke Show', 'Bewitched', 'Mary Tyler Show', 'I Love Lucy', and many more. As time went on, the setting changed to fit shows of the 70s and 80s - 'Brady Bunch', 'Full House', "Malcolm in the Middle', etc.

All the while, the FBI and SWORD teams are cracking their minds trying to infiltrate the perimeter. Then, finally, Wanda world of make-believe slowly crumbled, ending with a spectacular display of pyrotechnics and prowess of computer graphic imaging. 

Even though the series is labelled as the first season, it appears to have a nice ending at Ep #9 and segue nicely to fit Marvel's upcoming superhero offering 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'. A second season is unlikely.

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The naked truth about gender equality!

Soni (Hindi, 2018)
Direction: Ivan Ayr

I always thought that having female-only buses and trains are steps in the wrong direction. We seem to be going back to the dark ages when members of the fairer sex were preferably not seen and not heard. Not only they were handed the dubious title of the root of sins, but they were also killed at birth. Even though we like to think that the ignorant era of jahiliyyah is over, in reality, it is anything but done with.

On the other spectrum, we have people who insist that gender is fluid, that gender expression (identity) is a social construct. They posit that gender is a continuum between masculine and feminine, can vary with time and is different from sexual orientation (attraction). 

Gender studies started as an interdisciplinary academic field to improve female representation in public life and pursue women's equality. Of late, however, the emphasis is more on LGBTQA+ issues rather than fulfilling their original objective, which, sadly, remains unfinished. The world is more interested in getting unisex toilets and giving the right to an individual to change his gender at will (e.g. transwomen)!

In their day-to-day life, the reality on the ground is that despite all the empowerment they have been given over the years, it is far from satisfactory. The slow-moving movie, minus all glitz and pomp often associated with Bollywood film, tells us how women get a raw deal in society. At the centre of the story is Soni, a police sub-inspector. She seems to have gotten through a rough patch with her boyfriend and lives alone in a rented flat. Her neighbour is a nosy but caring older lady who had her way of warding unwelcomed attention from roving eyes of male eyes in her younger days. She wore a sindoor even though she is Muslim. The vermillion gave her protection. Soni is working under a kind female IPS officer who has problems of her own. Working in a male dominant force is no bed of roses. Add that to harassment from VIPs and politicians, at the home front, she is constantly reminded of her ticking biological clock.

Even though the force has assigned the power to Soni to uphold the law, she feels inadequate. The thugs only look at her sex, not the authority that she carries. Even her boyfriend feels she needs his presence to ward off the unsavoury crowd.

It is not all feminism in your face for viewers. In between the story, the screenwriter tells how ladies utilise their so-called vulnerable position for their advantage. A female tenant who is on arrears with her rental accused her landlord of molesting her. She thought she could get away from paying her outstanding rent. Sometimes the weak use their victimhood to their advantage.

Rather than just demanding and demanding more rights for women, advocates for women empowerment should call for a societal change in mindset. It is said that the aetiology of treating women as second class citizens starts with the family itself. Mothers treat their sons as their prized possession and their daughter playing second fiddle to the family needs. Mothers are told to knock in the idea into their sons the female gender need to be respected by example. And Bollywood has its hands tainted for picturising females as objects that need replacement ever so often, whilst the male actors still perform as heroes even at 70. The love interests, however, are young enough to be their granddaughters. 

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When you are down...

The Yellow Bird (Singapore, 2016)
Director: K Rajendran

How does one make a genuinely Singaporean (or Malaysian) movie? What language does he use to make it look authentic? Just look at the ground level. Stand in the marketplace in the heart of town and listen to the murmur. One hears a potpourri of languages spoken by different tongues and in different accents. It must be a treasure trove for a person like Professor Higgins (of 'My Fair Lady') to do his fieldwork. Hence, quite rightly so, the filmmakers decided to utilise a hodgepodge of common languages spoken amongst the characters in the film to make it look believable.

One can say this is a Singaporean Tamil film as the protagonist is Tamil-speaking. Still, otherwise, there are Mandarin, English, Singlish and Hokkien spoken laced with a liberal dose of profanity in keeping with the company of the crowd that the main character is associating.

When Singapore is shown in any setting, the views that often pop up are the Merlion statue with the spraying of water from its mouth or the infinity pool atop Marina Bay Sands. Here, we have the chance to see the dimly-lit back lanes, shady characters and not the usual spick and span fare of Singapore that we are accustomed to.

The extremely slow-moving story may be a turn-off to those who find the prolonged pause between dialogues irritating and a stern expressionless facies of the main character a put-off. Still, many feel that these slow drags are essential to set the tone and emphasise the helpless situations that everyone is in. 

Siva, a newly released convict for smuggling, is trying to reconnect with his estranged wife. His mother does not want to talk to him. She had rented out his room to Chinese immigrants. None of his friends wants to help him. Siva supports himself by playing the drums at a funeral band and as a helper in a coffee shop. He befriends an illegal Chinese immigrant who also works with the band. She is always short of cash as everyone seems to have cheated of her hard-earned money. So, she hires Siva as her bodyguard to venture out as a call girl. Even though not able to speak each other's language, the two build a relationship as Siva continues looking for his wife. 

It is interesting to see that when the lower one spirals down the economic ladder, the more he has to scavenge it out with the marginalised part of society. The state forgets him, or rather, is shunned as specific societal requirements are not fulfilled. Not only they have to deal with monetary issues, interpersonal frictions, substance abuses and housing facilities all piles up his list of unsolved problems. To top it off, they need to scavenge it out with those fresh off the boat. 

(P.S. Yellow Bird is a symbolism of joy and a positive outlook on life. Sadly, here, a yellow bird dies. Remember the 'Yellow Bird' song by Dicky Lee in the 70s? Now, it makes sense. It is not you think it is! It is actually an old Haitian poem written in 1893 titled 'Chouchone')

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