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kuiperblog · 2 years ago

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RRR is about a culture fighting for its right to exist

Since RRR hit Netflix and reached a global audience, I’ve heard many recommendations for the film, all of which take the form of something like, “This movie is crazy! There’s a scene where they attack a palace by unleashing a horde of wild animals, you have to see this movie!” Or “they introduce one of the main characters by showing him wrestling a tiger!”

These sorts of comments did basically nothing to persuade me to check it out. But I finally did check it out, entirely thanks to the recommendation of Jason Pargin, who (on “We Just Watched” with Dave Bell) provided a great explanation of how the movie actually uses spectacle to convey theme, mostly by vocalizing the subtext in one pivotal scene. (What follows is taken from their exchange, lightly paraphrased/edited for readability)

Jason: There's different kinds of spectacle. For example, the thing that RRR is up for an Academy award, is a song that is from a dance number, 60 minutes in, where most American movies have the key pivotal twist or action scene. In RRR, it's a dance-off. If you had that in an American movie, it would be parody: "isn't it wacky that we're gonna stop and dance 60 minutes into the movie? But in RRR, the song that is nominated for an academy award, the version that's up is the original Telugu version, Naatu Naatu, it just means 'dance dance.' It is a scene where the two superhuman heroes, both men undercover, they think they're friends, they're secretly working to do something else; Bheem's trying to get this kidnapped child back, and at this time you think Ram is hunting Bheem.

They go to this big party at the headquarters where the British are, because they have befriended a woman who's part of the British governor’s family, that's their in. They realize where the child is being held. The key is, they're infiltrating, right? So they both have to put on western style suits and attend among all these British people, and they're being treated like crap.

Bheem starts getting bullied by this British guy. We know, from watching the movie to this point, that Bheem could kill this man with three of his fingers. Bheem would not break a sweat breaking this guy's entire body in half. But he can't do that; he's undercover. And his best friend Ram is also undercover; they can't turn this into a fight, and they know it.

Jason: So the evil British guy gives a speech, because they're all dancing, it's a fancy dance for fancy people. He has had a cultured upbringing in the best British schools, and knows all these different dance styles, and starts talking as if, "Why do we care that we're erasing this culture? They don't have a culture. These people just live in mud floor huts, what do they have? What difference does it make if this culture vanishes, if there's nothing to it? They’re savages."

And then Ram starts playing the drums, and walks up and says, "Yeah, I dunno about any of those dances, have you ever heard Naatu, this dance we do?" And then this dance sequence explodes, as spectacle.

It starts as an extremely jaunty tune, the lyrics are like, "come, do this dance!" and it's inviting them. And then the song goes faster and faster and faster, and the dancing becomes more and more frantic, because they are in this dance trying to outlast these British guys who are trying to keep up with them. It's a dance-off, but they are dancing for the right of their culture to keep existing. They are dancing because they're trying to say, "We will outlast you. We can dance longer than you. This is the spirit that you're trying to break. Let us show it to you in the form of dance." It is spectacular. The definition of spectacle.

Dave: It's a violent dance, but just to make sure it's clear, it's a joyful dance. It's fun, it's violently fast and complex, and you look at it like "Geez, that would kill me to try, but the whole time they are smiling. They are having a blast. They get everyone into it at the party. There are people who are genuinely won over by it. Obviously the one British guy isn’t, but it also the idea of, “Not only do we have this, but you f-ing love it.”

Jason: Yes, that’s the key. All these bystanders start cheering for them because, "oh, they're right!" And Bheem and Ram are smiling and happy the entire time, because they have to be. You actually see Ram, part of his dance is trying to show the evil British guy -- again, a man who is in the process of genociding his people -- trying to show him the dance, and smiling at him, giving the thumbs up, like "yeah, now you're doing it, now you're doing it!" because he has to. He can't be aggressive there; he has to blend in, like "oh yeah, we're all buddies here, we're all just friends."

Jason: There's all this subtext, and there's a reason that song got nominated and won the Golden Globe, got nominated for an Academy award, I would bet it will win. ... It is a perfect example of what spectacle can be, in that it is joyful. It is not showing off technical [effects]; it is showing off a bunch of people who had to train for weeks and choreograph for weeks and have been dancers all their lives because you can't be an Indian cinema superstar without being a great dancer and singer and everything else.

#rrr movie #rrr #movies #jason pargin

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