In my opinion reality is a more subjective than objective i.e., people live in a bubble throughout their lives (whether it’s their environment or cultures) and it and perceive the world around them through this lens. For this blog post I am going I will try to compare the effectiveness of two different approaches to realism in two different films in two different media objects. One of these films is the animated short by PuffBall Studios Swipe and the other is an art film by Pakistani director Sarmad Khoosat, Zindagi Tamasha.
Both films raise a prevalent social issue about how people are forced to be oppressed by their religion and how these so-called care-takers of such religion give it a bad name. Before we begin, I wanted to introduce an Islamic concept known as Fatwa. A fatwa is basically a legal pronouncement. It is the opinion of someone called a mufti; that is an Islamic legal scholar who is capable of pronouncing his judgments, his opinions on any kind of legal issue with regard to Islam.
A summary of the two films
Swipe (animated film) – Swipe tells the story about how people have misconceptions about their own religion and have been given the tools by the so called custodiams of Islam that they have the right to pass their judgment and execute at their own will. In the film we are introduced to an app iFatwa that is an amalgamation of apps such as tinder and facebook where people can vote and decide who gets the axe. Swipe is an attempt confronting a growing crisis resulting from a culmination of the nexus of technology, extremism and fascism. At the heart of this story is a confrontation with increasingly hostile, alienating, divisive circumstances and a plea for greater empathy, before it’s too late.
Zindagi tamasha – Rahat is a venerated old man who works in real estate and cares for his bedridden wife, as well as being a devout Muslim who writes, composes, and even records hymns praising the Prophet. One day, he unintentionally does a dance in front of his pals while attending the wedding of a friend’s son. His dance is captured on camera, posted to social media, and eventually aired on television. And the orderly existence he had started to become chaotic. Nobody else in the world, including his wife, is aware of Rahat’s situation. His neighbours and daughters criticise him, and his friends ignore him. A calm and thorough depiction of difficult themes in a conservative Muslim society is given in Circus of Life, which provides a calm and detailed picture of challenging issues, in a strict Muslim society and the search for the identity of an elderly man who gradually comes to realize his “minorities”.
Strategies for Realism in Swipe
As evident it is a combination of Animation in realism and immediacy. While watching the film you are subconsciously aware of the media but a minute in the story you are fully immersed and forget the existence of the medium i.e., the subject starts to take a toll on you and you start to empathise with the situation, because everyone has been at both the giving and receiving end at a certain point of their life. The story breaks the 4th wall and implies these same strategies through the lens of its characters. Swipe is a social commentary that how social media and technology has limited people to mindless zombies and click baits cause people to pass of their judgement quickly. The so-called custodians of Islam, “the muftis” have led people to believe that they have a right over everything i.e., can execute people at their will, impose any such laws and obligations on one another and how easy it is accusing the other as being blasphemous. The backdrop of the story is that people think they can control the earth and nature, which ends up turning it into an alienated society, and as a consequence only forces mankind to become hostile and use religion as a tool for warfare, which is a critical reflection of reality.
Strategies for Realism in Zindagi Tamasha
The film is a combination of Poetic mode and a pinch of social realism. The film is more like a character study and shows how people are forced to live their lives according to society norms and how religion has an effect on this living. Even a devotee Muslim is rendered emotionless e.g., he cannot smile, make obscene joke now and then. He has to express love and excitement in a specific way. How to dress, how to behave to name a few. The film tells a tale of woe revolves around conservatism and intolerance. It focuses on feelings and puts things into an abstract, more lyrical form. It shows how alienating things can get when you break the pattern. An example would be Soir Bleu by Impressionist painter Edward Hopper. The painting is about a sad clown in café surrounded by people of different statures. Just like this the film shows how hostile and shunning the society can get when you break its “rules”. The criticism ranges from memes on Facebook to active exclusion from events. Eventually, Rahat is reduced to a pariah in a society that once exalted him—even facing backlash from his daughter, who berates him for acting “beneath his station.” A critical state of society.
Two different forms of realist representation
Both have REPRESENTATION and this weighing expression immerses one into the story, tangibly understanding and feeling it, but the difference is that Swipe uses music and form to make you feel like you belong to the story too, enhancing the audience’s sense of belief in the world of the story, while Zindagi Tamsha makes you feel like you yourself are a listener to the older story from the perspective of a first-look interview. Realistic animation in animation can address real social issues in a unique and powerful way for the viewer, it can hit people straight in the heart with its story and use context to make the viewer reflect on real life. Biographies, on the other hand, tell the audience what happened to them through facts and statements.
To what extend is my work realism?
Whenever I approach any work, the biggest concern is, would peopl be able to empathise with it? The story that it should tell are real world stories whether they are symoblic or character driven. I do consider my work to be inspired by impressionist painters and how they did story telling. I follow the simple saying of “A picture is worth a thousand words”.
References
Available at: https://www.quora.com/What-are-your-views-on-the-Zindagi-Tamasha-movie-and-controversy
Desk, E., 2019. The Tribunne. [Online]
Available at: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2068698/sarmad-khoosats-zindagi-tamasha-teases-intriguing-social-drama
Kamran, T., 2020. The News PK. [Online]
Available at: https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/618006-zindagi-tamasha-a-futile-controversy
Media, A. C. o. C. a. t., 2016. Raising Children. [Online]
Available at: https://raisingchildren.net.au/guides/movie-reviews/the-little-prince
Raza, A., 2020. The Friday Times. [Online]
Available at: https://www.thefridaytimes.com/2020/11/28/review-swipe-short-film-about-the-widening-definitions-of-blasphemy/
Yadlapalli, S., 2021. Cinema Esacpist. [Online]
Available at: https://www.cinemaescapist.com/2021/02/review-zindagi-tamasha-pakistan-movie/
Arsalan Awais 