EngL1401W - Spring 2007: Introduction to "Third World" Literature

I read the article after viewing the movie and overlooked the "fairy tale" aspect. In hindsight, I see how it is like a fairy tale with a heroine/princess (Sili), prince charming (Babou), evil villain (mean boys), a battle/struggle, and a sort of happy ending. After watching the movie in class, I didn't think of it like this. I just thought it was a little film to tell the viewers how strong and determined people can be. After reading the article, the story about the hare (that Sili tells Babou at the end of the film) has more significance. Sili seems to be the hare and despite her situation, both physically and economically, she is the cleverest and will persevere. Also, the fact that the film is so short makes it seem like a fairy tale. The article also made me second guess my first interpretations because if it is supposed to be almost a fairy tale doesn’t that mean that it is fantasy and fictitious? Either way I enjoyed the film, especially the willpower of Sili and how she believed she could do anything a boy could do.

I like the fact that Mamberty didn't parallel this movie to most "American" movies, with a girl and boy falling in love. Yes, you can almost call this a fairy tale, but I think it's a fairy tale, without the emotional aspect. Well there are emotions, but they are mainly innocence and friendship.

It is obvious that Sili captures the innocence Mamberty was trying to capture. She is a girl that is facing many adversities, but continues to disregard her handicapped situation and make the best of it. Her relationship with Babou is also another example of innocence. Even though the viewers can assume that Sili and Babau share mutual feelings for one another, it is also obvious that the director's intentions were to reach out to his pre-teen viewers and early adults. Therefore, he creates an idea that is appropriate for this age range. I think that it is a unique idea and as an adult, I understood the meaning behind Sili and Babou's relationship.

I read the article over the weekend and was impressed. There was a lot of things that i didn't notice in the film that the article brought to light. Reading the article and then deeing the prof. was interesting too because he didn't look anything like what my mind imagined. I thought he was very knowledgeable and intersting to listen to.

I am a big fan of fables and I was struck by the fact that the hare had jumped from the tree, something that I hadn't realized until reading the article.

great film, a highlight from this semster!

I really enjoyed the movie; I would agree with Karl- it was definitely a highlight of the semester. You rarely find such pure, vibrant, and happy films nowadays. I really liked that the director didn’t have Sili and Babou “make out behind the bushes” as the professor said. Also, I thought it was really cool that Sili gave alms to the beggars on the street. Even though she was poor herself, she was not selfish. People amaze me… oh, the good we could do!!

There were a lot of things that I missed while watching the movie. I didn’t notice the background of the jail cell… all I saw was the crazy woman. I also really pay attention to the writing on the boys’ shirts. I didn’t think of the movie as a fairy tale/fable either. It makes sense looking back on it in hindsight though. Reading the prof’s comments really helped, because it pointed out these things. It wasn’t a confusing movie… but for a 45 minute film, there was a lot more packed in there than I would have ever imagined!

I think what Mambety means by "Gravity of innocence" is people are drawn to those who have an aire of innocence because they are easier to follow. If an audience to could choose a character to follow and have to relate to they will usually choose one that is innocent, it's only rarely do people want to follow the villain in the movie all the time. The reason is because people expect those who aren't innocent to have other mental complexes that will taint the order of events. People want to see an innocent person grow and experience whatever the movie may be about. Innocence is obviously usually portrayed as a child because they haven't had a chance to be "tainted" yet. People enjoy watching a chile be a main character because they seem to usually experience something in a pleasant way without any bias or self-serving motives. I guess innocence in the sense that I am speaking of is someone who acts in a neutral manner neither self-serving nor extreme caring. There is often naiveity and "new-ness" to how an innocent person experiences things.

I think the symbolism behind the ending scene is representing the future of the children of Senegal, or maybe the future of Senegal as a whole. The line "we continue" is referring to how the people of a post-colonial society have been socially deformed by the system, but that even with their inability to read, write, or earn a good living, they are living full lives with love, loss, and hope.

The innocence I see in this film is just how little horrible things befall Sili after we are introduced to her. She is beaten by the gang of newspaper boys, she does not kiss Babou, and the police chief listens to and obeys her commands. These instances all make the viewer shocked by the lack of brutality and sexuality which leads to a sense of forced innocence.

In the film, I felt that the little girl was a sign of strength and humanity for Africa. She didn’t let the bullies get to her and she continued to press on toward a hard working life that would bring her some joy and life. She seemed to be very resilient to adversity instead of giving up because people did not like her or discouraged her. When the business man came out and shooed all the news boys away but bought all of hers because she was handicapped, it seemed like she paused for a minute to decide whether she would accept his sympathy or not. She seemed a little upset by it but quickly accepted it because she knew this was a lot of money and really needed it for her family. She was selfless by not just thinking of her own pride.

I think Sili Laam represents a strength of mankind that most people do not possess, irrelevant of race. She is faced with so many adversities in her life yet she manages to push forward and with a positive attitude. I think that Mambety chose a young female disabled heroine to show that even though so many things in her life can be working against her (age, race, gender, and ability) she still manages to succeed. When Sili says “we continue” the viewer is left with a sense of optimism yet we know that although she will continue the life she leads is without hope. She manages to have a sense of optimism about her struggles but can we? When I watched the movie I felt that Sili was much stronger than almost anyone I knew and yet I still felt bad for her. She is such a strong character in the movie that she can say “we continue”

It is interesting that the castle used for deporting slaves to the Americas is now used for distrubuting the press. It shows a total 360 from what it was and from the direction it is going. There is no doubt that Africa and Sengegal in this instance are not the world powers or countries of influence, but they are going away from their haunted past and pushing forward. This is a great use of a symbol and I would not have know otherwise unless for the blog

Sili's final words also latch on to the idea of progress that she demonstrates so well in the film. She keeps pushing forward despite her disability, her prejudice, and her enemies and is making life for her and her grandma work despite the poorest conditions. There is only hope at the end of the film which is parallel to the hope for Africa now in the early 21st century, almost 50 years after colonies.

I think that the ending in La petite vendeuse de soleil was perfectly executed. Although Sili is pushed down and bullied around by the gang of boys, her and her friend Babou do not loose faith. Sili's words "We continue" was the best choice for the final statement. It portrays the hope that they have. It shows that no matter what hardships Sili might - and probably will - experience in her life, that she will never give up. If something bad happens to you, you cannot just have a pity party and mope for your entire life, you have to get back up and keep pressing on. I cannot think of a better, more uplifting, or more hopeful way to end the movie. I think that the choosing of a child heroine for the film was extremely significant. Children are innocent. Children have the most faith in the world. They see the world through young eyes, and they do not loose hope as easily. They are more resilient and they will persist.

The ending seems so sudden because there is no ending to her life and what she is trying to do. There is the possibility for her to continue to make choices and pursue her dreams in life. The footsteps could symbolize how they are moving forward even though many people might be taking them down. The two of them will always have each other to depend on. Again the “we continue” is the continuing in life for Sili and her positive outlook on life and her abilities.

I think the woman in the beginning is speaking the truth about Senegal. She was born there, she lives there, and she “works” there. She is a true native and therefore she shouldn’t have to reside to begging. She shouldn’t be claimed a thief if no evidence is clear. I think she symbolizes the irony of the film. She is a native, yet a native has little/nothing to do with the happenings in Senegal/Dakar.

I think Mambety chose a girl like Sili to be the protagonist because he wanted to portray the life in Dakar clearly as a lower-class citizen. He wanted to show that they too have lives and jobs and love. He used an innocent, crippled girl to emphasize struggle, but even more importantly, to emphasize she (and other lower-class people) can overcome obstacles and live a life like the rest of us. I think he meant to show the human in the lower-class that some people forget about.

I think that the “gravity of innocence” refers to how people are sympathetic or feel for others if their misfortune is innocent of wrong doing. It was hard not to sympathize for Sili since she is trying to deal with the horrible conditions she faces. She is innocent of any wrong doing that put her in these circumstances and she is trying to make the best out of life. Her innocent way of making a dollar is hard fought due to the boys that keep pushing her down. This draws in viewers and keeps them interested through out the story.

I really enjoyed the style that the film was shot in. It's cool because it creates an almost parallell reality, because there aren't any camera tricks or overly ridiculous special effects. An interesting part about this, of course, is they Mambety created the film in a fairy tale type style. We see this in the role that luck plays in to the plot. She gets 13 papers, a lucky number, and immediatly sells them for a large sum of the Franc. I like that Mambety does this, because he seems to suspend our own disbelief for us by making a very realistic film in the style of a fairy tale. When watching the movie, you don't really question any of the events for validity, because we're Americans and we don't know what we're talking about when it comes to Africa. I really think Mambety does an excellent job of yanking us out of our world and enveloping us in his, both through his simple directing style, and his fairy tale-ish story.

(accidentally hit post)

The article, of course is what made me aware of this. I think that the film gets across the message in a blunt enough way, that I would've appreciated it just as much without the article. However, I am happy I was able to read it and get a critical perspective on the film----one that pointed out all the smaller things that we lay people miss.

I believe it was interesting that Mambety chose the main character of his film a child, female, a low social class, and a paraplegic. I think a possible reason he did this was to show how all of these characteristics of person can not hinder someone from being successful and having others accept them. Many people may only choose one or two of these characteristics for their main character, but Mambety seemed to want to show all of them in one person in his film. This also has more impact because there are so many different things working against this character. It packs more of a punch because it really shows all characteristics, and even with all of them on one person, that person can still be successful and prevail.

I think that the question about us being spectators to the woman being accused of a theif is an interesting angle on the story. In a way, we are spectators to that lifestyle, just as the people who just watched the woman as a form of entertainment, we see that lifestyle as poor and hard to help.

The "fairy tale" aspect comes from the fact that the story is told as a tale or a story from generation to generation. We don't know if something like this actually happened, but the reality of the movie make it feel very realistic. The story line also makes it somewhat a fairytale, but a different fairy tale than one we are used to, with the prince and the princess and living happily ever after. This story tells of a strong girl and a boy, who shyly show feelings towards one another, which could resemble the fairy tale as we know it.

As for the content of the film, I really like how Sili was resilient and strong, opposite of her appearance. She was an intelligent girl, who gave to other people the little that she had.

Mambety’s choice to use Sili Laam as the heroine of this film was to create an idealic story and the idealic heroine that overcomes all odds when everything is against her. It is a testament to Sili’s strength of character, but Mambety is showing the viewers that if this handicapped, little girl can live a poor life and still retain a sense of normalcy, then why can’t everyone else too? This entire story is a fairy tale of sorts and Sili just makes it even more so. The film inspires people because of its characters, Sili and Babou, who persevere in the phase of the most extreme odds. The ending scene makes this fairy-tail film complete; Sili’s crutch is stolen, but she does not cry about it, in fact she smiles when Babou returns – her optimism is a little uncanny. The scattering of the vendors as they walk through gave me the impression of crowds parting for royalty or the upper-class and this gives the image of Sili and Babou as being special and unique in their society. They are an important image worthy of crowds parting for them.

It was definitly a fairy tale to me. I dont think anything like Sili's instant jackpot of selling her whole stack of newspaper for such an exuberant sum of money happens in real life! Overall it was a movie which left me feeling happy and positive about the world. Sili's character is very lovable and very strong at the same time. It almost reminded me of Satrape's child protagonist in her novel 'Persepolis'. Here is another instance of something being depicted with a child as its central character and i guess it brings home the 'gravity of innocence'. Its like Sili didnt realise the cruel world she had to face and it was her innocence which gave her the strength to walk on her own feet. Her strict belief that a girl can do anything a boy can and how she proved it in her own small way was very heartwarming. Innocence was something which was the backbone of the movie; everything that Sili did including the alms she gave to the poor and her smiling face at the tuants that the gang of street boys threw at her; everything was because of the strength that her innocence gave her.

I really liked the taste that La Petite Vendeuse left at the end. We talked about how the director visioned this story as a fable, and the end of the movie definitely reflects that, especially with the line, "we continue on." Fables always seem to end with an "ever after" sort of continuance, so that you get the feeling that the story really doesn't end, everything has just already been said. In a lot of fables, we are left with the impression that after the climax of the story, the characters' lives continue on loop, and I think it's interesting that the director of La Petite Vendeuse does sort of the same thing. He doesn't infer any kind of change in the future, just that Sili will continue on. I thought this blended the realistic, more serious qualities of the film with its fable-like tone.

At first the ending felt like it left me hanging. I was frustrated and wanted to know how she was going to continue selling her newspaper if she didn't have her crutches. But then I thought that maybe this could tie into a point that the producer might have wanted to get across. When she exits the scene, I had a feeling that she was extrememly confident in herself and that this "minor" setback would not effect her. The theme of the movie might be to learn to persevere even in the face of hardships. She does not allow herself to be deterred at all by the bullies but even stands up to them in the movie.

Could there be a more likable character than Sili?! There is never a moment where she is not totally in charge of her life despite all the forces hindering. She is never attention seeking or self pitying, instead she is resilient over every single obstacle. I think this is done to present an ideal picture of African life. I don't think the intent is to say that every single poor person should have this attitude, rather we are supposed to get comfort in seeing a poised young woman take charge of her life the best she can. Viewing it as a fable makes it even sweeter and more optimistic. They typically end happy, and after falling in love with the character, you desperately want that to happen. It was nice seeing an African film that was fairly happy, yet never completely out of touch with the realities of day to day life.

I definitely agree with the second statement, that there is a parallel between the market people, watching the woman arrested, as spectators and us, movie viewers, as spectators. Although it is accusatory, it is rightfully so. That is all I'll say about that, before I get into a 'cyber-fight.'
As for the choice of the heroine, Sili Laam, a child, a female, member of a despised social caste and a paraplegic, I think it is a statement. After an entire semester of discussing subalternity and how subalterns cannot speak, Mambety is choosing someone, who under every condition is a subaltern, and giving her a voice. She is defying the odds: telling her story and being heard. He is, again, accusing the viewers and anyone of doing nothing. He's giving us this example, a girl in the worst situation, physically and socially, yet he is showing us her desire to live. Therefore it is indicated that everyone in Sili's country, in the entire country of Africa and anyone in her situation WANTS to live and that anyone who is capable of helping, and isn't, is a culprit.