Week 5 Story: Mario and Peach but Ramayana Style

Image Source Princess Peach plays Sita in this story.

Image Source Mario plays Rama in this story.

Mario, Princess Peach and Mario's brother Luigi had a long six months. Mario was exiled from his kingdom at his father's command and Princess Peach and Luigi had no choice but to follow after him. As they were slowly but surely getting accustomed to living in the woods, Princess Peach began to wander off one early morning to pick apples from a nearby tree. Bowser, an evil ruler, noticed Princess Peach by herself and decided that he wanted to steal her away from the infamous Mario. Bowser sent out one of his spiky turtles to disguise himself as a turtle that was lost and injured. The turtle set off and Princess Peach quickly noticed the hurt turtle. She sprinted over to him and just as she began to pick him up was swooped up from a cloud into Bowser's powerful arms. Princess Peach desperately tried to get away from Bowser's powerful grip but could not get out. She began to drop jewelry in hope Mario would find it and notice something was wrong. Mario and Luigi were still at the campsite sound asleep until Toad, the mushroom, rushed over to them exclaiming she had seen Bowser take Peach away to his kingdom! Mario awakened and was enraged by this news. He immediately commanded Toad to go to Bowser's Kingdom in hopes of finding Princess Peach and bringing her back to him. Toad began to head to Bowser's Kingdom in disguise as one of his evil turtles and found Peach sitting on top of a green pipe. Toad tried to persuade Peach to escape with him to the woods and return back to Mario. Peach was weary to do so and ordered Toad to have Mario rescue her himself. Toad came back to Mario with the news and Mario and Luigi set out to save Princess Peach. Mario and Luigi arrived at the Kingdom and heard Princess Peach cry out in help. Mario and Luigi went through a series of lava, turtles, and swinging swords before they finally arrived in the room that held Bowser. They entered the room and after several times of shooting him with fire and jumping on his head, Bowser was finally defeated. Princess Peach squealed with joy as she was finally saved. Mario, Peach, and Luigi all returned to the woods where they were safe at last.

Author's Note: I wanted to change the story of the Ramayana and began to think how similar it was to the plot of Mario and Peach. I thought it would be a fun twist to use the moment where Sita gets stolen by Ravana and Hanuman goes out to find her. When Hanuman returns, Rama and Lakshmana set out to defeat Ravana and get back Sita. I used this same plot as Mario and Luigi go to save Princess Peach from Bowser, using Toad as the messenger. I had a lot of fun thinking of this story and adding my own twist to the Ramayana.

Bibliography:

Author: Donald A. McKenzie

Title: Ravana and Sita

Link: Story

Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues

Image Source

During this film, the narrator, Nina, is reading the book of the Ramayana. In the story, Rama's father exiles Rama from the kingdom, along with Lakshmana and Sita. The story mainly follows Sita's journey. Ravana seduces Sita using a golden deer to distract her away from Rama and the proceeds to steal her in his chariot. Sita leaves behind jewelry to leave a trail for Rama. Rama then meets Hanuman and they come to the conclusion to save Sita together. Hanuman goes to scope out the Kingdom of Ravana in Sri Lanka and finds Sita singing the blues. Sita does not want to be saved by anyone besides Rama so Hanuman goes back to retrieve him, however, he gets set on fire. Hanuman gets saved by having the fire not burn him and sets the town on fire. Rama comes to rescue Sita however there is tension between the two. Rama does not trust Sita after she stayed in another man’s house. The town is not happy with Sita and it begins to ruin Rama’s reputation. Rama does not want to have a bad reputation as a King so he sends Lakshmana to exile Sita. During this time, Sita tells Rama that she is pregnant and continually tries to prove her pureness. While she is exiled, Valmiki takes Sita in and Sita gives birth to two sons. Valmiki teaches them the songs of Rama and Rama hears these songs and figures out that those are coming from his sons. They meet, and Rama begs for Sita back. She then says her final words to Rama and passes away with Rama passing away shortly after.



The story retells the Ramayana story, however there are three narrators from India who all have different viewpoints of what happened throughout the story. I thought this was a cool idea because it gives differing perspectives on what the story means and what occurred. Nina, the narrator, also has a storyline in this video. She goes to India to follow her boyfriend, then goes back to New York for her job, when her boyfriend decides to break up with her. I thought including her storyline made the narrative more personal and more modern, but also included a nice break from the Ramayana story.


Bibliography:
Author: Nina Paley
Title: Sita Sings the Blues
Link: Link to story