Aruvi | The Decay of Lying | Video Essay Script | Moving Images
Hi, my name is Kishor and welcome to the first episode of MOVING IMAGES for the year 2018. As you may have already seen from the title, this episode is about Aruvi. However, I am not going to talk about the film entirely but instead start this year by shining the light on us the audience and how we react to art such as films. We are going to discuss the … Oh! before I begin, I want to say that I initially planned on making an essay on the philosophy behind this film but instead chose this topic since this is an important discussion to have at this point and also, there is an in-depth piece on the philosophy of this film written by Pranav Khumar that I would suggest reading. Links are in the description.
Now with that bit of information out of the way, let’s get to the decay of lying
The film is about a girl who goes through an existential crisis and is subjected to a lot of hardships and even rape by the men she encounters in her life. She embarks on a quest to encounter the men who raped her. A few surprising twists and turns later she ends up forgiving her rapists and reveals that all she yearns for is love from the people around her. The tale is funny, tragic, and even satirical with a few references to our media in real-life.
Aruvi made me cry, laugh, and love when I watched her for the first time. I was happy to see the overwhelming good response the film received and cheered with the rest as the film turned out to be one of the best films of 2017. However, I was also noticing some backlash and negative reviews the film was receiving on the side. The popular criticism against the film were that the film’s portrayal of a strong woman was flawed, and the film shouldn’t have treated rape as a forgivable offense. The main character Aruvi lacks motivation and conviction. She switches from an anti-consumerism rant to a rant about love and longing for a normal family at the end. The criticism comes when the film is seen as a political commentary, a proponent of anti-consumerism, or even as a satire on media.
There were other criticisms too which I don’t care about. But the ones listed above made me rethink about the film. I am not for or against the criticism but would rather like to comment on the perspective the audience carry and how it is leading to the death of art. And to help me make my case, I present the 1891 essay by Oscar Wilde titled “Decay of Lying: An Observation”.
In his essay, Wilde claims that art does not copy life, but it is life that imitates art. Wilde remarks:
“Arts begins with abstract decoration, with what is unreal and non-existent. This is the first stage. Then life becomes fascinated with this new wonder… Art takes life as part of her rough material, recreates it, and refashions it in fresh forms… The third stage is when life gets the upper hand, and drives art out into the wilderness.”
He proves it to be so with an example that applies to cinema too.
“Young men have died by their own hand because by his own hand Werther died.”
He is referring to “The Sorrows of Young Werther”, a novel about a man named Werther, who commits suicide on not being able to attain the lady he loves. This novel has had an immense cultural impact and on young men in the years that followed. Now, let us take a similar example closer to home. We have our own Werther in Devdas. The multiple adaptation of the story of Devdas on celluloid might have influenced how we romanticize love and the feeling of not attaining a woman. This was art introducing us to an idea, a feeling, we were not aware of. The feeling of not being able to attain the woman we love. Life imitated art and a Devdas cropped inside every man and soon life gained an upper hand and rather than associating the sorrow with love failure, we have begun associating liquor to it. Life has driven art out and have given us “bar songs” instead. Gone are the days of extolling the girl that got away and instead we have devolved to. And speaking of liquor, notice this? We have been forced to plaster a warning on screen every time a character even raises a glass. Isn’t that the beautiful art we paid to see? A big red warning.
This doesn’t mean I am absolving filmmakers from sticking to morals in their work. We are at an age where films have a huge impact on the way we act and think and even choose our leaders and this imbues a certain responsibility to the filmmakers and actors on how they influence the masses. And I am absolutely not considering films which are moral lessons or propaganda wagons for actors as even art. But our society’s constant burdening on art to stick to facts and be morally responsible is killing art’s ability to show us the beautiful lies that she is capable of. When we impose life on art, it leads to the decay of lying as an art, a science, and a social pleasure.
Coming back to Aruvi. Yes, she is flawed and the film is not entirely morally correct. But only when we impose life on Aruvi. See her as art, as a lie, and you can detach from reality and see her life the way she sees it. You would stop seeing it as a film made by a filmmaker and the constant reminder that every dialogue spoken by her comes from a script and every dig taken at a certain character is meant for an actual person fades away. You start seeing Aruvi as an actual person. Her lack of motivation and decisions does not come off as a flawed writing but rather the flaws in a complex person. Her rants are not seen as commentary but the rant an actual person is making not knowing how to deal with the screwball life has thrown at her. She is a beautiful lie. Maybe that’s why she doesn’t ask for the truth in the truth or dare game she plays.
As Wilde said, Art expresses nothing but itself and cannot be judged by external resemblance. In this digital age of awareness and open debates on many taboo topics can we truly look at art for art’s sake? Can we let a film be just a film and not a lesson in morality? The film is about a girl who goes through an existential crisis and is subjected to a lot of hardships and even rape by the men she encounters in her life. She embarks on a quest to encounter the men who raped her. A few surprising twists and turns later she ends up forgiving her rapists and reveals that all she yearns for is love from the people around her. The tale is funny, tragic, and even satirical with a few references to our media in real-life.
It seems the audience then were able to see the art and not the facts and morality in the predecessor to Aruvi (mountain stream), Ganga (a river) from “Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal”.
Think about it and maybe you will cry, laugh, and love a lie such as Aruvi like I did. Until next time, this is Kishor reminding you to see art for art’s sake and singing off saying…
