I wish to offer my own humble opinion concerning the
Tina Turner controversy.
My first point is that I believe that much can be
gained from a movie about Kali which is seen by many
people in the West. Kali is vastly misunderstood in
the West. I have seen her described as a "female
Satan" or a "bloody-thirsty ogre" or "goddess of death
and destruction." Some Westerners believe that the
only Indians who worship Kali are fanatic Thugees who
perform ritual human sacrifice. It is very much to our
advantage to see that these misunderstandings be
corrected.
The danger of course exists of the people in
Hollywood making mistakes in their movie. This is
inevitable. The solution is not to petition them to
stop filming the movie, as some have suggested. The
solution is to offer our help. Let some Hindu scholars
very knowledgable about Kali offer to review the
scripts to make sure that they are accurate, and to
attend the filming to make sure that she is portrayed
in a dignified and appropriate manner. People in
Hollywood are good people and if they offend anyone it
is from ignorance rather than from ill will. They will
be grateful for any education that we can provide.
Concerning the question of whether Ms. Turner is
appropriate for the role, let me ask all of you one
question: Is Kali an Indian woman? I say, no, she is a
representation of all the universe, including not only
Indians but Europeans and Africans and Chinese and
Martians and Klingons and everyone else in the
universe. Thus the race of the woman chosen to portray
Kali is irrelevant.
Some have complained that the sorts of songs and
costumes that Ms. Turner has used in her performances
in the past make her unsuitable. I say that this is
irrelevant. Any person can grow and change and learn.
Every person should have the opportunity to do so. It
is possible that she might give a bad performance, but
it is also possible that she might be very good at
this. It seems unwise to me to say that she will
inevitably fail, therefore she should not be given the
chance.
The people in Hollywood have apparently already
decided that the film will be made, and that Ms.
Turner will portray Kali. We cannot change that. We
can however, offer our help in ensuring that the film
has a positive effect and not a negative one.
Jai Mahakali!

Sister Usha

=====
Sister Usha Devi
Founder, Divinely Female and worshipper of the Sacred Flame that shines inside
every woman

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Thanks. Much of your write up makes sense, except for the fact that
nobody objected to the concept of an African American playing the
role of Kali. Nobody objected to a non-Indian playing that role
either. A look at earlier messages will clarify.

Rgds

--- In Shakti_Sadhana (AT) yahoogroups (DOT) com, Sister Usha Devi
<sisterusha@y...> wrote:
> I wish to offer my own humble opinion concerning the
> Tina Turner controversy.
> My first point is that I believe that much can be
> gained from a movie about Kali which is seen by many
> people in the West. Kali is vastly misunderstood in
> the West. I have seen her described as a "female
> Satan" or a "bloody-thirsty ogre" or "goddess of death
> and destruction." Some Westerners believe that the
> only Indians who worship Kali are fanatic Thugees who
> perform ritual human sacrifice. It is very much to our
> advantage to see that these misunderstandings be
> corrected.
> The danger of course exists of the people in
> Hollywood making mistakes in their movie. This is
> inevitable. The solution is not to petition them to
> stop filming the movie, as some have suggested. The
> solution is to offer our help. Let some Hindu scholars
> very knowledgable about Kali offer to review the
> scripts to make sure that they are accurate, and to
> attend the filming to make sure that she is portrayed
> in a dignified and appropriate manner. People in
> Hollywood are good people and if they offend anyone it
> is from ignorance rather than from ill will. They will
> be grateful for any education that we can provide.
> Concerning the question of whether Ms. Turner is
> appropriate for the role, let me ask all of you one
> question: Is Kali an Indian woman? I say, no, she is a
> representation of all the universe, including not only
> Indians but Europeans and Africans and Chinese and
> Martians and Klingons and everyone else in the
> universe. Thus the race of the woman chosen to portray
> Kali is irrelevant.
> Some have complained that the sorts of songs and
> costumes that Ms. Turner has used in her performances
> in the past make her unsuitable. I say that this is
> irrelevant. Any person can grow and change and learn.
> Every person should have the opportunity to do so. It
> is possible that she might give a bad performance, but
> it is also possible that she might be very good at
> this. It seems unwise to me to say that she will
> inevitably fail, therefore she should not be given the
> chance.
> The people in Hollywood have apparently already
> decided that the film will be made, and that Ms.
> Turner will portray Kali. We cannot change that. We
> can however, offer our help in ensuring that the film
> has a positive effect and not a negative one.
> Jai Mahakali!
>
> Sister Usha
>
> =====
> Sister Usha Devi
> Founder, Divinely Female and worshipper of the Sacred Flame that
shines inside every woman
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want.
> http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools

Early news clips about the movie said Tina was playing Kali, but the most
recent info says she will portray "Shakti." Kali is explicitly described
as BLACK. Shakti has less explicitly a specific color of complexion. (I
always think of Shakti as RED, and teamed with Shiva as WHITE or ASHEN
GREY.)

-- Len/ Kalipadma


On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 16:50:36 -0800 (PST) Sister Usha Devi
<sisterusha@...> writes:
> I wish to offer my own humble opinion concerning the
> Tina Turner controversy.
> My first point is that I believe that much can be
> gained from a movie about Kali which is seen by many
> people in the West. Kali is vastly misunderstood in
> the West. I have seen her described as a "female
> Satan" or a "bloody-thirsty ogre" or "goddess of death
> and destruction." Some Westerners believe that the
> only Indians who worship Kali are fanatic Thugees who
> perform ritual human sacrifice. It is very much to our
> advantage to see that these misunderstandings be
> corrected.
> The danger of course exists of the people in
> Hollywood making mistakes in their movie. This is
> inevitable. The solution is not to petition them to
> stop filming the movie, as some have suggested. The
> solution is to offer our help. Let some Hindu scholars
> very knowledgable about Kali offer to review the
> scripts to make sure that they are accurate, and to
> attend the filming to make sure that she is portrayed
> in a dignified and appropriate manner. People in
> Hollywood are good people and if they offend anyone it
> is from ignorance rather than from ill will. They will
> be grateful for any education that we can provide.
> Concerning the question of whether Ms. Turner is
> appropriate for the role, let me ask all of you one
> question: Is Kali an Indian woman? I say, no, she is a
> representation of all the universe, including not only
> Indians but Europeans and Africans and Chinese and
> Martians and Klingons and everyone else in the
> universe. Thus the race of the woman chosen to portray
> Kali is irrelevant.
> Some have complained that the sorts of songs and
> costumes that Ms. Turner has used in her performances
> in the past make her unsuitable. I say that this is
> irrelevant. Any person can grow and change and learn.
> Every person should have the opportunity to do so. It
> is possible that she might give a bad performance, but
> it is also possible that she might be very good at
> this. It seems unwise to me to say that she will
> inevitably fail, therefore she should not be given the
> chance.
> The people in Hollywood have apparently already
> decided that the film will be made, and that Ms.
> Turner will portray Kali. We cannot change that. We
> can however, offer our help in ensuring that the film
> has a positive effect and not a negative one.
> Jai Mahakali!
>
> Sister Usha
>
> =====
> Sister Usha Devi
> Founder, Divinely Female and worshipper of the Sacred Flame that
> shines inside every woman
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want.
> http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>


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> Thanks. Much of your write up makes sense,

Thank you.

>except for the fact that
> nobody objected to the concept of an African American playing the
> role of Kali. Nobody objected to a non-Indian playing that role
> either.

Yes, several people did make this objection on this list and on a few
other lists where I have seen this subject discussed.

Sister Usha