"Ice Candy Man," What "Earth" Got Wrong, Lighting

Going off of Jae's blog, ICM became more violent throughout the novel. "Earth" made this seem like both a quick change, and barely a change at all. The creeping toes and dangling Lenny (while in the book it is Adi), are executed as a joke, or even playful flirting. ICM is placed as a viable romantic candidate in the Bollywood love triangle. At Papoo's wedding, ICM and Ayah happily sing and dance together. The tone of these scenes is exactly what is off, or missing from the movie. Papoo was asleep, but not drugged. The bridegroom was a strange choice, but it was for her protection, not her punishment. Nobody really cared. After Lenny is dangled, she is not even afraid of him, instead she tells Ayah that he is her hero.

As the book progressed ICM not only became more violent, but fell into deeper identification as a Muslim nationalist. As the group watches the fires of Lahore, ICM is not only exhilarated, but when the petrol fireman come he is laughing and grinning, uninhibited by the Hindus in his presence, excited to find they men are Muslim. In the movie, Masseur is a Muslim, making it less of a big deal that Ayah chooses him over ICM. In the book, this draw to violence even incurs before his family's death.

Earlier in both the book and the film, ICM pretends to be a Muslim "holy man" putting on a show in the park much like the bird trick he pulls on English ladies. He is casual telephoning Allah, and the whole thing is a scam. He had little respect for his religion, until the violence was being divided on those lines. In the film, this scene has a quick clip where the contrast levels are up and the scene looks dark and stormy, unlike the previous hazy glow of the scene (and most of the film). In class we touched on lighting in the film as a way to cue the viewer into spaces (or places?) of safety. During the sex scene, a miraculous glow of light covers the the couple's bodies. By miraculous I mean it is night outside and it is not coming in from either of the windows, there is no light source. In these brief instances of lighting extremity, ICM is places as a dangerous man. Little else in the film suggests this before Ayah is kidnapped.

Ayah's kidnapping scene was also poorly done. ICM asks Lenny in front of the entire staring crowd and she tells him like the bland bratty child the film made me believe she was. In the book I at least felt like she was manipulated. Then the film ends with Lenny brushing off the consequences. She relates how it affected her, but gives three drastically different rumors of Ayah's fate: ICM's wife, a prostitute, home with her family. The ending is self involved, taking away the significance of the kidnapping, and its emotional affect.

The film didn't capture of the creeping darkness of the book. Each piece of horror was a joke, or forgotten. The film had only one pace, and no set up. The characters weren't given much time to change. The family felt "whiter" and more stuck up, and the badass female characters (Mother, Electric Aunt, Godmother) were replaced with Victorian domesticity or were not existant. What does this say about partition? It made the violence seem doomed, like friends were always going to kill friends. No one tried to find Ayah. The film almost felt apathetic. This is not solely because the women were ripped from this film, but because the adaptation of tone failed. If Ayah (and maybe Lenny) are India, then ICM is nationalism. In the book we gather this from the change of his character over time. (Where are his captivating stories in the movie?) In conclusion, there were issues with the craft of the novel, but its relaying of content and emotive pull were successful. The movie proved "it could be worse."