Animator. Director. Artist. Scapegoat.
I illustrated the Plagues with videoclips in 2015, but never assembled still images before. Again, thinking about a book…
Blood
Frogs
Lice
Flies
Murrain (cattle disease)
Boils
Hail (and fire)
Locusts
Darkness
Death of the Firstborn Egyptians
As I contemplate making a Seder-Masochism Haggadah, I chose some stills to illustrate the Passover song “Dayenu”. Song does not reflect my own opinions, etc.
If He had brought us out from Egypt,
and not carried out judgements against them,
– Dayenu, it would have been enough!
If He had carried out judgements against them,
and not against their idols
– Dayenu, it would have been enough!
If He had destroyed their idols,
and not killed their first-born
– Dayenu, it would have been enough!
If He had killed their first-born,
and had not given us their wealth
– Dayenu, it would have been enough!
If He had given us their wealth,
and had not split the sea for us
– Dayenu, it would have been enough!
If He had split the sea for us,
and had not taken us through it on dry land
– Dayenu, it would have been enough!
If He had taken us through the sea on dry land,
and had not drowned our oppressors in it
– Dayenu, it would have been enough!
If He had drowned our oppressors in it,
and had not supplied our needs in the desert for forty years
– Dayenu, it would have been enough!
If He had supplied our needs in the desert for forty years,
and had not fed us the manna
– Dayenu, it would have been enough!
If He had fed us the manna,
and had not given us the Shabbat,
– Dayenu, it would have been enough!
If He had given us the Shabbat,
and had not led us before Mount Sinai
– Dayenu, it would have been enough!
If He had brought us before Mount Sinai,
and had not given us the Torah
– Dayenu, it would have been enough!
If He had given us the Torah,
and had not brought us into the land of Israel
– Dayenu, it would have been enough!
If He had brought us into the land of Israel,
and not built for us the Holy Temple
– Dayenu, it would have been enough!
Paroles Paroles from Nina Paley on Vimeo.
Directed, animated, designed, etc. by Nina Paley
Hebrew consultant: Aharon Varady
Subtitles to come once I figure out how to make them Subtitles on everything except the repeating end verses, because I manually typed my first ever SRT file at 5am
Song: Paroles, Paroles
Score: Gianni Ferrio
Lyrics: Leo Chiosso and Giancarlo Del Re
Vocals: Dalida (Goddess) & Alain Delon (God)
circa 1973
(song abridged by Nina Paley)
English translation:
Male/God: IT’S STRANGE
I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT WILL BE LIKE FOR ME TONIGHT
I LOOK AT YOU AS I DID THE FIRST TIME
Female/Goddess: MORE WORDS, ALWAYS WORDS
THE SAME WORDS
M: I DON’T KNOW HOW ELSE TO TELL YOU
F: JUST WORDS
M: BUT YOU ARE THAT BEAUTIFUL LOVE STORY
THAT I WILL NEVER STOP READING.
F: EASY WORDS, FRAGILE WORDS
AREN’T THEY PRETTY
M: YOU ARE THE ONE OF TODAY AND THE ONE OF TOMORROW
F: TOO PRETTY
M: YOU ARE ALWAYS MY ONLY TRUTH.
F: BUT THE TIME FOR DREAMING IS UP
MEMORIES ALSO FADE
WHEN WE FORGET THEM
M: YOU ARE THE WIND THAT MAKES VIOLINS SING
AND YOU CARRY THE PERFUME OF ROSES
F: TOFFEES, SWEETS AND CHOCOLATES
M: SOMETIMES, I DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU.
F: THANKS, NOT FOR ME
GIVE THEM TO SOMEONE ELSE
WHO LIKES THE WIND AND THE ROSES’ PERFUME
TENDER, SUGAR-COATED WORDS
TASTE SWEET ON THE LIPS, BUT NEVER IN MY HEART
M: ANOTHER WORD.
F: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
M: LISTEN TO ME!
F: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
M: PLEASE.
F: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
M: I SWEAR TO YOU.
F: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
MORE WORDS THAT YOU SOW IN THE WIND
F: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
M: LISTEN TO ME.
F: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
M: PLEASE.
F: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
M: I SWEAR TO YOU.
F: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
MORE WORDS THAT YOU SOW IN THE WIND
M: YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL
F: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
M: YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL
F: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
M: YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL
F: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
M: YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL
F: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
MORE WORDS THAT YOU SOW IN THE WIND
________
Original French lyrics (translated from Italian by Michaële, abridged by Nina Paley):
C’est étrange,
Je ne sais pas ce qui m’arrive ce soir,
Je te regarde comme pour la première fois.
Encore des mots toujours des mots
Les mêmes mots
Je ne sais plus comme te dire,
Rien que des mots
Mais tu es cette belle histoire d’amour…
Que je ne cesserai jamais de lire.
Des mots faciles des mots fragiles
C’était trop beau
Tu es d’hier et de demain
Bien trop beau
De toujours ma seule vérité.
Mais c’est fini le temps des rêves
Les souvenirs se fanent aussi
Quand on les oublie
Tu es comme le vent qui fait chanter les violons
Et emporte au loin le parfum des roses.
Caramels, bonbons et chocolats
Par moments, je ne te comprends pas.
Merci, pas pour moi
Mais tu peux bien les offrir à une autre
Qui aime le vent et le parfum des roses
Moi, les mots tendres enrobés de douceur
Se posent sur ma bouche mais jamais sur mon coeur
Une parole encore.
Paroles, paroles, paroles
Écoute-moi.
Paroles, paroles, paroles
Je t’en prie.
Paroles, paroles, paroles
Je te jure.
Paroles, paroles, paroles, paroles, paroles
Encore des paroles que tu sèmes au vent
Paroles, paroles, paroles
Écoute-moi.
Paroles, paroles, paroles
Je t’en prie.
Paroles, paroles, paroles
Je te jure.
Paroles, paroles, paroles, paroles, paroles
Encore des paroles que tu sèmes au vent
Que tu es belle!
Paroles, paroles, paroles
Que tu est belle!
Paroles, paroles, paroles
Que tu est belle!
Paroles, paroles, paroles
Que tu est belle!
Paroles, paroles, paroles, paroles, paroles
Encore des paroles que tu sèmes au vent
Why not believe in Her?
You Gotta Believe from Nina Paley on Vimeo.
In this episode of Seder-Masochism, Moses is confronted by the goddesses the Patriarchy is about to crush.
Directed animated etc. by Nina Paley (me)
Music: “You Gotta Believe” written by Norman Whitfield, sung by the Pointer Sisters, circa 1976
Free goddess gifs at blog.ninapaley.com/2018/01/01/24-free-goddess-gifs/
The lyrics are extremely clear in some places and hard to decipher in others. At two points the Pointer Sisters sing, “why don’t you let the Wilson Sisters set you free?” Who are the Wilson Sisters? Does anyone know? Here are the lyrics I’m confident are accurate:
You gotta believe in something
Why not believe in me?
You gotta believe in something
Why not believe in me?
Tell me brother,
what have I, I, done to you
To make you mean and treat me
the way you do?
Go on and raise your flag,
Brother,
Start your revolution.
I’m willing to let you do your thing,
Tell me why are you blind when it comes to mine?
You gotta believe in something
Why not believe in me?
You gotta believe in something
Why not believe in me?
Take the chain off your brain
I said,
Take the chain off your brain…
Stop.
Take a look at yourself…
Don’t (refuse??) something something…
You gotta believe in something
Why not believe in me?
You gotta believe in something
Why not believe in me?….
You must purchase advance tickets for this event.
All singing! All dancing! All 40+ minutes of my feature-film-in-progress, Seder-Masochism! This is not the finished movie, but the core musical scenes animated in Flash. While I take a production break to learn new software to make the rest of the film, let’s watch all these crazy scenes together in a theater. Featuring:
Goats!
Egypt!
Plagues!
Death!
Idols!
Commandments!
Unsubtle phallic imagery!
…and MORE!
FREE MATZOH!
Big thanks to my friends at GKIDS for making this happen.
Seder-Masochism is Nina Paley’s second feature film, currently in production. Like its predecessor Sita Sings the Blues, it’s an animated musical – but this time it’s based on the Passover story, the Book of Exodus. In spite of being an irreverent atheist, Nina is also a card-carrying Jew, entitling her to make scenes such as the now-famous This Land Is Mine:
Here are a few stills and animated gifs from the project:
