arranged

[greenroseglass]

cool video...i disagree, but cool video

[OctaviaOpal]

Maybe we should stop using the term 'arranged marriage', because some people are (possibly) too lazy to ask and/or understand what it all means. In the past I liked 'slighlty arranged marriage' because it applied to me but not sure what to call my current situation.

[winter32842]

Plus the statement that you never get to know your husband or wife before marriage is totally wrong. In almost modern arranged marriage, arranged couple get to know each other by talking on phone and stuff (usually like a blind date) before arranged marriage.

[winter32842]

Here are the facts. Arranged marriage has way less divorce than love marriage . The common criticism I hear is there is no happiness in the arranged marriage. Happiness does not equal love, someone could find happiness being in a family. Yes, there are romantic love initially in love marriage but romantic love wear off. In societies where arranged marriage is followed, almost everyone get paired up even if you are socially inept. Arranged marriage allow good guys to finish first.

[LeFemmeBodyShaper27]

Well I like the creativity of video, its cute!

[johnhar271]

girls talking back, and expressing themselves! bad mouthing forced subjugation and marriage! Now we'll have to kill you to preserve our honnor. this is what happens when you give women education

[Djarian2000]

Very nice! Interesting topic. You make a movie out of it and you will be a star!

I grew up in Pakistan and believes in semi arrange marriages where potential spouses have freedom to meet, like and dislike before making a decision. Young people do not really completely understand the whole dynamics of a marriage. Cultural, religious and family compatibility is very important and "young love" is often blind to these facts. Speaking from a personal experience my dear friend.

[seynna]

@Djarian2000 yes i agree. The video is based on common thoughts and ideas young women had about arranged marriages and i felt that they werent able to express these thoughts to their parents but shared them with friends. this way, it helps open a discussion if there needs to be one. i believe in a semi-arranged as well. :)

[kuzmanich]

Cool animation



[zamood]

Cute video! You're very talented.



[richafive]

Hi this is cute! very nicely done. PS: I'm from Australia if you do ever make it there, I can recommend plenty of awesome places to hide and have fun.

So I wanted to reach out and ask if you'd be interested in doing some thing similar for an arrange marriage movie we are doing.... please get in touch :)

PS: love your sense of humor, keep up the attitude girl.

[richafive]

Hi this is cute! very nicely done. PS: I'm from Australia if you do ever make it there, I can recommend plenty of awesome places to hide and have fun.

So I wanted to reach out and ask if you'd be interested in doing some thing similar for an arrange marriage movie we are doing.... please get in touch :)

PS: love your sense of humor, keep up the attitude girl.

[burntpurplevelvet]

I Love this video!

You're message is great, and you're illustrations are beautiful! You rock!!!!! I hope you keep up the amazing work.

and to "canadianzainab" : you're parents pressuring you to marry when you don't want to is arranged, perhaps you pick which guy out of the list you're given, but not the situation of getting married. I know plenty of women that are muslim that didn't really want to get married yet but did because of pressures from the family& threatening to disown.

[burntpurplevelvet]

I LOve This Video!!!!!!!!!!

My husband is from an arabic / muslim culture and his niece is engaged, at 17, to her 1st cousin.

As a 27yo, strong, american woman this scares me!

I love you're statement.

Plus your illustrations are beautiful!!

I used this song in my first fashion show!!!

You rock!!

[kudikudi1]

btw how did you make this, i really like it.

[seynna]

thanks :)

i used corel painter and after effects to make it :D

[kudikudi1]

oh thats very cool, it mut have took you long to do it.

[seynna]

yes, it took 4 months :)

[kudikudi1]

wow, gdgd.

[kudikudi1]

this is cool.

arranged marriage is bad and they need to stop it now! I hate this so much.

[wowsie900]

Don't do it! You're a part of history changing old traditions that no longer apply. It's never easy being the forerunner of change. Great job!

[GotZah]

I loved the art, but for some reason, the narration REALLY stands out. Good work to all of you who made this!

Oh, and from the guy's perspective, I don't like it either. The last thing I want to do is get awkwardly stuck with a girl who's yet to meet me. And 11 years younger? Dear lord the thought of me, a college student, marrying an elementary school student is disturbing. Though, granted, the age gaps decrease significantly as our age increases. But it's still weird.

[redamberreen]

i dont think arranged marragies are fair!

i mean 11 YEARS OLDER!

i know it is religion but i dont think it is fair!

GREAT VID!

[canadianzainab]

I really REALLY DON'T like this video. it's well done, but Horrible message. I don't know a soul who's gotten an arranged marriage. this video makes it sound so common. If it is common, it is in few circles, almost 150% in INDIAN culture. THIS IS NOOOTT ISLAM!! I repeat: this is ILLEGAL in Islam! There are many hadiths emphasizing that. I am Arab-Persian and people ask me if I got aranged marraige. NO ONE in Iraq, Iran, or other arab country gets arranged that i've heard of in past 20yrs.

[4ashley100]

@canadianzainab No it isn't. It's mainly islamic. I'm indian andd yehh we're allowed. But yeaahh i know like EVERYONE islamic who gets arranged marriges.

[JaDalis]

Miss Murdha you rock!

[maynerd10]

this is fantastic, you sound like an amazing individual with a great potential !!! all power to you and the best of success with your artwork...again...awesome!

[krissykimono]

awesome video!

[ssjessiechan]

I also heard your piece on NPR, and was quite touched. I'd heard about arranged marriages before, and haven't thought them a problem... but my impression had been that the two involved would also interview each other and compare goals, before making any arrangements. Of course with everyone it will be different... But your vitality and art are so touching, it makes me so sad to think you may be forced to give that up. I fervently hope that you can find a happy way through this. Be yourself.

[Vacrocal]

One of my close friends in college was from Nepal and he was the first to defend arranged marriage to me. Up until that point I didn't think it was a defendable position, I had always, somewhat ignorantly, dismissed it as "backwards". Since then however I've come to enjoy hearing of other cultures views on marriage and family. I felt that your video offered some good insight for me and I really enjoyed your piece on NPR.

[tinkubell]

Great video -- I loved hearing about you and finding out about this short on NPR. Don't listen to the haters. I totally feel where you're coming from and appreciate your sense of humor about it!

[bartamaha]

great SHORT.

..was listening to NPR's morning edition

KEEP UP

[jaymzcee]

Great video and artwork. You have dreams and an amazing talent. Pursue those dreams first!

[LAchickee]

I heard the NPR radio program -you rock Mediha! Don't cave into your family. You have dreams and desires -go after them! You will regret it all your life if you don't. Remember -it's YOUR life not theirs.

[scrapeape]

I heard your piece on NPR (101.9 Detroit) today. Beautiful animation! I expected to see stick figures moving around at 5 frames a second.

[seynna]

lol um...i guess thank you?

[scrapeape]

That's just the image I had in my mind as I listened to the radio piece -- you know how the typical comedy cartoon made in Flash looks. I should have known better, because you were said to be majoring in Fine Arts. However, I know some people with Fine Arts degrees that have the drawing skills of a 3-year-old (I know I do).

[sezo786]

what r u trying to prove? that your parents r wrong for trying to get u married before u hit 30 and 200lbs!!!!!!! u r lucky atleast they care!!! there is nothng wrong with arranged marraiges since america has only 99% divorce rate

[seynna]

that they're wrong by FORCING someone to marry someone they're incompatible with, and then the two end up staying together just because they were married, and live miserable lives, where they can barely stand each other.

i never said that i wasnt lucky they cared. i just think it should be done ISLAMICALLY, and not culturally.

[anshulkamboj]

yeoooooooooo.... but to melbourne :-))

[noscenario]

also i'm sorry about the long rant, i was posting in response to an earlier comment! (hi mediha)

[seynna]

lol, hi! yeah you said just what i wanted to. man, you should see the comments on the other upload of this movie on youtube. its brutal!

[noscenario]

hijab is anything but oppression and to think that it is, is ignorance. don't go by cultural laws and instead research what the quran and the teachings of islam say. you will find that cultures often misconstrue everything good about the religion.

[noscenario]

and only now as we are getting older, my cousins are one by one donning the hijab as well. and not because they are forced into it or that they were around it their whole lives. they are married into families that are similar to ours in lifestyle as well, so it's not that either.

i do not do hijab, but i admire the women that do. because of my cousins some of the older women in our family have actually followed suit out of admiration.

[pakigalzz123]

LMFAO!!! DIS IS HILERIOUZ MAN:P

she gotta byg point doe:P

fanx fow da vid((sootruu) hehex

[northweezie1]

isnt it haram to have an arranged marriage or something anyway i think of it as useless you should like the person you are marrying befroe u get married not get married to some hobo you never met before and is not your choice

[seynna]

no its not haram to have an arranged marriage. I think its better then to fall in love and marry actually.

[northweezie1]

true i dont really like arranged marriage and also think its better for love marriages and thanks for answering.

[seynna]

no problem :)

[SirfTeriDil]

aw, you're right for the most part. but compared to love marriages, arranged marriages end up with fewer divorces-either because of the external pressure from outside to make it work, or even the couple's own extra efforts to make it work between them.

either way, i loved the way you portrayed your views in such an artistic way :) it's so awesome :)

[SirfTeriDil]

aw, you're right for the most part. but compared to love marriages, arranged marriages end up with fewer divorces-either because of the external pressure from outside to make it work, or even the couple's own extra efforts to make it work between them.

either way, i loved the way you portrayed your views in such an artistic way :) it's so awesome :)

[NinjaIbo]

wow! did you draw everything yourself?!

mashaAllah

btw is it really like you described? You have to tell your parents that this is not islamic at all.

[seynna]

everyone thinks they're doing it for the best :)

[shanc1193]

Ooh! I saw this video on the one nation Muslim youtube film contest thingy.

[rehabalnajjar]

salam cute video, but is this the way Pakistanis get married? Im Arab/Muslim and I thought it was haram for a bride to NOT see her husband until the wedding day. Isn't this what the Tulbe (when the guy comes to ask for the girls hand) is for? So they could see each other, and get 2 know each other?

[shanc1193]

rehabalnajjar:

Well, this is how some Pakistanis get married because of culture issues...It's amazing how so many people put culture BEFORE religion. I pledge allegiance to Allah (swt) and nothing/no one else. I'm American-born with Paki parents and I'm Muslim before anything else...and I strongly disagree with arranged marriage... I want to know my wife and I want my wife to know who I am before I get married...

[sham224546]

oh, and i understand where your coming from... They expect you to be beatiful and fair even though they arnt. The man gets the choice. Typical!

[sham224546]

salaam sister.

I feel the same. Thank god my parents havnt arranged me to someone 10 times older.

I wish some parents wuld understand what their child wants. unfortunatly culture is mistaken for islam nowadays.

salaam.

[seynna]

salam,

yeah ... it really destroys a lot more then just the childs spirit by forcing them to go thru with something they're not feeling ok with..

[KCMcCarty]

This was really well-done and interesting. I like how you are wearing a hijab at the end because it shows that you can question some traditions and choose to maintain some as well.

[8343483]

u r so cute, best of luck to u allways

[joset2]

I love ur work !!!!!I feel jus like you

[vulmann]

That was one awesome video! Nice sketching!

Oh running away won't help. They'd probably track you down or something lol

[akbuuuur]

lol funny stuff, i like it

[guesspurple]

awesome ! Get a degree better than all the guys than u wont have to marry them !

[Thebaji]

hehe, funny girl and wicked drawings!

[rencrow]

Ok.......Ve get u married! lol

[fukthabnp]

fuck sake, who tha fuck whants 2 get stuck with a face like yours!

[seynna]

cuz its all about the face :) you're a wonderful portrayal of a muslim, great job! keep it up.

[samirchavan]

nice drawing and paintings. liked it.

[skigypsy22]

You are soo talented! What a great way to express yourself.

[Amelfan]

masha'allah this is a really good vid.

[mohawk1979]

A little exaggerated dont you think. Arranged marriages are not that bad

[samuraijack18]

Nice video! Trust me, as an Indian myself, I know how you feel...if it ended in arranged marriage for myself, it will stop here in America and never will it again be spoken of.

[seynna]

thanks :)

[Ubeyda]

yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy this is great:D, i prefer option "runaway" :D

[meghamillie]

hmmm arranged marriages r different frm forced ones...mayb u were having a forced one...so dont diss all arranged marriages.

[seynna]

its about "tradition" i'm not dissing all arranged marriages. :)

[isaachovet]

Wow - well done!

[lemoneyed]

just read your latest response. it feels pretty harsh. to headscarf to be equated to slavery. it seems to suggest that i am not a person of my own. well, i hereby end this heated debate before i get my feelings hurt any further. hurhur i tend to be over-emotional, so my apologies if my first post was pretty heated. :) hey director! i love to draw too! =D

[lemoneyed]

er.. did someone delete our responses? haha. oh wells, it was a nice discussion anyw. nice to meet you. ^.^

oh and director of the vid- u draw and do the computer stuffs v well! :)

[englishtamil]

2. Sure, most of the husband (types) that you talk about do like to have their wives wrapped around because of their insecurities - valid comment. And then you(?) appear with the hijab on - umm, what? Is that because you are insecure about your forehead and ears or something?

It's ironic. While you are aginst your patriarchal cultural practices - rightfully so - you've internalized some of it yourself. What's worse? It's visible in this 4 minute video.

[lemoneyed]

"insecure about your forehead and ears or something?" no. undoubtedly no. but you're already judging people like us, so whats the point of me trying to let u see our point of view. i shouldn't even try. you would still be blind to our POVs and carry on judging us anyway according to your own views and beliefs. it's simply ethnocentrism. i'm sorry to see that. i wear the headscarf and no one judges me here and live in freedom and racial and religious harmony in Singapore.

[englishtamil]

I had made another comment in which I had said I wasn't judging her. For some weird reason it hasn't appeared yet.

But I'll address your comment anyway. Take my comment with respect what she says herself. While a full length veil, in her eyes (again, rightfully so), is because of the husbands' insecurity, how does she explain the hijab?

[englishtamil]

It's not a question out of ignornace about why people wear their hijabs. I know it very well - so there's nothing "ethnocentric" about my sarcastic question (which you didn't pick up).

It's a patriarchal symbol that is cloaked as a cultural practice. Sure, it's cultural but it's anti-feminist. Are you trying to subvert a "Eurocentric", "orientalist" critique of the hijab by siding with an inherently oppressive sybolism?

[lemoneyed]

you think it's anti-feminist. but to me, it's not an oppressive symbol. i wasn't forced to wear it you know. if it is oppressive and anti-feminist, i would be discarding it right away. it's how u define feminism. by wearing it, i feel that the focus of my value as a woman now focuses on my ideas and inner-worth. it makes me freer as a female to be able to not be judged by clothes and how my appearance is.

[englishtamil]

Even the whole of Europe lived "harmoniously" with slaves for over 2 centuries. Thank goodness you don't have slaves. If one had to question the oppressive nature of it, you'll probably maintain that as a quirky "cultural" practice that "outsiders" would never 'get' because of their judgmental PsOV.

Go on wear your headscarf - be a symbol of internalized patriarchy. You're right, don't even try to explain it.

[seynna]

your question is, how can i say oppression = being fully veiled when at the end I show myself with a hijab on, right?

I'm not talking about religion in this video. Its about culture/traditions. I chose to wear hijab, for religious reasons. Yes its about the mans insecurities, but that has nothing to do with my CHOICE in wearing hijab.

[Englishtamilsays]

The whole idea of "choice" is in itself problematic. Isn't it interesting that we hardly see people from other religions wearing head scarfs by "choice"? Is it just a coincidence that you happened to be born in a Muslim family and "chose" to wear the hijab? If you do admit that it's because of your religion, then it can only symbolize one thing - patriarchy.

[Englishtamilsays]

There is only one difference between a father/mother making his/her daughter wear the hijab and a husband making his wife wear a full length veil. The former happens when the child is too young to protest, so wears it and even grows up claim it as a "choice." The latter happens when the girl is little too old to be persuaded by simple words and it comes out as an act of patriarchy - quite flagrantly.

[Englishtamilsays]

Probably if we give the women sometime - say 20 years in the marriage - they will claim they "chose" to wear the veil too.

I'm sorry I had make this skewed rhetorical argument. But the point is: they both symbolize the same thing - probably in varying degrees. It's disingenuous to call it "choice" in either case.

[noscenario]

i have a fairly liberal muslim family where our parents never practiced the religion to the "t" and all of my cousins had a fairly relaxed lifestyle when compared to other muslim families. i only had one aunt that did hijab out of her own conviction.

[seynna]

when i say choice, i mean where i learned about it, and decided, hey i want to do this, even tho my parents thought i didnt need to. sorta like how one chooses what they want to do with their life... so there is a big difference.

[Englishtamilsays]

I'm sure there is. Never mind.

[WitchVine]

I've heard of girls who were not born into Muslim families but decided to wear the hijab anyway, when they were in their teens. It isn't anti-feminist, I AM a feminist. It's anti-feminist when women are forced. I cover my breasts by choice even though, here in Canada, it's legal for women to go topless. I feel it isn't modest of me to show my breasts, so I cover them. If someone else feels the same way about hair, who am I to say it's always a result of patriarchy?

[WitchVine]

Furthermore, I don't show my breasts because they are special to me, and only a very special person will be allowed to see them. I can definitely understand a woman feeling that way about her hair, especially if most of the women have as beautiful hair as that which I've seen on some women who took the hijab off in dressing rooms.

[englishtamil]

It's a fun video, decently scripted and animated and all, but ther are some serious problems.

1. The way you contrast 'beauty' and 'ugliness' - the binary is quite racist. The 'pretty' bride is all "fair" and the 'ugly' groom is all "dark". You could have shown this binary - ugly vs. pretty - however shallow, in many other ways than dubbing it as 'dark' vs. 'fair'. I refuse it believe it was a concidence because the deliberate on-screen shading .

[seynna]

oh i'm sorry, it was based off an actual photo of my REAL cousin and her husband. it talks about desi culture, so i dont see a problem with the dark/light contrast. over there if a girl is dark she's ugly. but the guy can look like dirt and he's still considered good. and if you're talking about later on in the film, its about the same thing. they expect YOU to be fair and skinny, cuz thats beautiful for them, but they themselves arent.

[thedudek]

Great video. I loved the creative aspects of this film and hope you will produce more soon. On the marriage front Parent's and their friends are the worst choosers, unless you have a parent who is linked to the younger generation. Hope you are still okay about the marriage thing and the points you make are so true. Look at Ashwarya Rai at her age just got engaged. Girl's we aren't so desperate, need a life besides the kitchen sink and the mother-in-law!!

[mstks]

that was soo cool, im so glad im only 14 and not going through these things

[setaareh]

ma'shallah. fantastic video! really enjoyed watching. great artistic skills!

[flatterygetsuevrywhr]

This was entertaining and beautiful.

Good luck with the whole "convincing your parents not to marry you off to whoever they please" thing!

[indocix]

I parents tried many many many many times! I married (someone else), they didn't come to my wedding. I have no regrets...

[runaway177]

This is so hilarious and everything you said here is so true! In fact, I'm in my early twenties and I'm going through the exact same thing at the moment. LOL! My family's trying to set up an arranged marriage for me as well. This vid just makes me laugh and have fun with the whole marriage issue. ^_^

[emilysacat]

This was really cool. I really liked the idea of drawing the pictures in front of us. I've never seen a picture progress like that. It was fun to see how the picture would turn out.

[sakredfire]

true...but still awesome work. Most families I know that practice arranged marriage let the bride and groom get to know each other long before the wedding, and the kids always can say no.

[Ashumah]

its not usually THIS bad u kno...

[seynna]

yeah sometimes its much worse ;)

ok yeah i know its not USUALLY that bad, but its a video, exaggerated to tell a story. its suppose to be educational and funny, make you question things

[Detroiteanca]

Awesome video and so much talent!

[mondugi]

awesome!

I'm from Australia...there no escape here either.

:(

[inspire121]

Great and beautiful animation, poignant commentary and very funny...anyone who has gone through the arranged marriage 'rituals' can relate to your video.

[blackfire490]

wow, thats pretty impressive!

and funny. lol. XD

[seynna]

thanks ;)

[Donnell706]

Great work, M.

[vipentertainment]

Once again, Seynna the official VIP ENTERTAINMENT animation and graphic desginer has made an amazing video with wicked comentary. This video is awesome. I give it 5 Stars. Seynna has talent beyond the scope. Great Job!