In Tala Madani’s Shit Mom, we see a ‘woman’ made of shit walking around in a luxurious house splashing and marking everything in her way. My understanding of this piece has nothing to do with Moms. I believe that our mere existence is a hindrance to the purity of this universe and that is evident in this piece. When you are made of shit, even if you stand in one place and do nothing you can’t help but cover other things and people with your shit. Once you’re born, right there and then you have started influencing people, all living and non-living things including even the air. I find it both disgusting and vengeful at the same time. It’s like you were born without your knowledge and now as a curse everything will be covered in shit and you can’t do anything about it. Watching this film reminded me of the story my mother used to tell me about the man who wished to have the power to turn everything into gold. It quickly became a curse when he realized that he couldn’t touch human beings now. And I find it interesting that gold or shit, it doesn’t matter, it’s the influence. The shit just emphasizes the negativity of existence. It’s the mere fact that in life, it is not difficult to do something but rather to do nothing – absolutely nothing. The only way you can stop this is by living in woods and even then you’ll have to rely on other organisms. Watching this film made me more conscious of myself. In a way that is difficult to explain through actions or words. I mean if you are, you are if you aren’t, you are not and that’s just both scary and reassuring at the same time. I would also like to point out that the masturbating scene is one of the most, if not the most relatable masturbating scenes I have seen on film – feeling-wise. The banging of the head after climaxing, and then scooping it all up back into shape brilliantly encompasses so much more for me than just masturbation.
Leave a Reply