Hindi Tradisyonal at Higit pa sa Bago

22^nd of October, 2010

“Hindi na puwede ang tradisyonal. Hindi lang basta bago. Higit pa sa bago, dapat bagong bago.”

I’m not sure if those were the exact words, but I’m pretty sure that’s what the short film Aliwan Paradise meant. To be honest, I thought it was similar to Ekachai Uekrongtham’s Pleasure Factory, something about prostitutes and poverty. I was wrong. This film by Mike De Leon is like a series of images appearing inside the crystal ball of a high-class fortune teller. It predicted exactly what was going to happen to the media after more than ten years. How they were able to do that, I do not know. It was certainly high-class fortune telling to me.

The film definitely had a Martial Law theme of the government controlling…well, basically everything. I loved the rawness of the film, how with its dazzling façade still emits hard cold truth on a fly-infested platter. I also loved how it was about Philippine entertainment, how the different stakeholders in the society reacted to the auditions held by the Ministry of Entertainment. I was also in awe of the fact that despite what everyone in the panel of judges thinks, it is still the media, in the form of Johnny Delgado, who has the final say. And of course, the center of entertainment MUST be the poor! It is the reality of realities, and their poor unfortunate souls are very marketable to investors. Is this not why Willie Revillame earns his daily ration of millions, in the first place? Was it not Wowowee, and now Willing Willie, the perfect epitomes of this film?

Not to mention the adaptations of Manila sa Kuko ng Liwanag ‘s star-crossed lovers. Clearly, everything about the film speaks 21^st century Philippines. And again, I will say, how they were able to do that, I do not know. I never knew ‘futuristic’ would even hover upon Philippine media. It was as if during those times, the film gave Philippine media a foreshadowing of the future. And even if it is really in a dire, intensive care unit state, the media is still here. And I think it’s not too late.

The film also reminded me of A Clockwork Orange. It affects me the same strange and curious way as Clockwork did. Which means I will never forget this film. Oh gosh I wish I had internet connection right now. I want to look this film up.

And I am still amazed that Sir Doy wrote the screenplay for this.

Photo from http://sari-saringsinengpinoy.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html

Inside the Webb of the Vizcondes

18^th of October, 2010

It has been such a long time since a special documentary airing filled my television screen. Last night, almost every person I know was tuned in to the Cheche Lazaro special about the other side of the Vizconde Massacre: the story of Hubert Webb. I caught it almost halfway already, and being born the year 1992, I wasn’t aware it since last night.

But it did not matter to me. Everything I needed to be supplied with the right information was presented there in the documentary, and all parties were accounted for. There were interviews from the Webb family, the government, and the father of the Vizconde victims. The progression of the case was presented fairly, but more importantly, Cheche Lazaro did not ask ‘How does it feel?’ She tweaked the course of the interviews to let the subjects tell how they felt. Kudos to Ms. Lazaro for that.

The angle of the story, which puts the Webb family at an advantage, is a good counter-argument on what the public believed to be true years ago. I admired how Cheche Lazaro was truthful in creating the documentary, especially since the Webb family claims the huge role of the media in instilling mob mentality against Hubert. Of course the news before was just as sensationalized as the ones we have today. Small lies of the press just to get more exciting stories, or perhaps the inset of Hubert Webb’s photo on the evening news while the crime evidence was being shown—these were hands that shoved the public to turn around and side wherever the more interesting and foul news is. It really takes courage to show something that could degrade one’s own profession, but Cheche Lazaro was able to execute it in such a brilliant way, showing clips of the younger Karen Davila interviewing Hubert Webb in court, and another of Pinky Webb in one of Hubert’s arranged family dinners in jail.

With this case, it is already proven: it’s not really the government who has control, but the media. And frankly, I’m scared as hell on how my generation is going to go about it.

Spaghetti Taco: White Trash

11^th of October, 2010

While browsing Yahoo! US over the weekend, my attention was drawn to something very scrumptious, and quite peculiar at the same time. Included in the news stream was a photo of a spaghetti taco, the latest food craze among American kids thanks to Nickelodeon’s comedy series iCarly.

Obviously, the article has already taken control of my already-short attention span. I soon learned that parents find the spaghetti taco recipe effective in increasing their kids’ appetite, probably the very reason why the number of hits just keeps on increasing every time I type “spaghetti taco” on the search engine. However, nutritionists were alarmed on this current food trend because spaghetti and taco shells clearly do not contain the right amount of protein for a child’s daily needs (But really, they’re Americans, as if it would matter to the average American household. Still, it’s funny, we barely have anything to put in our mouths in the third world and they still have the time to worry about protein in spaghetti and tacos). But enough about this debate. What’s really surprising is that the spaghetti taco was meant to be a joke at first, according to the writers of the show.

It may not be such a big deal, but there is clearly something wrong with that.

The show iCarly, starring the tweenage bopper Miranda Cosgrove, is like a fanbase of videos and blogs within a show. Majority of the show is an actual narrative episode, but some segments where actual videos from the site are shown, including fan videos, making the show unique. So basically it’s like the internet website is the extension of the show. Segue the digital age of interactivity.

Upon entering the iCarly site (yes, even the show title is so 21^st century), my eight year-old sister actually showed how some of the content in the site is really exclusively found in the internet, and she likewise told me how the actors in the show promote the content in the site to make the viewers check it out online. There were a lot of comments and fan submissions to name a few, plus a weekly contest where fans submit wacky captions for wacky photos from the cast. Content-wise, there’s nothing really too big about it, no life lessons my sister could actually use through puberty and adulthood. Not even tweenagehood. Just a few tricks on how to waste resources, design your room with gummy bears, mix food in a toilet, and all those useless shit Americans do. Baby capitalism, if you ask me.

Clearly this whole spaghetti taco issue is a living proof that the virtual reality is entering the picture. One of its benefits, or disadvantages, would have to be interactivity. Some crazy blog could be created to post an even crazier recipe, and the children would bite into it. That simple. But what’s bothering me is that the parents allow that to happen. Or is it because they also bite into it?

Photo from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/dining/06tacos.html

Patay Gutom

8^th of October, 2010

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I figured it was the new Harry Potter of the generation. But it wasn’t. I never realized it was aimed towards a young adult audience, even, after reading the book. Imagine, putting teenagers together in an arena to fight to the death, broadcasted on national television, just to show how the Capitol (the economic and cultural center of the pos-apocalyptic North America called Panem) can control the lives of those who live in the districts, or the periphery. These teenagers are picked through a lottery per district, starting at age 12, with increasing number of entries as they grow up or whenever they exchange tesserae grains for a couple of entries (these districts are usually very poor). Anyway, anyone can check Wikipedia for more information.

The book reminds me of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Endemol’s reality show Big Brother. That is why, I am writing to reflect on the important role of the media on these three novels.

First, it is clear how the politicians, the mentors of the teenage contestants in the Games and their stylists use television image as a powerful tool to get what they want. First, politicians, who also control broadcast television, filter all the happenings in the Hunger Games depending on how they want the public to behave. Signs and hints of rebellion from the brutal games are edited out, and then sensationalizing particular events to garner public interest.

Second, the mentors of the tributes (the chosen teens to battle one another), always come up with particular angles on how to market the tributes to the audience. Aloof, sexy, star-crossed lovers, barbaric, cute...anything goes, they do whatever it takes to get sponsors. And I truthfully say that this is happening to most, if not all of the actors here in the Philippines. It all fits into the picture: they fight for life in a fully-surveillanced area, letting the world know their every move (I can even hear the Pinoy Big Brother theme song playing from a distance).

Third are the stylists from the Capitol who use the Hunger Games as exposure for them. Doesn’t this always happen/ Advertising feature might ring a bell. All the fame, glitz and glamour for the love of social climbing, just for a place at the Capitol—the capital—CAPITALISM.

Somehow it’s really funny that capitalism becomes the root of every problem. Maintenance of the status quo. Let all the districts work and starve and die so the people in the Capitol can continue to party, dye their hair and skins, and create an illusion of what the ideal life is. Oh joy.

The only difference, however, is that the media in Panem do not really have a choice. Pretty much like the Marcos regime. But now, we all have a choice. And I do not want to take any more lives for the sake of the Capitol’s entertainment. After all, we don’t owe them any.

“May the odds be forever in our favor.”

Photo from http://www.onlinemovieshut.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/the-hunger-games.jpg