Now, most of you have read enough of my work to know that I am often fiercely critical of the Philippine mainstream media. As a matter of fact, just about all of my articles involve bashing them in some way. However now, I begin to see a ray of hope for our local mainstream media what with the exclusion of films that include the crass antics of Vice Ganda and Vic Soto. Truth is, I thought the media was a lost cause and was better off destroyed for the greater good but now that bad humor and worthless ripoffs have finally been removed from the MMFF, I can’t help but feel that something has finally changed about the media.
I’m not sure what you think of all this dear reader, but I have always believed there has been a correlation between the media, the government and the voting masses. I, along with many others, theorized that dumb media leads to a dumb populace which leads to dumb, incompetent or outright evil politicians being elected into vaunted positions in the government. However now, with films starring Vice Ganda, who in my opinion, is nothing more than an overwrought bully who enjoys humiliating other people and Vic Sotto, whose films are often a blatant imitation of more successful foreign films and whose plots revolve around trivializing the dysfunction of Filipino culture barred from the Metro Manila Film Festival, I feel hope stirring in my heart.
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Unlike many of the others here on GRP, I have always considered myself less a journalist and more of a storyteller and I have always felt insulted by the way Vice Ganda openly embarrasses otherwise common-looking people and has spat time and again on history and who we are as a people. Sure, it’s nice to laugh every now and again but what are we laughing at, exactly? Are we laughing because we are genuinely happy from our hearts or are we instead laughing like madmen now that we are utterly doomed as a people?
I even remember Vice Ganda saying that all his movies were quality and that he felt bad at being excluded from the MMFF. Remember that this is a guy who made fun of the Ruroni Kenshin films which, while are certainly embellished historical fiction, teaches quite a bit about one of the more difficult eras of Japan. A time that many countries, including our own, can actually learn from. Now in comparison, the only thing many of Vice Ganda’s movies have to teach is to talk down to people who you deem are unattractive or have a different way of speaking.
As for Vic Sotto, at the end of the day, most of his movies are just fanciful figments of the imagination even the ones that include otherwise mundane elements. Now look, don’t get me wrong, I am an avid fan of speculative fiction like sci-fi and fantasy but I always like those that impart a sense of realism and a lesson for the viewers. For instance, Lord of the Rings imparts a sense of responsibility and resistance to evil and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann discusses determination in the face of overwhelming odds. However, films like Entent Kabisonte is pretty much an overused franchise that has nothing better to offer than hollow entertainment that isn’t even impressive.
Anyway, see you all at the movies…
I HAVE RETURNED TO LAY WASTE TO OUR ENEMIES!
In my opinion there has never been a Filipino movie worth the celluloid it was printed on. To call them trash is an insult to proper trash everywhere.
And your opinion would be wrong — but then this is GRP.
Well, it’s different strokes for different folks!
It might interest you, that, still, there are others (some foreigners even!) out there who take time blogging about these so-called trash movies for others! And they have appreciative crowds of foreign B-movie lovers as well.
http://andrewleavold.blogspot.com/
http://bamboogodsandbionicboys.blogspot.com/
http://trashy-filipino-war-movies.blogspot.com/
http://diedangerdiediekill.blogspot.com/2010/07/boy-god-philippines-1982.html
The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it’s as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture has started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all yourself from the clues.
I don’t watch their films anyways, I just watch the news and sometimes sports.
the production of patriotic-themed Philippine historical films
a MUST for educating every clueless Filipino of his historic origins
that would make him PROUD of his unique stature
before international circles.
the Philippines IS richly blessed in terms of historical accounts
from early migrations from neighboring Asian lands
formation of barangays and early kingdoms
early recorded trade with Chinese, Arabs, Japanese and Indians
the first circumnavigation of the world by Hernando de Magallanes
and the ensuing Spanish colonization/subjugation of the islands,
the Manila-Acapulco-Veracruz-Spain Galleon Trade Enterprise
the formative years of Filipino self-determination beginning during the Malolos Republic
the Philippine Revolution against Spain
the British Invasion and Occupation
Phil-American War ( NOT PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION ) as wrongly defined by Yanquis
and it aftermath, the American occupation
WW2 and the Japanese occupation
WW2 and American re-occupation
post-WW2 life well into the 50s-60s-70s
the Martial Law years
PeoplePower/EDSA revolution
up until the present time . . .and every notable historical event in-between.
much knowledge could be gleaned from history by way of diligently-researched,
artfully-presented cinematic productions.
a splendid academic medium and a wellspring of information
that would empower the minds Filipino youth
and refresh the memory of its mature population
that traces the country’s historical roots
that led to the founding of Philippine nationhood.
Hongkong, for all it’s burgeoning economic prosperity is rendered hamstrung
it’s youth, the inheritors of its future, are IGNORANT OF ITS OWN HISTORY
crippled with a mindset of being born just yesterday under British colonial rule
completely unaware of its rich historical/cultural links with mainland China
struggling to identify with its past relating to the next economic powerhouse of the world
openly being led astray by poisonous foreign devil influences
that incite them to rebel against their own legitimate motherland
despite repeated exclusive economic favors offered to them by China.
insolent creatures who show blatant racism towards their own fellow Chinese
blindly refusing to accept the transpired course of history
that led to the establishment of the Hong Kong SAR
all because their dysfunctional minds are left devoid of any
factual reference which could otherwise enrich their way of thinking about their historical origins.
Filipinos need not go through this kind of EMBRACED STUPIDITY.
educating Flips of their glorious past would further strengthen their philosophy
that they were created by God to aim for and achieve important goals in life
other than serving as housekeepers and caregivers for the rest of their lives.
Flips, help yourselves and go and flush down the toilet
that foul “La Vida EAT BULAGA Loca”
perpetrated by the Cuatro Los Bobos
Tito, Vic and Joey plus Richie