Ishmael Bernal and Religious Interpretations Essay Example for Free

Ishmael Bernal and Religious Interpretations Essay Ishmael Bernal’s films have received countless acknowledgements throughout the years because of his unique style of â€Å"working out patterns of symbolic details† (Lumbera 25). And through these patterns, Bernal was able to portray his views on things as an auteur. This paper examines his interpretations of religion and religious activities through his films. But this only includes three of his works: Manila by Night (1980), Himala (1982), and Hinugot sa Langit (1985). These three films’ devotional approaches are analyzed by both their mise-en-scene and fabula. On that note, religion as tackled in this paper only pertains to the Philippine religion of Christianity/Catholicism, since Bernal’s films appear to be only on the Catholic’s view. How did Bernal attack Catholicism? Why did he represent the country’s most widespread religion in that manner? What are the implications of his works on the era during such films were distributed? How do these films affect the contemporary time? And what do these films impose on the society and on the religion majority of it believes in? Hence, this paper has these films examined through the eyes of a spectator, and relates that analogy to Bernal’s own philosophies as an auteur. Religion in Mise-En-Scene and Iconographies Through the apparatus theory, Bernal’s religious interpretations in his works can be examined. Ponsford’s Film Theory and Language from media. edusites. co. uk says apparatus theory suggests that film is created to illustrate different ideas and that everything has meaning even starting from the camerawork up to the editing. Manila by Night is a drama film made by Bernal in 1980. It is a multiple-charactered film where the characters’ existences in the city were unveiled as they live by the ruthlessness of drugs, poverty, adultery, and lust. In Manila by Night, Bernal constantly used iconographies and effigies of divine entities in several sex scenes through elaborate camerawork and editing. An example is a scene where a couple (Adelina, played by Moreno and Pebrero, played by Ojeda) who routinely cheated on each other made love while religious icons peered over them (Santos 21). There is another sex scene where instead of figures, Bernal focused a shot on a chaplet necklace worn by the indolent college guy (Alex, played by Martinez) for a few seconds just before he had premarital sex with his girlfriend (Vanessa, played by Alajar). Bernal not only used these icons in sex scenes. In one scene where the neurotic mother of Alex, Virgie (Solis), trashed their home when she found out he was doing drugs, multiple shots of religious statues were shown simultaneously with the scene of flying plates and broken furniture in the screen. Hinugot sa Langit also has a remarkable mise-en-scene in terms of religious interpretations. It is a film about infidelity, unwanted pregnancy, and abortion. In the scene where Carmen (Soriano) was rushed to the hospital after attempting to commit suicide, the disparity between the two conflicting characters of Aling Juling (Solis) and Stella (Austria) was clearly depicted. Aling Juling, being the sanctimonious that she was, gave the feeble Carmen her Holy Bible, hoping that it helps Carmen as it did to her. Seconds after Aling Juling left the room, Stella put a bag of apples on top of the bible as she jokingly referred to it as â€Å"holy mansanas (apples)† which may be interpreted as the apple Eve took from the treacherous snake in the Garden of Eden. The style Bernal had in Manila by Night was still used in Hinugot sa Langit. There was the scene of Mang David’s (Ventura) child’s wake where an image of Christ hung over Carmen and Mang David’s backs as they talked about the latter’s debts from Aling Juling. There’s still that style but other sightings of the religious icons and statues were not shown in that ambiguous manner anymore; instead they were shown conspicuously to prove a point like every time Aling Juling conducted prayer meetings and worship time. The irony in showing religious images and sinful acts simultaneously is an apparent symbolism of the societal hypocrisy towards faith and Christianity. Morality Issues on Manila by Night, Himala, and Hinugot sa Langit These three films are all packed with morality issues and what are morality issues if there is no religion? Morality, I believe, is bound by the norms and rules of whatever religion an individual believes in. Therefore, people do what for them is â€Å"right† because the religion they keep their faith in tells them to do so. Himala is a story of a girl named Elsa (Aunor) who claims to have seen the Blessed Virgin Mary on the top of the very hill where she was found by her non-biological mother years ago when she was still a baby. Since then Elsa started to â€Å"heal† people through the use of the power that was allegedly bestowed upon her by the Virgin Mary. She was situated in a small town called Cupang where the soil was always dry because of a â€Å"curse† from long time ago. Since then people came flocking to Elsa’s house to seek treatment from her miracles. She had her own followers and a bunch of detractors. In the end, when she faced piles of troubles—from not being able to â€Å"heal† anymore to being raped along with her best friend who later on committed suicide—she came clean and announced that there is no miracle, that it is the people who create their own miracles. She was shot dead at that same moment. The morality issues in this film is particularly apparent during the time when documentarist Orly (Manikan) battles with himself whether to have Elsa and Chayong’s (Centeno) rape video shown to the public. In the end he seeks help from the priest, which only made it clear that his decisions still depended largely on the â€Å"Catholic opinion† even though he was a self-proclaimed atheist right from the start. Manila by Night touches more morality issues than Himala. Since it is a film using a multiple-character format, the struggles each persona faces vary. There was a cheating guy (Pebrero), a liar prostitute (Adelina), a hypocritical ex-prostitute (Virgie), a happy-go-lucky gay (Manay Sharon), a dope-pusher lesbian (Kano), a blind whore (Bea), a college dropout (Alex), and his girlfriend (Vanessa). Their characters differ from each other but what’s uncanny about it was that their lives intertwine one way or another. Set in the city during a time when people’s freedom was being suppressed, these characters faced the question of what to do in times like that. Whether they hold on to their principles and strive to live for the good or just continue their dishonest lives to be able to endure everything and coexist. In a country where Catholicism is dominant, what Bernal showed in Manila by Night questions the values the religion upholds for its followers. The ending of the film where after all the mayhem that happened in the city during the past night seemed to be forgotten and the characters are portrayed as monotonous citizens living their routinely-charged lives is a strong point for proving how people trapped in the confusion of what’s good or evil can act as two-faced individuals who eventually become victims of the system. Hinugot sa Langit, on the other hand, tackles a more brazen topic that’s related to religion: abortion. When Carmen found out she was having Jerry’s (Tantay) child, she was faced with only two options: one is to keep it and the other is to abort. The problem the film earlier gave was that Jerry was already married with someone else and he made it clear right from the start that he didn’t want anything to do with the child Carmen was carrying. This, on top of the incessant urging of her straightforward cousin Stella, pushed Carmen to the edge of option number two. But her landlady, Aling Juling, insisted otherwise—saying abortion is a sin to God. As Carmen’s pregnancy became relatively closer to three months (which is the point when a mere embryo becomes human according to the abortionist) she began thinking about the issue of whether abortion is already an act of killing or not. But eventually, she chose to have abortion. Near the end of the film where she pounded on Mang David for stabbing Aling Juling to death, Bernal used a brilliant camera shift from Mang David’s staring face to Carmen’s while she was yelling, â€Å"Wala kang karapatang pumatay ng tao! You have no right to murder anyone! ),† as if giving the former a reason to say that she did not have any right to kill her child either. As Oggs Cruz put it in his blog, â€Å"Hinugot sa Langit may be branded as preachy and anti-abortion but in reality, the film has side stories that suggest a more pressing issue: societal hypocrisy. † This is not only apparent in the abortion issue but also in Aling Juling’s actions. It’s just that, as Cruz again puts it, â€Å"abortion is the most telling of issues. The Philippines being a prominently Catholic nation declares abortion as criminally and morally wrong yet funnily, the practice is unwrittenly accepted among women who are time-pressed with a decision. † Elsa and Aling Juling While Manila by Night’s interpretations of religion banks largely on its mise-en-scene, what Bernal created in Himala and Hinugot sa Langit were characters who seemed to embody the â€Å"divine† and through them, Bernal showed how false devotions and idolatry can be misleading. Elsa’s alleged involvement with the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary made her just as acred as the holy mother of Christ in the people’s eyes. She became, in an obvious way, the people’s source of blind faith that led them to their own pits of darkness as shown in the last part of the film where healthy and sick people alike experienced a stampede that caused them physical pain. This false faith is also ostensible in Aling Juling’s character in Hinugot sa Langit. Even from the start of the film, her character already proved to be a hypocrite. She dressed conservatively, regularly attended prayer and worship meetings, firmly discouraged Carmen to do an abortion, and constantly spoke about the Divine. But she also wanted to have the informal settlers removed from her land at any cost just to be able to build a chapel, claiming it is for the greater good. Aling Juling proved to be the perfect devotee, but failed to act as a true child of God for the other people; and there lies the biggest fallacy built in her persona. There was also one scene where Carmen and Aling Juling went into a brief screaming match about how should the former handle her problems. In the one line of Carmen saying, â€Å"Ano pa bang gusto Niya (pertaining to God), ano pa bang gusto mo?! What else does He want, what else do you want?! ),† the character of Aling Juling seemed to be a symbolism of the â€Å"god† Carmen had come to believe in. Instead of the all-powerful, all-knowing One, because of her problems, Carmen landed on believing Aling Juling’s preaching as that of God’s. Elsa and Aling Juling both died at the end, and both by being brutally attacked. What I see in this phenomenon is the attempt to â€Å"kill off† the wrong and misrepresentative beliefs brought about by these two characters, and probably the only way Bernal suggests to do that is through a vicious, one-time manner. Bernal as Auteur This paper is not about Bernal but about the works of Bernal. But since he is an auteur, understanding his background is essential in understanding the concepts behind his works. The auteur theory proposes that the director is the author of the film and that the director is the primary creative source, therefore the films produced express the director’s distinctive vision of the world (Pramaggiore and Wallis 398). Therefore, his politics mirror his representation of religion, thus making his films a reflection of his own beliefs. According to Bayani Santos’ Bernal as Auteur, Ishmael appreciated the values of Gregorio Aglipay and Catholicism. He also admired the disciplines of Iglesia Ni Cristo but criticized it for its exploitation of religion in politics. It was also said that he â€Å"respected Catholicism as faith, but always qualified it with a historical reminder of its political and economic crimes against the nation† (Santos 19). It was also said in the same article that Bernal’s view of shallow Catholicism among Filipinos as facts of Philippine life was not just mocking jibes against superficial religiosity but rather â€Å"accurate descriptions, as synecdochical of Philippine reality† and having the satirical impact arrive after a realization by the audience that, indeed, the descriptions are ‘us’ (21). Bayani continued on to saying that Bernal’s politics are â€Å"deeply buried in many of his works† (31). His politics involve not only his aforementioned views on Philippine religion but also his involvement in communism. This notion is perceivable in the three films being analyzed by this paper. In Manila by Night, Bernal took jibes on Martial Law more than anything. In Hinugot sa Langit, he â€Å"showed the desperate situation of the poor in a script that scrupulously avoided overt political commentary† (31). In Himala he managed to speculate a Marxist view of religion as an opiate when Elsa’s death became a dismaying reversion to mass hysteria and fanaticism (31). Bernal’s Films then and now These three films were produced during the second golden age of the Philippine cinema, during the years that mark off the end of the Marcos Martial Law regime. Bernal’s films were acclaimed during those times because both the films and timing were apt to belong to the cinema that recognizes the struggle as the most gigantic cultural, scientific, and artistic manifestation our time, the third cinema (Solanas and Gettino 47). This is what makes Bernal’s films timeless. The impact these films made during those times were huge. Bernal revealed how the Marcos regime exploited the Filipinos. This is overtly seen in Manila by Night, where his depiction of the supposed city to signify the â€Å"New Society† is the exact opposite of it. The term â€Å"New Society† claimed that the dictatorship had eradicated corruption and transformed Philippine society (Lumbera 359). This same â€Å"New Society† was also exploited, although for good reasons, by Bernal in his film Himala. According to Lumbera, Himala criticized the manipulative religiosity of this society which â€Å"drew the people’s attention away from the realities of poverty, violence, and moral decay† (359). This, however, is still manifested in the present time. There is this one scene in Himala that is applicable to both the past and present times. When people started coming to Cupang for Elsa and Elsa’s â€Å"apostles used the water Elsa blessed for profit, it was a hypocritical move on the side of Elsa and her followers to lure people into giving them money when all they were meant to do in the first place was to offer treatment for everyone who asked for it. The past screams about the pretentious â€Å"New Society† and the present stages the scene in real life whenever such religious items or services that are supposed to help them are still sold for amounts to the people. (e. . : a priest’s service fees, blessed rosaries, mass guides) Another thing that might have helped in the success of Himala is the fact that superstar Nora Aunor played the lead role. In the Noranian Imaginary, it is said that Himala is as much about the popular hysteria mediated by the idol Nora Aunor as it is about the mass hysteria endemic to Catholicism as held by many (Tadiar). People saw Elsa in Nora and Nora in Elsa—th e same poor, unfortunate protagonist who strive against all odds to defend herself and achieve goals. In these times, Nora may not be that same girl many Filipinos used to idolized, but the imprint she left on Elsa’s character is so known to almost every Filipino as â€Å"that† girl who everyone admired. Elsa’s death at the end of the film may be read as liberation from such faith, since she made confessions about the inexistence of miracles prior to his death. But the people’s continuous idolatry in her after she passed away seems to be a symbol of the people of today—those who still continue hang on to false hope and devotion even after such devotion proves to be wrong. As Patrick Flores puts it in Himala: Fall of Grace, â€Å"Himala is against the miracle and it is against the cinema. † Hinugot sa Langit, lastly, also speaks of a timeless issue in Catholicism: abortion. The values the film imbibes a great impact on the beliefs of the majority of the Filipino citizen. The question of whether abortion is or is not an act of murder is still being debated upon until today. Bernal’s films speak of ageless and timely issues concerning the Filipino people and that’s what makes his films succeed not only in the era during which it was manufactured, but also in the present time.

Australia Essay -- essays research papers

The name of Australia comes from the Latin word Australis, which means southern. Since it lies entirely in the southern hemisphere, Australia is most commonly referred to as â€Å"down under†. Australia, being a country, is also a continent. In land area it’s the sixth largest for a country and the smallest continent.Australia is a very dry, thinly populated country. Very few coastal areas receive enough rainfall to support a large population. The largest group of Australian people live in two large cities, Sydney and Melbourne. The vast interior is mainly desert or grassland and there are very few settlements. As a whole, the country has a density of six people per square mile.The down under is famous for vast wide-open spaces, bright sunshine, bikini-clad beauties, enormous numbers of sheep and cattle, and unusual wildlife. Kangaroos, Koalas, platypuses, and wombats are a few of the erotic animals that live here.Australia was originally settled by Great Britain as a prison colony in the late 1700’s, so now most Australian people are of British ancestry. The immigrants brought all the customs too, such as driving on the left side of the road and their favorite warm drink, tea. They also speak English as the official language with their own Australian terms.CLIMATEThe northern third of the Australian continent lies in the tropics and is warm or hot year round. The rest of the country lies south of the tropics and has warm summers and mild cool winters. The rainfall is seasonal in Australia.In the wet season, heavy downpours and violent storms cause floods. But the droughts that plague the nation are far more serious than any flood. Just about every section of Australia has a drought in the dry season. These droughts cause severe water shortages and cause the need for dramatic conservation laws as well as droughts there is also brush fires.Rivers in Australia are one of its most vital resources. They supply the cities and towns with the much-needed water. They also supply the farms with irrigation water. Though the rivers are dry most of the year, dams and reservoirs keep water during the dry season.Australia can basically be split into 3 parts-the eastern highlands, central lowlands, and the western plateau.The highlands consist mainly of high plateaus and broken-in places by hills, low mountain ridges, and gorges. Grasses or forest cover most of the plate... ... all of their traditions but were excluded from society until 1967 when the Australian Constitution was changed so Aborigines got to vote and to have service benefits.GREAT BARRIER REEFAlong the northwest coast of Australia lies the Great Barrier Reef, the largest group of reefs in the world. This chain consists of about 2,500 reefs. In all, the reefs are also many small islands that extend for about 1,200 miles. It lies around 10 to 100 miles from the Australian coasts.Coral reefs are limestone formations that lie under the sea or just above the surface. The Great Barrier Reef is made up of a coral of dead hardened animals call polyps, which are attached to the reef. The diameter of the polyps is about 1 to 12 inches. The polyps are extremely colorful, just as all the sea animals that live there.The Great Barrier Reef supports about 400 species of polyps, about 1,500 species of fish and several kinds of birds. Giant clams, sea turtles, and crabs also live in the reef. The warm waters around the reef and the sheer beauty attract swimmers, skin divers and tourists from all over the world.Australia is truly a magnificently beautiful place with many different climates and cultures.

Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender Essay

Female protagonists are challenged to break the stereotype that women are weak, and to instead illustrate that women are just as capable as men in most if not all things. Marele Day’s, â€Å"The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender† is a text in which the protagonist, Claudia Valentine subverts and challenges the male centred conventions of the crime fiction genre. She does this by being strong, who not only does the work of men, but also manages to thrive in a harsh setting where women are not ordinarily found. Understanding her character, and the way that shapes her work, and where she lives is key to fully appreciating how Days’ text subverts the crime fiction genre. One of the significant ideas, explored by Marele Day is the issue of Gender. In the opening of the novel, Marele Day uses description to invite the readers to a whirlpool of â€Å"ash trays†, empty bottles of â€Å"Jack Daniel†, a nameless blond in the bed, a hangover and a messy flat s urrounded with scattered clothes. The use of imagery always the reader to understand this novel, is based upon a male protagonist. The supposedly male protagonist wakes up the nameless blond before going to a funeral. He refers the nameless blond as â€Å"him†. The readers are in a state of conundrum to whether the protagonist is gay or Day has subverted the main character as a female. It is then on page three, Day reveals the narrator’s name – Claudia Valentine – and on page five that the audience learns her profession. â€Å"People rarely come to private investigator with good news†, Claudia uses her familiar sardonic style to depict that the readers have been tricked the whole time on the issue of gender expectation. Through the opening novel, the readers understand how Day uses gender inversion and parody to combat the crime fiction conventions. The readers are able to understand that Claudia is a stereotypical hardboiled detective who fits the conventions of a typical Private Investigator. This is demonstrated when she visits the apartment of the deceased Mark Bannister in Bondi. Claudia belongs to a tough world of fighting crime as she is tough and cynical and possess a great deal of physical strength. This portrayed in the quote, â€Å"My legs are my best weapon. I don’t carry a gun like some of my cowboy colleagues†. Parody and symbolism are used in the term â€Å"legs† because in the traditional crime fiction genre, the female legs are symbolic of attraction and love. Claudia also teases and adds sarcastic humour when she makes fun of the  macho men. In addition, Claudia is a post – feminine version of the traditional Private investigator, who uses her intellectual power rather than her physique, â€Å"There’s more than one way of skinning a cat†. Here, she uses idiom and typical terse, and witty, colloquial language style to demonstrate women unlike men possess skills other than brute strength and weapons. The readers understand that Claudia avoids direct clashes and harsh violent methods when locating and fighting her enemies. She only expresses her tough, heroic and hardboiled character by using karate as a means of self-defence. Through these extracts, Claudia challenges and subverts these gender stereotypes and Claudia most certainly foliaged into a feminist hero whilst turning the traditional detective genre on its head. Furthermore, the setting of Sydney is profoundly explored when she steps into the corrupt environment of the video arcade. This is a typical crime fiction scene as merchandise are exchanged with a pay off. Day uses double entendre in the phrase â€Å"waiting for the developers to give them a new lease of life, or maybe just a new lease†. This emphasises the city as treacherous, where corruption is an underlying motif in the novel. The ‘stench’ of Sydney forces Claudia to equip many qualities and standards that showcases her hard-boiled detective nature. This is illustrated when Claudia ‘saunters’ over to the Maori (doorman), which implies that she is a confident, nonchalant, typical PI. Her communication with the Maori is terse and witty: the use of play on words â€Å"smack† and â€Å"score†, reveals Claudia’s usage of pun and humour. The readers grasp the notion that these qualities are associated with typical PI which adds further entertainment, humour to the story and appeal to Claudia’s character as she tries to understand the city of Sydney.Marele Day displays finer points of Sydney as a corrupted and powerful dwelling. After she is kicked out by the Maori, she goes to the hamburger shop. While eating, she mentions two opposite poles of Sydney; Macquarie St and George St. She personifies George St as â€Å"brash†, â€Å"bright lights† and â€Å"winking†. With the use of personification, Day was able to create a lively vivid character. The readers visualise the modern city with its lavish lifestyle, beaches and harbour. In contrast, she reflects upon the corrupt and colonial history of Macquarie’s Rum Corps which in 1980s was represented as a corrupt ‘old boy’s network’. This is where Sydney was  depicted as â€Å"crime capital† of the South Pacific. Claudia is dismayed that Sydney is changing â€Å"My city from the city she grew up with into a corrupted empire whose morals are obsolete and filthy. Finally, the use of first person voice in this arcade crime scene, creates suspense and action. This is portrayed when Claudia paces to the container terminal where she describes it as â€Å"strong, menacing and all seeing†. Claudia uses descriptive language and she puts a clear image into the readers mind about the double edged urban setting as dark and sleazy. To add to the misty and daunting surrounding, fighting and action takes place. Claudia, after observing what happened in the container terminal was eager to breakout:, â€Å"For the moment I had a more pressing task: to get back to the car without being†¦.Oh Christ!† (p.72). First person narrative emphasises the readers concern for Claudia’s safety and her vulnerability. Day employed many action verbs in one sentence; â€Å"poised†, â€Å"kick†, â€Å"rolled†, â€Å"swung† and â€Å"swept†. Day, crammed all these action verbs into one long sentence to inform the readers about the rapid, dangerous events unfolding in the crime scene as well as to create an atmosphere mingled with tense and anticipation. Claudia’s quick thinking and wise action enabled her to survive in the sleazy, dangerous underworld. In conclusion, Marele Day portrayed a hard-boiled detective character by exploring two key ideas: Gender and the setting of Sydney. Through these ideas, Claudia Valentine subverted the crime fiction genre by breaking the stereotype that females are weak beings. Likewise, Claudia Valentine was able to thrive in a corrupt and harsh setting of Sydney, illustrating the notion that female women are just as capable as men in most if not all aspects.

Comparing How Sherwood Anderson, William Faulkner, And Or...

Javian Keys Instructor s Name Course Title 3 August 2017 Compare And Contrast How Sherwood Anderson, William Faulkner, And/or Willa Cather Portray Aspects Of Small-Town Life. Name Class Institution Date of submission Comparing and contrasting how Sherwood Anderson and William Faulkner, portray aspects of small-town life Introduction Sherwood Anderson as written much on people’s misery in most of his stories and utilized them ironically when ending the story. His life experiences influenced the methodology he utilized to write them. The stories related to difficult times that he went through while growing up. He was born in small Ohio village named Camden, and he underwent through the impoverished circumstances (Anderson, 65). The title†¦show more content†¦All of the characters have undergone through difficult times during their lives, and hence, they attribute the failures to living in small town. As seen in the novel, the characters attribute to the small town, and its way of life hints the idea that everything is possible and there are opportunities with peoples life bettering (Volpe, 93). Every character stresses that their failures are attributed to the city life and hence, leaving the city would make their lives and dreams successful and would not be a disappointment as they are now in Win esburg, Ohio; the small town. The story background is same to that of Clyde town which is Anderson’s hometown of since most stories are taken from Anderson s childhood memories although he notes that he liked growing in Clyde because the town prepared him feeling lonely. Natives in town were not traveling, but living lives each day with the same schedule. Hence, he grew around the wisdom of desperation. The story created certain characters to the specific individual than the scrupulous person (Chase, 78). He shows characters who have failed in life, lost their loved ones, hopelessly lost and oversexed youth. The main aspect of the story is how the author is talented to disclose the undisclosed secrets of the small town of showing the authenticity reality of nonentity being what it looks to be. The reader can have a view that town people live happily when they listen to setting and the real beauty