Well, abuse is the easiest way to establish underdoggieness. Kapag nilapastangan na ang katauhan mo, aba... ganti na yan! The funny thing is, Pinoy kontrabidas aren't even that mean - the worst that they do is 1) insult your family, 2) insult your economic status, and 3) backstab you to get in the good graces of somebody important/wealthy. Then cue the looooong reaction shots.
Hahahah, that list of kontrabida behavior is so on the money.
Underdoggieness = sympathetic protagonist bothers me because it looks symptomatic of a larger problem at work. I mean, I don't mean to be Captain Sweeping Cultural Generalizations, but a lot of 'social realist' film, political speechwriting or NGO campaigning is built around addressing the audience as the underdog.
The underlying message is that the masa's (and I don't mean the bakya or the plebes, but just the populace at large) problems lie entirely in their lack of representation, that we are all disenfranchised and this disenfranchisement is a means to validate our grips about life in general.
Hurrah! You might also want to consider how Bench(TM)ed this Captain Barbell has become and how Mars Ravelo's works are now being indirectly (disen)franchised.
I cannot think of a response to this hirit of yours, but now I am screaming in my head because images of the Richard Gutierrez softcore nudity Bench photoshoot are echoing in my head. Ayayay!
I actually like those Superbench thingies from a design point of view.
Too bad it was such a short-lived and callow gimmick, which was disappointing because I was under the impression they were trying to use it as a 'brand initiative', a possibly ill-drawn conclusion I made from the fact that the Market Market branch was named Superbench! (rather than just plain Bench) at first.
I've never believed that staying faithful to the source material is actually a good thing for the Mars Ravelo characters. In fact, my problem with the American superhero movies is that they are TOO faithful to their source material to the point of being silly.
The REAL problem of Mars Ravelo's Captain Barbell is that its just completely hollow in terms of character depth and whether it is original or not isn't even a concern anymore, though that is something I may address in my follow-up. :)
In fact, I think Filipino TV and movies would do well to learn to rip off the international media (American or not). I say rape and pillage the foreign culture... at least as soon as they can inject some interiority into their stuff.
At least it's not another movie in which the producers are trying to be clever by naming it with a pun on 'Mano Po', which to me is far worse than an actual Mano Po sequel.
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Underdoggieness = sympathetic protagonist bothers me because it looks symptomatic of a larger problem at work. I mean, I don't mean to be Captain Sweeping Cultural Generalizations, but a lot of 'social realist' film, political speechwriting or NGO campaigning is built around addressing the audience as the underdog.
The underlying message is that the masa's (and I don't mean the bakya or the plebes, but just the populace at large) problems lie entirely in their lack of representation, that we are all disenfranchised and this disenfranchisement is a means to validate our grips about life in general.
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Too bad it was such a short-lived and callow gimmick, which was disappointing because I was under the impression they were trying to use it as a 'brand initiative', a possibly ill-drawn conclusion I made from the fact that the Market Market branch was named Superbench! (rather than just plain Bench) at first.
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The REAL problem of Mars Ravelo's Captain Barbell is that its just completely hollow in terms of character depth and whether it is original or not isn't even a concern anymore, though that is something I may address in my follow-up. :)
In fact, I think Filipino TV and movies would do well to learn to rip off the international media (American or not). I say rape and pillage the foreign culture... at least as soon as they can inject some interiority into their stuff.
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This is Bimbo, yes?
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