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Filipino
soaps strike gold
against
the dying silver screen |
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WHEN
I was a kid, my mother used to gather all seven
of us siblings in front of our huge black and white
TV (which came with its own cabinet made of fine,
dark wood, and still sits in our home in Paete,
Laguna)
to watch Peping experience the harshness of life
in one of the first soap operas on Philippine television,
Gulong ng Palad. Later, we watched the young Janice
de Belen battle for her father’s trust and
love over her stepmother Jo, stepsister Wilma,
and step-grandmother Senyora Agueda in Flor de
Luna.
We shared their pain, losses and triumphs as we
ourselves faced our own in real life. I never thought
I would
see Flor de Luna grace the black box twice in my
lifetime.
Various Soaps, Remakes and Trends
Today, the evening viewing of the Filipino public
would not be complete without a daily dose of their
favorite sinusubaybayan na soap opera while having
their
dinner. In fact, prime time consists of back-to-back-to-back-to-back soap opera
programming. The two major networks – ABS-CBN and GMA – compete
to be first in the hearts and minds of Filipino viewers worldwide by capitalizing
on their respective prime time soap opera line-up to win the ratings game. |
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Indeed,
the competition between the two networks has grown
so intense, traditional soap operas have been injected
with elements of fantasy, magic and humor. The
respective networks’ taglines seem to sum up the Filipino’s
penchant for the soap opera: Kapamilya for ABS-CBN,
and Kapuso for GMA. Both terms try to convince
the Filipino public that they are not merely
viewers
watching the plight and struggles of the protagonists
in these shows, but that they are actually a part
of these shows because they capture and give voice
to their own lives. Thus, the viewing public is
expected to relate to and feel every twist and
turn in the
lives of the characters.
But of late, soap operas have changed. The new trends are meant to infuse fresh
appeal to an old form marked by the usual tear jerking drama. In fact, new terms
have been coined for the new varieties: fantaserye for fantasy series and dramedy
for drama-comedy. Marina, Mulawin, Encantadia, Panday, Darna, Captain Barbell
and Majika are examples of the new breed of soaps. These shows contain elements
of the traditional soap like underdog heroes and heroines, with the added spice
and texture of magical worlds.
Shows like Hirayamanawari and Wansapanataym did contain elements of fantasy and
magic but these primarily targeted children. The new soaps still hoped to target
a mass audience.
So when did things change? When did the Filipino soap opera penchant for realism
or hyper-realism change (on the grounds that the viewers wanted a depiction of
their own lives but with characters a lot more api in order to make the audience
feel better about their own downtrodden lives)? When did we turn away from prolonged
storylines, the exaggerated misery of our protagonists, and the requisite happy
ending in spite of an unbelievable series of unfortunate events?
The fantastic and the magical in soaps were first seen in the Koreanovela, or
Korean soap operas. With four changing seasons, Cinderella love stories and glossy
production values, Koreanovelas were so different in texture from the Filipino
soap or the Mexican telenovelas that once held sway.
Koreanovelas bombarded local primetime TV with the Endless
Love series, Jewel in the Palace, Full House, Princess
Lulu and Attic Cat. They offered Filipino
viewers their alternate reality and brimmed with color and fresh characters.
They so enthralled local audiences, homegrown soaps were pushed to the side.
With the fast-paced storylines introduced earlier by the Mexican soaps, Koreanovelas
gave local producers an array of templates from which to pattern the next wave
of Pinoy soaps. And local productions have done their job so well, they’ve
wrested back the public’s attention from their imported counterparts
even if there are still a good number of Koreanovelas on air.
ABS-CBN’s Super Inggo featured a new breed of young superheroes fighting
the popular heroes of the 80’s, while GMA’s Atlantika took the age-old
battle between good and evil underwater. Then, there’s the forthcoming
Rounin from ABS-CBN, starring Diether Ocampo and GMA’s Super Twins, now
currently airing.
But hedging their bets, both stations have kept one foot
firmly planted in the familiar. The success of the revival
of Gulong ng Palad, and the transition of
Bituing Walang Ningning and Bakekang from the silver screen to a slightly more
expanded version for the boob tube, proved that there’s still life in
the old formula.
Thus, ABS-CBN’s Sinerserye Presents, a revival of
Tagalog movie classics remade for the small screen, offered
Palimos
ng Pag-ibig, the babymaker tale
that starred Vilma Santos, Edu Manzano and Dina Bonnevie. Of course, GMA has
its own adaptation in the works for its Sine Novela series, the first being
the 1982 Vilma Santos-Christopher de Leon drama, Sinasamba
Kita with Sheryl Cruz
in the Vilma Santos role.
But for real roots soap, there’s ABS-CBN’s
revival of my childhood favorite, Flor de Luna renamed
Maria Flor
de Luna.
Both stations seem to be capitalizing on the appeal of the familiar, capturing
an older audience while casting the hottest new stars to appeal to a younger
audience. |
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Of
Mainstream Filmmaking, DVD Piracy and the Indie
Industry
The flourishing of the television soap opera also reflects the sad state of the
local film industry. Said to be dying many years now, local movies have been
hounded by piracy, with bootleg DVDs of the latest movies sold everywhere for
as low as P40.
It doesn’t help that mainstream moviemaking has remained
not only unchanged but un-reimagined. The public has deemed
it unnecessary to visit the theatrer
just to see a movie in widescreen when there are also widescreen TVs and state-of-the-art
speakers available in Recto and Cubao at incredulously low prices.
Whereas films are produced on the basis of their content
elsewhere, in the Philippines the feasibility of mainstream
films seems to be gauged solely on profitability – thus
the increasingly scanty parade of movies starring flavor-of-the-month actors
and actresses making desperate hay before they lose their shine.
And if you can get pirate 6-in-1 DVD collections sold by cigarette vendors, producers
are understandably hesitant to gamble on a new movie they may never recoup their
investments on.
It is only during the annual Metro Manila Film Festival
that producers make a killing, first because no Hollywood
films are shown, and second, because selling
pirated DVDs of the MMFF entries are strictly prohibited during its run (hmm,
what’s wrong with this picture?), and third, because the movies are shown
during the Christmas holidays, there’s a little extra cash for whole
families to treat themselves to a big screen movie. A week after the MMFF though,
the
manangs and manongs are sure to have all featival the entries packaged in a
single DVD.
In the face of these obstacles, our filmmakers have valiantly soldiered on. Independently
produced movies or indie films that break away from the commercial imperatives
of mainstream cinema, have flourished of late.
As an expression of the moviemaker’s personal vision,
indie films are produced on tight budgets, with token fees
paid to actors and resourcefulness answering
the need to contain production costs. Box office is incidental to the endeavor.
Keeping the integrity of the work seems to be the point. But indie filmmakers
have turned to other territories (foreign markets and award-giving film festivals
) to make up for the limited interest back home. |
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The
Future of Philippine Soap Opera
But back to our revitalized soaps. Thanks
to its new-found strength, veteran actors like Eddie Garcia,
Christopher de Leon, Maricel Soriano, Albert Martinez, Dina
Bonnevie, Robin Padilla and Nora Aunor have migrated to the
smaller screen. The line between filmmaking and soap-making
no longer exists.
The presence of these esteemed actors on TV has been
a boon to the soaps and boosted their own careers. They’ve
also given depth to the shows populated mostly by hot
new greenhorns.
So long live the small screen. Rethought, revamped and revitalized, TV soaps
have given new life to an old genre, a new venue for old stars, and meaty new
vehicles for upstarts to prove themselves.
In the near future, we might even see industry pillars like Sharon Cuneta and
Vilma Santos starring in their own teleseryes.
Until then, we will be content with rising stars like Angel Locsin, John Lloyd
Cruz and Anne Curtis, and remakes like Flor de Luna while anticipating the
return of Ula and Ana Luna. Wali Ching is a television scriptwriter.
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| by Wili
Ching |
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