History of Philippine Cinema Essay

A. The Golden Age of Philippine Films The 1950s were considered a time of â€Å"rebuilding and growth†. But remnants from the preceding decade of the 40s remained in the form of war-induced reality. This is seen is Lamberto Avellana’s Anak Dalita (The Ruins, 1956), the stark tragedy of post-WWII survival set in Intramuros. The decade saw frenetic activity in the film industry which yielded what might be regarded as the first harvest of distinguished films by Filipinos. Two studios before the war, namely Sampaguita Pictures and LVN, reestablished themselves. Bouncing back quickly, they churned out movie after movie to make up for the drought of films caused by the war. Another studio, Premiere Productions, was earning a reputation for â€Å"the vigor and the freshness† of some of its films. This was the period of the â€Å"Big Four† when the industry operated under the studio system. Each studio (Sampaguita, LVN, Premiere and Lebran) had its own set of stars, technicians and directors, all lined up for a sequence of movie after movie every year therefore maintaining a monopoly of the industry. The system assured moviegoers a variety of fare for a whole year and allowed stars and directors to improve their skills. Read more: Essay About Philippine Cinema Critics now clarify that the 50s may be considered one â€Å"Golden Age† for the Filipino film not because film content had improved but because cinematic techniques achieved an artistic breakthrough in that decade. This new consciousness was further developed by local and international awards that were established in that decade. Awards were first instituted that decade. First, the Manila Times Publishing Co. set up the Maria Clara Awards. In 1952, the FAMAS (Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences) Awards were handed out. More so, Filipino films started garnering awards in international film festivals. One such honor was bestowed on Manuel Conde’s immortal movie Genghis Khan (1952) when it was accepted for screening at the Venice Film Festival. Other honors include awards for movies like Gerardo de Leon’s Ifugao (1954) and Lamberto Avellana’s Anak Dalita. This established the Philippines as a major filmmaking center in Asia. These awards also had the effect of finally garnering for Filipino films their share of attention from fellow Filipinos. B. The Decline of Philippine Film If the 1950s were an ubiquitous period for film, the decade that followed was a time of decline. There was â€Å"rampant commercialism and artistic decline† as portrayed on the following: In the 1960s, the foreign films that were raking in a lot of income were action pictures sensationalizing violence and soft core sex films hitherto banned from Philippine theater screens, Italian â€Å"spaghetti† Westerns, American James Bond-type thrillers, Chinese/Japanese martial arts films and European sex melodramas. To†¦get an audience to watch their films, (the independent) producers had to take their cue from these imports. The result is a plethora of films†¦giving rise to such curiosities as Filipino samurai and kung fu masters, Filipino James Bonds and†¦the bomba queen. The studio systems came under siege from the growing labor movement which resulted in labor-management conflicts. The first studio to close was Lebran followed by Premiere Productions. Next came Sampaguita and LVN. The â€Å"Big Four† studios were replaced by new and independent producers who soon made up the rest of the film industry. The decade also saw the emergence of the youth revolt best represented by the Beatles and the rock and roll revolution. They embodied the wanting to rebel against adult institutions and establishments. Certain new film genres were conceived just to cater to this â€Å"revolt†. Fan movies such as those of the â€Å"Tita and Pancho† and â€Å"Nida and Nestor† romantic pairings of the 50s were the forerunners of a new kind of revolution – the â€Å"teen love team† revolution. â€Å"Nora Aunor and Vilma Santos, along with Tirso Cruz III and Eddie Mortiz as their respective screen sweethearts, were callow performers during the heyday of fan movies. Young audiences made up of vociferous partisans for ‘Guy and Pip’ or ‘Vi and Bot’ were in search of role models who could take the place of elders the youth revolt had taught them to distrust† Another kind of youth revolt came in the form of the child star. Roberta (1951) of Sampaguita Pictures was the phenomenal example of the drawing power of movies featuring [these] child stars. In the 60s this seemed to imply rejection of â€Å"adult corruption† as exposed by childhood innocence. The film genres of the time were direct reflections of the â€Å"disaffection with the status quo† at the time. Action movies with Pinoy cowboys and secret agents as the movers of the plots depicted a â€Å"society ravaged by criminality and corruption† . Movies being make-believe worlds at times connect that make-believe with the social realities. These movies suggest a search for heroes capable of delivering us from hated bureaucrats, warlords and villains of our society. The action films of the 1960s brought into the industry â€Å" a new savage rhythm that made earlier action films seem polite and stage managed.† The pacing of the new action films were fast as the narrative had been pared down to the very minimum of dialogues. And in keeping up with the Hollywood tradition, the action sequences were even more realistic. Another film genre that is perhaps also a embodiment of the revolt of the time is the bomba genre. Probably the most notorious of all, this genre appeared at the close of the decade. Interestingly, it came at a time when social movement became acknowledged beyond the walls of campuses and of Manila. In rallies, demonstrations and other forms of mass action, the national democratic movement presented its analysis of the problems of Philippine society and posited that only a social revolution could bring genuine change. The bomba film was a direct challenge to the conventions and the norms of conduct of status quo, a rejection of authority of institutions in regulating the â€Å"life urge† seen as natural and its free expression â€Å"honest† and â€Å"therapeutic† Looking beyond the obvious reasons as to the emergence of the bomba film, both as being an exploitative product of a profit-driven industry and as being a â€Å"stimulant†, it can be analyzed as actually being a â€Å"subversive genre†, playing up to the establishment while rebelling and undermining support for the institutions. Even in the period of decline, genius has a way of showing itself. Several Philippine films that stood out in this particular era were Gerardo de Leon’s Noli Me Tangere (Touch me Not, 1961) and El Filibusterismo (Subversion, 1962). Two other films by Gerardo de Leon made during this period is worth mentioning – Huwag mo Akong Limutin (Never Forget Me , 1960) and Kadenang Putik (Chain of Mud, 1960), both tales of marital infidelity but told with insight and cinematic import. C. Films during Martial Law In the 60s, the youth clamored for change in the status quo. Being in power, Ferdinand Marcos answered the youth by placing the nation under martial rule. In 1972, he sought to contain growing unrest which the youth revolt of the 1960s fueled. Claiming that all he wanted was to â€Å"save the Republic†, Marcos retooled the liberal-democratic political system into an authoritarian government which concentrated power in a dictators hand. To win the population over, mass media was enlisted in the service of the New Society. Film was a key component of a society wracked with contradictions within the ruling class and between the sociopolitical elite and the masses. In terms of comparisons, the Old Society (or the years before Martial Law) became the leading symbol for all things bad and repugnant. The New Society was supposed to represent everything good – a new sense of discipline, uprightness and love of country Accordingly, the ideology of the New Society was incorporated into local films. †¦Marcos and his technocrats sought to regulate filmmaking. The first step was to control the content of movies by insisting on some form of censorship. One of the first rules promulgated by the Board of Censors for Motion Pictures (BCMP) stipulated submission of a finished script prior to the start of filming. When the annual film festival was revived, the censors blatantly insisted that the â€Å"ideology† of the New Society be incorporated into the content of the entries. The government tried to control the film industry while keeping it in â€Å"good humor† – necessary so that the government could continue using film as propagandistic vehicles. So despite the censors, the exploitation of sex and violence onscreen continued to assert itself. Under martial law, action films depicting shoot outs and sadistic fistfights ( which were as violent as ever) usually append to the ending an epilogue claiming that the social realities depicted had been wiped out with the establishment of the New Society. The notorious genre of sex or bomba films that appeared in the preceding decade were now tagged as â€Å"bold† films, simply meaning that a lot more care was given to the costumes. Martial Law declared in 1972 clamped down on bomba films as well as political movies critical of the Marcos administration. But the audience’s taste for sex and nudity had already been whetted. Producers cashed in on the new type of bomba, which showed female stars swimming in their underwear, taking a bath in their camison (chemise), or being chased and raped in a river, sea, or under a waterfall. Such movies were called the wet look†¦

Phoenix Jackson and the Modern Day Woman Essay

A phoenix is a mythical bird of great beauty fabled to live 500 or 600 years in the Arabian wilderness, to burn itself on a funeral pyre, and to rise from its ashes in the freshness of youth and live through another cycle of years: often an emblem of immortality or of reborn idealism or hope; a person or thing of peerless beauty or excellence; a person or thing that has become renewed or restored after suffering calamity or apparent annihilation; A person or thing regarded as uniquely remarkable in some respect. Eudora Welty, in her character Phoenix Jackson, creates humanity’s counterpart of the phoenix firebird from oriental tradition (Wampler 4 June 2013). Although Phoenix Jackson can not lay claim to the immortality manifested by consuming fiery rebirths (as does the mythological bird), she possesses a fiery spirit and is consumed by love for her grandchild (Wampler 4 June 2013). Phoenix Jackson is wise, confident, fearless, tenacious, courageous, and has a clear goal in mind, which is to get her grandson’s medicine despite any obstacle that she may face. Phoenix Jackson can be summed up in one word which is noble. All women should have the characteristics of Phoenix Jackson but some of those characteristics are being lost with the evolving society. Phoenix Jackson is an elderly African American woman walking into town on a cold winter morning to get medicine for her sick grandson. One aspect of Phoenix’s likeness to the mythical phoenix is their journey before they die. The Natchez Trace is an old highway that runs from Nashville, Tennessee, to Natchez, Mississippi (Natchez Trace 27 May 2013). By 1800 it was the busiest in the American South (Natchez Trace 27 May 2013). Phoenix lives â€Å"a way back off the Old Natchez Trace,† which indicates that the journey along with the fact that it is December is difficult for her (A Worn Path n. d. ). The obstacles she faces shows how deeply she cares and sacrifices for her grandson. At the end, when we are told she â€Å"began on the stairs, going down† it indicates that she is faced with a return journey as difficult as the one she has just completed (A Worn Path n. d. ). She is also between 80-100 years old which further magnifies the intensity of her journey and the tragic situation of her grandson’s dependence on her. Like many people who have lived to be Ms. Jackson’s age, they gain strength from the years of trials and experiences in their lives. Ms. Jackson was unschooled, black and a woman who grew up during the depression and slavery years. This along with her many years on earth have made her cautious, strong willed and driven. Phoenix’s appearance is yet another aspect of her likeness to the phoenix. At the beginning of the story, Phoenix is described as having a â€Å"golden color [running] underneath [her skin], and the two knobs of her cheeks were illuminated by a yellow burning under the dark† (A Worn Path n. d. ). Welty further describes Phoenix’s hair as being tied back in a â€Å"red rag† (A Worn Path n. d. ). These images cannot be taken to be a mere coincident as the phoenix from the ancient Egyptian legend is described as having a beautiful red and gold plumage. Furthermore, Phoenix’s eyes are said to be â€Å"blue with age† (A Worn Path n. d. ). This description is the first of many that give an indication of her age. The phoenix is a bird that matures to an extreme age before it bursts into flame and is reborn from the ashes. Welty also employs some rather unusual imagery, in which she describes Phoenix’s skin as having â€Å"a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her forehead† (A Worn Path n. d. ). All of these ties back in with the age the phoenix grows to. During the 1940’s women’s roles and expectations in society were changing rapidly. Previously women had very little say in society and were stereotyped to stay home, have babies, to be a good home maker and wife. Modern day women have it so easy compared to women in the 1940’s. Women today have many career opportunities that were not open to women of the 20th century. In fact, the great majority of women were illiterate because it was assumed that they didn’t need to read if all the work they would do in life was raise children. Women of the 21st century have access to dozens of labor-saving devices that allow them to do housework in a fraction of the time that it took women in the olden days (Women’s Rights). Women today use birth control to plan the size of their families. Centuries ago, it was not unheard of for women to have 11 children, and childbirth was the single highest cause of death for women in their 20s and 30 (Women’s Rights). Women in these times live under a justice system that tries to stop domestic violence, whereas women in 1808 were the property of their husbands, who could do whatever they liked without penalty (Women’s Rights). No policeman or judge would ever think a man had done wrong if he ‘had’ to beat his wife to get her to behave. Modern women control their own finances. Women two hundred years ago were unable to sign for a bank loan without a male consenting to co-sign (Women’s Rights). They were judged incapable of owning property, even to the point that any property that they brought with them into their marriage or inherited from their father was immediately transferred to the safe keeping of their husbands (Women’s Rights). If he then turned it into cash and invested it in a business deal that went bad, the wife had no recourse to recover the money. Women were only given the vote in 1920 (Women’s Rights). Before that, they had no say whatsoever in the laws that were passed that affected their lives. In a few ways, modern women have a harder time than women of yesteryear. Today some women move so far from home that their social and family networks break down. It appears that women living in the 21st century have it vastly easier than women of the 1940’s, although not in every case. Phoenix Jackson was a very rare woman during her time and she is unlike the modern women of today. Not many women today or even back then would do what she did for her grandson. Most women are focused on their careers and would send their husband or nanny to get the medicine for their child. Phoenix Jackson sacrificed a lot because of the love she had for her grandson. Phoenix Jackson’s courage and tenacity are illustrated repeatedly as she faces crisis after crisis during her journey –a frozen day in December, animals in the thicket, hills, thorny bushes, creeks, barbed-wire fences, a com field maze, superstition, a hunter’s gun, a tower of steps, her own forgetfulness, and failing physical health–all obstacles to be overcome (Wampler 4 June 2013). And that’s what Phoenix Jackson does (Wampler 4 June 2013).

Markets, marketing and strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Markets, marketing and strategy - Essay Example A PEST analysis is an analysis of the external macro-environment that affects all firms. P.E.S.T. is an acronym for the Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors of the external macro-environment. Such external factors usually are beyond the firm’s control and sometimes present themselves as threats. Speaking about the political factors of the merger to take place, the principal ones to consider are trade regulations and tariffs, as BHI performs business in the three different locations all over the world, as well as such merger may be taken as the striving of both company for creating a monopoly. Taxation should also be taken into account; however, as BHI itself used to successfully run all three businesses, and the European Commission has approved on the merger, these factors are not threats here, though should be kept under control. Economic factors are also present here, as the merger presupposes intervention into business in other countries; however, as far as the businesses perform successfully, there is no threat of getting into worse infrastructure quality or facing difficulties with employment; Reckitt Benckniser has to closely consider the skill level of workforce, especially in business unit operated by BHI in Thailand, which may appear an opportunity for quality improvements. Social and technological factors here don’t represent any significance, as the businesses have been performing for a certain period of time and have both acquired stable position on the market.

Advertising Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Advertising Research - Essay Example The different academic disciplines help in understanding these differences among the consumers. In this paper, three academic disciplines and their role in advertising research would be discussed. Psychology, perhaps, has the greatest role to play in Advertising research. The main purpose of advertising is to attract the customer and increase awareness of the brand through advertisement. In order to attract the customer, advertisers needs to understand the minds of the consumer. Consumers, nowadays, have placed a barrier around themselves and they have a cynic attitude towards advertising (Nyilasy and Reid, 2009). However, this has not changed anything. Advertisers still use advertising to reach and the customer. Many of the ads that consumers are exposed to make no impact on the product sales but sometimes an ad connects with the consumers and product sales increase directly as a result of the advertisement. An advertising connects with the consumer when it understands the consumer. Thus, understanding the consumer is vital. Psychology helps in understanding the consumer and it plays the role of effectively targeting the right consumer. Often research on a certain topic helps understand the consumer better and this then helps in improving advertising in the future. For instance, an apparel store can conduct a research on the impact on sales after using celebrity branding. This would help the advertisers to understand whether celebrity branding does impact the sales of the product. If it does, the store can use celebrity branding often to improve their sales. Thus psychology helps in advertising research by answering the simple question: Why do consumers behave the way they do? This is then used to make advertising more effective (Reijmersdal, Neijens, and Smit, 2009). Sociology is the study of human behavior within the society. Humans like to consider themselves as part of a group or a community and in order to understand a person, it is important to

European Debt Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

European Debt Crisis - Essay Example According to Investopedia (2012) the crisis led to the reduction of the confidence of the market for European businesses and economies. In contrast, according to the version of Constancio (2012), the European sovereign debt crisis emerged only in spring 2010. The European sovereign debt crisis is the climax of the banking crisis resulting from the demise of the Lehman Brothers and the resulting bailout extended by governments to their banking system (Constancio 2012). In other words, it is held that the European debt crisis started out as a financial crisis from the Lehman Brothers. In the climax of the crisis, government was forced to support the financial system, creating large debts for government leading to the sovereign debt crisis. II. Impact on bond and other markets (equity, derivatives, commodities, forex, gold, etc.) Constancio (2012) has a good discussion on the emergence of European sovereign debt crisis and its impact on the financial markets. We use his interpretation. After the failure of the Lehman Brothers, the ECB or the European Central Bank implemented a policy of strong credit support and measures to boost liquidity way above than what could be achieved by a mere interest rate policy. The European government implemented measures to increase the maturities for debts, more access to foreign currencies and a program of bond purchases. The European sovereign debt crisis became severe with Moody’s downgrade of Portugal on 5 July 2011 (Constancio 2012). The situation plus the risk of a Greek default triggered a sell-off of Italian and Spanish assets. The initial effects of a sovereign debt crisis are for bond yields to go up. However, investors find it appropriate to reduce their exposures to government bonds in view of risks that governments may not be able to pay for their debts. Simultaneously, markets can expect that the foreign exchange markets can be affected substantially as demand for currencies affected by the crisis can significa ntly go down, proportional to the perception of the extent that the would be affected by the sovereign debt crisis. The effect on the foreign exchange market is important as the effects reverberate on the equities, commodities and derivatives markets. Expected depreciation of currencies affected by the sovereign debt crisis can lead to falling equities, commodity prices and derivative prices. However, as markets are interrelated, or as companies in one country may have investments in companies directly affected by the sovereign debt crisis, all of the financial markets are affected. The more correlated the companies in a region, for example, the more the rest of the markets are affected by the sovereign debt crisis in one country and soon, especially as governments respond to the crisis with bailouts and enhanced liquidity, the correlated governments and economies are affected by the sovereign debt crisis and not only the countries that were initially affected by the sovereign debt crisis. In contrast, to the extent that gold is seen as a store value of value, gold prices can pick up and enjoy a better market. When the financial markets are in doldrums and gold is seen as the better store of value than the bonds, equities, commodi

Surrealist Elements in Contemporary Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Surrealist Elements in Contemporary Art - Essay Example According to the essay "Surrealist Elements in Contemporary Art" findings, Burgert’s piece reveals the aftermath of an urban incident, the multiple incidents within the painting creating a narrative that tells a multitude of stories, similar to the Bosch piece, but creates the colorful story that is similar to Nash. The nature of the event is not realistic, which places the narrative and the depicted events. The piece by Nash was created at the beginning of the Surrealism movement, his work depicting fairly realistic events in an unrealistic manner. The term Surrealism was coined by Guillaume Apollinaire in 1917, placing the work of Nash occurring within that next year. However, much of Burgert’ pieces can be seen to be related to other works of the Surrealist period. The work of Burgert â€Å"seems to be the drama of the new world order†. The work is created with a sense of theater, the pieces staged to have a narrative that is dramatic and with a poignancy that is both explicit and realistic, but set in a world of color and arrangements of size, shape, and elements that come straight from the dream plane. The work consists of elements that depict the human form as it is stressed, and grotesque. The use of it stretched to the limits of the macabre in order to express the nature of a world gone mad within its own mechanizations. Burgert’s piece Vorkampfer, 2004 presents the image of a monkey with smaller skeletons that appear to cling as children to the image. The creature has a flag in his hand.

Crafting and Executing Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Crafting and Executing Strategy - Essay Example The new CEO of the company formulated a strategic plan as per the need of the time. He formulated that there was an immediate need for the introduction of some strategy that needed to refresh their market condition. For that, he incorporate the strategy of markets drifts; existing electronic devices with revised and more easy-to-handle in lesser space. He worked on the new corporate philosophy of recognizable products and simple design, that did not exist right then (Sebastian Desbidt, 2006). Pertaining to the successful and in time execution of strategic planning, Apple now is the bench mark of excellent pocket electronics and a status symbol in electronic market, leading to have dropped the word â€Å"Computer† from its name. Now, it widely operates with high sales, premium profits and big market share as Apple Incorporation (Bread, 2011). Simply put, the strategic planning has helped Apple gain competitive advantage in the market. It gains the company a road map to define i ts strategies and seethe future road. The plan predicts the way to company’s future, and where is it going over a particular period of time and how is it going. As in the case of Apple, it is clearly evident that strategic plan is a management tool, which is for the management persons and business owners who seriously aim for the business growth. Strategic planning is one of the very important components of business plan. A typical business plan only lays out the purpose of the business, whereas strategic planning shows how it can be made successfully operational; business plan sheds light on the fund seeking, strategic planning drafts prioritization of financial needs and the effective sources to get them; business plan focuses on planning human resource, whereas strategic planning breaks down the duties and responsibilities and works on smoothing the communication between all the levels of the organization and finally, business plan structures the ideas, whereas strategic p lanning draws direction to move from plan to action. 2. Anticipated Mission Statement for Apple Incorporation Apple Incorporation’s mission is to provide its customers with convenient to use, all applications centered one single and handy user friendly electronic device that can even be easily used by the people who are not technology literate. We are constantly working on bringing in new and innovative technological devices that can add further ease and be suitable to be used for all ages. Our products meet the highest quality standards and come with high level usage assurance. Importance of Mission Statement Effective mission statements focus on the purpose of the formation of businesses. They highlight their fundamental and unique purposes. It puts light on its unique formation and it proclaims the corporate purpose of the organization. Additionally, the mission statement tackles what a particular firm intends to accomplish and guides the philosophical premises that guides their actions (Dermol, 2012). If once the mission statement has been successfully set, it becomes basis for building other intended actions. For instance, the Apple Incorporation’s mission statement makes it clear that their primary motive is to focus on the production of user friendly devices. Once cleared, the company can easily define the line of its operations and it can make its way from the monotonous market approaches towards a single and outlined method