May 7
Themes in Dark Blue Suit
closure, portrayal of women, privilege, family, community, role models, hope vs. reality, fighting (boxing), code switching, trauma, money/poverty, death/mourning, pride, coming of age, generations, father/son, America
Carlos Bulosan, America is in the Heart
Elaine Castillo, America is Not the Heart
The Debut, 2001, dir. Gene Cajayon
tradition and expectation
family pressure to be a doctor vs. personal passion to be an artist
traditional dancing and clothing/costumes at sister’s birthday
Ben’s white friends getting introduced to the culture
competition of masculinity between Ben and Gusto
Ben doesn’t speak or understand Tagalog
“car conspiracy,” materialism as a distraction, keeps people complacent
racism at the other party (“She didn’t know what she was saying”)
white uncle explaining politically correct terminology, “Filipinos aren’t Asian”
father wants to give his son a better life than he had
we see that he got his tendencies from his own father, including several of the same words (“hard headed,” “gallivanting”)
FOB, resentment of family members who don’t speak English as well
“sellout,” “coconut,” Gustavo’s resentment of Ben is racially driven
Ben’s father is more accepting in the end, but still stoic and silent, in keeping with Bacho’s description of his relationship with his father in Dark Blue Suit
May 10
Pilipinx Pop Culture
Chico (hip-hop)
Isaac (komiks, boxing)
Anthony (comedy)
Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano
culture which originates from “the people”
culture rooted in exchange and negotiation between dominate and subordinate groups
“resistance vernaculars”
Sampling and the dialogics of hip-hop (Mikhail Bakhtin)
comics originated in the sports pages of newspapers
Alfredo Alcala, learned to illustrate spying on the Japanese, Voltar
Tony DeZuniga, worked for Marvel, brought over Alcala
Whilce Portacio, illustrator for Marvel/DC, co-founded Image Comics
Lynda Barry, Evergreen alumni, alternative illustrator
Lorina Mapa, “Duran Duran, Imelda, Marcos, and Me”
November Garcia, catholic guilt, blind faith
comedy gives people the ability to talk about personal experiences and perspectives
less tense and restricting
convert pain into something they can laugh at and work with
starting a conversation, making social issues more approachable
laugh at ourselves
Jo Koy, relationship with his mother
Ron Josol, raised in Canada by Filipino parents
Raymond Santos, mother’s accent
Edwin San Juan
Rob Schneider
Alfredo “The Sauce” Diaz
End-of-week Synthesis
I learned the importance of family and tradition, as seen in both Dark Blue Suit and The Debut. In the latter especially we see a character struggling with his personal desire against the rigid expectations of his family. At the same time as he is trying to establish a greater independence he is also getting more in touch with Filipino traditions than he ever has in both the contact with his extended family and the celebrations at his sister’s party. The importance of boxing in Filipino culture was another new thing for me. In Dark Blue Suit this is elaborated on as being emblematic of the struggles people faced, projected onto the competitors so that their fights became a symbol of the problems people faced in everyday life. The documentary featuring Peter Bacho had him stating more or less the same ideas. I also learned about Cebuano and Ilokano, as Tagalog was the only language of the Phillipines I had heard of before. The litany of Filipino comics artists and comedians were all people I was unfamiliar with so the introduction to them and their work was appreciated.