Family news: Ruby's play, and cinematography in modern films

Ruby wrote a play and they presented it in her college. It was supposed to be about the Filipino family supporting each other, but what annoyed me was that there was no frame for the story, no explanations about who is who and what was going on and it wasn't until ten minutes into the 30 minute play that I figured it out, even though I know the local culture...

they only streamed it, but I will add it if I can find someone who ripped it from the internet.

here is the link on line.

My point: the play needed a good editor to make it more coherent: something that could have been done by adding a few dozen lines to the play, or a 60 second voice over in the beginning.

Sigh. It was a good play, but I know her stories are better than what I saw, so I blame the supervising teacher for the problem.

Yes, I know: I am overly critical. And as a doctor, I know nothing about theatre or cinema. But  hey, like most doctors I think I know it all, and I do know what I like (which is usually not the same as what is popular out there).

Sigh.

The good part is that it emphasized how Filipinos help each other, and that family members always welcome each other no matter what.

But it ignored other parts of the culture that are behind the story. For example, it also lacked religious references, (one reason that everyone is still welcome in the family is that hey catholics have confession so you believe in God's mercy for crimes or sexual shennaingans). And there were no jokes (like my AmerIndian patients, humor is one way to cope with terrible problems). 

But what she got right was showing how the culture is full of compassion, and showing the angst about poor people trying to make ends meet, and trying to get money for the mother so she can get her cancer treated.

That last one is based on Ruby's aunt, who ran a SariSari Store (variety store) and died of cancer a couple years ago. I did get her into an experimental chemotherapy protocol in Manila, which prolonged her life maybe six months, but alas she died anyway.

Money for medicine and hospitals for middle class folks usually comes from friends and family members, especially from family members working overseas, but it is one reason that the death rate here has probably climbed under covid: not only from Covid, but from untreated cancer, from high blood pressure and diabetes complications (made worse because they couldn't afford their medicine). Sigh.

Right now, one of Joy's nephews has recurrent cancer (it was in remisison for ten years, but started growing back last year... he didn't see the doctor because of covid, so now it is probably inoperable and he is too run down for the alternative chemo).

Sigh.

I should note that they do have public hospitals, but a shortage of specialty doctors at the one in our town, so a lot of cases have to go to the next city, ten miles away. The alternative are the small private hospitals.

the good news is that most of the covid shutdown is over: I only wear a mask when going into the bank etc. and the chairs are three feet apart. 

the number of covid cases are down: less than 400 cases and 8 deaths....

they are, however, expecting a huge surge in cases next month, given the upsurge in cases in China and other countries from a second omicron varient that is mild but much more infectious.

the low numbers might be because no one who isn't too sick is getting tested. I take that back: Joy is going to a business conference in Manila today and needed a test to proves she doesn't have it. So testing is being done.

as for travelers: The tourists are back. Come and enjoy the beaches of Boracay! Whoops: so many came that the beaches are crowded.

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we watch films and K dramas in the evening and what annoys me in the last few I watched was the cinematography of some recent films.

 For indoor scenes during the day and all scenes at night, they use ambient light: this was done very well by Spielberg in ET, but in these more modern dramas, they use it wrong, because unlike the iris of the eye, the camera doesn't adjust for dimness, so the result is a shadowy mess . 

And often the clothing/ scenery is also not framed well and the outdoor scenes are also with muddy colours. Kuya says they are just trying to set the mood as gloomy, because the subject matter is ugly, but I say it's a failure to recognize the importance of the visual.

No, you don't have to make the scenes visually beautiful, (although it would help) but at least don't deliberately make it ugly.

when not overdone, this type of cinematography can work to set the mood... for example, in this film it is used for good effect.

the Outfit is about a tailor shop/outfitter shop, and the outfit (i.e. the mob). But the characters are interesting, and it has plot twists you don't see coming.

again, the indoor scenes are dull, but not overly dark as in some other recent film: and the choice of brown as the main colour palate emphasizes the plot.

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in contrast, the Korean historical dramas (the Joy loves) tend to be colorful and bright, even when there are murders galore.

The one we just finished watching was the Red Sleeve: about a prince in love with one of the ladies of the court, and about his conflicts with his grandfather.

 Again this scene is inside but not dim. The background is dim, but the faces are lighted so they don't blend into the backgroud, and the colours are there to be agreeable.

Lots of Korean historical dramas are about the good men (including the king) trying to make things better: but you don't have to know complicated Korean history to enjoy the story.

The Red Sleeve is about the grandson of Lady Hyegyeong, who I have written about before.

Lots of murders and feuding between greedy clans is the background.

One less noticed part of Lady H's memoirs is that after her son who became king died, the dowanger queen, (her mother in law)  ran the country for her underage grandson, and she let her clan take over, resulting in a lot of corruption at the local level. This resulted in political instability and peasant revolts in the 1800s.

One way the kings prevented these conflicts that often led to civil wars was to kill off the opposition and get rid of intellectuals whose ideas might lead to such instablity.

 One result here (1801) was that there was a persection of Catholics and "western learning". This resulted in the death of one of Lady H's brothers, a scholar who was interested in western ideas and Catholicism  but was not a Catholic.

As Wikipedia points out, this was not a purely religious persection. It has to be seen as a recurrant  problem, where reformers tried to get rid of corruption, and then the corrupt factions fought back by killing the honest intellectuals. '

Earlier massacres were against the neoConfucian scholars who tried to reform society against corrupt factions, (wikipedia article Literati purges)..but Christianity posted a more complicated problem: worries of foreign infiltration is one, but the main reason is that it posited all men were equal, so went against the Confucian rule of hierarchy, where nobles were superior and to be obeyed.

the 1801 persecution is the background for a recent award winning 2021 Korean Film The Book of Fish.

The background of the film is about three famous brothers who were scholars were persecuted: one who was a Catholic was executed, but his two brothers were exiled to isolated islands.

 The main character in the story is depressed by this isolation on a poor island, with no family or friends and without other intellectuals to discuss ideas with.

But gradualy adjusts and becomes friendly with the locals, especially one fisherman (fictional) who is the son of a nobleman by a concubine and wants help in learning the scholarly books. 

In the meanwhile, the scholar uses him as a source of knowledge about marine biology, and writes a book about fish and fishing.

What is interesting about the film is that the tone reminds one of Kurosawa's calmness. And although it was filmed in black and white, the cinematography was impressive.

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Wikipedia article on Christianity in Korea.

and if you don't think that Christianity can be subversive to tyrannies of the right (Philippines) and the left (Solidarity) you are ignorant or have your knowledge limited to the PC anti religious ideas of western Europe.