Sino malaya?: Melodrama and the Integration of Contemporary Social Issues in Philippine Independent Films

• Main Authors: Dungan, Maureen Alexandra A., Geronimo, Miracle Joyce C., Morales, Japheth Sean S., Tantoco, Cristen Dominique L.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2021
• Subjects: independent films; melodrama; contemporary social issues; Philippine cinema; films
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/conf_shsrescon/2021/poster_men/3; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/conf_shsrescon/article/1715/viewcontent/Dungan_et_al.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

Various film critics have written about the dominant themes found in independent films, such as gender and sexuality, culture, and sociopolitical issues. Independent filmmakers have distinctive ways of portraying these issues. Guided by Pathak (2017)’s framework on melodrama, the researchers chose to use melodramatic conventions and techniques to analyze further how these social issues are portrayed in independent films. Findings found that the independent films used melodramatic conventions in portraying social issues. Analyses showed that (1) the films made use of issues such as family relationships and understanding reality, (2) various cinematic elements were applied in the context of melodrama to deliver the film’s message, and (3) setting and physical characteristics were utilized in independent films to display social issues better. This study may be relevant to future research on independent film analysis, the development of national cinema, and the progress of local independent films as a whole.