Dramatizing ideology in teatro pulitikal

• Main Author: Gue, Ronald F.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2006
• Subjects: Jacob; Malou Leviste; Drama; Philippine literature > History and criticism; Comparative Literature
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2111
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study is an analysis of the ideological and political dynamics of three of the five plays of Malou Jacob in her collection Teatro Pulitikal. Specifically, the plays analyzed are Juan Tamban, Anatomiya ng Korupsyon, and Pulitika ng Buhay at Pag-ibig. The analyses are grounded on Marxist-feminist definitions of ideology and politics by Althusser and Spivak. In focusing on certain configurations of the ideologies of the plays, this thesis has subscribed to the steps proposed by Alice Guillermo in locating the ideological dynamics of literature. Working around this theoretical framework, this thesis provides an analysis of each of the three plays, in accordance to the steps proposed by Alice Guillermo, to break down the styles, context, political issues, and ideologies of these three plays. The result of this study shows that in each and every one of the plays studied, the author has resorted to escapist techniques, where the conflicts are not resolved in the end. With the exemption of Liza's suicide in Politika ng Buhay at Pag-ibig, these escapes are the author's silent way of highlighting the importance of change. As she has mentioned in the interview, she does not want to impose the solutions of the problems on people but would rather let the people think of how to initiate the changes themselves. This technique is supported by Alice Guillermo, who herself adheres to Pierre Macherey's concept of reading the gaps or silences, and as a result, this study has found out that the radical potential of the author lies in her escapes.