Hindi Ito Kuwentong Pag-ibig <br><br><p>This is Not a Love Story<p>

• Main Author: Vicuña, Vernadette, Gonzalez
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2023
• Subjects: artsibo; arketipo; genre; imperyo; seksuwalidad; paghahalong-lahi archive; archetype; empire; sexuality; mixed-race
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/katipunan/vol11/iss1/5; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/katipunan/article/1005/viewcontent/Katipunan_202023_2011_20No._201_205_20Mga_20Artikulo_20__20Gonzalez.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Pinaghahabi-habi ang kuwentong-buhay ni Isabel Rosario Cooper, mestizang aktres sa bodabil at isa sa pinakaunang artistang tampok sa sine ng Maynila na naging kilala sa kaniyang naging pakikipagrelasyon kay Heneral Douglas MacArthur, pinagninilayan ng Empire’s Mistress ang buhay at pag-iral sa gitna ng pagkakaipit nito sa mga mekanismo ng kolonyalismong Americano sa Pilipinas. Itinatala nito ang mobilidad at pakikipagugnayang nabuo ng pagnanasang mayroon ang Estados Unidos sa kapuluan ng Pilipinas—at ang pamamaraan kung paanong subhetong nasasakop—partikular na ang kababaihan—ay hinubog mismo ang mga ito para sa kanilang kapakinabangan. Idiniriin ng kabanatang ito ang gasgas nang balangkas kung saan palaging nakakawit ang bangkay ng maririkit na kababaihan, lalo na sa mga kalagayang ibinubunga ng pagnanasa sa kaibang lahi at kolonyalismo. Sinisimulan ito sa mabilisang pagmamapa ng kalunos-lunos na “romansa” ng buhay ni Isabel Cooper bilang kerida ni Heneral Douglas MacArthur, na nagwakas sa kaniyang kamatayan noong 1960. Gayunman, sunod nitong ibinubunyag at kinukuwestiyon kung paanong ang naratibong yaon ang pilit na nagpapakilala sa kaniya at kung bakit mahalagang isalaysay ang sarili niyang kuwento mula mismo sa sarili niyang pananaw. Iginigiit ng kabanatang ito ang matalik na pakikipag-ugnayan at karahasan ng pamamahalang imperyal bilang kontekstong hindi maihihiwalay sa kaniyang kuwento, at sa halip ipinakikilala si Isabel Cooper bilang subhetong kinailangang baybayin kung ano ang ibig sabihin ng pagiging mestizang Americana Filipino noong mga unang taon ng dekada 1900. Sinusundan ng kabanatang ito ang proseso ng pananaliksik ng mayakda patungo sa puntod ni Isabel Cooper sa Los Angeles bilang paraan ng pag-unawa sa kakulangan ng artsibo, at sa suliraning idinudulot ng mga nakompromisong sanggunian sa paghahabi ng kuwento. Sa huli, tinatalakay ng kabanata ang maaasahang pira-piraso at espekulatibong hubog ng akda sa mga susunod nitong bahagi. Piecing together the life story of Isabel Rosario Cooper, a mixed-race vaudeville and early cinema star in Manila who became infamous for her liaison with General Douglas MacArthur, Empire’s Mistress is a meditation on a life lived on the crossroads of American colonialism in the Philippines. It tracks the mobilities and relationships generated by the United States’ desire for the Philippine archipelago—and the ways in which colonized subjects—particularly women—turned those to their own advantage. This chapter establishes the worn plot in which dead, beautiful women are often caught, especially in circumstances of interracial desire and colonialism. It begins by glossing the tragic “romance” of Isabel Cooper’s life as General Douglas MacArthur’s mistress, which ends in her death in 1960. However, it then upends and questions how that plot has come to be the one that defines her and why it is important to tell her story in her own terms. The chapter establishes the intimacy and violence of imperial rule as a context that cannot be extricated from her story, and instead frames Isabel Cooper as someone who had to navigate the shoals of what it meant to be a mixed-race American Filipino subject in the early part of the 1900s. The chapter follows the author’s research process to Isabel Cooper’s grave in Los Angeles as a way to comprehend the incompleteness of archives, and the problematics of what it means to piece together a story from these compromised sources. Finally, the chapter discusses the fragmentation and speculative shape of the book that follows. Cooper’s grave in Los Angeles as a way to comprehend the incompleteness of archives, and the problematics of what it means to piece together a story from these compromised sources. Finally, the chapter discusses the fragmentation and speculative shape of the book that follows.