Module 1 and American Adobo

-Shaun Ramento

Module 1
Two angels descending from the sky, one was light and the other was dark. Both were fighting until the narrator woke up. After all it was only a dream but what does it mean? The narrator then talks about herself, how she fits into the Filipino religion. She goes to saying how she would go to church only because her parents go too. But as she grew older as time passes she is reluctant to go.
She mentions a young woman named Lucy who had a vision of Santo Nino and believed that Lucy was the one being crucified. The narrator describes Lucy’s home as a room filled with dolls and no windows. The film shows Lucy dressed up as Jesus as he is being prepared for his crucifixion. It seems though that she is destined to be crucified.
This time the video shows a proud father and mother having their baby being recognized. Family and friends gather around as they sacrifice a pig and have a feast to celebrate their baby. One man and a woman dances around having their time of their life.
Now it shows a man lying down on a pile of dirt as the narrator compares the man with a another view of a water buffalo hard at work in the field. Both man and water buffalo are trampling down the soil to make its softer.
At the end of the video they show Lucy being crucified using nails to hammer her hands and feet to the cross. She looked dead and peaceful but suddenly she began to speak as if she is being possessed by Jesus himself reminding the people of Philippines what he did for his children.
I kind of like this video because I can relate to of what the narrator felt as a child in the Philippines. I only went to Church because my parents pressured/forced me to go or else Jesus will not love me or something like that. Ever since I moved to Hawai‘i it was a different story for me now. I was more focus on school while my mom was focus on work. So we rarely go to church now. I’m kind of glad but at the same time I felt guilty. My mom still reminds me to pray every night and that only God can help me in the future.
I have seen the crucifixion in the Philippines before and man, I thought that was pretty intense. Philippines is the only country that does this and it shows their faith to Roman Catholic. I’m sure that I’m not the only one that feels this way since I know that the narrator feels the same way to. Even I think it’s pretty ironic the people of the Philippines put their faith into God and not do anything about it on their own which is why the results in the Philippines shows more suffering than pleasure. The parents’ generation is a lot different than mines so I have no say to this they are the ones that have been doing this since when they were children. I too believe in God its just that there are times when you yourself must do something to make it happen.

American Adobo
Reaction paper

Whenever I finish watching a movie it will be at that moment where I will be criticizing/react how good or bad the movie was. Usually if it’s a good movie I would recommend it to my friends and family to go watch it themselves or if it’s a bad movie I would think of some stuff that may need improvement or something that needs a little bit of work but other than that it was ok. I have to be honest there are times when I wish the ending of a movie ended up as a screw ending where the antagonist is the one that lives. Anything that’s unpredictable and keeps me on my feet would be considered a good movie despite the plot. As for American Adobo, there is nothing significant to talk about. I see no relevance to the title or what the plot is really about. If this wasn’t a class where watching films was mandatory, I would have left when it got too dramatic and VERY predictable. Whoever is the director of American Adobo should be fired for just sucking at being original and being to
o cliché about the dialogues. I even feel bad for the actors/actresses that was in the movie because they are great in other Filipino movies and this just went down the drain for them.
That is why I don’t really watch anymore Filipino shows except anything that’s comedy then it’s ok. To me, this film was a bad example and a very bad movie in general that represents the Filipino Americans in the United States. I mean, c’mon I don’t give a rats ass about a cheating boyfriend, an uncaring wife, a gay guy, and a player. Those characters are no different from any race that is not from the United States. The only scene that I believe is a common trait for Filipino-Americans is that they think too high of themselves when comparing them to the people of the Philippines. Their ego just keeps inflating until they don’t see the Filipino in them. As for the new immigrants of the Philippines that just arrived gets treated badly among the Filipino-Americans. This is why there are many Filipinos from the Philippines gets their American dream shattered from too many expectations that leads to false hope. Whatever happens to helping other Filipinos in hand. This is no exag
geration but what I see in Filipino drama is that there is always one side that represents the wealthy and somewhat inconsiderate family while the other side symbolizes the common poor family that tries to get by during the an episode. It’s a consistent cycle of Filipino drama that sees no end to its obliviousness.
Overall, I don’t recommend this film at all. It’s somewhat offending to me because it’s a very awful example of what Filipino Americans experience in the United States. It’s more like the opposite, usually Filipinos would go to united states to get a better paying job despite its hardship to help support their family. While this film shows a bunch of characters that doesn’t see that they are way better off with their lives than most Filipinos in the Philippines and instead each character talks about their drama which I thought it was funny in a pathetic way. It seems like American adobo the name itself doesn’t portraits any originalities, its just a mix ingredients of clichés, marinated with a confusing plot and topping it off with the secret ingredient of tastelessness.