For this first Module we watched 2 movies and they were Nailed and Bontoc Eulogy. The film Nailed is about a female named Lucy who is crucified yearly to portray her love for Jesus and her respect and dedication to his children. In the movie the narrator explains how Lucy had a calling from Santo Nino to replicate Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. She was 31 years old and was described by someone else as having a cherub like face. Lucy confined herself to a room wit no windows and numerous pictures of the Santo Nino. She also had stuffed animals that she proclaimed were for Santo Nino. There was nothing in the room that was from the outside world like pictures of her family. The people deemed her a faith healer. She felt that nothing could harm her. When she healed people she said she could feel their pain.
Yearly she suffers through the same crucifixion Jesus endured long ago but in modern times and ways. She carries the cross to each church. She is dragged and whipped at each of them. In this movie you see how important church and saints are to the Filipinos. You see how devoted the people are by seeing them sit through mass on a day when the temperature is blaring hot. They crow to the churches and stand if they have to. They walk on their knees to receive the bread and make a grave effort to touch or kiss the statues of the saints. There are also numerous times through out the film where we witness the extent of their dedication when they are whipping themselves on their backs until they are dripping with blood. Also in this film, you see how poverty and religion has affected the young people of the Philippines. In one scene in the movie you see a vendor’s child under the food in a tight small space.
The other movie called Bontoc Eulogy was about a man who recalls his memories as a child in the Philippines. He describes his village, the activities he used to partake in and the events that occurred around him. He talks about his relatives and all the suffering they had to endure during the occupation of the Japanese, Spanish and American. He also spoke about the physical changes in the people such as the outward curving of the bigger toe as a result of having to move further in to the mountains. This movie asked the audience what stories we had as a people that defined who we were.
The reading for Module 1 relates to the films in that it speaks of how the audience views the film and how norms and ethics apply to the activities that cultures participate in. In the first article in the reading it spoke of the effects that a film has on its viewers. It stated that the mass media affects the society and its order. It also stated that although movies and TV shows are violent and troublesome they do have their appeal. It spoke of how TV and movies are the dominant forms of mass media. The article articulated the factors that play out when you watch them and it is the physical, the social and the psychological.
The second article in the module reading is called Ethical Relativism. It speaks of how a culture varies in moral practices. They way we look at other culture’s practices vary depending on the group that we belong to. It went into detail on how one culture’s practices may be morally acceptable to them but unacceptable to another. One example is infanticide and polygamy.
In my opinion, it is very easy to classify something as moral or immoral from the basis of your own beliefs. But to see it from another view is quite harder than it seems. A good example would be polygamy. I believe that it is morally wrong and utterly disgusting to believe and even practice polygamy. Those that practice this might see it otherwise. It all depends on who you are and what culture you belong to.
No comments:
Post a Comment