Module 3- Janelle Funtanilla

The theme of this module is rights. After watching the movie, I really don’t see how the movie really related to rights. The movie is centered on a group of Filipinos who moved to America. The only rights I can think of are their individual rights. Let me analyze each character and what right s/he is working toward. Let’s start with the main character Tere. She can’t seem to find someone she can be with who will love her for who she is and what she offers. Her “right” is the right to love. Then there is Mike, who is in an unfulfilling marriage and can’t seem to make it better. Although I don’t like the fact that he left his family to go back to the Philippines, he was working towards the pursuit of happiness. Marissa was the one with a successful job, yet she was unhappy because her boyfriend kept cheating on her. Her right is the right not to be used, lied to and neglected. Then Gerry of course his right was to be able to have a relationship with someone of the same sex, although I think all he wanted was his mother’s acceptance. Then Raul I guess his biggest thing was freedom (to sleep with as many women he wanted) though in turn he finally realized the severity of his actions. These characters all had something they wanted and although it may not be a right in the constitution, it is a right of humanity, and that all humans deserve “goodness”.
Now I am going to explain my feeling of this movie. Let point out that this movie surrounds Tagalog-speaking Filipinos. I would like to see movies that focus on Ilokano-speaking Filipinos living in the United States as well. Most movies I see about Filipinos revolve around them living in the continental U.S. and speak Tagalog such as The Debut. I would someday like to see a movie about Ilokanos in Hawaii because I feel we have been overlooked and going back to rights—I think it is our right as Ilokanos to be represented as well.
I have a problem with the title American Adobo. I understand that the theme is wherever adobo is cooked, in the U.S. or Philippines, it is still adobo. This is the metaphor about the group and that even though they were from the Philippines and moved to New York, they were able to keep their “Filipinoness”. What didn’t fit was the pure culture in the film. Sure we see the cooking but other than that it portrayed stereotypical Filipinos. They spoke with loud accents, ate a lot, and portrayed Filipino demeanor as well. However there was nothing extraordinary about the group dynamic, and the only thing that made this movie unique is Mike’s problem and him going back to the Philippines. Other than that, I have seen these problems presented in American television-- the cheating boyfriend, the womanizer, the woman trying to find love, and the closeted homosexual. Like I said, the only unique Filipino thing about this movie was Mike’s decision to leave his family and go back to the Philippines. They didn’t emphasize the Filipino of the people. If I were to use white characters, changed the title to something like American Spaghetti, then I would have the same damn movie with a few minor changes. The formula isn’t unique to Filipino culture. If this movie was supposed to give us real insight on Filipinos in America, then I think it failed. If they wanted to make it about food, then they failed at that too. If you are going to use a dish in the title, at least make it relevant to the story. All in all, I just didn’t get what the point of the whole movie was. To me it was a group of people trying to figure out their problems, who just happened to be Filipino. It really doesn’t focus on unique problems Filipino Americans have to deal with. However there is this one part where I sort of agree with what the girl said. I think it was the woman who worked for Mike’s family, and he saw her again in the Philippines, who said something like white people treat you better than Filipino people. I sort of see her point in where people of other ethnicities treat you better than one of your own. I don’t know if it’s the whole socioeconomic class division, the fact whole separation during colonization or what, but I agree. Especially in Filipino culture, we tend to classify ourselves by the dialect we speak like Tagalog, Ilokano, and Visayan etc… I admit I do that sometimes but if you look at the bigger picture, we are all FILIPINO. Why is it that other people treat us better than people of our own ethnic makeup?