From Text to Film: the Tragic Hero in Lino Brocka's Jaguar John Evan Orias (MA Communication, University of Santo Tomas) One O
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From text to film: The Tragic Hero in Lino Brocka’s Jaguar John Evan Orias (MA Communication, University of Santo Tomas) One of the most preferred activities of Filipinos is watching movies during their spare time. Due to its historical ties with the United States, the Philippine cinema has embraced the influence of the American film industry in terms of motifs, archetypes, storylines, and characterizations. The adaptation of American films in the Philippines is quite common. Local filmmakers have been using American film musicals as source for film production since the 1930s. However, some genres in Philippine cinema can also be traced back to Spanish theater forms – sarsuwela, komedya, and sinakulo – which were adapted to the country’s culture. Most of the film adaptations in the country have been historically and culturally associated with comics such as the famous works of Mars Ravelo and Carlo J. Caparas. In fact, some of their heroes have become immortalized by local television networks and filmmakers. These include Darna, Dyesebel, Captain Barbell, Panday, and Joaquin Bordado. In the context of Philippine cinema, only two literary journalism pieces of Nick Joaquin have been put up on the big screen. These include Lino Brocka’sJaguar (1979) and Mike de Leon’sKisapmata(1981), which were based from Quijano de Manila’s book, Reportage on Crime(1977, 2009).Based on true events, these realist films painted a detailed portrait of tragedy in the lives of common people. Both bagged awards in the local film festival and were presented in Cannes. Despite all of these, only a few literary journalism pieces are being adapted for film production. These adaptations are considered rare since literary journalism pieces are not famous sources for film translation. In the same manner, the relationship between literary journalism and film adaptation remains perfunctorily examined. Literary journalism is a nonfiction printed prose where the content is shaped into story or sketch by use of narrative devices associated with literature.Works of literary journalists are usually published in newspapers and magazines. Journalists apply fiction techniques in writing news and events. This study seeks to determine how Brocka translated Joaquin’s English-language literary journalism piece to a film that uses the vernacular. The researcher will evaluate Brocka’s application of literary journalism techniques to his film in terms of dramatic reconstruction. The study will also present the intertextual dialogue between the film and the literary journalism piece with the aid of film semiotics and adaptation theory. .