PERALTA, Guia Jolina B. 05 March 2014

2011-01522 MuL 9 Maam Lisa Decenteceo

Bontoc Eulogy Analysis

Bontoc Eulogy is a faux documentary or mockumentary that follows the supposed

journey of a Filipino-American who is trying to get in touch with his roots. He follows the path

of his two grandfathers: Emiliano who fought against the Spanish and Markod, an Igorot

chieftain. The documentary focused on the inhumane experiences the Filipinos experience in the

1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair while, recounting the narrators own struggles of consolidating his

identity.

The film opens with the subject/narrator in a dimly lit corner, sitting in front of a

phonograph playing various Ifugao music. The man listens intently to the music pondering on its

meaning. This signifies the unraveling of his personal history. The phonograph playing the

Ifugao music is the opposite of the narrator: an American shell playing Filipino music vs. a

Filipino shell containing American ideologies. This image accompanied by the succeeding

images of his past in the Philippines and his children makes one think: What makes a

Filipino?

The identity of the Filipino people has always been debated and searched for by scholars.

By means of ethnicity or race, the Filipinos are of the Malay race mixed with Spanish, Chinese

and various other foreign blood brought about by colonization. Linguistically, we are

Austronesian. Geographically, we are Southeast Asian. (Although, some argue that Filipinos are

more Pacific Islander than Asiani.) The Philippine laws on citizenship

ii are based on the

principles of Jus Sanguinis, or citizenship by right of blood and Jus Soli, or citizenship by right

of birth place which requires naturalization. But, these laws are just on paper. The bigger

struggle mirrored in the mockumentary is the cultural identity of the Filipino.

Tracing the Filipino cultural identity or our identity as a nation, one can examine the ups

and downs of this country to reflect its culture, as the documentary does.

The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands. Arguably, its first inhabitants were

migrants from all over the world including the Aetas, Indones and the Malays. Each group

brought their own traditions and beliefs to the island paradise. They settled in various areas of

the country: the mountains, the flatlands and by the sea. The Filipino settlers in the flatlands and

by the sea later on formed their own systems of government called the barangay and a more

hierarchical system, adapted from their Bornean neighbors, sultanatos. Islam and animism were

the pre-dominant religions in the country. The early Filipinos lived on fishing, hunting,

gathering, and early forms of agriculture. They utilized the vast riches of their lands. They also

traded with passing merchants like the Chinese. With each exchange of porcelain for gold and

pearls, beliefs and learnings were also swapped.

As the world entered the age of exploration, spices became a commodity. This prompted

Ferdinand Magellans discovery of the Philippines which began their more than 300 years of

domination of the country. In more than three centuries, the Spaniards tried to abolish existing

pre-colonial Philippine culture because they deemed it uncivilized. They introduced Christianity

and taught the Filipinos their way of life but, it wasnt all milk and honey. Indios, the Spaniards

moniker for the Filipino natives, were also treated as slaves and seen as of lower class. Despite

this, no one can deny that the Spanish imparted a lot of their culture. From the language to

secular activities, the colonization of the Spaniards left a huge impact on the country.

Perhaps, one of the stronger influences to our culture was brought about by Americans.

Filipinos have been branded as little brown Americans or the little brown brothersiii.

Americans have benevolently assimilated the Philippines. Filipino children are raised to aim

for the American dream. We were positioned to believe and see the United States as saviors,

heroes and big brothers that would pick us up from the mulch.

American Imperialism was a strong point being pursued by the documentary.

Imperialismiv

, according to Oxford dictionaries, is a policy of extending a countrys power and

influence through diplomacy or military force. The imperialist may use culture, economy or

military force to influence a country. In this case, the Americans used all of the above.

In the film, Markod and the other Filipinos were rounded-up and were placed in a

specific area to live-in and perform. They were treated as savages and were made to look

exotic and wild. The Filipinos in the St. Louis Worlds Fair were asked to wear the normal,

everyday clothes of the Americans. Perhaps, this was the Americans attempt to civilize the

Filipino natives, still a manifestation of their superhero/big brother complex.

Despite the colonizers, Filipinos strived to adapt aspects of their cultures and make it

Filipino. The documentary was a testament to the incoherent nature of the Filipinos as a

nation. The disparity of our experiences of our own history was mirrored in the foreign-ness that

the Filipinos in the Worlds fair felt with one another. Sadly, we can still see this up until today.

One can view the narrator as an allegory for the Filipino people in search of a unifying

factor. Like him, we are all products of our history and a broken past leads to an uncertainty with

regards to our present. We are trapped by our history and our learned set of values to change the

status quo. Because of this, we still struggle to build our own brand of nationalism and identity.

Up until today, attempts at defining or creating a Filipino brand are rejected by society and

criticized rather than encouraged and help nourished. We have been drenched in foreign culture

and ideologies for so long that almost every manifestation of Filipino culture is deigned unpure

or borrowed and the culture of the ethnic tribes are more foreign to most of us than that of the

West.

We live in a country where being native and indigenous is frowned upon and being the

anti-thesis is the mode. The dissonance between the perceived history and reality of the majority

of the Filipinos and the ethnological mass is troubling. This the challenge posed by the

mockumentary. At the moment, we, the Filipino mass, are almost the same the American

spectators in the worlds fair. If our goal as a country is to create progress and unify, we must

bridge this gap and ironic as it is, assimilate the ethnological history and culture with that of our

known past and present to form a unified future for all.

Despite the validity of issues posed by the film, there is also the possibility that we are

victims of overdetermination and we see fictive objects and/or relationships in the visual textv.

i Palatino, Mong. "Are Filipinos Asian?." The Diplomat. http://thediplomat.com/2010/12/are-filipinos-asian/ (accessed March 1, 2014). ii "1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines - chan robles virtual law library." 1987 constitution of the republic of the philippines - chan robles virtual law library. http://www.chanrobles.com/article4.htm#.UxHLWPmSyud (accessed March 1, 2014).

iii United States. National Park Service. "The Philippine War." National Parks Service. http://www.nps.gov/prsf/historyculture/the-philippine-war-suppressing-an-insurrection.htm (accessed March 2, 2014). iv "Definition of imperialism in English:." imperialism: definition of imperialism in Oxford dictionary (American English) (US). http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/imperialism (accessed March 2, 2014). v "Post-structuralism." Post-structuralism. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/sgabriel/post_structuralism.htm (accessed March 2, 2014).