IN MEDIA RES

ABSTRACT

Films have been a platform that allows the proliferation of stories and  lessons,  facilitating  the  process  of  what  is  remembered  and  recorded  about  the  self,  the  society,  and  the  nation.  Such  notions  are critical elements in memory and history building, especially for nations  like  the  Philippines  and  China,  as  they  have  traversed  critical  junctures  of  their  social  and  political  history.  Through  a  comparative analysis, this article examines the stories and lessons on  history  and  memory  as  depicted  in  the  films Liway  (Kip Oebanda, 2018) and The Blue Kite (Tian Zhuangzhuang, 1993). The discussions  highlight  the  setting  and  children-characters,  as  well  as  meanings  and  symbolisms  in  the  reflection  process,  which  emphasize  the  need  to  investigate  the  everyday  and  quotidian stories of those who lived through the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos  Sr.  and  China  under  Mao  Zedong.  The  discussions  and  reflections  raise  the  need  to  continue  upholding  the  overarching principles  behind  the  Philippines’  Second  Golden  Age  in  Cinema and  China’s  fifth  generation  of  filmmakers,  which  is  to  continue  remembering and coming to terms with the nation’s traumatic and tragic pasts.

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Art by TALA: An Online Journal of History