#batch 2016

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Para sa Isang Maliwanag na Bukas

ADMU AB Economics Batch 2016 goes to Capas Tarlac

Assessment and evaluation of the solar power project for the people of Sitio Bilad and Sitio Yangka. Great people, amazing sceneries and awesome experiences!

When Harry Met Sally, directed by Rob Reiner, is a 1989 romantic comedy film that is set in the late 1970s. The film begins with Sally Albright and Harry Burns fresh out of college and their drive from Chicago to New York together. Along the way, they discuss and argue about relationships, sex, and the persistent idea of women and men remaining friends without allowing sex to interfere with their relationship. This causes the two to arrive in New York and go their separate ways without staying in contact. However, after a few years, Sally and Harry meet several times and slowly develop their relationship as best friends. As time progresses, their platonic relationship evolves into a romantic relationship, which ultimately challenges their ability to stay friends. (IMDb)

Though the film exemplifies various romantic comedy conventions and motifs, the concept of individuals having a soul mate is prevalent in the film- particularly during the split-screen scene wherein Harry and Sally talk on the phone in their respective bedrooms. The scene shows the two characters discussing two types of women - those who are high maintenance and low maintenance - while watching the last scene of the classic romance movie Casablanca. In the scene, Harry and Sally are accepting of each other’s flaws, which drives the audience to root for the development of their romantic relationship. For example, Harry points out that Sally is indeed a high-maintenance woman due to her overly-specific restaurant orders, while Sally brushes it off and takes a somewhat insensitive comment of Harry having a 24-hour tumor as a joke. This acceptance allows the audience to see past the conflict occurring between the two characters, focusing more on the fact that they’re interacting with each other in a way that suggests the romantic development of their relationship. The use of the split-screen technique also allows the audience to see both character’s point of view at that given moment, and acts as foreshadowing by hinting at the possible event of them actually getting into bed with each other.

The film uses a more realistic approach to relationships and romance as a whole. Rather than imposing rather impossible scenarios or fantasies in order to drive the narrative of the film further, When Harry Met Sally uses real-life conflicts in order to allow the audiences to feel a particular way about the characters. Though its narrative is fairly similar to most romantic comedy films in a sense that it follows the typical boy meets girl, falling for each other and being presented with difficult or uncomfortable situations, but ending up together despite such situations (Narrative Constructions), When Harry Met Sally extends the concept of being faced with difficulties given the somewhat polar opposite personalities the two main characters have and their constant bickering. Despite this, audiences are still pushed to wish for them to get together due to the expectations audiences have when it comes to the genre, which is the happy ending that gives the audience closure. This is particularly significant when it comes to When Harry Met Sally because it takes the entire film for the characters to realize that they are meant to be together.

This expectation is where the pleasure lies for the spectators of the film. The audience is given all of these reasons as to why the two characters in the film shouldn’t be together, yet the expectation of having the happy ending in which the two characters end up falling in love with each other forces them to ignore such reasons. The audience already expects that the two characters will get together, yet they take pleasure in watching the narrative progress while following the characters’ relationship grow. The film’s narrative allows the audience to question the possibility of the relationship working out in the way they expect it to, which contributes to the perceptions of the audience in terms of how they relate to the characters and the development of their relationship in conjunction with the film’s premise and the genre as a whole.

Bibliography 1. IMDb. When Harry Met Sally. N.d. 6 February 2015 <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098635/>. 2. narrativegrace. Narrative Constructions. 5 June 2013. 4 February 2015 <http://narrativegrace.blogspot.com/>.

By Tara Santos, Batch 2016

Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. The film is about a dystopian world set in 2019, where Rick Deckard (played by Harrison Ford), a retired Blade Runner policeman, is called back to his workplace by his former supervisor Bryant and officer Gaff. He is asked to ‘retire’ four Tyrell Corporation Model Nexus-6 Replicants, which are engineered beings made to almost seem human with the exception of their ability to emote. Bryant explains that they have come to extend their lives, as they only have a four-year lifespan, and gives Deckard the names of the Replicants he must retire: Roy Batty, Leon, Zhora, and Pris. Deckard begins his investigation at the Tyrell Corporation, where he meets the genius Replicant creator Tyrell, and his assistant Rachael, who is revealed to be a Replicant engineered with Tyrell’s niece’s memories to create an emotional cushion and is unaware of her true nature. Throughout the movie, Deckard kills the remaining Replicants and falls in love with Rachael despite her being a Replicant. Meanwhile, Pris and Roy hunt down a genetic designer named J.F. Sebastian who works with Tyrell, and use him to gain access to Tyrell’s office so they ask him to extend their lives. By the end of the movie, Deckard manages to kill all the Replicants. He comes back to his apartment to find Rachael asleep in his apartment, and an origami and calling card from Gaff. Deckard and Rachael leave his apartment, ending the movie on an ambiguous note.

An interesting part of the film is the introduction, as it immediately establishes important themes throughout the movie. The introduction features white text on a black background that talks about the Tyrell Corporation and the creation of Nexus 6 Replicants for the purpose of slave labor. It then also explains that the film is set in November 2019 before opening with images of various areas of Earth exploding. These images are shown through an extreme close-up of an eye. This already introduces a theme: that eyes, at least in the film, are the windows to the ‘soul’ that determine one’s true nature. Following this, the camera focuses and moves in on a building (presumably the Tyrell Corporation) that reveals that the Earth in the movie is different from the reality of Earth. Through this extract, the audience can determine that film is not only a science fiction film, but that eyes will be a crucial plot device and the film is set in an entirely different world. 

The film is linked to the science fiction genre in the sense that it links the paranoia in the cultural context of the Cold War to the paranoia present throughout the film, as Replicants and humans are only distinguished by lifespan, strength, and the ability to emote, and are otherwise almost similar, making it impossible to distinguish who is evil in the crowd. It also is linked to the genre as it still asks the question “What does it mean to be human?” present throughout the story’s themes such as eyes, romance, emotion, compassion, and kinship. Spectators find pleasure in the complexity of the film in cinematography and plot. Blade Runner is known for integrating science fiction themes (presence of aliens, the setting being in a different world) and film noir themes (the femme fatale, the idea of being unable to escape the past) that result in the film being interesting to watch and setting it apart from other films from the genre. The film is also different in how it presents its themes and how it poses the question of what makes us human through the innovative technology in its setting and cinematography.

By Liane Reyes, Batch 2016

Annie Hall, a romantic comedy created in 1977, is a film that revolves around snarky New York comedian Alvy Singer’s (played by Woody Allen) perspective on why his relationship with quirky Wisconsin-based singer Annie Hall (played by Diane Keaton) dissolved. The film explains the complete story of how he met Annie in a tennis game with mutual friends until the time they break up following a visit to California, revealing how the relationship slowly unraveled due to Alvy’s jealousy, Annie’s insecurity, and their diverging desires in the relationship. Eventually, the film ends with Alvy meeting Annie again in New York and having an epiphany that he’s happy to have known her. He then summarizes his belief of relationships: “You know, they’re totally irrational, crazy, and absurd. But I guess we keep going through it because we need them.” Although audiences are aware that Alvy may not be the most reliable or emotionally stable of narrators, they do accept that they can relate to him despite his eccentricities.

While the film is notably classified as a romantic comedy, there are still many deviations from common conventions that set it apart from traditional films –  the most particular being the film’s storytelling and how it is ultimately biased towards Alvy’s side of the story instead of being a balanced, omniscient view. He often breaks the fourth wall by looking into the camera as if speaking directly to the audience, resulting in the narration being told in a stream-of-consciousness fluidity that reveals Alvy’s anxiety and patronizing attitude, which is shown through a series of close-ups (mainly focused on Alvy in order to illustrate his control over the narration) as well as static camera movement and fast cutting throughout the shots (which illustrate the speed and relevance of certain events). This gradually tricks the audience into relating to Alvy despite his negative attributes as the film only shows his side of the story, and the camera is constantly focused on him. Overall, this film was very interesting as it examines relationships on a personal level, but through a perspective that is inherently biased and almost prejudiced. And yet, somehow, everyone understands that this is how relationships will always be examined, whether in film or in real life.

Film Reviews: Annie Hall, 2016

“Because the greatest pleasure in life is accomplishing what people said you couldn’t do.”

Gusto ko tong i-post sa FB kaso madaming satsat kung mabasa ito ng karamihan so mas mabuti na lang na dito na lang sa blog ko na to, tutal wala naman na masyado nagbabasa dito wahahaha

Sobrang salamat sa kay Ate Mai at sa nanay ko na nandiyan na sumusuporta saken kahit karamihan ng pinaggagawa ko sa buhay ay kagaguhan at kabaliwan hahahaha! Love you nay! Sobrang salamat sa lahat! Sobrang spoiled at maldita ko alam ko naman yon haha pero kahit ganon, natatanggap mo pa din pagiging topakin ko at sinusunod ang gusto ko hihi, sorry nay, I love you!! Ibabalik ko lahat ng ginhawang binigay mo sakin! Magpapayaman ako katulad mo hahaha, gagawin ko lahat para sa ikabubuti ng sarili ko.

Sa mga kaibigan ko na naniwala sa kakayahan ko kahit na pakiramdam ko eh wala akong tiwala sa sarili ko, tang ina niyo mahal ko kayo at salamat! Sorry lang talaga sa pag-uugali kong hindi maintindihan ng madalas hahaha pero seryoso, kayo rin naman na ang dahilan kung bakit lumakas loob ko nung mga panahon na halos bumigay na ko sa pag-aaral at sumuko na ko.

Sa mga nagsabing hindi ko daw makakayanan ang kurso ko at pinangunahan ang kapalaran ko na sinabi nilang ‘hindi ako makakagraduate dahil mabubuntis daw ako kasi puro bisyo at barkada daw inaatupag ko’, well salamat po... dahil kung hindi dahil sa pagsatsat niyo ng mga bagay bagay na wala namang laman, mas lalo kong nahikayat sarili ko na patunayan sa inyo na hindi naman talaga ako ganung klaseng tao na tulad ng iniisip niyo :) Sadyang baliw lang po ako madalas, pero alam ko naman po ang tama at mali sa buhay at mga dapat at hindi gawin :) Well, sana po baguhin na po ang ganung pag-uugali. Makuntento tayo sa kung ano nakukuha natin :)

So all in all, salamat talaga sa lahat! Sa mga sumuporta, sumubaybay, nakitawa at nakiiyak sa mga hinanaing ko nung college ako hehe. Ito na, next level na ng buhay ang tatahakin ko. Mas challenging. Mas nakakastess. Mas nakakabaliw dahil real life na talaga to. At papatunayan kong makakaya ko to at this time, pagbubutihin ko na to.

Will be forever grateful to Central Mindanao University.

Putting the Pieces Together, 2016

By Batch 2016