Thursday, October 22, 2009

Masbate Mystery


mr. lex bonife,

are you from masbate? or are you anti-masbateno? we masbatenos have observed that you keep using our province in your indie films as poor, medieval and gay people. In your Parola movie (it's actually Antonio -- Lex), josh ivan hails from masbate, a dark character in the movie. Now, its time for juan in your latest movie, raring to go home in his province masbate due to tremendous difficulties there at the city. What are you really up to: to degrate our province. masbate and its people because of your pseudo-pscyhe perception about our culture? We are not the josh-ivan character nor the ray-an dulay persona that you personify us, masbatenos. THERE is already a pending resolution in our city council (masbate City) to declare you persona-non-grata. for your information.

Anonymous

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Hello Anonymous Masbateno,

Thank you for watching our movies. It's Joselito Altarejos, the director who comes from Masbate. He is the Masbate connection. I have never been to your province. And all references to it has been created by the filmmaker, whom I recall is a proud Masbateno.

And as a filmmaker, he has the right to share his roots and his sense of self in all the films that he creates.

Lex

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

to concerned masbateno. have you any idea how stupid, juvenile and baseless that resolution would be when you actually enact it? or how monumentally stupid that makes masbatenos look in the eyes of the rest of the gay populace? to say that the filmmakers have anything against masbate just because of 2 films that depict masbate homosexuals in a, uhm, not so positive light is also to say that all filipinos are poor, criminals, maids and everything you find in the margins just because more than half of the movies or soaps that can be seen on tv and films depict the sad plight of many pinoys.

sige, pakisabe na lang ke direk jay na sa susunod, taga batangas naman ang character ha? tapos antayin natin me magreklamo na bading from batangas na they are being pigeonholed. maryosep, grow the f*ck up. or grow some brains. sorry, hindi ko mapigilan.

Snakey's Confessions said...

...wait a second, ive seen both movies and i really dont see anything negative with the use of Masbate on both films, in fact it came to me as a tribute to the place...after watching both films, "Parola" especially in this case, i'd really like to visit the place not only because of its diversity but because of the depth of its richness in history and culture that could provide such profound people such as the MasbateƱos ... the things that are depicted in the movies are not exclusive to those coming from your place, in fact it could happen to anyone, from any province, from any walks of life....

david said...

i am surprised that your masbateno reader did not leave his name. his assertions were so strong and declarative.

i did not know that being poor and/or gay is bad.

the place where i grew up was often portrayed in literati as either fucked up and dysfunctional, e.g. tennessee williams, or pot bellied and bigoted, neither group that i was part of.

sometimes it was based on the artist's self portrayal, other times, it was simply hollywood stereotyping. such is life.

one cannot choose their origins. ultimately, you are judged by your actions.

lex, if you and your director friend ever sojourn out to southern california, you are persona grata in my home for as long as you wish to stay. no resolution necessary.

LoF said...

On behalf of MasbateƱo that have no political connections to LGUs, I'd like to thank you for representing our men with hot guys like Josh Ivans Morales and Ray-an Dulay.

Anonymous said...

ano naman 'to na kadramahan. parang gusto lang umeklabuh!!!susme, ano namang problema kung ang ginamit sa pelikula ay masbate. pareho kong napanood ang pelikula (antonio at lalake sa parola) at honestly, ngayon ko lang nalaman na tagamasbate pala ang mga characters... i know that the place where the character comes from has also something to do with the characterization, but my goodness kahit saan pang lupalop manggaling ang mga karakter na yan kung talagang may pag iisip ang nanonood ay di sya maggegeneralise na ang mga taga masbate ay ganun nga.. narrow mindedness to the extreme!!! sya sige, ayaw ko na maibudo... lex, just continue writing and to jay, continue making films...sa susunod naman kasi ay wag ng gumamit ng masbate.. ganito na lang, sabihin natin ang mga karakters ay nanggaling sa VENUS.. siguro wala ng magrereklamo nyan...

I am from planet Xanadu said...

men are from mars...women are from venus...di ba may book on marketing na ganyan ang title?

tama, sa susunod na pelikula na gagawin ninyo, yan na lang ang gamitin niyo na pinagmulan ng mga characters nung movie.

i am sure by this time yung anonymous na nag comment nalulunod na sa laway na nilulunok niya dahil sa pagkakasamid o di kaya sugat sugat na ang dila niya dahil sa palaging pagkakabanggit niya sa mga usap usapan ng mga bading.

Allan said...

Oh my...If this resolution will pass, then there is no reason to visit or invest in Masbate, since its politicians are backward, intolerant and outrightly stupid. No wonder that the province is so underdeveloped. I just pity the Masbatenos to have such kind of representatives in their local governments.