✵✵ UUUYYY PILIPINS!!

🇵🇭 HALA, MAY REPRESENTASYON NA TAYO! ITAAS ANG BANDERA!! 🇵🇭

HOY mga madlang pipol TAO sa buong mundo! May bagong pelikula na lalabas na sa ika-25 ng Setyembre! ¹ Wag niyong kalimutan ² na panuorin niyo ang FORGOTTEN ISLAND! Sa mga ampalaya diyan, mamatay na lang kayo sa inggit! 😜

No pun intended, but might as well be. Since I don’t really get much readers in this blog, I’m not gonna bother translating what I just said. Anyway, proceeding.

It’s been months since the last time I’ve blogged. Life happened again. I haven’t been touching my laptop at all other than checking emails and doing some real-life stuff like paying online bills here. However, this September, I felt the need to blog.

As many of you know now, Forgotten Island, DreamWorks’s latest animated film, is coming out this Friday (as of this writing), the 25th. I haven’t been in touch with American/Hollywood-related entertainment as of late, but when I saw the trailer on YouTube, my Pinay blood began to flow throughout my veins from head to toe.

Mga kapwa, dapat sumaya na tayo! Makikilala na ng buong mundo ang kulturang Pinoy! ³

Honestly, I was stoked to see the preview clip on YouTube, featuring some of the Pinoy-isms that we’re pretty much known for, grown up with, and very familiar with. Below is the given sneak peek clip and I’m about to break it down what makes this particular scene garantisadong PINOY.

Let’s begin!

0:00: TEAM QUEENS

I’m really happy to see DreamWorks casting a primarily Pinoy cast and discovering that Grammy-award-winning soloist H.E.R. and one of the PH’s top actresses Liza Soberano portraying the two main characters, BFFs Jo and Raissa. They may have different backgrounds, different beginnings, and both may be halo-halo ⁴. Still, I want to congratulate them both for these roles. So far, I love their voices and they fit the characters well (based on the trailer, of course). Now I’m stoked!

0:06: KARAVIDEOKE OPENING WITH LA BANDERA 🇵🇭

Forgotten Island takes place in the 1990s, therefore, ~kara~videoke is a huge pasttime of many Pinoys. Not just in PH, but throughout the diaspora. We have a karaoke machine at home that Dad bought from PH back in the ’90s and we still have it.

Lastly, Jefferson Starship’s Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now is a popular karaoke tune that many Pinoys loved to sing. Both my parents loved singing that song back in the day. So did my titos and titas sa Pinas.

0:22: MGA TITO’T TITANG MARITES

Ah, the gossiping relatives… if it’s one thing that I sometimes cringe as a Pinay, it’s the endless amount of tsismosos at tsismosas and how they love to sugarcoat their favorite stars, their family members, their children, their barkada, and even their pets. This particular scene where Raissa’s mother butters up Raissa’s accomplishments to the relatives and friends to make herself look good. Because even today, Filipino parents have the tendency to keep up appearances in which they credit themselves for their children’s accomplishments. ⁵

Instead of celebrating Raissa’s accomplishment of making it into Caltech, the titos and titas (uncles and aunties – some are probably non-blood related) began buttering up along by assuming Raissa’s future married life to an actor like the handsome and rich Tom Cruise and living in Hollywood. But you know, as they say, “Wala, chika-chika lang, di naman totoo, pero malay natin di ba?”

Filipinos, especially the titos and titas, couldn’t help themselves but making tsismis (gossip) about topics they really don’t know anything about, namely with their favorite celebrities or someone’s asawa (spouse) seeing someone else’s asawa, or Raissa being successful and on the way to Caltech because her parents raised her and taught her well ⁶. We call these chronic gossipers “marites.”

The term maries is a Filipino slang word for a person who loves to gossip, meddle in other people’s affairs, and spreading all kinds of rumors around the neighborhood, community, or even online. There are even a lot of Filipino YouTube channels of celebrity marites just simply talking about rumors and hearsays within showbiz, sports, politics, etc.

Marites are everywhere. Not just in the Philippines, but also within the disapora as well. I have relatives who are serious marites. 🤨

I read somewhere that MARITES is actually an acronym of (M)aster of (A)rts in ®elaying (I)nformation (T)hrough (E)xagerrated (S)torytelling. I don’t know if that was the actual origin of the “marites” slang word, but I had a good laugh with this one.

0:45: TRICYCLES

Philippine neighborhoods have very narrow streets. It’s very difficult for cars to drive and park there, let alone even afford one. Therefore, tricycles are the most convenient way to drive passengers to nearby parts of your neighborhood. They’re very common around the islands and each province/region have different styles of tricycles.

This particular tricycle where Jo hitches on is common in Batangas/Cavite region. I’m pretty sure there are other provinces that have this style of tricycle, one that carries more than just 2-3 passengers (that has a seat), like a mini-jeepney. Also, passengers hitching on tricycles like Jo does is very common too. I’ve seen tricycles carrying 6-7 people in a 3-4 seater and tricycles that are designed to look like mini-jeepneys so they can carry at least 8 people at a time.

Public transportation in the Philippines isn’t exactly the best, but at least, they can take us to places that we needed to go. Tricycles, jeepneys, buses, monorails. I want to say that I have hopes of seeing a more improved public transportation system there, but after seeing all the natural disasters happening there with no disaster prevention infrastructure system being installed, ⁷ I don’t even have any high hopes of seeing any improved transportation anytime soon.

0:52: TARPAULIN

If you ever visited a party in the Philippines for special occasions, there will always be some sort of a tarpaulin (or tarp for short). In the case of this sneak peek, it’s to celebrate Raissa’s despedida ⁸ to the U.S. to study at Caltech. Therefore, a tarpaulin of Raissa’s despedida party is hoisted at the entrance of their home.

Tarpaulins are still being widely use, including with fans of celebrities to be hoisted during concerts and stage appearances.

0:56: ATE JO

In every part of the world, we always have an honorable title to refer to our parents and elders as a form of respect. In Asia, we also have honorable titles for the youth who may be older than us. That can be an older sibling, an older cousin, or an older neighbor or classmate. We would see them as being our older sister or brother regardless of relations. In the case of this scene, it’s the children recognizing Jo upon her arrival at Raissa’s Despedida as “big sister”/“older sister.”

A few examples for “older sister”:

• Japan: Oneesan, Neechan
• Korea: Unni, Noona

For Filipinos, we call her “Ate” (a-te). In this scene, children refer to Jo as Ate Jo.

1:00: THE “NAKALI” STORY

The Philippins has over 7,100+ islands, depending on high tide or low tide. Every island or region has their own versions of legends, myths, superstitions, and the like.

The child asking “Ate Jo” for another Nakali story is where I’d like to focus a bit. The island of Nakali is exclusively a new creation by the DreamWorks directors themselves. However, “nakali” is a common stem word for certain verbs in the Filipino language.

The name Nakali is based on the the word nakalimutan, which translates as forgotten. It’s both a verb and an adjective. Other conjugated versions of the word are: kalimutan (to forget), malilimutan (going to forget), nalimutan (forgot), and other different forms.

Later at 1:20, Jo accidentally bumps into a young man in a wheelchair. Even if the young man may be a stranger to her, she shows respect by calling him Kuya. (big brother/older brother, just like the Japanese “Oniichan” and the Korean “Oppa/Hyung.”)

0:16: MANANANGGAL (ma-na-nang-gal)

In Filipino folklore, there is a race of vampiric creatures known as the aswang. The aswang are shapeshifting monstrous creatures that live as ordinary humans like us during the day and become predators at night. They feed on blood and flesh of… you already know… but some specific ones target pregnant women for their fetuses.

Those specific types are the ones that terrify me as a child. In this sneak peek, Jo tells the story to the children about the mananggal, a type of aswang that is considered the most viciously monstrous of all the aswang. Manananggal are (if I’m correct) strictly female, in which they live among us as ordinary human women and then show their predator selves at night. They appear with bat-like wings, monstrous faces, large fangs, and fly on a haunting spree by detaching their upper torso and fly at night, looking for its first victim: a pregnant woman with their fetuses or in some regions, infants.

Jo and the children hide under the table for this horror tale:

But the baby’s crib is empty. All that remained in the room was the bloodthirsty MANANANGGAL!! 😈

– Jo (Forgotten Island (2026))

How do you kill a manananggal? It isn’t as easy: you have to find the manananggals bottom half of its body. When you do, you smear salt, crushed garlic, or put hot ashes onto the severed part of the torso. It won’t kill the manananggal right away, but like any other aswang and vampires, it hates the sunlight. The manananggal will re-attach itself to its torso before sunrise to continue their disguise as ordinary humans, but with the smeared salt, garlic, or ash onto the severed part of the torso, the manananggal won’t be able to re-attach itself and sunrise will eventually burn them to death.

Based on other teasers, the mention of the manananggal is a foreshadowing in the story.

1:13: TINIKLING

The two-bamboo dance is the Philippines’ national dance. There are also various bamboo dances throughout Asia, such as Singkil (Southern Philippines) and Magunatip (Indonesia and Malaysia). But in this scene, it’s the tinikling.

Honestly, seeing tinikling isn’t as common in usual large Filipino parties such as Raissa’s Despedida, but it could also be a regional thing or maybe some form of a connection towards the celebrant or the occasion the party is celebration for. Maybe they could have Raissa or a Filipino dance troupe perform the tinikling in that party. But seeing children playing with two bamboo poles isn’t very common.

Maybe replace that with “Chinese Garter” with a garter around the kids’ knees and Jo ends up jumping on it. That would have been a better scene and still be considered a part of Filipino culture. I used to play Chinese Garter as a child, though I’m not very good at it.

Anyway, moving on!

1:38: LECHON

Many regions around the world have roasted pig as their spotlight entree, especially at parties. Hawaii has the Kahlua Pig. The Philippines have *LECHON.

Pardon me vegetarians and vegans, but let me gaze at the beautiful roasted pig for a bit. Many people serve with sweet and sour sauce or sweet chili sauce. I love to eat mine with Mang Tomas Sarsa.

1:44: THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS

For those who are curious, here’s a Wikipedia article: Sacred Heart

For those who don’t know, the Philippines had been a Spanish colony for some 300+ years since 1565. Along with Spanish colonization also came Spanish Culture and religion. Roman Catholicism is the prominent religion of the Philippines. Every Filipino Catholic family has this particular portrait of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. My family and I had this portrait ⁹ in our home since we first moved in.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus isn’t specifically a Filipino culture thing, but definitely a part of Roman Catholicism. And because of that, this portrait had also become a staple among many Catholic Filipino households today, both in the Philippines and in the diaspora.

1:55: MANO PO

Other than titles of respect for our elders, we also have gestures of respect. We ask for our elder’s hand and rest our foreheads on them for both as our respect for the elders and for the elders to give us their blessings. In this scene, Jo gets caught scarfing her entire plate by an elderly tita, which she reacts by taking that tita’s hand and places it on her forehead, saying “Bless.”

The gesture Jo just made with that elderly tita is what we call Mano ¹⁰. The more formal term is mano po. ¹¹

It’s a very common gesture among Filipino youth, but just to be safe, not everyone does this. It all depends on the region or custom among their families or tribes. We do have 7,100+ islands after all.

1:58: NGUSONG GPS

Before GPS was invented, Pinoys have the nguso– pouted lips– to use as our directional compass.

Just like the Western world, we also believe that it is not polite to point with your (index) finger, especially towards another person. We consider pointing with the finger (at someone) rude or confrontational.

We could say the exact location of where that person is, but it’s just a lot more convenient to use something else as a pointer to locate a person than the index finger. The nguso became our answer.

When Jo spotted Raissa, thanks to Tita’s nguso, she says Salamat po, which translates as “Thank you.” The “po” at the end makes the phrase more formal and polite, since Jo is addressing the elder Tita.

2:10: ON THE WINGS OF LOVE

It’s not really a Filipino culture thing, however, On the Wings of Love is one of those typical karaoke songs Filipinos love to sing to. In addition to this, the reason why I’m pointing this out is because there was a teleserye (Filipino drama series) called On the Wings of Love that starred our very own James Reid and Nadine Lustre.

James Reid also managed Liza Soberano, the voice actress of Raissa, during Liza’s first period on her transition to Hollywood back in the day.

2:19: KAYA MO YAN, PARE (pa-re)!

“You can do it, Bro!”

It’s not too common for women to call their male barkada ¹² “pare.” We just usually call them by their first names (or “Kuya” if they’re older than us), but I have heard some women do call their male homies as “pare.”

Well, if I were translating this sentence in today’s English language, that would be it.

There is also mare (ma-re), the female equivalent to pare.

3:01: (POWERPOINT) SLIDESHOW

Not all Filipino parties do this when they celebrate a loved one, whether it’s a birthday, graduation, wedding, funeral ¹³ etc., let alone a despedida. But there will always be a slideshow of the celebrant, showcasing them from their diapers to today.

The song playing behind Raissa’s slideshow is something I couldn’t identify, but I know that voice anywhere. The vocalist was Jose Mari Chan, one of the Philippines’ legendary crooners and King of Filipino Christmas Carols.

MY THOUGHTS?

I’m really excited for this movie. I haven’t been this excited to watch a movie in years, and I would love to watch it with my family, especially Mom. We haven’t gone to the movie theaters since forever, and I’d like to take a few hours to go out with Mom other than just Costco shopping or visiting other family and relatives. I think it would be a really nice treat, especially that this past week was her birthday and my own is coming up in October.

We finally got some Filipino representation through 3D animation that isn’t made in the Philippines. However, I would also like to say that Forgotten Island isn’t just made for Filipinos around the world. But also for everyone around the world who would like to learn something new about another country’s mythology, customs, and how we see and approach the power of friendship. I feel that anyone can relate to friendship, adventure, and being in a new world.

I can’t say when we’re going to watch, but we do, I’d like to blog a full review of the movie.

This is it for my newest blog post. Life has gotten busy, but I’ll try to write a little more often.

Till next time!