MODULE 5: PHILIPPINE CONTEMPORARY DRAMA Ed

The term drama refers to plays enacted on the stage, but as time progressed, drama now comes into different
conventions and forms, such as the radio drama, TV drama, and films.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle, in his Poetics, determined six elements that make up drama.

These are plot, character, thought, diction, music, and spectacle. All these have become the foundations of drama
as the genre that we know today.

Plot and character as elements of drama do not differ from that of fiction. In fact, these are what makes drama
similar to fiction. Both are grounded on a storyline, that is the plot, with characters made to respond to these
circumstances and conflicts set up by, in the case of drama, a playwright or a screenwriter. On the other hand,
thought refers to the theme or the subject of the drama. Any work of literature is about something, and it is
written mainly because it has a message to convey.

Thought also explains the reasons behind a characters’ actions and behaviors. A clear delineation between fiction
and drama is determined by the elements of diction, music, and spectacle.

Diction, in the sense of the drama, does not only refer to the screenwriter or playwright’s choice of words but the
harnessing of dialogues to narrate a story. Unlike in fiction where readers understand the turn of events through
the description and narration from the eye of the narrator (whether that is first person, second-person, or third
person limited or omniscient), in drama, viewers get to understand the plot through the exchanges of dialogues of
the characters. This is known as the dramatic point of view.

Music and spectacle also add up to the overall appeal of drama as a literary genre. Spectacle refers to the setting
and how this could be made believable and convincing. Thus, spectacle includes the use of costume, makeup,
props, scenes or scenery sets, stage direction, lighting, and sound effects. Moreover, music doesn’t just refer to the
use of sound effects, background music, or soundtrack in dramas but also to the rhythm of speech or dialogues of
the characters.

The History of Philippine Drama

In the Philippines, reports of early chronicles showed the nonexistence of drama among the early settlements in
the archipelago. It is believed that the tradition was only established as a direct repercussion of the Spanish
invasion. Fernandez (1980) contradicts this notion by arguing that the drama in the archipelago in Spain at the time
of colonization. Etymologically, drama comes from the Greek word dran, which means"to was not determined
through the context of how drama started as a genre but on how it had already evolved do" or "to act," and thus,
the beginnings of drama in the West were described as "actions" and "deeds" hat involved mimicry. In this context,
it is then safe to say that our ancestors' rituals, dances, and songs are all manifestations of our indigenous drama.
Even our custom of pamanhikan, or asking for the woman's hand in marriage, could also be considered a form of
drama, as there is an exchange between the representatives of the groom's and the bride's families done in the
form of verses. However, all these were disregarded and considered practices of paganism by the Spanish
conquerors. Eradicate practices the Spanish deemed paganistic, they turned to zarzuelas to instill teaching of
Christianity. Another kind of drama introduced during the Spanish period in the Philippines Was comedia Moro-
moro was a kind of comedia that tackles the war between Muslims and Christians. It is often portrayed as a love
story of two people from opposing religious factions, often ending with either the death or the conversion of the
Muslim as a Christian.

The Americans, on the other hand, introduced vaudeville (bodabil) to the Filipinos. Unlike zarzuela or moro-moro,
vaudeville was a mixture of skits, comedy acts, songs, dances, burlesque, and, sometimes even magical acts. It was
mainly introduced as a form of entertainment for American soldiers residing in Manila, but it later grew to become
popular that performances were transported from town to town. After the Japanese occupation in the Philippines,
vaudeville lost its charm. The Philippine drama-theatre became a combination of all these influences, all while
cultivating its identity. For a time, the theater became a tool for education and was largely shown in classrooms
with its language mainly in English. Around the 1950s, however, the theater moved out from the classrooms and
transferred to enclosed arenas and coliseums where audiences bought tickets to watch the show.

Psychoanalytic Approach in Understanding Literature

One of the modern approaches in critiquing and analyzing literature is the psychoanalytic approach This approach,
as Hossain (2017) points out in his study, is a "controversial... but a fascinating and rewarding approach in the
application of interpretative analysis." This approach stemmed from Sigmund Freud a his controversial but
fundamental theories of psychology. The psychoanalytic approach to literature is vast, as there are several theories
in relation to psychoanalysis But at the core, what makes it an effective approach is that it focuses on one, if not
all, of the following the author and his or her psychological being, the characters in the story and the motives and
reason for their behavior, the audience and their psychological motives in reading a text, and the text itself and
this approach is the understanding of the manner of behavior and the underlying reasons therein-of the how
language and symbolism interplayed in the creation of the literary work (Hossain, 2017). Central to this approach is
the understanding of the manner of behavior and the underlying reasons therein-of the author, the character, or
the reader.

According to Freudian psychoanalysis, these motivators, intent, and underlying reasons for one's behavior and
action can be investigated through several theories. Freud believed that people's behaviors are usually influenced
by the unconscious or the desires, motives, and intentions that the individual is not aware of. The unconscious is
constructed because there were certain memories or events in the individual's life, Freud also explained that the
conflict between our desires and the unconscious created three areas in the mind: id, where the libido or desires
are located; ego or the ," the location of the mind that neutralizes the impulses of the self; and the superego,
which is the part of the unconscious that provides the moral standards by which the ego operates.

Drama refers to the genre of literature that is witnessed by an audience. At its core, drama is a story
about fictional characters wrapped up in fictional events that are given life through performance. Scripts
for plays and screenplays, although taking the prosaic form now, are written differently with dialogues
taking the highlight of the document. Action, or the scene description, is also usually written to specify
the character movements, reactions, and even sound and sound effects that are needed in the scene.
Thus, the convention of writing a drama is different from that of fiction.

Drama was believed to be only introduced in the Philippines during the Spanish colonization through the
proliferation of zarzuela, comedia, and moro-moro, among others. However, tracing the etymological
origins of the word drama meaning “to act," and taking into consideration how it began in the West
through actions and deeds that involved mimicry, the indigenous rituals, songs, dances, and customs of
the early Filipinos should be categorized as our early form of drama. Philippine drama later evolved
through the influence of the colonization. Filipinos have embraced the forms of zarzuela, Comedia, and
moro-moro introduced by Spain. Philippine drama nowadays is the amalgamation of the influences of
the colonizers, the search for the Filipino identity, and the trends brought about by globalization.

The psychoanalytic approach to understanding literature allows the readers to investigate the
following: the author and his or her psychological being, the characters in the story and the motives and
reasons for their behavior, the audience and their psychological motives in reading a text, and the text
itself and how language and symbolism interplayed in the creation of the literary work. This approach is
a good theory to apply when the reader or critic wants to flesh out the characters to deepen their
understanding of the story.