Cinema One Originals

1. POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION
Department of Communication Research
Sta. Mesa, Manila
Cinema One Originals (Communication Theories)
Hazel Manguiat
Bachelor of Arts in Communication Research 2-1

2. Shift
When I watched the movie "shift", there were three scenes that marked in me. The first scene was when Estella, a call center girl, fell in love with her gay best friend who was always with her every single day. They often had friendly chitchat, talks and even dates that made Estella realized that she loved Trevor more than a friend and she expected that his best friend loved her too. But Trevor had a boyfriend that time and Estella didn't know about it. As we can see, the theory that we can apply for this kind of situation is the Expectancy Violation Theory, which attempts to explain the Estella's reaction to various meanings and unexpected behaviors of his best friend that violates the expectations of her. The next scene was when Estella started ignoring Trevor because she was deeply in love with his gay friend. Trevor questioned Estella for her actions, but she lied and answered that she was just too busy to have a talk with Trevor. The theory for this is Interpersonal Deception Theory, because Estella attempts to manipulate messages so as to be untruthful which cause her inkling that Trevor may detect that she's lying. In the other hand, Trevor has already a suspicion that his best friend gave a false communication. The third scene was when the two met for the first time and Trevor tried to approach Estella and he asked questions about her. Estella did the same way too. Because of this, they became really close and felt comfortable with each other's company. Uncertainty reduction theory is the theory that best explains the scene because when Estella and Trevor met as strangers they immediately seek information by asking questions that reduces their uncertainty with each other and leads to have self-disclosure.
Blue Bustamante
The first scene in the movie was when Nayomi, a Japanese girl who liked George, and expected that George liked her too. But then she found out that he was already married. Nayomi hated him for that. The theory for this was the Expectancy Violation theory because Nayomi expected that George wanted him too. But it's not the reality and that leads to the violation of Nayomi's expectancy. The next scene was when George knew that his son likes watching Blue Force and his favorite character was Blue Ranger, which he was the one with that role and he was forced not to follow the Director's scene. He then, made Blue Ranger stay alive and killed its enemies just for his son to be happy. Another scene was when he was forced by Jun, his friend, to work as Blue Ranger in a TV Program known as "Blue Force". He can't refuse. He had accepted the offer even if he didn't want to. He did that just to send money for his family from the Philippines. Reinforcement theory is the best theory for the two scenes because in the first scene, George wanted his son to be happy, so he was forced to take Blue Ranger alive. For the second scene he was forced to work as an actor just for the sake of his family.

3. Woman of the Ruins
In the first scene since Pasyon was the husband of Maria, she was forced to live with him. That one can best described by Reinforcement Theory because Maria was forced to live with Pasyon, that for them "husband and wife" should live together. Next is when Pasyon kept torturing Maria for he believed that one day she will remember everything. The theory in this scene is Cognitive Dissonance theory. And lastly, was when everyone expected Maria that she will remember everything but she did not. We can apply Expectancy Violation theory for this kind of situation because the people there expected that her memory will come back, but then it did not really come back.
Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon
The movie "Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon" was set in the era of Spanish and American colonization in the Philippines. The movie was all about the attitudes of the Filipinos in the said eras. It showed how Filipinos lived their life with these kind of situations and how they struggled in establishing cultural identities in times of revolution. There was Kulas, a young Filipino man in the 19th century, who portrayed different Filipino identities. He had his own dreams and goals. He wanted to travel over different places. And then he met lots of powerful people that really changed his life. He met a Chinese merchant boy who also called as Filipino since he was born in the Philippines. And Indios was the term they used to call a Filipino with a low standard of living; they were the ones that were being disgusted. The young man Kulas, knew the worth why they live, they should love and serve the country no matter what the situation may be. He found out that Filipinos were the ones who truly cares for our country. They loved the Philippines by heart and they were willing to die just to get its independence. At the end of the movie, Kulas met orphaned children and told them that no matter what happens they were still Filipinos. The theory that we can apply for this movie is the Attribution theory because the young man, Kulas, sees himself as one of the Indios who's not so important citizen, the poor, the stupid and the unethical ones.