This document provides summaries of four Filipino films - Kabisera, Shift, Blue Bustamante, and Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon? - analyzing them through the lens of communication theories. Kabisera depicts a fisherman corrupted by his surroundings who risks everything for his family, relating to theories of persuasion and cognitive dissonance. Shift shows the friendship between two call center employees developing intimate self-disclosures, exemplifying social penetration theory. Blue Bustamante profiles an OFW who lies to his family and finds new work as a stuntman, interpreted through deception and social penetration. Ganito Kami Noon addresses colonial-era identity confusion but conveys the social concept

1. Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Sta. Mesa, Manila
College of Communication
Department of Communication Research
FINAL PAPER IN COMMUNICATION THEORIES
AND MODELS
Submitted by:
Michael Angelo R. Pereira
BACR 2-1
Submitted to:
Mrs. Kriztine Viray
Professor, Comm. Theories

2. Kabisera
The movie ‘Kabisera’, one of the entries of Cinema One Originals Film Festival 2013
through the direction of Alfonso Torre III, depicts a scenario of a humble fisherman as the head
of the family being corrupted by the choices influenced by the violence of their surroundings. It
shows us the reality in our society as the foundation of crime and deception. The movie starts
with a surreal dream of a family dining together in wholeness and peace. Andres, the father acted
by Mr. Joel Torre, sees himself as the head of the family sitting in the middle with an eccentric
smile that eventually turns out to be a sly horror in the end. The movie portrays a father who will
do everything and risk all things just for the sake of his family. His ambition and his
responsibilities as a father pushes him to the extremes of obsession and control that later on will
result in a decision that will change everything.
There was a scene in which Andres found himself sitting in the boat on his pond when he
saw something – two unidentified box floating in the middle of nowhere. He approached it and
found out that it was a huge package of meths, an illegal substance. He then hurried off the banks
and hide it in their outhouse. He, later on, found out that the drugs were assessed to be worth
millions. He was reluctant at first until he told his wife Dindin, acted by Ms. Bing Pimentel,
about the drugs. They had a deep conversation on what to do about these things. They come up
to a choice if he will try to sell the substance worth of money, an opportunity that will change
their lives, or just do nothing and was persuaded by selling portions bit by bit through the help of
Andres’ best friend Jose, acted by Mr. Art Acuna. This scene was likely to be associated by the

3. Elaboration Likelihood Theory. The theory says that there was a route of persuasion called the
Peripheral Route in which provides a quick accept or reject decision without deep considerations.
As we can see in the movie, Andres’ decision was influenced not only by the eager persuasive
attempts of their conversation but by the mere consistency and the scarcity of the situations itself.
Another theory, the Cognitive Dissonance Theory was also present in the part when
Andres’ choice to sell the substance bounded him to the breaking point. He knew how dangerous
it might be and the risk he was taking at the first place but he reason out and believed that all his
acts are for the better welfare of his family. His ambitions and goal as the head of the family
blinded him that eventually pushed his morality to the limits.
On the other hand, Andres’ strong bond with his best friend Jose shows us a good
example of a Social Penetration Theory which states that the more time we spend on another, the
more likely we are to self-disclose more thoughts and details of our life. Their bonding as
portrayed in the movie helps us to know their inner insights and thoughts about the situations
they had in their past lives and their inner regrets and remorse to each another.

4. Shift
Another entry movie entitled Shift, featuring Yeng Constantino as Estela, a young free
willed call center agent who is struggling for direction in her life. Despite her never-ending
ambitions and goals in life, she still manage to sit down and work inside the cubicle. But
everything changes when she befriend his homosexual co-worker Trevor, acted by Mr. Felix
Roco.
As the story goes, Estela and Trevor became friends and shared something far more
common to each other. They share deep thoughts and stories of their past and dreams, their
ambitions and goals. They share intimate secrets and insights to one another that later on will
spark a connection that will eventually affect her in more ways than she realized. This is one of
the best examples of the Social Penetration Theory.
Another scene talks about the way Estela assumed something special about how she was
treated by Trevor. Their friendship grow even stronger and their relationship deepens as they
share to one another. They exchanged comfy messages and worked as a team. The way Estela
assumed is somewhat closely to the Attribution Theory which says that people attribute
something based on how they behave on one situation, the Coordinated Management of
Meanings which clearly states that two people creates their own meaning as to how they perceive
their reality and Expectancy Violation Theory. Those theories explain the way why Estela
assumes something about how Trevor behave in her presence that later on violates her

5. expectation to what really should have happened. Apparently as the storyline goes, Estela falls in
love to Trevor and assumes that in return Trevor might somehow fall too but that didn’t
happened. That scenario caused turmoil to their friendship. Estela misunderstood the meaning
between friendship and affection and that causes her much more than she imagined.
The movie Shift tells us one thing: ‘we do not choose who we love’. It is a mere reminder
that we should not expect things more than we can for it can lead to disappointments and the
difficulty to let go and grow up from the things as it is.

6. Blue Bustamante
Blue Bustamante is another entry film of Cinema One Originals Film Festival
2013 that talks about an OFW named George, acted by Mr. Joem Bascon, who sees his job as
nothing more than a means of providing comfort for his wife June, played by Ms. Dimples
Romano and his son Kiko, acted by Jhiz Deocareza. He seeks an opportunity in Japan to work as
an Engineer but then he ended up in the TV industry as a stuntman of a masked hero in a blue
tight combatant suit. The movie shows a great connection between the childhood scores to the
adult reality. It emphasizes the transformation of a person from the core. It opens our eyes to the
most issues in the life of a common Overseas Filipino Worker.
George Bustamante worked as an engineer in Japan but later on he was sacked out. He
was so disappointed about the incident and to ease everything, he made up something to his
family to settle them down. He lied to them saying that he was working well as an Engineer and
things were going tough here but he’s good. This scene is a good interpretation for the
Interpersonal Deception Theory which attempts to explain the manner in which an individual
deal with actual or perceived deception. He then seeks another opportunity as an Engineer by
applying to several agencies and offices but to no good. His friend Roger Grace persuaded him
to try the TV industry. Roger was also tied up but then accepted as a crew in an ongoing show.
The scene when Roger Grace confess about how he is feeling to George is an example of
Social Penetration Theory. Roger disclose his emotions of jealousy towards George because of

7. some several factors. That situation brings them closer to each other and that also strengthens
their bond as friends.
Another scene depicts a little romance between George and his Japanese admirer. Their
first encounter was when George puts off his coat to comfort the girl she saw crying in a
restaurant. Later on as the story goes, George invited the girl to eat in a Filipino restaurant and to
have some little chit-chats. They shared some thoughts and insight by using both different
languages and assumptions that hinders the understanding between them. This is likely to be
interpreted by the Meaning of Meaning Theory which says that a misunderstanding takes place
when people assume a word or something that has a direct connection with its referent. For
instance, the moment the girl saw George’s ring which is a symbol of a married man, took away
her thinking and assumptions about how George conveys his acts. The girl also attributed
something on the way she was treated by George and also vice versa. This is can clearly be
interpreted by the Attribution Theory.

8. Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon?
Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon is a classic romantic drama film that has been
digitally restored by the efforts of the ABS-CBN Archives to be led by Mr. Leo Katigbak and
Digital Labs. The film talks about the situations in the era of colonization in the Philippines. The
movie is set between the timeline of the century during the Filipino revolution against the
Spaniards and then later on, the American colonizers. The bottom-line of the movie is not just
the humorous values of how it was delivered or the complicated love interest of Kulas and
Diding but a long veiled lessons about freedom and the identity of the society.
The movie represents the naivety and the innocence of the society towards its identity in
the persona of Kulas, a young slow-witted man who lost everything but not his identity as a
Filipino. He is acted by Mr. Christopher De Leon. Kulas is an innocent young man evolved to a
courageous man by the tragic incidents, hardships, pains, disappointments and brokenness that
served as an eye opener for him. At first, Kulas has no idea of what a Filipino is and why he was
called a Filipino but as the movie goes, the pain he sees in the eyes of the circumstances helped
him to understand the true essence of the Filipino – that it is not only the physical ties we have
with the land but the bond we shared to one another through traditions and the built of a family.
The whole movie conveys the interpretation of the Attribution Theory together with the
Social Concept Theory which assumes that the understanding, significance and meaning are
developed not separately from the individual, but in coordination with other human beings.
Hence, the reality is simply the by-product of human choices. We can clearly see in the movie

9. that Filipinos including Kulas himself actually have no sense of identity simply because of the
post effects they experienced from their colonizers. The violence, abuses, unequal treatments and
taken-for-granted actions of their subjugators exemplifies the worst condition of the society. The
Spaniards claimed the mark of being the Filipino leaving the True Filipinos nothing but a
shadow. That trademark gives them the reality of confusion in their own identity.
But that is not the end yet. As soon as the movie reached its conclusion, we can see as it
was clearly portrayed the final ringing words of Kulas, saying ‘Tandaan niyo, Filipino din kayo’
that somehow awakened our spirit to fight and pursue our right as a Filipino. The words that will
enabled our sleeping souls to reclaim the right to be called the Sons and Daughters of a True
Filipino.