Dream Factories of a Former Colony: American Fantasies, Philippine Cinema

Description

Philippine cinema, the dream factory of the former U.S. colony, teems with American figures and plots. Local movies feature GIs seeking Filipina brides, cold war spies hunting down native warlords, and American-born Filipinos wandering in the parental homeland. The American landscape furnishes the settings for the triumphs and tragedies of Filipino nurses, GI babies, and migrant workers. By tracking American fantasies in Philippine movies from the postindependence period to the present, José B. Capino offers an innovative account of cinema's cultural work in decolonization and globalization. Capino examines how a third world nation's daydreams both articulate empire and mobilize against it, provide imaginary maps and fables of identity for its migrant workers and diasporan subjects, pose challenges to the alibis of patriarchy and nationalism, and open up paths for participating in the cultures of globality. Through close readings of more than twenty Philippine movies, Capino demonstrates the postcolonial imagination's vital role in generating pragmatic and utopian visions of living with empire. Illuminating an important but understudied cinema, he creates a model for understanding the U.S. image in the third world. Contents Note on Translations Acknowledgments Introduction: A Tale of Two Sisters Part I. Visions of Empire 1. Terror Is a Man: Exploiting the Horrors of Empire 2. My Brother Is Not a Pig: American Benevolence and Philippine Sovereignty 3. (Not) Searching for My Father: GI Babies and Postcolonial Futures Part II. Transnational Imaginings 4. The Migrant Woman’s Tale: On Loving and Leaving Nations 5. Filipino American Dreams: The Cultural Politics of Diasporan Films Part III. Global Ambitions 6. Naked Brown Brothers: Exhibitionism and Festival Cinema 7. Philippine Cinema’s Fatal Attractions: Appropriating Hollywood Coda: A Tale of Two Brothers Notes Filmography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z