Wednesday, September 28, 2016

You Just Keep On Missing the Target




Oh my, talaga po bang may pagka-duling kayo when it come on hitting the target? No offence… teka, anyway, since I wasn’t even “tag” sa post mo where you mentioned my name (at nagkamali ka pa), I will be doing the same thing to you since I’m really not planning to make you famous. Obviously you are no Ms. Gilda Olvidado so there. Second, I will not even mention you by name… pasensya na, but I just can’t give you the proper courtesy. 

I almost fell sa aking chair when I have read your post – nakakatawa po sya. Sa lahat ng tumuligsa sa inyo sa Facebook, ako lang ata ang na-mention nyo by name (nagkamali pa). Maraming salamat po for the effort.  Anyway, hindi na ako magpapaligoy-ligoy, and let me tackle yung mga importanteng issue na nabanggit mo.


INSPIRATION VS. RIP-OFF

So I was a little uhh… sabi ko nga eh mukhang you always missed the target. Was it intentional? Anyways, why are we talking about Robin Hood and the Green Archer? At ang The Green Archer ay what???? Hango sa Robin Hood? Sure ka ba dyan? The issue here is that you (or you allowed) GMA management to turn your #AlyasRobinHood a cheap imitation of the US TV series #Arrow. Tapos, kung saan saan mo na dinala ang story hehehe. Obvious naman diba, especially sa costume. 

Talking about the DC comics’ hero The Green Arrow, hindi ito inspired sa Robin Hood. The Green Arrow doesn’t steal to the rich para ibigay sa mga poor.  Yung costume lang ang pareho at yung pana.  When writer Mort Weisinger and George Papp released it on November, 1941 eh… hindi fixed ang storyline nya. It was only on September, 1969 na ginawan ng in-depth story si Oliver Quinn (thanks to Neal Adams). So, if you are really familiar with the Green Arrow, dahil sabi mo nga eh “nagbabasa” ka ng DC and Marvel, you must have noticed na hindi sya naka-hood. Green Arrow’s costume is more like the “medieval” costume ng classic na Robin Hood na kulay green and a mask. Ang naka-hood eh yung character sa TV Series na Arrow. Speaking of costume, sa Errol Flynn classic na Robin Hood (1938), he’s not wearing a hood and even yung Disney Animation classic na Robin Hood, is not wearing a hood na kapareho ng damit na soot sa Arrow.

Now, since it is obvious na mas may idea ako sa The Green Arrow compare sa iyo, I will not even say na sa DC Comics character ka nag ripped-off. You know why? Because most of the “masa” (yung mga nanonood ng free TV at nanonood ng mga teleserye sa GMA) doesn’t even buy DC Comics. So what do they know about Arrow, Robin Hood and The Green Arrow? Sa totoo nga lang, yung mga may cable TV na nakaka-panood ng Arrow ang makakapansin ng cheap imitation eh. Sabi nga, eh mostly yung mga “eletista” lang ang bumibili at nag-babasa ng DC, Marvel, at Image Comics at nakakapanood ng JACK, at Warner TV sa cable TV.

Let’s go to classic literature…

Robin Hood is NOT A VIGILANTE. Hahahaha! Ano yan, extra-judicial killing? Leave it to the Duterte Administration. 

The 14th century Robin Hood was an OUTLAW. Iba po yung vigilante sa outlaw. Robin Hood steals money sa mga rich and he gives it to the poor. He also kills people of authority – kasi diba kalaban nya yung Sheriff of Nottingham. Now, according to the handy dictionary, a vigilante is when a person takes the law into his own hand without the authority of any legal agency. Now, papaano nga ba magiging vigilante si Robin Hood eh pumapatay sya ng legal authority?

William Tell? William Tell is NEITHER an OUTLAW nor a VIGILANTE. He was a peasant from Bürglen in the canton of Uri in the 13th and early 14th centuries who defied Austrian authority. He was forced to shoot an apple from his son's head (kaya may arrow dyan), was arrested for threatening the governor's life, saved the same governor's life en route to prison, escaped, and ultimately killed the governor in an ambush. 

Akala ko ba eh nag-babasa ka  ng mga “literatures?”

Tapos bigla kang kumambyo sa master plot?

Wag mo na i-kwento ang master plot sa akin. Nakabasa po ako ng The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri at Round and Round ni Scott Mcloud. I prefer writers to explain to me what a master plot is, not with someone who tell bad stories.

Talking about Moby Dick and Jaws...

So, you say that “ang lahat ng kwento tungkol sa shark na pumapatay ay di matatawag na original kasi laging nag-uugat ito ka-inspired ito sa movie na Jaws ni Steven Spielberg.” 
Oh my… Is this how you explain master plot?

Yung pong recent movie na The Shallow, was it a Jaws rip-off? Baka magalit sa inyo yung writer ng The Shallow. I cannot even say na inspired ang The Shallow sa Jaws.  

Teka… when Steven Spielberg released E.T: The Extraterrestrial noong 1982, sumikat ito and maraming mga ET wannabees na naglabasan like “Mac and Me” at yung “Nukee.” Now, those are rip-offs kasi naki-cash in lang sila sa pagsikat ng ET. But should I say na rip-off ng ET ang British sci-fi comedy movie na “Paul?”

On shark movies naman, before Jaws was released in 1975, nauna ng lumabas ang Blue Water, White Death (1971), which is a documentary film about a  Great White Shark. Now, are you saying na hindi original ang kay Spielberg dahil nauna ito sa kanya?  

Let us not praise Spielberg pag-dating sa Jaws. It was Peter Benchley who wrote it. Now, hindi ba original ang novel ni Peter Benchley dahil sa Moby Dick ni Herman Melvill? My gulay!  That’s your word diba? Sabi mo, “ang lahat ng kwento tungkol sa shark na pumapatay ay DI MATATAWAG NA ORIGINAL kasi laging nag-uugat ito ka-inspired ito sa movie na Jaws ni Steven Spielberg. Na HANGO naman ata sa Moby Dick.” (emphasis mine.)

For your information, the things that inspired Mr. Benchley sa Moby Dick ni Mr. Mervill eh yung pag-hunting ni Capt. Quint sa Great White Shark and how he died. Yun pa nga eh, iniba ni Spielberg sa movie version ang ending. In Mervill’s Moby Dick, si Captain Ahab eh matagal ng obsessed sa pagpatay doon sa White Whale, which eventually killed him. In Benchley’s Jaws, the Great White Shark terrorized the town of Amity kaya nagpatawag si Sheriff Brody ng mga tao na babayaran para pataying ang pating. It was Capt. Quint who got the job kasi cheap lang daw ang service nya. It was reviled later in the novel that Capt. Quint hated sharks (noticed that he loves to collect shark jaws for deco purpose) because most of his navy buddies were killed by sharks in WWII.  Capt. Ahab on the other hand was looking only for a particular whale for revenge– the white whale that chew-off his leg.

So, ano na lang ba natira? Uhhh… Oh yes, Arrow vs. Alyas Robin Hood.

Hindi po Robin Hood at The Green Arrow ang issue. Yung pong Arrow na pinag-uusapan natin dito eh yung TV show where this Alias Robin Hood made a poorly copied  costume na design ni Colleen Atwood para sa kay Stephen Amell, not to mention a villain with an eyepatch whose name was “Wilson.” Coincidence?  I can’t even imagine kung ano pa ang mga ibang ripped-off sa show.  Hahaha! Talk about “inspirations.”

Now, what is an inspiration?

Let see…  John Sturges's The Magnificent Seven (1960) was inspired sa The Seven Samurai (1954) ni Akira Kurosawa. However, hindi naman ginaya ni Mr. Sturges yung costume ng mga Samurai at pati yung itsura and name ng kalaban sa gawa ni Kurosawa. Very unprofessional yun at nakakatawa.  The Magnificent Seven was based sa American Wild West, very different from Kurosawa’s feudal Japan, yet the plot is almost the same: Kasi nga, they say that the story was so good they have to remade it to fit the American audience. Hindi mo pwedeng gamitin ito na excuse – to tell me that Alyas Robin Hood is an Arrow remade to fit the cheap audience, kasi yung character design ang problema natin, hindi plot ng story.  George Lucas’ Star Wars was inspired by different Kurosawa films, especially yung The Hidden Fortress, with some combination of Arthurian Legends, and some swash-buckling Errol Flynn’s classic films, pero ang background eh “a galaxy far, far away.”  Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings was inspired from The Bible and some of Tolkien’s experience in the trench noong World War I.  All those stories are considered original. Inspiration doesn’t mean creating counterfeit. 

Sa madaling salita, inspiration is what gives writers idea – to create. Hindi yan about makiki-ride on ka lang sa something na na-established na, and creating a cheap look-alike.  Hindi ko naman suguro sasabihan na poor counterfeit yang Alyas Robin Hood sa Arrow if… well, if he’s wearing a different costume. Marami namang employee ang GMA sa kanilang production staff diba? Maybe a 5 hours “thinking” session eh effective to give your counterfeit a different look. Maybe if you gave him a salakot or a mask? At least naiba compare sa isang taong may pana na naka hood – very much like the costume design of Arrow.

So, we’re been talking about inspirations versus cheap imitations… malinaw na suguro ito. Again, inspiration means getting ideas –  mga bagay na tutulog para mabuo ang story, but then inspiration is not an excuse to create a cheap imitation of an established product. Being inspired to Robin Hood is one thing, but copying the costume design of the TV series Arrow? Now that’s a cheap rip-off.

Well, sabi nga ni Princess Merida, “ Oh, weelamb.” That means lame… yung pong paliwanag nyo eh masyadong lame. Come on… we all know na this is all about money, at naiintindihan ko naman yan. We need to put food on the table. It is also about trying to beat the program of the other network. Syempre, gumagawa kayo ng gimmick para naman mapataob nyo yung Ang Probinsyano ng ABS-CBN – but please, maging truthful naman tayo paminsan-minsan at pag nabisto na yung pagiging cheap imitation, wag na tayong gumawa ng mga excuses at palusot. Lalo lang nating hindi natatamaan yung target. 

I have said my piece. Let us move on.

#AlyasRobinHood #Arrow #GMA #cheapimitation #ripoff #AngProbinsyano #ABSCBN #writer #writing #TV

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