Takipsilim. That's the tentative title of the Filipino version of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, currently brewing in ABS-CBN's kitchen. Even the translation of the catch phrase seems to be verbatim, "Kung mabubuhay ka habangbuhay, ano ang ikabubuhay mo?"
Crap. What's happening to creative writers nowadays? Not only are we bombarded with cliche story lines, we also need to put up with dozens of remakes and adaptations. Come on.
I'm not a Twilight fan, so I'm not really as indignant as others probably are. But really. I'm reacting because...well, they say imitation is the best type of flattery. I think it's embarrassing, not because we can't do justice to the stories (so okay, some adaptations really sucked, but others were relatively all right), but because it reflects our inability to produce our own stories. It's embarrassing that we need to borrow the same old idea, rehash it and package it as new content.
We really need fresh ideas nowadays. Do you know, I don't watch television anymore because I can't take the load of crap these media outfits feed the people. What, do they think so low of Filipinos?
There are many theories pertaining to media's function. One such is the agenda setting theory, stating that media sets what people deems important, meaning it feeds information that, on closer inspection, are not really what's necessary, but it's what sells.
The long-standing argument is whether media gives the people what they want or need, or if media gives what can drive its profits up, making people accept whatever they produce.
Ah, well. Even I don't really know the answer to that. But I do know that media uses cultural products for profit, meaning that whatever it produces seeks to maintain the status quo, i.e. this society of profiteering.
How did I end up discoursing again? Ah, well. I'm just glad that this re-make and adaptation craze didn't happen at the height of the Harry Potter craze. I'm so glad that the creative ingenuity of network creative consultants did not extend to localizing Harry Potter.
Or I would have gone berserk.
P.S. Encantadia was based on the Lord of the Rings saga, right? But at least that was decent. I don't think they could have pulled off adapting Harry Potter. I just don't think they could have. Encantadia was at some point related to ethnic culture, but HP is just too...different.
*image taken from http://wakpo.com/articles/off-topic/takipsilim-twilight-tv-series-in-the-philippines
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