One of films role is to educate and provide insights of information that people may be forgotten or may not have known clearly about. Having these films help to provide knowledge and widen viewer’s perspective about certain issues. For example, documentary are known to provide viewers with facts that they may not have known and history films are to allow viewers to understand the past events better. One example would be ‘1965’, a Singapore film released in 2015 which depicts Singapore history about immigrants and natives. The film show how their lives have transformed with riots and independence of Singapore. It is a representation of the days in the past. This allow teenagers nowadays to better understand the history and better relate to the sufferings and story of the past. Younger generation would hence have better insights about the challenges and better improve ourselves for the future.
Month: April 2017
Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast is a 2017 American musical romantic film directed by Bill Condon and co-produced by Disney. The film is a live action remake with some animation graphics, of Disney’s 1991 animated ‘Beauty and the Beast’. The film features Emma Watson and Dan Stevens as the main characters.
One controversy identified was that the sidekick of the villain Gaston, LeFou was said to be given a “gay moment” where he briefly waltzed with his friend. The director however pointed out that the media made a hill out of this “tiny moment” and “Beauty and the Beast features much more diversity than just the highly-talked-about LeFou”.
Some praised this moment in the movie but others criticised it. In Russia, the culture minister gave a rating of 16+. Some countries like Alabama and Kuwait did not screen the movie at all. Some boycotted the movie. Malaysia insisted for the gay moment to be cut. However, a p13 rating was given in the end and the release date was postponed to 30 March. There was call to boycott on LifePetitions which received over 129,000 signatures. There was a debate in Singapore because we have a conservative society. However, the screening was not affected in the end.
Wayang boy
Wayang Boy is a family comedy about Singaporeans living amidst the influx of foreign immigrants.
The main character, Raja is new in Singapore and he was brought to Singapore by his Chinese stepmother Emma after his father married her. On his first day of school, Raja is branded ‘a foreign talent’ by the class bully, Xavier. The two promptly get into a fight, dragging classmate Shi Han, into the mess.
As punishment, the principal lays an ultimatum: join the Chinese Opera troupe, or face a month in detention. Queen Elizabeth is visiting the school in three weeks and the principal wants to impress her with a multi-racial Chinese Opera performance.
Through the mayhem of the children’s multi-racial wayang performance, everyone learns anew the meaning of living together as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion.
Just like in reality, this film shows the part of Singapore where there are many foreign immigrants coming into the country for various reasons. It also shows the perspective of what we usually view these foreign immigrants as, and how they despise our view of them. Moreover, this film teaches us that no matter what our backgrounds are, we can always be united as one and work together through times of difficulties.
Films
One major role of films in Singapore is to educate viewers more about the society they live in. Films are able to entice viewers to issues that they may disregard or take little interest to if portrayed in a word form such as books. However, with the use of films, producers are able to captivate viewers to want to know more about a certain issue or topic at hand, broadening viewers perspective by showing different sides of an issue. For example, the movie “The Apprentice” directed by Boo Junfeng, highlights the issues of death sentences faced in Singapore. Although majority of Singapore’s population, estimated 95%, supports the idea of death sentencing in, however, they fail to see the trauma and hardships a hangman goes through whilst having to execute a person. The film “The Apprentice” depicts a first hand experience of hangman’s struggle to pull the lever and even stories of hangmans filled with guilt after having ended a prisoner’s life. This shows that films are able to showcase to viewers about issues such as death sentencing which is come things most Singaporean would not give much thought about as majority of them feel it would not be somethings that would ever affect them personally. Furthermore, often time, people simply think of punishing the criminal for instance through death sentencing however these people fail to think about how these death sentences are even carried out and the trauma that will forever remained etched on a hangmans mind. Hence I believe that through film, Singaporeans will be more aware of the things happen around them such as in jail and learn new perspectives instead of just thinking and standing firm on their own feelings.
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It’s A Great, Great World!
A film to showcase Singapore in her glorious past, and the once famous Great World Amusement Park which was located at Kim Seng Promenade. The very same land space is currently occupied by the shopping mall, Great World City. Although the amusement park’s name has been retained, many people (elderly in particular) still miss the place and the memories that they have had at the amusement park that used to stand there.
Pre-USS and Adventure Cove days, Singapore has had other amazing (and forgotten) amusement parks that were the greatest entertainment sources in the past. We may be familiar with the names “Escape Themepark”, but for the generations before us, they had other fun parks like “Big Splash”, “Wonderland Amusement Park” and “Great World Amusement Park”.
Recently in 2011, local director Kelvin Tong made a film on Great World Amusement Park to reminisce about the famous attraction that Singapore used to have. It brought back many memories for those who were around when the themepark was in operation, and before the Malaysian “Sugar King”, Robert Kuok, decided to tear down the stronghold and develop the space for shopping and residences.
The film circled around the themepark and the lives of people who worked there, and also on people who frequented it. Also, because it was set in the past, the film also showcased the tough lives of people during war times and back when Singapore was still a developing country. The film brought back great memories for the elderly, but it also taught the younger generation on being appreciative and thankful for what we have now.
Interesting Articles:
Long Long time ago
LONG LONG TIME AGO follows the trials and tribulations of a family from 1965 to the early 1970s. Their journey through the years from their humble kampong to a modern HDB flat, runs in parallel with Singapore’s early growth. Over the years, the family witnesses every step of the nation’s growth. This movies shows how the past Singapore was like as compared to the modern day Singapore. It also shows what Singapore has gone through the years in order to develop to what it is now. This movie shows the younger generation what hardship their parent’s and grandparent’s generation have gone through and thus they should appreciate and protect what they have now.
Channel 8 drama: unriddle 2
This drama is a sequel to Unriddle, one of the first sequels in Mediacorp dramas in nearly 10 years in 2010. The show sees the return of the two main characters Xiaoman (rui en) and Zhengyi aka Bun (Chen Liping), where picking off from the cliff-hanger ending at Season 1 they continue to solve cases of complex crimes beyond their imagination. Each case leads to another, quickly taking on a darker and edgier tone, with many friends and loved ones getting killed. As the story progresses, they realize that there is yet another mastermind behind these events and that the reasons for their own involvement in these cases may be more than simply being part of their work…
The main reason for me to be hooked on Unriddle in 2010 is because singapore very seldom film police action drama. We can see the effort of the whole Unriddle production team trying to deviate from the norm by creating a police thriller story that trigger viewers’ emotions and provoked them to think. Unriddle 2 placed more emphasis on the emotions of the three main characters. Hence it was quite obvious that there were less crime cases to focus on. A darker and more intense theme was incorporated into the sequel after the scriptwriters look into the viewers’ feedbacks and comments after Unriddle 1. The sequel addressed the imperfection of police which led them to choose to be on the bad side when left with no choice.
Unriddle 2 concluded with an open-ended type of style which resulted in controversies as to why there were no definite answers and explanations. At that time I personally feel that if there is going to be Unriddle 3, the ending of Unriddle 2 allow story to further develop with Hu Xiaoman may no longer be a cop anymore. So the storyline will be refreshing and not repetitive. However, there isnt any in the end, hence i was impressed by it. Furthermore, is it a sad ending which singapore drama usually end with happy ending hence this spark another discussion.
Where got ghost?
“Where got ghost?” is one of the highest grossing Singaporean films at SGD 2.5m. This film tells 3 tales of superstition and the supernatural in Singapore with a comedic twist. These stories entertain the viewer while showing off popular superstitions in Singapore like bad karma, ghostly encounters during NS and the seventh lunar month.
Singaporeans still keep these superstitions in mind and are careful not to perform any sort of taboo.
Films in Singapore
A film that I have watched when I was young that made an impact to me was “Money not enough 2”. I remembered that the show was emotionally touching and has made me reconsider the lifestyle that Singaporean had today. The film shows how money, although crucial, family relationship is still the most important. This show revolves around an elderly mother with three sons that has neglected her due to their busy lifestyle. The mother wasn’t given a proper place to live in due to reasons given from the sons that were “busy” making money, she had to move from house to house as they had “no time” to take care of her. In the end, during an emergency blood transfusion between the elderly and her granddaughter as there was only 1 blood bag left for their bloody type, the elderly sacrificed her life for her grandmother.
Personally, the main purpose for me of films is to educate people on the values and allow one to reflect on something. Whether it is the value of kindness or appreciating family relationships, there is something that we can improve ourselves on. Films are also reflections of how the society works and I feel like what the film I have mentioned above, some people in Singapore get too caught up in their work that they tend to neglect their family. Hence, I believe that films can impact the audience positively if they portray certain problems that people can learn and reflect on.
Getai with the Papaya Sisters!! Film: 881
Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdM1o6W6u-Y (Part 2)
One of my all time favourites when I, a person who finds most Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) films cringy, watched 881 (more commonly known as their Chinese term 八八幺) all I felt was comedy and tidal waves of emotions. This film by acclaimed (and what many people perceive as controversial) director Royston Tan not only pays tribute to Getai songwriter legend Chen Jing Ling (I did not even know this until I read Edmund Yeo’s blog), it also reflects Singapore’s long standing Getai tradition. The film revolves around 2 best friends known as Big Papaya and Little Papaya (who has a terminal illness, cancer if I did not remember wrongly) who wants to end their last Getai stage together with a bang while battling their archrivals the Durian Sisters who wants to gain total stardom and dominate the Getai. Let me first explain what Getai is.
Getai, by translation literally mean “Sing Stage” in Chinese. It originated in Singapore during the Japanese occupation at New World Amusement Park. Today Getai mainly happens during the “Hungry Ghost Festival” to entertain both the living and the dead. The Japanese allowed the continuation of Getai mainly because they loved music, and because Getai served as a form of distraction of the masses who flock to watch these entertaining performances from the hardships during the occupation days. Getai is seen as a “uniquely Singaporean” thing today (not sure if this is practised overseas or not), but it has been reported that it was used by the Singapore Ministry of Health to reach out to the Chinese educated residents. It was also reportedly used by the Lien Foundation to counsel those who view death as taboo to start discussions about it. (http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_2015-02-25_161203.html) Used in this way, Getai has not reflected the evolution of Singapore’s musical pathways but when used correctly, can educate masses too.
I really liked the show and the ending was tragic and sad (tissue paper please). The film also managed to reach out to younger audiences, causing them to be more aware of Singapore’s culture and traditions besides the other 2 functions mentioned above.
16S11 GP Blog 