How dystopia in PH looks like
- Mikaela Olaguera
- Jun 19, 2015
- 2 min read
Photo from teen.com
Don’t you just think how amazing words can reflect our reality? I mean, with the placement of every morphemes and the art on playing with sets of words, these symbols (like what you are currently reading) can actually let us feel things. And those feelings may stay for good or haunt us to death.
Thanks to words, the creative minds of writers can now be shared to the people who read their works. They said books can let you travel the world. I beg to pardon, but most of them take us to places not even existing on Earth.
Mga Kuneho by Guelan Luarca actually took me into a place. Though it was set on a metal room where bullets bounce all the way, I may say I now caught the glimpse of dystopia in the Philippine setting. It’s pretty much like Divergent with smaller population, Maze Runner in minimalist construction, and oh, the ending is very Hunger Games except that the characters realized the game just by the end.
Can I say that that was legit gross? It wasn’t even pioneered by a technology institution for an experiment. Shit happened “literally.” There weren’t even “May the odds be ever in your favor” kind of thing to live by. Kill or be killed then and there for the amusement of the curators. These were all intended.
More than a place, this script has taken me into the realm where I can oversee our country and understand that A, B, C, D, and E are more than just fictional characters and are pretty much alive—or already dead. The kapit sa patalim archetypes end up being stuck in a metal room, lost in the labyrinth, and driven to kill, I mean fight for a miserable survival.
There can be a lot of interpretation for this piece actually. Good thing is that the elements are not always specific, the script became flexible therefore. The entity behind this or the encounter itself can be anybody or anything, it depends how the reader perceive it.
The sense of mystery did a good job. For most plays, audiences are usually all-knowing. It sometimes requires a prior knowledge for us to understand what is going on. But I love that I am as lost as A, B, C, D, and E in the course. As they realize the truth, I felt like I was there every step of the way. Putting the audience on the same level of literacy as the characters built that anticipation that even a scream got me flipping out. I can’t actually sleep after reading this. This is indeed a bizarre approach in discussing poverty, I’m blown.
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