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

Capino, José B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0816669724 ISBN 13: 9780816669721

Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2010

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

José B. Capino is assistant professor of English and media and cinema studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Edition details

• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0816669724
• ISBN 13: 9780816669721
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320