Roman JD Thesis Proposal Draft PDF

UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL PAGE 1
CHAPTER I
THE INTRODUCTION
A. Background and Rationale of the Study
Watching movies has become an integral part in the lives of Filipinos
placing the Philippines as one of the largest movie attendances in the world
(Sotto as cited in Tope, 2013). Watching a film is an experience, and movies
are relevant because they provide both visual and aural elements and narrative
components where individuals, subcultures and communities can borrow to
make sense of the everyday experience (Parasecoli, 2009).
Fruchtl (2015) asserts that a feature film or motion picture relies on
the emerging figure of the hero that personifies a sociocultural whole, or an
individual who embodies a community, permitting a concept of reality.
Henderson (Davie, 2011) affirms that the myth of the hero is the most
common and well-known myth in the world. This myth refers to the story of
the hero – from his humble beginnings, to his journey, and to his ascension to
hero. According to Henderson, there is a universal and common pattern in the
archetype of the hero’s makeup, even though they were developed by different
groups or individuals without any direct cultural contact with each other. Jung
(Davie, 2011) supports this claim through his description of what comprises
the universal hero myth. The universal hero myth is a powerful man or god-
man “who liberates his people from destruction and death,” and an individual
who combats the forces of evil. Jung and Henderson (Davie, 2011) also note
that this archetype has an unavoidable connection and reaction that can evoke
in a person, since the ideas or myths of heroes and the heroic images and
schemas have been ingrained in the human psyche, functioning as symbolic
representations of the whole psyche that supply the strength and a more
comprehensive identity to what the personal ego lacks.
In a study conducted by Harvey, Erdos and Turnball (Davie, 2011), it
states that an act may be thought heroic when it relates to courage, bravery and
altruism that manifest through heroic actions that are often hazardous to the
hero to attain a desired outcome. Therefore, heroism is defined as “a
combination of bravery or courage, altruism, a sense of duty or citizenship,
and a disregard for personal well-being.” However, as these characteristics
come together in action to form a heroic act, not all need to be present for an
act to be heroic, Harvey et al. (as cited in Davie, 2011).
As feature film or motion picture relies on the figure of the hero
(Fruchtl, 2015), Wojcik (2014) stresses the historical interrelationship of
cinema and the city. Wojcik states that the rise of cinema followed on the
heels of urbanization and industrialization. Wojcik also notes that early cinema
production and exhibition was largely urban, and the city has proved to be a
rich and diverse cinematic setting and subject. In support of this, Davies
(2009) on his study elaborates the interplay between urban life in the cities and
moving images in the form of film. According to Davies, this interplay is

dynamic, which is full of unfolding relationships and hidden depths. However,
cities are malleable, pliable, and constantly changing. As such, the experience
we have of urban spaces is always a negotiation between various powers and
influences (Gieseking et. al., n.d.)
As cities are often made as a common backdrop found in film and
television programs, this proves that there is an undeniable link existing
between the city on one hand and film and television on the other, and
excluding television and film from the history of the city ignores an integral
part of a culture (Davies, 2009). In the Philippine landscape, city films
incorporate Manila not only as a site but as a character (Tolentino, 2012); as
space and moment (Flores, 2012); as an image machine that spontaneously
generates images (Beller, 2001); and Tondo is the roughest section of Manila
(Tope, 2013).
Filipino films that emphasize geography and space stress two issues:
First is the abject poverty as the new space of Philippine cinema; and second,
the transcendence of space over time that anchors the present time as a
juncture for social realities (Tolentino, 2012) where the masses are alienated to
thwart the possibility of an exit against the helplessness of their condition
(Tolentino, 2010). In this concept, the presence of the hero as redeemer
becomes a looming image in the film narrative that may translate politically in
the audience's imagination. In these films, the hero’s circumstances are the
circumstances of his audience (Tope, 2013).

In Exploring a Material World: Mise-en-scène, Corrigan and White
(2009) refer to Realism as the term used to describe the extent to which a
movie creates a truthful picture of a society, person, or some other dimensions
of life. It also refers to psychological or emotional accuracy (in characters),
recognizable or logical actions and developments (in a story), or convincing
views and perspectives of those characters or events (in the composition of the
image) that transcend to a myth. The most prominent way to explore cinematic
realism is through the scenic realism of the mise-en-scène. Scenic realism
enables us to recognize sets and settings as accurate evocations of actual
places. Scenic realism is most commonly associated with:
• the physical accuracy of the backgrounds, objects, and other figures
• the cultural accuracy of the backgrounds, objects, and other figures
• the historical accuracy of the backgrounds, objects, and other figures
Moreover, Corrigan and White (2009) explain that the measure of
film realism is often more a product of the authenticity of this scenic realism
than of the other features of the film, such as the psychology or actions of the
characters. Recognition of scenic realism frequently depends on the historical
and cultural point of view of the audience. In addition to scenic realism, the
mise-en-scène of a film also creates scenic atmosphere and connotations, those
feelings or meanings associated with particular sets or settings in a film.

Not only considered as one of the most mentioned historical places in
Philippine history, Tondo has also left its mark in the Philippine cinema as a
perennial choice of setting and atmosphere in many films, in both mainstream
and independent, particularly in FPJ films. In the Philippine cinema, the
district of Tondo in Manila has been a perennial choice of setting stimulating
“real” urban experience. In Tondo films, the presence of thick crimes; vices;
poverty-stricken places; slum areas; gangs and killings; and less-fortunate
families cannot be undone yet. It is mostly in these movies you can see the
“FPJ hero”, with all his might and his signature "bakbakan" moves, tries to
eradicate the presence of violent gangs and its armies, and other injustices in
the society.
As Tondo is a perennial choice of setting in local films stimulating
“real” urban experience, films with multiple lead characters are also perennial
in the Philippine cinema. However, the typical action-driven narrative
efficiently operates through a single hero that allows the audience to
experience the film through singular identification (David, 2011) such as the
FPJ hero. Most action films express public distrust of the state as the justice
and political system cannot be relied on, Salazar (as cited in Tope, 2013). But
these action films lie in its ability to empower those who are powerless outside
(Tope, 2013). Thus, the use of hero’s subjective persona in action narrative-
driven films redefines its filmic space (Tolentino, 2012). And FPJ ran into the
mold of the action hero and the action movie formula, especially in the
characters he portrayed (Tope, 2013).
The discussion of the city is mainly used as a supplement to analyze a
film. While in urban studies, works dealing with the city make little or no
reference to film and television as a source of information. More so to the
nexus of film as reference to other indirectly related disciplines such as the
geographical sciences, economics and philosophy — television (cinema) and
the city is blunt (Davies, 2009). In cinema and in films, men are seen as the
protectors, the saviors, the breadwinners, and the know-all; proving that men
still dominate the cinema (Smith, 2013). While the dominance of the male
character is prominent in cinema particularly in action movies, works
rendering a thorough explanation on the convergence and interrelationship of
the hero and the city is fragmentary. Therefore, finding a work that is used as a
meeting point of analysis of these two in the field of cinema is a breakthrough.
Hence, this study aims to explore and define the convergence of hero
and place in shaping and building of the ‘myth’ in the iconic persona of the
late Fernando Poe Jr as “Da King” of Philippine cinema.

B. Statement of the Problem
This study examines Tondo films as a cinematic apparatus that
inhabits the digressions and diversions of urban experience (Niazi, 2010) and
interrogates the representations and convergence of hero and place to unfold a
new ground for Filipino cinematic imaginary. As this study seeks to collapse
the boundary line between Tondo, as space located in the “real,” and iconicity
of the “FPJ hero,” the problems of the study are the following:
1. How do FPJ’s characters follow the pattern of the myth hero?
2. How does Tondo figure as a supporting trope of place and space in FPJ
films?
3. How does FPJ constitute a semiotic sign denotatively and connotatively?
4. How does Tondo function as a semiotic sign in the making of the FPJ
myth?
C. Scope and Limitation
Space and iconicity are interrogated in this study in order to unravel
the convergence of Tondo and FPJ hero in the Tondo films of Fernando Poe,
Jr (FPJ). The “Tondo” films of Fernando Poe, Jr. are carefully selected from
the list of his films by identifying the setting or the actual shooting location of
the film through the available synopsis from the Internet and with careful
guidance and instruction from FPJ Productions. Communication with FPJ

Productions is mostly done through platforms such as telephone and email.
The mentioned communication platforms make it easy for the researcher to
acquire immediate guidance and supervision from FPJ Productions in
gathering information – as they give immediate responses to the researcher’s
inquiries.
Out of two hundred sixty-three (263) films starred by Fernando Poe
Jr., the researcher is able to gather seven (7) Tondo films (See Appendix A for
the chronological list of FPJ films). The researcher decides to carefully study
not only a few but all these seven Tondo films to objectively bring out the
commonalities in the production constructs of these films. These films are as
follows:
1. Ito ang Maynila (1963)
2. Tundo: Isla Puting Bato (1977)
3. Tatak ng Tundo (1978)
4. Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite (1986)
5. Dito sa Pitong Gatang (1992)
6. Eseng ng Tondo (1997)
7. Pakners (2003)
To carefully study the commonalities in the production constructs,
signs; themes (geography; humor of characters; local color; hero and villain);
characterization; symbols; metaphors; dialogue; and music, serve as the units

of analysis (UOA) in analyzing the said films. Therefore, the mise en scène of
FPJ’s Tondo films are further observed and interrogated by the researcher to
unravel the symbiotic nexus between icon and place. Mise-en-scène describes
the most recognizable traits of a film and the way these are shown and
arranged in the frame (Mise-en-scène , n.d.).
As the researcher is able to find a good number of literatures on
heroes in films and city studies, only a limited number of literatures focusing
on Tondo have been found; thus, this study hopes to contribute to the few
existing studies on Tondo.
D. Significance of the Study
In a previous study, Parasecoli (2009) mentions that mass media —
movies in particular — offer to many individuals and communities throughout
the world new filters through which they can represent, interpret, and
sometimes critically examine their daily lives.
Past studies (Tope, 2013; Wardrop, 2011; Parasecoli, 2009) link the
power of cinema to producing specific impressions and emotions, creating a
conventional reception among audiences by perpetuating the same images and
political messages in the other films. Marsh and Nair (as cited in Wardrop,
2011) state that film can be considered as a reflection of social ideals, values
and changes – as such the images portrayed in dominant cinema can be seen as
representations of a largely male-dominated, patriarchal society such as the
FPJ film. Tope (2013) hypothesizes that the FPJ film, at any one time, is a
powerful experience of commonality and communality that suggests the
performance of an imagined community.
On a different note, Parasecoli (2009) argues that “film
representations are not mere reflections of reality, but they can play an
ideological role in reinforcing power structures and cultural assumptions even
when they appear to be critical of the present reality. Under other
circumstances, they can constitute subtle provocations and real attacks
against social status quo as viewers know it and perceive it.” In support of
this, Stam and Spence (as cited in Parasecoli, 2009) argue that “films’
representations are not all-powerful but they might be read differently by
different audiences.”
With a good number of related literatures on film presentations,
representations, and the power of media in creating a conventional reception
among audiences, the need to divert to a different focus is deemed necessary
by the researcher. Thus, the researcher takes interest in exploring how
“Tondo” as space known for being the roughest section of Manila (Tope,
2013), conversely constructs the iconicity of the image of Fernando Poe, Jr.
(FPJ) as the mold of the action hero and the action movie formula (Tope,
2013). As films’ locations in actual places of squalor or the mise-en-scène
further confuses relations between the real, symbolic, and ideal (Tolentino,
2010), this study aims to dig deeper on the function of Tondo as a semiotic
sign in the making of the said myth, and how the real and fictional elements
converge in the mythmaking process built around FPJ.
Furthermore, this study presents images, characterizations, and
representations given on Tondo as depicted in FPJ films. In this light, this
study aims to give a “real” picture of what really comprises the whole district.
Thus, the local government unit of Tondo and the city government of Manila
will have a clearer perspective and understanding of the issues present in
Tondo, as mirrored in FPJ’s Tondo films. This would hopefully generate a
more concrete plan in improving the district and its image. As this study is
beneficial in setting up a different perception and understanding of the said
district in Manila, this study is a significant endeavor in sanitizing the image
of Tondo as rendered in many local films.
Lastly, this study is beneficial to future researchers aiming to
conduct critical studies on Philippine cinema. As this study is geared towards
offering a critical view of the presentations and representations of hero and
place and its convergence, it would hopefully unravel a new site for Filipino
cinematic imaginary.
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
Four strands of literature are relevant to the focus of the study: One
deals with the heroic roles and image of Fernando Poe, Jr as icon in the
Philippine cinema; one focuses on the imagery of Tondo as an iconic space in
cinema; and another one tackles the power of real and fictional elements of
cinema in making a myth. Therefore, publications, literary works, theses and
dissertations on the said subtopics lay the groundwork for this study.
I. Tondo as Filmic and Mythical Place
Place refers to a human habitat wherein human interaction and their
relationship to its surroundings is the center of its existence and vitality. Place
is anchored to location and setting as its vital attributes (Guest, 2012; Liu,
2008). Setting refers to a fictional or real place where the action and events of
the film occur (Corrigan and White, 2008).
In films, the use of setting or locations is endless. Geography, the
political and constitutional circumstances, and social norms and customs all
contribute to a location’s depiction and can give great insight into the
locations-on-film by using a particular setting (Baker, 2014).
In film narratives, place or setting provides an arena for conflicts
(Schatz, 1981); serves as a symbol; and serves as an important component in

the creation and communication of meaning in films (Lethbridge and Mildorf,
2004).
Liu (2008) argues that the experience of place has the capacity to bear
testimony to distinct roles and the capacity to bear action and access to social
valuing. On the other hand, the making of a place is essential to communal
development, social control and empowerment in a given social order.
Therefore, an individual’s experience of a place and his bond to the social and
physical contexts yield oneness of the person with the place. As a result, one’s
awareness of place correlates with the social nexus of one’s situated being.
Setting is critical to all films as it helps convey the theme of the film
and create the atmosphere of the story, making the story credible and realistic.
One way to choose a setting is to select an already existing locale in which to
stage the action (Bordwell & Thompson, 2008).
In the course of a film narrative, places or settings can also be a motif.
Duckworth (2008) defines motifs as the recurring structures that develop and
communicate a film’s major themes. Motifs are essential in the language of
cinema as it is often used to communicate character and to indicate and remind
the audience of essential and important facts.
Motif as a recurring structure, Gravagne (2013) defines recurrence as
the return which either affirms or differentiates the on-going existence of a
being. So, when a film is seen as a representation of reality, difference can
only be signified in relation to an already existing identity by making a

comparison through the “laws of association, continuity, resemblance,
contrast, or opposition”.
Arguing from this perspective, Gravagne (2013) asserts that there can
never be any real repetition but only continual invention to the degree that
individuals carry the past along the present since life is temporal and
durational. Therefore, this study seeks to explore how Tondo functions as a
recurring production construct, a sign, motif, and metaphor in the filmmaking
projects of Fernando Poe Jr.
Films discreetly use metaphor as a means of understanding our
experiences, signification, constructing the meaning of the texts and our
representations of them, and association of a concept to an image
(Comanducci, 2010). However, the great power possessed by metaphors may
function positively and negatively. As metaphors have the power to help create
meaning and understanding, it also has the power to manipulate, to shut down
thinking, to deflect creativity, and to harm (Lumby & English, 2010).
Comanducci (2010) describes metaphors as not only a means to
create literary flourishing and decorative linguistic expressions. It rather
informs and helps to shape larger assumptions and larger pictures that make up
what we call cultural identity (McKay, 2011). Metaphors help us to reframe
reality by allowing us to think about the things they signify and experience
them in a way (Benveniste, 1998). It can also be used to efficiently and
pleasantly convey connotative meanings by the association of signs or through

the interaction of cognitive structures, Goatly (as cited in Comanducci, 2010).
Metaphors also help shape thought and action (Lumby & English, 2010);
structure what we experience (Bråthen, 2012; Benveniste, 1998); and evoke
powerful and dramatic images and feelings (Hellsten, 2002). It is powerful in a
sense that it concretizes issues and it offers continuity between new and
previous topics. Whilst many words are used to identify, describe, and define
places, places can also be used in a metaphorical way to describe ideas,
concepts and situations; but metaphors may function positively and negatively.
Since this study analyzes the “Tondo” films of Fernando Poe, Jr. the
researcher deems it important to examine how Tondo is presented in history,
literature and cinema. In the researcher's review on the role played by Tondo
in the Philippine history, few local literatures have tackled the possible
influence of the accounts of history in the creation of the conventional
reception and perception on the imagery of Tondo as a place. In the
researcher's analysis, Tondo is one of the most mentioned historical places in
Philippine history, and is a prominent district in Manila—the capital of the
Philippines. Among the fourteen (14) municipal districts of Manila, Tondo
comprises the first and second districts with a total population of 628, 106 —
garnering the highest number of population in the city of Manila as of May 1,
2010 (Philippine Statistics Authority, 2013).
Most people’s only ideas of Tondo are its slums, the old Smokey
Mountain dumpsite, and the tales of its gangsters like Asiong Salonga and
Totoy Golem. But unknown to most people, Tondo also occupies a good
position in the Philippine history. It is the cradle of Tagalog culture and of the
Philippine resistance against colonial oppression. Places like Gagalangin,
Bangkusay, Moriones, and the famed Divisoria marketplace, Juan Luna,
Tayuman, Pritil and Balut were residences of some prominent and respected
families (Flores, 2005). In fact, some of the richest Filipino families reside
there (Moses, 1908).
Tondo has also become such a fertile breeding ground for well-known
identities in the Philippine landscape. To name some, Born “Tondeños”
include Andres Bonifacio, the founder and Supremo of the Katipunan; Emilio
Jacinto, the Brains of the Katipunan; Atang de la Rama, the Queen of Tagalog
Song; the novelist Bienvenido Santos; National Artist for Theater and
Literature Rolando Tinio; the 19th-century painter Damian Domingo; the
National Artist in Painting Cesar Legaspi; and the musical genius Levi
Celerio. Tondo also gave birth to the Katipunan, the first nationalist revolution
in Asia, on July 7, 1892 (Flores, 2005).
However, the legacy left by Tondo in the Philippine setting has been
replaced with connotations for being cesspools of thick crimes; vices; poverty-
stricken places; slum areas; gangs and killings; and less-fortunate families.
When one mentions Tondo, several connotations have been tagged with its
name. Conde (2007) in his article in The New York Times described “Tondo,
Manila slum notorious for its chaos, filth, poverty and violence”. He also
added how rampant the gang culture is in Tondo. The gangs call themselves
“tribes” and there are more than a hundred of them in Tondo today, each with
their own set of codes of morality and honor, Libiran (as cited in Conde,
2007). A dwelling place and community that it once were, Tondo was created
breeding grounds of crime, erupting into violent regional gang wars.
Several books mentioning the connotations given on the image of
Tondo were published (Moses, 1908; Galang, 1969; Ira, Medina, & Ricio,
1977). Moses (1908) perceived Tondo as the dirtiest and most crowded part of
Manila. Galang (1969) described Tondo as Manila’s “backyard” somber with
the look of poverty. Ira et al (1977) also mentioned that Tondo has become
notorious for its underground characters and goons, filthy slums and clogged
esteros with a crush of people, and the conglomeration of the rich, middle-
class and desperately poor people where wealth and poverty can be neighbors.
In this light, two commentaries in the previous years (Roy, 2014;
Cuneta, 2013) left their notion of the district’s woes. Cuneta (2013) mentioned
that Smokey Mountain, a large landfill located in Tondo, is a snapshot of Dan
Brown’s depiction of Manila as “the gates of hell” in his novel, “Inferno”.
While Roy (2014) mentioned that Tondo is a poverty-stricken sprawling
district considered as Manila’s infamous slum with families living a life of
poverty.
Tondo has become so thickly peopled after the Second World War
when the phenomenal surge of provincial folk into the city continued to
accelerate. The coastal district is adjacent to the city piers where hordes of
provincial folks disembark and make their first home in this district (Ira et al,
1977).
The general perception about Tondo is that it is a city of crime and
rudeness – a disgrace to the city, to be precise. Tondo residents are seen in
such a way that there are more gangsters than respectable people. As it is
unknown to most people that Tondo is also significant in Philippine history,
even the origin of where the name “Tondo” originated has also been a subject
of several discussions and confusion. For some, Tondo was originally Tundoc
– a place with many trees of this plantain species. Tundoc is a banana with
violet skin, though the fruit itself is yellow and sweet. There also is Tundo,
Tagalog for baiting or catching fish; hence, tundaan, a small boat often
attached to a bigger fishing boat. Tondo, being coastal, argues well for the
name source. But those with a Southeast Asian overview say Tondo is
borrowed from tandu, a Malayan or Indonesian word common in place names,
like Tandu Batu (Ira et al, 1977).
Tondo is a district once ruled by patriotic Filipinos. But for years,
Tondo has been a subject of studies in social illness. In spite of the bad
impressions attached to the name, Tondo has survived the many vicissitudes of
Manila's growth. However, it is different now as when it was founded on June
24, 1571 (Galang, 1969).

II. Attributes of the Iconic “FPJ Hero” and His Journey
Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ) has become one of Philippine cinema's icons,
who has risen from matinee idol status to urban legend and finally to myth and
icon (Santiago, 2009) that earned him the moniker “Da King” (King of
Philippine cinema). Way before the death of FPJ on December 14, 2004, his
long career as an action film star earned him the moniker "Da King" – an
action movie hero found within the Philippine landscape through the
characters he portrayed.
In Tope's (2013) study, it is stated that the usual FPJ fare includes the
following: 1). First, the hero is located within a Filipino landscape; 2). the
films are grounded on Filipino terrain, geographically and emotionally, and
“Tondo” is the roughest section of Manila; and 3). an FPJ film would have
locations that are imbued with everyday memories of struggle and survival
(such as a church, a municipal hall, a plantation, rice fields, jeepneys, slums,
public markets, beer houses).
Moreover, the plot of FPJ’s action films emphasizes the nation’s
narrative wherein the struggle of the hero is a national struggle, the hope of the
film a national hope. The hero takes center stage whose story is a recognizable
pattern of injustice and vengeance while people (and the audiences) play a
supporting role. FPJ’s character as an action hero is like a Christ figure who
willingly lays down his life to protect the oppressed because the justice and
political system cannot be relied on. The poor is being defended from the
abuses of the powerful; the action hero privileges the individual who is
underrated by danger and institutional sanctions; and the villain represents
what is the reality while the hero stands for what should be (Tope, 2013). A
previous study conducted by Deza (as cited in Santiago, 2009) among
fisherfolks of a sitio in Cardona, Rizal showed that the fishermen apprehend
FPJ not only as a movie star but as a neighbor in their community regarded as
one of their own who is talking casually.
Truly, the FPJ hero has mystified several studies to embark on a new
journey of discovering more of the man behind the myth. This individualistic
hero is efficient in generating change. Although this hero is not necessarily
fighting for the community, the people understand that his reasons are personal
but they would also be motivated in the same way. The people still regard him
as fighting the good fight. The fact that he is a member of the community
makes the personal also communal. Therefore, as how social struggles are
being manifested through and in his films, FPJ as an action hero plays a vital
role in generating change for the pursuit of a better life. Tope (2013) asserts:
“The people, paralyzed by fear and lack of weapons, will not take up
arms to defend themselves if there is no hero to lead them. The site of
nationalistic hope shifts from the people to the hero and the hero acquires the
iconic substance of a savior or redeemer.”
It is a fact that the cinema has taken its place in the Filipino culture
and the arts and it has always fascinated the Filipino audience. Deza (as cited
in Santiago, 2009) asserts that the audiences’ fascination with the movies
extends even to the lives of the movie heroes, thus, making the hero an
important element in their reality. The people’s struggles and circumstances
dictate that the answer to oppression is not a popular uprising but a hero
(Tope, 2013).
III. The Power of Cinema in Making a ‘Myth’
The previous section discussed Tondo as a mythical place. However,
this section will specifically focus on the power of cinema as a medium — an
art that offers filmmakers ways to design experiences for viewers, and those
experiences can be valuable regardless of their pedigree (Bordwell &
Thompson, 2008). Several literature and past studies were analyzed to know
how cinema influences the creation of emblematic scenery and imagined
reality.
As cited in Watt's (2007) dissertation, Kellner (1995) asserts:
“Radio, television, film and other products of the culture industries
provide the models of what it means to be male or female, successful or a
failure, powerful or powerless...media culture helps shape the prevalent view
of the world and its deepest values: it defines what is considered good or bad,
positive or negative, moral or evil.”
Unlike other media such as painting, literature, and dance – which
have existed for thousands of years; film is considered a young medium. Yet
in this fairly short span, the newcomer has established itself as an energetic
and powerful art form. Its power relies on its ability to communicate
information and ideas by showing us places and ways of life we might not
otherwise know (Bordwell & Thompson, 2008). Film is an art form that
mirrors life, the experience of watching a movie is likened to journey into a
world constructed by artistic imagination (Chang, 2011) where audiences
become changed people for having experienced them (Coulter, 2010).
Orueta and Valdés (2007) argue that film has an enormous capacity in
transmitting images. They pointed out that it is necessary to point out cinema’s
limitations in reaching a fully quintessential perception; in recreating
atmospheric phenomena; and in recognizing its ability to present from points
of view impossible for the human eye. In support of this, Crous (2011) asserts
that while films often draw on reality in order to give the impression that they
are somehow closer to real stories, individuals and situations – they are never
actual reality itself. But everything that occurs in a film is affected by context
(Bordwell & Thompson, 2008) and this contributes to the creation or the
familiarization of emblematic scenery, through its reiteration or magnified
representation (Crous, 2011) and experiential situation (Liu, 2008). By
invoking shared memories and knowledge, cinema creates a heightened
awareness of the collective experience of time and space (Connolly, 2012).
The images, stories, individuals and situations portrayed in films
themselves may not solely reflect the reality, but it acts as a metaphor for the
brain's imaging capacity, Turim (cited in Konstantinidou, 2014). They not only
work as mirrors, representations, or counterparts of a “real”, but they
contaminate reality and model it, Baudrillard (Coulter, 2010). Moreover, not
all films distinguish equally well between the real world and the world of a
film (Crous, 2011). So much of our so called “reality” is filtered through the
media, including tragic events of the past (Coulter, 2010).
IV. Synthesis and Critique
Generally, there have been a number of materials written about the
misrepresentations committed on mass media and its impact on its audience.
Truly, the effects of media on people’s lives have been considered a salient
issue in the society. It is manifested through the attention given by scholars to
the subject matter.
The literature review has indeed shown the power of media,
particularly of cinema, in influencing the creation of emblematic scenery and
an imagined reality. However, it is also found that it is not always the case. It
is shown that no matter how close to reality the impression films would
portray, several factors such as the choice of setting; casting; storyline; and the
imaging of the hero do not solely reflect the reality, but rather contributes to
the construction of a new site of cinematic imaginary. Other factors such as the
fascination of audiences with the movies and their interests with the movie
idols become an important event in their reality. Commonalities and patterns

in experiences among audiences and these films engage audience's minds and
emotions. Audiences, in turn, conceive their experiences and construct their
representations of them in terms of other experiences and representations.
Thus, these shared experiences make the audiences create a shared cultural
emotion in which they perceive as reality.
In the same light, films, regardless of the genre, which is said to be an
integral part of the Philippine culture, continues to captivate people despite the
fictional treatment applied to it. No matter how close they are to real stories,
individuals and situations, films are not merely an actual reality. Films consist
of constructs created by a creative industry aiming to bank (i.e. capitalism) and
be accepted by a wide range of audiences (i.e. popularity). As what Bordwell
& Thompson (2008) have mentioned, movies are made in the hope that
consumers will pay to see them. But still, films contribute, but not solely, to
the creation of an imagined community perceived as reality.
Previous studies on the influence of media, particularly of cinema, in
creating a conventional reception among audiences have been clearly stated in
this paper. However, focusing on the convergence between hero and place – to
collapse the boundary line between these two in films – is in need for further
investigation in order to contribute to a new site for Filipino cinematic
imaginary. Thus, this study focuses on the symbiotic nexus between Fernando
Poe Jr. (FPJ) as an iconic hero in action films, and Tondo as an iconic space,
in the selected local films of FPJ in the past years.

CHAPTER III
FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY
A. Theoretical Framework
As this study seeks to explore the convergence of ‘hero’ and ‘place’
in the mythmaking process of the image of Fernando Poe, Jr. as the “Tondo
hero,” four theories are used to construct the framework of the study. Hence,
the theories to be used are the following:
1. Monomyth: The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell
As the FPJ hero becomes a myth in several action films in the
Philippine cinema, it is safe to say that the representation of social and gender
roles cannot be taken away from the action films of FPJ. According to Marsh
and Nair (as cited in Wardrop, 2011), film can be considered as a reflection of
social ideals, values and changes – and the images portrayed in dominant
cinema can be seen as representations of a largely male-dominated, patriarchal
society.
In the Philippine cinema, images of a largely male-dominated,
patriarchal society are a staple – such as the FPJ films. The image, story and
journey of FPJ as “Da King” of Philippine action movies have become staple
attributes of a hero who with all his signature “bakbakan” moves try to
eradicate injustices in the society. With this, we can say that the FPJ journey is
no different to other types of heroes of many cultures. According to Vogler
(2003), all stories of a hero consist of common structural elements of stages
found universally in myths, fairy tales, dreams, and movies. While the cultures
of the societies vary, there is a common strand embedded within the
infrastructure of each civilization, and that is the hero and his story (Harris,
2014).
Joseph Campbell (as cited in Vogler, 2003) argues that there are
many common patterns running through hero myths and stories from around
the world, thus leading him to discovering several basic stages that almost
every hero-quest goes through and this highlights repetitive archetypes
throughout heroic tales. He calls this structure the monomyth or “The Hero’s
Journey.”
The Hero’s Journey is Joseph Campbell’s all-embracing metaphor for
the deep inner journey and path of transformation that leads heroes to go
through great movements of separation, descent, ordeal, and return. But not all
myths contain all stages – some myths contain many of the stages, while
others contain only a few; some myths may focus on only one of the stages,
while other myths may deal with the stages in a somewhat different order
(Campbell & Cousineau, 2003).
As this study seeks to explore the journey of Fernando Poe Jr. as an
action movie hero and as an idealized member of the Philippine cinema culture
and society, this study uses Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth theory or The
Hero’s Journey to explore the mythmaking process built around the image of
FPJ by learning about the truth in his world and his individual identity through
the stages of The Hero’s Journey.
Figure I. The Monomyth or The Hero’s Journey

proposed by Joseph Campbell (photo taken from Google)
Stage 1: The Ordinary World and Call to Adventure
For those people in the ordinary world, the Hero possesses some
abilities and characteristics that make people feel that heroes are extraordinary
beings. The Hero's journey begins when the hero is called from the Ordinary
World and discovers that his world is in danger. Despite his reluctance to leave
his home, his family, his friends, and his life; the Hero accepts his destiny and
journeys on a quest. The Hero’s new world is much different than the world he
is used to but this new world is sure to be filled with adventure.
Stage 2: Refusal of the Call
The Hero is given a task or quest in which he is faced with a choice:
accept the quest or deny it. But the quest is called upon him which only him
can complete it. But in here, we can see how he feels a big sense of duty or
obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons
that hold him to accept the call.
Stage 3: Meeting the Mentor
Once the hero has accepted the quest, may it be consciously or
unconsciously, the hero enters a Special World he has never experienced
before; a world with its own rules and that which contains constant threat of
death. As he goes through it, his guide or Mentor appears and becomes known
in the story. A Mentor or aid is mostly a character who has mastered the laws
of the outside world and gives wisdom to the Hero for the quest called upon
him to be completed. In every instance, the help given by the Mentor is
something the Hero needs to succeed and complete the quest. As Campbell
says, “One has only to know and trust and the ageless guardians will appear.”
Stage 4: Crossing the Threshold
This is the point where the hero fully crosses into the Special World
for the first time – the moment at which the story takes off and the adventure
gets going. At times, romance also begins here. In this stage, the Hero is now
committed to his quest and there is no turning back for him.
Stage 5: The Tests, Allies and Enemies
Having crossed the Threshold, the Hero faces tests, encounters allies,
confronts enemies, and learns the rules of the new world. The Hero
experiences a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that will eventually make him
undergo the necessary transformation.
Outside the Hero’s ordinary world, the Hero needs to find out who
can be trusted. In this point, Allies are earned, a sidekick may join up, or an
entire team to back up the Hero is forged. However, Enemies and Villains are
encountered here as well as the rival to the Hero’s goal may reveal himself.
As the Hero is preparing himself for more challenges in his quest, this
stage serves as the test to the Hero’s skills and powers that will reveal if he
needs further assistance and training from his Mentor. With all the challenges
the Hero faces in this point, a test to the Hero’s commitment to the journey,
and questions whether he can succeed are brought to this part.

Stage 6: The Innermost Cave
The Inmost cave may represent many things in the Hero's story such
as an actual location in which lies a terrible danger or an inner conflict which
up until now the Hero has not had to face. At the threshold to the inmost cave,
the Hero may once again face some of the doubts and fears that first surfaced
upon his call to adventure. He may need some time to reflect upon his journey
and the treacherous road ahead in order to find the courage to continue (The
Hero’s Journey, n.d.).
Stage 7: The Supreme Ordeal
The Hero has gone through a series of tests, obstacles, and challenges
that make him stronger. However, a Hero is yet to reach his final battle or his
Supreme Ordeal – the obstacle he has journeyed so far to overcome. The
Supreme Ordeal may be a dangerous physical test or a deep inner crisis that
the Hero must face in order to survive or for the world in which the Hero lives
to continue to exist. For him to face his most deadly opponent, the Hero must
draw upon all his skills and his experiences gathered upon the path to the
Inmost Cave in order to overcome his most difficult challenge.
This is the high-point of the Hero's story and where everything he
holds dear is put on the line. If he fails, he will either die or life as he knows it
will never be the same again (The Hero’s Journey, n.d.).

Stage 8: The Reward
Having survived death and the great danger, the Hero now takes his
reward or the ultimate achievement of the goal of his quest. The reward may
come in many forms: an object of great importance or power, a secret, greater
knowledge or insight, or even reconciliation with a loved one or ally (The
Hero’s Journey, n.d.).
Stage 9: The Road Back
The Hero must finally recommit to completing the Journey and accept
the Road Back to his Ordinary World. A Hero’s success in the Special World
may make it difficult to return. Like Crossing the Threshold, The Road Back,
needs an event that will push the Hero through the Threshold, back into the
Ordinary World (Vogler, 2003).
Stage 10: The Resurrection
The Hero faces the Resurrection, his most dangerous meeting with
death. This final life-and-death Ordeal shows that the Hero has maintained and
can apply all that he has brought back to the Ordinary World. This Ordeal and
Resurrection can represent a “cleansing” or purification that must occur now
that the Hero has emerged from the land of the dead. The Hero is reborn or
transformed with the attributes of his Ordinary self in addition to the lessons
and insights from the characters that he has met along the road. The
Resurrection may be a physical Ordeal, or final showdown between Hero and
Shadow; however, the Ticking Clock of the Road Back has been set. This
battle is for much more than the Hero’s life. Other lives, or an entire world
may be at stake and the Hero must now prove that he has achieved heroic
status and willingly accept his sacrifice for the benefit of the Ordinary World.
Other Allies may come to the last-minute rescue to lend assistance, but in the
end the Hero must rise to the sacrifice at hand (Vogler, 2003).
Stage 11: The Return with Elixir
The Return with the Elixir is the final Reward earned on the Hero’s
Journey. The Hero has been resurrected, purified and has earned the right to be
accepted back into the Ordinary World and share with others the Elixir of the
Journey. This Elixir could be in form of love, wisdom, or simply the
experience of surviving the Special World. The Hero may show the benefit of
the Elixir, using it to heal a physical or emotional wound, to heal a wounded
land, or accomplish tasks that had been feared in the Ordinary World.
The Return signals a time when we distribute rewards and
punishments, or celebrate the Journey’s end with revelry or marriage. The
Elixir may bring closure to the Journey and restore balance to the Ordinary
World. Story lines have been resolved, balance has been restored to the
ordinary World, and the Hero may now embark on a new life, forever
influenced by the Journey traveled (Vogler, 2003).

2. Cinematic Realism by André Bazin
Since the days of the ancient Greece when Plato first put stylus to
tablet in attempt to determine what makes ‘art’ art and what makes it ‘good
work of art’, the concept of ‘Realism’ has long been considered a theory of art.
This theory has gained importance during the Renaissance period when the
innovation of ‘perspective painting’ was perfected. After the maturation of
Realism as an approach and style of art, the medium of photography came next
that was studied studied upon. According to some influential theorists like
André Bazin and Siegfried Kracauer, ‘Realism’ as a theory, rooted to the
human fascination with the mediation of artistic reproduction of physical
reality. For these two theorists, modern cinema can be the recent successor to
the evolution of photography. But more importantly, modern cinema can serve
as the next step in the evolution of the theory of ‘Realism’ as an approach to
the creation of art. Both Bazin and Kracauer work along similar lines in
positing a prescriptive approach to cinema as an extension of the theory of
Realism in the arts. Just like a photograph, “a film is realistic because it
correctly reproduces that part of the real world to which it refers,” Kracauer
(Edwards, 2013).
Bazin identifies cinema as the fulfillment of the human cravings for
realistic representation; and cinema’s mission is therefore, to fulfill this goal.
For Bazin, ‘Realism’ is a style whose primary elements are the long take, deep
focus, limited editing, and when possible, the use of non-professional, or at

least relatively unknown actors. Realism is both the essence of cinema—its
ontology—and a rhetoric whose keys were simplicity, purity, and transparency
(Film Reference, n.d.).
Bazin suggests that showcasing the essence of reality is possible—to
which he refers as “structural depth” and “preexisting relations”—by showing
reality itself without adding anything, and that the interpretation of a film or
scene should be left to the spectator. Furthermore, Bazin believes that film
then should respect this essence of the facts and present them according to
their nature—for it is unnecessary and can only do harm to add something to
this factual character. Indeed, it wouldn’t help to bring out the essence of
something but instead would obfuscate it (Realism in the Film Theory of
Sergei Eisenstein and André Bazin, n.d.)
However, Bazin’s position in this regard can easily be misunderstood
as if he is taking “realist” films like that in the way of an objective
documentary—which is only observing and recording what’s happening like
“a fly on the wall.” Instead, he reminds that it’s essential for film—as for any
form of art—to select what it shows. As he argues, ‘Realism’ in art is an
aesthetic that can only be achieved in one way-through artifice: a choice
between what is worth preserving and what should be discarded, and what
should not even be considered. In the essence of creating the illusion of reality
in art and cinema, a choice sets up a fundamental contradiction which is at
once unacceptable and necessary: necessary because art can only exist when
such a choice is made; unacceptable because it would be done at the expense
of that reality which the cinema proposes to restore integrally. The point is that
the artifice reveals the world: but it doesn’t hide it, Bazin (McKibbin, n.d.) and
film is uniquely qualified to record and experience aspects of physical reality,
Kracauer (Film Reference, n.d.). The whole, and the entity of what is shown is
preserved and not broken apart as [neo]realism looks on reality as a whole—
not incomprehensible but inseparably one. And only this way does justice to
reality, Bazin (Realism in the Film Theory of Sergei Eisenstein and André
Bazin, n.d.).
In this study, to recognize sets and settings as accurate evocations of
actual places, the research employs space analysis through Edward Soja’s
Trialectics of Space: First space (real space), Second space (imagined
representational space), and Third space (fully-lived space of collective
experience and agency).
3. Trialectics of Space: First Space, Second Space, and Third Space by
Edward Soja
Edward Soja argues that while “space in itself may be a primordially
given, the organization, and meaning of space is a product of social
translations, transformations, and experience” (80). He coins a term to
capture the dynamic nature of space, calling it Spatiality. His spatial theory
called ‘Thirdspace’ is largely an extension of Henri Lefebvre’s search for

reconciliation between mental space and real space and Michael Foucault’s
concept of “power” (Theoretical Considerations of Space and Place, n.d.).
Soja’s theory, however, is focused within the field of cultural geography.
Thirdspace is a way of ‘thinking about and interpreting socially produced
space,’ where the spatiality of our lives, our human geography, has the same
scope and significance as the social and historical dimensions (Soja, n.d.).
To further explain his claim, Soja employs a trialectics of space
where space is composed of spatiality, sociality and history. In this Trialectics
of Space, everything comes together, and modernism emphasized history at
the expense of geography. By employing a critique of Marxist theories of
geography, Soja conceived the notion that geography shapes class as much as
class shapes geography; and the previous modern focus on the relation of
history and society for cultural study has been insufficient from a postmodern
perspective. Soja introduced the third and equally important concept of a
‘fully-lived space’ to challenge the former dialectic dominant in spatial theory,
of things in and thoughts about space (Soja, n.d.).
Then, Soja divides space into first, second and third space defined as:
* First space is the ‘real’ space – the physical built environment, the
commonsensical view.
* Second space is the ‘imagined’ representational space – how the space is
perceived, seen and argued over; political ideologies; cultural ideologies;
social attributes and meanings.
* Third space takes this thinking further – it combines First and Second
space to create what Soja describes as, ‘a fully lived space, a
simultaneously real-and-imagined, actual-and-virtual locus of structured
individuality and collective experience and agency.’ Third space is the
experience of life in the First space mediated through Second space
expectations (Soja, n.d.). Thus, Third space is reality and abstract, living
place and desired place, flow of thoughts and memories, not dream nor
reality (Soja, 1996).
Figure II. “The Trialectics of Being” (Soja, 1996)

Photo taken from Google
4. Structuralism and Semiotics
McQuail (2010) defines Structuralism as the way meaning is
constructed in texts, the term applying certain 'structures of language',
consisting of signs, narrative or myths. It is a development of the linguistics
of de Saussure (1915) and combines with it some principles from structural
anthropology. However, it differs from linguistics in two main ways. First, it is
concerned not only with conventional verbal languages but also with any sign
system that has language-like properties. Secondly, it directs attention less to
the sign system itself but to choose texts and the meaning of texts in the light
of the 'host' culture.
On the other hand, Semiology is a more specific version of the
general structuralist approach. A sign is the basic physical vehicle of meaning
in a language; it is any 'sound image' that we can hear or see and which usually
refers to some object or aspect of reality about which we wish to
communicate, which is known as the referent. According to de Saussure, the
process of signification is accomplished by two elements of the sign. He called
the physical element (word, image, sound) the signifier and used the term
signified to refer to the mental concept invoked by a physical sign in a given
language code (cited in McQuail, 2010).
According to Griffin (2006), Semiology or Semiotics is concerned
with anything that can stand for something else. Barthes (as cited in Griffin,
2006) initially described his semiotic theory as an explanation of myth. He

later substituted the term connotation to label the ideological baggage that
signs carry wherever they go. His thinking was strongly influenced by the
work of Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, who coined the term semiology
and advocated its study.
Baudrillard (as cited in Littlejohn & Foss, 2010) believes that signs
have become increasingly separated from the objects they represent and that
the media have propelled this process to the point where nothing is real. Media
did not suddenly create this condition but exacerbated a tendency that has been
going on throughout modern history. Moreover, sign use has gone through an
evolution in society. At first, a sign was a simple representation of an object or
condition. The sign had a clear connection with the signified. Indeed, the
power of the semiotic lies in ideas about the need for a common language, its
identification of subjectivity as a barrier to understanding, and its engagement
with the multiple meaning of signs.
In Mythologies, Roland Barthes (1972) illustrates how language
cannot be separated from structures of ideology and power. For Barthes,
meaning operates on two levels of signification—denotation and
connotation—which are now common categories in the exploration of
meaning. Denotation refers to the most commonly accepted “signs” or
meaning of a word, while connotation is used to describe meaning inscribed
through culturally constructed vestiges of signification. It is in the exploration
of the latter that Barthes is able to interrogate samples of cultural material to

unravel their entanglement with the bourgeoisie's attempt to assert its own
values and to maintain its own position of privilege (cited in Salazar, 2009).
In a previous study, Parasecoli (2009) mentions that Barthes (1972)
had previously developed the concept of “myth” as a special kind of “sign”
that in its entirety (signifier and signified) becomes a mere signifier for another
sign and is given a different meaning.
To follow this line of reasoning, Barthes stated that:
“Denotation is not the first meaning, but it pretends to be
so: under this illusion, it is ultimately no more than the last
of the connotations (the one which seems both to establish
and to close the reading), the superior myth by which the
text pretends to return to the nature of language, to
language as nature.”
As cited in Robinson (2011), the main purpose of Barthes' work in
'Mythologies' is to dissect the functioning of certain insidious myths. Myth is a
second-order semiotic system. It takes an already constituted sign and turns it
into a signifier. Myth is a metalanguage. It turns language into a means to
speak about itself. However, it does this in a repressive way, concealing the
construction of signs.
For Barthes (1968), to understand texts (or movies), we have to give
up the myth of origin and filiation, and accept texts in their irreducible
plurality; the text “decants the work from its consumption and recuperates it
as play, task, production, practice” (cited in Parasecoli, 2009).
Moreover, to consume a myth is not to consume signs, but images,
goals and meanings. The signified of connotative myths is 'hidden', since it
can't be reconstructed through the language or images used to carry it. The
utterance is structured enough to affect the reader, but this reception does not
amount to a reading. Mythical signs look as if they have been created on the
spot, for the viewer. They look like they are simply there to perform their role
in the myth. This history which causes or creates them is rendered invisible.
Barthes (1972) says that myth is a type of speech – “a system of
communication, that it is a message.” He explained that speech is not only
confined to oral speech. “It can consist of modes of writing or representations;
not only written discourse, but also photography, cinema, reporting, sport,
shows, and publicity (p.110). In a bourgeois society, it is defined as a
depoliticized speech. It gives things clarity, which does not provide an
explanation but rather a statement of fact (p.143).
“People would often associate myths with classical fables about the
exploits of gods and heroes. But for Barthes myths were the dominant
ideologies of our time” (Chandler, 2014).
Heidegger (1977) explains that once a source of knowledge dealing
primarily with gods and heroes to explain both the commonplace and the
phenomenal, myths now manifest the control of specific institutions in

managing what everyone is expected to know and to accept as true (cited in
Salazar, 2009).
Indeed, Barthes (as cited in Griffin, 2006) says that the “ideological
signs support the status quo by transforming history into nature – pretending
that current conditions are the natural order of things” (p. 365). In
affirmation, Chandler (2014) explains that myth acts as an extended metaphor,
which help people, make sense of experiences within a culture. He further
stressed that:
“Myths make dominant cultural and historical values, attitudes and
beliefs seem entirely 'natural', 'normal', self-evident, timeless, obvious
'common-sense' - and thus objective and 'true' reflections of 'the way things
are'.”
Accordingly, “myths camouflage social conflicts and inequities
precisely because its mode of thought always seeks to resolve contradictions
and find harmonies at a higher order of ‘natural’, ‘sacred’, or ‘eternal’
cultural objectives.”
In this study, the concept of Barthes’ ‘myth’ is used in order to dissect
and unravel the functioning of certain insidious myths, such as studying
Fernando Poe, Jr., as icon, myth and “Tondo hero”, through his “Tondo”
films.
Figure III. Roland Barthes's Myth-Making Model
B. Conceptual Framework
In FPJ films, the district of Tondo in Manila has been a perennial
choice of setting stimulating “real” urban experience. In Tondo films, the
presence of social illnesses such as crimes, vices, and poverty cannot be taken
away from these films and urban grittiness is always manifested. While social
illnesses are staple in city films, such as in FPJ films—FPJ’s character as an
epitome of a hero who with all his might and his signature "bakbakan" moves
tries to eradicate these social realities and other injustices in the society cannot
be undone as well.
According to Baker (2014), the use of setting or locations is endless.
Geography, the political and constitutional circumstances, and social norms
and customs all contribute to a location’s depiction and can give great insight
into the locations-on-film by using a particular setting. In film narratives, place
or setting provides an arena for conflicts (Schatz, 1981); serves as a symbol;

and serves as an important component in the creation and communication of
meaning in films (Lethbridge and Mildorf, 2004).
When watching a film, an audience sees some connection to some
recognizable reality whatever it is that he sees, listens, and reads, thus makes
him understand the text and its meaning. Considering this, interpretation of
what is ‘real’ can become subjective, as what one person considers being
realistic may not be considered from another perspective. And as cinema
encodes reality, to gain a first-hand, direct experience of the world through
media, no matter how transparent or virtual their representation of reality can
also be considered as a subjective concept.
Blakeney (2009) states how Bazin perceives reality in films. For
Bazin, reality and everything that can support it such as sound, deep focus, and
invisible editing, defines what film should be as it preserves the
spatiotemporal integrity of the scene and empowers the spectator to scan the
image for meaning. Any manipulation of the image stands in the way of
releasing film’s true potential for realism. Moreover, Bazin claims that the
introduction of sound, far from destroying film as an art form, enhanced it as
an essential element of reality.
Therefore, if we accept that we are affected by the spaces (settings)
that are inhabited, traversed, negotiated, and avoided, then it is important to
understand how those spaces are constructed, organized, and imbued with
power (Theoretical Considerations of Space and Place, n.d.).

Realism is one of the great moot points in film analysis (McKibbin,
n.d.). The idea of reality or how close it is to what is perceived as the reality is
a key theme being sought about in watching a realist film. But the key
questions remain addressed in watching a film is: what the real is and how to
know if it is.
Using the concepts of the following theories: Monomyth: The Hero’s
Journey (Joseph Campbell), Cinematic Realism (André Bazin), Trialectics of
Space (Edward Soja), and Structuralism and Semiotics, the convergence of
‘hero’ and ‘place’ are interrogated to unravel the obscured ‘myths’ built
around FPJ – as a film hero and a cult of personality through his Tondo films.
Moreover, in order to recognize sets and settings as accurate
evocations of actual places, the scenic realism of these Tondo films is also
studied through Edward Soja’s Trialectics of Space. First space is the real
space; Second space is the imagined representational space; while Third space
is the fully-lived space of collective experience and agency.
As this study aims to explore the convergence of ‘hero’ and ‘place’,
this study uses two conceptual models to carefully analyze these two
signifiers.
Figure IV. Conceptual Model of ‘Hero’
*Figure IV is a self-made model based on the concepts of the theories used in this
study.
Figure V. Conceptual Model of ‘Place’
*Figure V is a self-made model based on the concepts of the theories used in this
study.
C. Definition of Terms
Altruism – unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness
(Harris, 2014).
Bakbakan – a Filipino term for altercation; fight; quarrel; to chastise
someone (tagalogtranslate.com).
Connotation – an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its
literal or primary meaning (oxforddictionaries.com).
Convergence – the fact that two or more things, ideas,
etc. become similar or come together at a point (dictionary.cambridge.org).
FPJ – abbreviation for Fernando Poe, Jr.
Iconicity – a relationship of resemblance or similarity between the two
aspects of a sign: its form and its meaning (oxfordbibliographies.com).
Injustice - lack of fairness or justice; an unjust act or occurrence
(en.oxforddictionaries.com).
Matinee idol - a male actor, usually a leading man, idolized especially
by female audiences (dictionary.com).
Metaphor – a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is
made based on a single or some common characteristics (literarydevices.net).
Mise-en-scène – a French term that means “placing on stage.” This
deals with the arrangement of everything that appears in the framing – actors,
lighting, décor, props, costume, etc (Moura, 2014).

Motif – refers to a recurrent thematic element in a film that is repeated in
a significant way or pattern (filmsite.org).
Myth – a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being
or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural
explanation (dictionary.com).
Nexus – a connection or series of connections linking two or more
things (en.oxforddictionaries.com).
Spectator – a person who watches an event, show, game, activity,
etc., often as part of an audience (merriam-webster.com).
Tondo – one of the 16 districts of Manila, Philippines located in the
northwest portion of the city.
Tondeños – a person whose birthplace is Tondo in Manila
Urban legend – a story about an unusual event or occurrence that
many people believe is true but that is not true (merriam -webster.com).
CHAPTER IV
INTERPRETIVE METHODS
A. Research Design, Method and Interpretation
The study’s research design is critical in nature that employs
Structuralism and Semiotics. In order to find out the symbiotic nexus between
‘icon’ and ‘place,’ this study uses Structuralism, Semiotics, and Cinematic
Realism as the primary methods of the study.
This study attempts to extend semiotics to the problem of the
cinematic realism, wherein "reality" was denigrated to the status of "raw
material" (Hewak, 1991). In this study, the image of the character, and setting,
motif, and metaphor function as signs for hero and place, respectively, thus
resulting to the use of two conceptual models (one for hero and another one for
place). As this study aims to explore the convergence of ‘hero’ and ‘place,’
these signs converge in one meeting point wherein the attributes of the hero
are analyzed through Joseph Campbell’s representation of the hero’s journey
which he called Monomyth or The Hero’s Journey, and the semiotics of place
is analyzed through the Trialectics of Space by Edward Soja.
According to Campbell, tales that involve a hero who goes on an
adventure goes through a single pattern of character and story development.
This pattern can be boiled down to three stages: the departure, the initiation,
and the return. In the hero’s departure, the hero leaves the familiar world
behind and goes through the initiation wherein he learns to navigate the
unfamiliar world of adventure. After all, the hero returns to the familiar world
after the success of his journey.
Place is interrogated in this study employing the trialectics of space
where space is composed of spatiality, sociality and history. In this trialectics
of space, everything comes together, and modernism emphasized history at the
expense of geography. Soja divides space into first, second and third space
defined as: First space is the ‘real’ space; Second space is the ‘imagined’
representational space, and Third space is the experience of life in the First
space mediated through Second space expectations.
Following the structure of the conceptual model, the analyses brought
about in the separate analysis using different theories for hero (The Hero’s
Journey) and place (Trialectics of Space) now goes through textual
interpretation in the Cinematic Realism by André Bazin. Here, the real and
fictional elements surrounding the hero and place are analyzed and
interrogated to dig deeper on the function of Tondo as a semiotic sign in the
shaping and building of the ‘myth’ in the iconic persona of the late Fernando
Poe Jr. – who has become one of Philippine cinema's icons and who has risen
from matinee idol status to urban legend and finally to myth and icon
(Santiago, 2009).
B. Sampling and Selection of Texts/Films
Film sampling and selection is done by identifying the setting or
shooting location of the film. With the guidance of FPJ Productions, the
researcher shortlisted FPJ’s classical movies and came up with the following
“Tondo” films: Batang Maynila (1962); Ito ang Maynila (1963); Tundo: Isla
Puting Bato (1977); Tatak ng Tundo (1978); Iyo ang Tondo, Kanya ang Cavite
(1986); Dito sa Pitong Gatang (1992); Eseng ng Tondo (1997); and Pakners
(2003). The aforementioned films are utilized to analyze and interrogate the
imagery of “Tondo” and the “Tondo hero” seeking to answer the questions
stated in the research problem section (See Appendix B for Filmography of the
seven Tondo films of FPJ and Appendix D for Summary of FPJ’s “Tondo”
Films).
C. Textual Analysis
To analyze the Tondo films of Fernando Poe Jr., this study uses a
specialized instrument or rubric (See Appendix C) labeled after the title of the
study. In the instrument, sub-categories are formulated to further dissect what
makes an FPJ film. Hence, characterization, geography, setting, time, signs,
symbols, metaphors, and other cinematic elements are utilized to unravel what
comprises a realist film.
As for the presence of hero in FPJ’s Tondo films, attributes of FPJ as
the main character, such as his humor, is also presented and described.
Moreover, it is also important to note that other cinematic elements such as the
genre, theme, story, dialogue, and music are important elements to describe a
cinematic performance that are also deemed helpful by the researcher in
analyzing films.
Note that signs, symbols, and metaphors are explored by the
researcher as Semiology or Semiotics is concerned with anything that can
stand for something else (Griffin, 2006). Therefore, it is necessary to say that
all categories in the film rubric can stand for something else as Barthes (as
cited in Griffin, 2006) initially described his semiotic theory as an explanation
of myth.
To find out the correlation between FPJ as hero and Tondo as place,
thematic clusters are formulated and are divided into three parts namely
attributes of the hero; cinematic realism; and mythmaking (See Table 1 for
Textual Analysis Matrix).

Table 1. Textual Analysis Matrix
“HERO AND PLACE AS CORRELATES”

FPJ (real & reel) and TONDO as CORRELATES
TONDO THEMATIC HERO
CLUSTERS
ATTRIBUTES OF THE
HERO AND PLACE
(Real and Reel)
Tondo as mythical FPJ’s real and reel
place kingdom;
FPJ’s public persona as
an actor;
FPJ’s public persona as
a filmic character
CINEMATIC
REALISM
Community; (Trialectics of Space) Hero as poor;
Urban grittiness; FIRST SPACE: Hero is in a dangerous
Poverty; Real space existence;
Danger; SECOND SPACE: Hero as part of
Cesspool of Thick Imagined representational community;
Crimes; space Hero as savior or
Vices; THIRD SPACE: redeemer;
Gangs and Killings Fully-lived space of Hero as mentor
collective experience and
agency
MYTHMAKING
Tondo as filmic Denotation FPJ as an action movie
location character;
Tondo as place of social Connotation FPJ as savior and god-

illness like persona
D. Research Timeline
The researcher’s writing process of the thesis proposal started in
August of 2015. Due to some conflicts, the researcher failed to submit the
proposal on time. The researcher then decided to re-enroll the subject (Thesis
Writing I) in order to submit the final thesis proposal in the month of
December 2016. The proposal was approved on the same year, and the
researcher started preliminary data gathering from then on. Submission of the
thesis paper to the thesis adviser is on a regular basis (See Table 2). The
researcher enrolled Thesis Writing II (Research Colloquium) but failed to
finish the previous semester as she decided to join in Binibining Pilipinas
2018. On the second attempt, the researcher decided to enroll Thesis Writing
II, together with Thesis Writing III (Oral Defense) in the first semester of
2018. Due to some time constraints, the researcher needed to enroll Thesis
Writing III (Oral Defense) in the second semester of Academic Year 2018 –
2019. The researcher pursues with film analysis and interpretation using
critical analysis until the week prior the scheduled Research Colloquium.
Proofreading and editing of the final paper will be done before submitting the
final manuscript, depending on the schedule set by the Graduate School.
Lastly, presentation of the final paper will be on the later part of the year 2019,
which will also depend on the schedule given by the Graduate School.
Table 2. Timeline: August 2016 – 2019
E. Research Budget
The study proposes a total budget of Php 10,000 and the budget is
disseminated into two categories: printing & binding expenses and
information/communication expenses (See Table 3). In 10,000 Php, a bigger

budget is allotted for printing and binding expenses as the researcher has to
regularly print several copies of the paper for the thesis adviser since
consultation to the thesis adviser is also on a regular basis. Moreover, a hard-
bound copy of the thesis proposal. Also, a separate budget is allotted for
providing book-a-like and soft bounds. The researcher also deems it necessary
to purchase some copies of FPJ “Tondo” films for some films are not readily
available online. However, the cost of snacks and transportation are excluded
in the budget since fieldwork is not applicable in this study. Instead, a budget
for prepaid loads for mobile phone in communication with the peers,
including communication with the thesis adviser throughout the process will
be employed here in this study.
Table 3. Budget
CHAPTER V
DATA PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION
Out of two hundred sixty three films (263) starred by the late Fernando
Poe Jr. (FPJ), there were seven (7) considered as “Tondo” films. After watching
the Tondo films of Fernando Poe Jr. repeatedly and carefully, the researcher
found its most recognizable traits, and the way these are shown in the film,
hence, describes its mise en scène (Mise-en-scène, n.d.). Findings of the research
are presented in this chapter, as well as the discussion of the findings. Findings
are presented in three categories, namely: (1) FPJ’s Journey as Hero from the
Perspective of Campbell’s Monomyth; (2) Tondo as Place/Space in FPJ Films;
(3) FPJ as Semiotic Sign; and (4) Hero and Place as Correlates.
I. FPJ’s Journey as Hero from the Perspective of Campbell’s Monomyth
The images portrayed in dominant cinema can be seen as
representations of a largely male-dominated patriarchal society (as cited by
Wardrop, 2011), and FPJ films are no different to that claim. In his action films,
FPJ’s characters possess attributes of a hero known for his signature “bakbakan”
moves as he tries to eradicate injustices in the society with all his might.
Similar to other types of heroes in many cultures, and in other universal
myths, fairytales, and movies, FPJ goes through stages as he traverses his
journey of being the hero in his films. Joseph Campbell (as cited by Vogler,
2003) believes that every hero-quest goes through several basic stages that
highlight repetitive archetypes in the hero’s makeup throughout heroic tales.
Similar to other types of heroes of many cultures, the FPJ hero embraces the
deep inner journey and path of transformation as he goes through great
movements of separation, descent, ordeal, and return. This section analyzes and
presents the “FPJ Hero’s Journey” as manifested in his “Tondo” films.
A. The Ordinary World and Call to Adventure
The Hero’s Journey begins when he discovers his world is in danger.
As he commences his journey, he possesses abilities and characteristics regarded
by people as extraordinary. In this stage, the Hero is reluctant to leave the world
he is used to, but the Hero accepts his destiny and journeys on a quest.
In the opening scene of Ito ang Maynila, Nanding (FPJ) and his
younger brother are shown to be sitting in a bus on their way to Manila. While
uncertain of his fate, Nanding arrives to an unnamed, crowded, and unruly slum
area in Manila. Carrying the responsibility of taking his younger brother to
safety, Nanding tries to find the right way to this crowded area by finding his
contact or benefactor. His journey continues in Manila.
In Tundo: Isla Puting Bato, the crime committed to Gloria, Nanding’s
(FPJ) sister, serves as the hero’s discovery of his world being in danger. Despite
his reluctance to leave his family and his ordinary world, Nanding is motivated
to defend his sister’s honor.

The FPJ hero is revealed to be a policeman in Tatak ng Tundo. Berting
(FPJ) feels a big sense of duty that holds him to accept the call of eradicating
danger and other forms of threat to his community. In one scene, Pepe (Joseph
Estrada) on his way to perform revenge on Cardo (antagonist) comes across
Berting (FPJ) who has just arrested Cardo because Berting suspects Cardo being
the mastermind behind the bombing in his community that took a number of
lives.
The FPJ hero performs another role of being a community leader in
Dito sa Pitong Gatang. In one scene, Berting (FPJ) and his council or “tanods”
initiate a raid of an illegal gambling house. This scene marks a sudden shift of
tone from light-hearted townsfolk affairs, to a darker dip into Pitong Gatang’s
underworld crime and dangers, hence commences the FPJ hero’s journey.
The same motivation of protecting his community pushes the FPJ hero
to accept the call to adventure in Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite. A man
named Hildo runs amok and chases his neighbor with a bolo. Neighbors could
only watch as Hildo nears his target. Suddenly, a man named Crisanto (FPJ)
arrives just in time. Cristanto’s presence alone is enough to calm down anyone
who is going on a rampage. Anita Linda’s character, Aling Desta, whispers
under her breath “Crisanto, sa iyo pa rin ang Tondo”. Crisanto is called to
another adventure when Erning Bakal, his friend and a local of Tondo, is found
dead one morning. Crisanto takes pity on the deseased man’s friend prompting
him to investigate the crime that took place in their community.

On a similar tone in Eseng ng Tondo, we meet Eusebio Natividad or
the titular Eseng (FPJ) attending a call for a duel, which he wins. Apparently
Eseng has reputation for his lightning-fast draw, which attracts the attention of
gunslingers across Tondo – the community by which he commits to protect in
the call of his duty as a lieutenant. A series of rape-murder cases in the
community also prompts Eseng to hold and investigation regarding the case.
In Pakners, FPJ’s journey as the Hero begins when Manuel (Efren
“Bata” Reyes) arrives in Manila. Manuel is victimized by a pick-pocket as he
arrives in Manila, and then gets lured into a night club by a shady promoter.
Unable to pay his bill since his wallet got stolen; Manuel gets beaten and thrown
out by the night club’s two-faced staff. It is in Manuel’s direst moment that a
jeepney-driver named Nanding (FPJ) arrives to his rescue. Nanding is quick on
his toes to defend the innocent Manuel. As Manuel arrives to a city that
welcomed him with rudeness, Nanding arrives to the scene and becomes the
savior of the oppressed. In another scene, the FPJ hero becomes a savior of the
oppressed when he, together with his ally Manuel, comes to the rescue of the
cheated billiard players.
B. Refusal of the Call
The FPJ hero is given a task in which he has a choice to accept or deny.
But this quest can only be completed by him. The FPJ hero faces a range of
reasons and feels a big sense of duty and obligation; however, the FPJ is no
different to anyone as he also feels a sense of fear, insecurity, and inadequacy.
The FPJ hero is quick on his toes in saving his family, his community,
and the people who are helpless in Ito ang Maynila; Tundo: Isla Puting Bato;
Tatak ng Tundo; Eseng ng Tondo; and Pakners. However, two out of seven
“Tondo” films show how the hero appears to initially refuse the call to his quest.
FPJ is an action movie hero known for being a defender or saviour of
those abused by the powerful, and those who are underrated by danger and
institutional sanctions. However, the film Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite
shows a different side of the FPJ hero – which is not commonly-seen on him.
Crisanto’s (FPJ) friend, Erning Bakal, is found dead one morning. Crisanto takes
pity on the deceased man’s friend prompting him to investigate. Knowing the
identity of Erning Bakal’s killer, Crisanto is hesitant at first for he fears the
killer could be connected to anyone of the organized crime lords.
In Dito sa Pitong Gatang, the film takes a trip towards a more serious
tone, as the good chairman Berting (FPJ) raids illegal gambling den with his
colleagues. Armed with nothing but a bat and his bravado, Berting ends the
operation, and hauls all the patrons and operators to jail. Transgressions against
the powerful cannot go unnoticed. This raid to the gambling den serves as the
inciting incident or “point-of-no-return” for the FPJ hero, as a henchman named
“Masong Pader” is sent to wreak havoc on the barangay detachment. Berting is

absent in Masong’s arrival, so he sends a challenge to the chairman. But Berting
shrugs off the challenge.
C. Meeting the Mentor
Once the Hero accepts the quest consciously or unconsciously, the Hero
enters the Special World – a world that is unfamiliar to him. This world has its
own rules, and it also has constant threat of death. The Hero has never
experienced the Special World, while the Mentor has mastered the laws of the
outside world. Guidance and wisdom are given to the Hero by the Mentor for the
quest called upon the Hero to be completed and succeeded. In his journey as the
hero in his films, FPJ meets his Mentors; mentors who share similar attributes of
being a “woman”. In some films, though, no Mentor is identified because the
FPJ hero becomes the Mentor and guide to lost souls.
In Tundo: Isla Puting Bato, Nanding (FPJ) is an inmate who is forced
to work at a labor camp. On their way, Nanding escapes. When the jail guards
notice that Nanding is trying to escape; this springs into action, with an epic
chase scene through a jungle. While escaping through the woods, Nanding
crosses paths with Concha who also took the opportunity to escape a wealthy
man’s party where she is forced to work as a pleasure-giver. The jungle is the
Special World with constant threat of death, but Nanding encounters a Mentor
and ally in Concha. Their similarities as run-aways, causes Nanding and Concha
to warm towards each other.

Another woman becomes the FPJ hero’s Mentor in Iyo ang Tundo,
Kanya ang Cavite. Crisanto (FPJ) consistently meets Celia, the sister of his late
wife Salud. Celia tells him that his in-laws wants to meet his Son Chris, but
they (in-laws) refuse to set foot in Tondo due to the place’s reputation. Celia
consistently gives Crisanto some light of motivation whenever that latter
becomes prostrated with matters about his son and the family of his late wife.
The FPJ hero is guided again by a woman’s persona in Dito sa Pitong
Gatang and Eseng ng Tondo. In Dito sa Pitong Gatang, Berting opens up to
Lamberta, as he catches the nation’s attention and putting his daughter’s life in
danger. Berting is actually a fugitive, an arguably righteous one. These previous
events cause the FPJ hero to feel lost in the wilderness. At this point of his life,
Berting the barangay captain, who has always been the mentor to his
constituents, is in dire need of a Mentor – which he finds in Lamberta. As
Berting opens up to Lamberta, he tells her plans to run away with his daughter.
Lamberta advices against it and encourages Berting to face the truth. Lamberta
heeds to the call of being the FPJ hero’s guide – at a time he needs it the most.
In Eseng ng Tondo, Eseng (FPJ) constantly meets his mother, to whom
he asks for advices and confides his marital problems, and his brother Belo’s
tendency to break the law.

D. Crossing the Threshold
Once the Hero fully commits himself to his quest, there is no turning
back for him. The Hero now fully crosses the Special World for the first time. In
this world, the adventure gets going, but romance may also spring for the Hero
in this part of his journey. The FPJ hero’s journey is also a testament to that.
In Pakners, romance begins for the FPJ hero when Nanding (FPJ) dates
Vivian. Similarly, the film Ito ang Maynila also reveals the hero’s humanity as
Nanding (FPJ) falls in love to a teacher named Becky. On the same light, Berting
(FPJ) warms toward Lamberta in Dito sa Pitong Gatang.
In the film Ito ang Maynila, the FPJ hero’s journey revolves around
saving his friend Pepe from illegal activities. Upon learning Pepe has not come
home for three days and upon learning all his illegal affairs, Nanding tries to talk
some sense into Pepe, but the latter does not listen. It is later revealed that Pepe
is busy planning a huge operation. In another scene, Nanding finds his way into
the location of the gunfight where Pepe is involved. Nanding tries to reason with
Pepe, but Pepe refuses to listen.
Upon reuniting with his family in Tundo: Isla Puting Bato after
escaping from prison, Nanding (FPJ) commits to his quest for revenge to
continuously defend his sister’s honour, when his sister was raped by Bito’s
brother.
In Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite, a problem in his smuggling
operations leads Bador (Ramon Revilla Sr.) unto the port of Tondo and to the
arms of his old friend Crisanto (FPJ). However, Crisanto refuses to assist Bador
in his bid to establish an operation in the capital. Unable to seek endorsement
from Crisanto, Bador is manipulated by a mole in his organization to seek back-
up. With Machiavellian accuracy, the stick is driven further when authorities
caught wind of Bador’s Manila operation, thus leading to the trade being
botched. Being a leader and protector of his community, cracking down
smuggling operations and syndicates who circulate illegal drugs and counterfeit
bills become the FPJ hero’s greatest mission in the entire film.
The FPJ hero is no different to ordinary individuals when he gets
troubled emotionally. Being conflicted with emotional struggles, doubts, and
fears, the FPJ hero refuses the call to his quest. But the FPJ hero feels a big
sense of duty being the leader of his community. In one scene in Dito sa Pitong
Gatang, a boy dies after drowning in an open manhole. When Berting (FPJ)
goes to Manila’s development council to complain, the director tells him off. As
such, Berting strikes him with his fist – marking that the FPJ hero’s signature
“bakbakan” moves cannot be taken away. The character not only goes against
the goons, he also acknowledges that sometimes, the worst enemies are the ones
who are supposed to be the protectors. This time, the FPJ hero fully crosses into
the Special World, and he is now committed to his quest of saving his
community. While the FPJ hero is fully-committed to his quest, his humanity is
revealed in Dito sa Pitong Gatang when he falls in love with Lamberta. Berting
and Lamberta eventually warm towards each other. They go out on a date which
ends in Berting kissing the Kapitana. This scene reveals that even the toughest
possess a soft side, and Lamberta becomes an instrument to unleash this out of
the FPJ hero.
In Eseng ng Tondo, Lieutenant Eseng’s (FPJ) life is carried out by a
hitman who is sent by a crime lord whose operations Eseng foiled. Eseng
catches up to the Chikinini Gang, whose operations were stopped by him, and
whose members are revealed to be affluent members of the society, Eseng
castrates their leader. As he starts his battle against the powerful oppressors,
there is no turning back for him. He fully commits to fulfil his duty as a
lieutenant, and as saviour or protector of his community. A recurring theme in
FPJ films wherein the 1% takes advantage of everyone else, and Eseng, the hero
of the story, serves as the equalizer. The castration is symbolic of being stripped
of one’s power.
E. The Tests, Allies, and Enemies
The Hero’s journey becomes more challenging as he is put into
different tests, encounters allies, and confronts a number of enemies. As the
Hero experiences a series of tests, tasks or ordeals, the Hero will eventually
undergo the necessary transformation. While there is repetitive archetype in the
Hero’s makeup, the tests, allies and enemies encountered by the FPJ hero can
also be identified singularly.

In Ito ang Maynila, life becomes a struggle for Nanding (FPJ) as he
sets foot in Manila. Nanding tries to find work as a mechanic, but initially fails.
He tries to find work in a construction yard and a publishing house, but fails,
too. Nanding also shoulders the responsibility of his younger brother’s safety
and protection, so when Amang (Nanding’s younger brother) gets bullied by the
local “siga” who is a grown-up man with the same age as Nanding, he retaliates
and beats the “siga” and his thugs.
On their way home, Nanding and Pepe (Joseph Estrada) are confronted
by Becky and Minda’s suitors. They gleefully beat them up and bond over the
riot. Pepe recruits Nanding into the operation as the driver, but does not tell him
about the robbery scheme. Under the guise of a simple delivery, Nanding
ignorantly accepts. Nanding is shocked to learn that he has been recruited to a
heist. He abandons Pepe’s team in the middle of the operation. Pepe confronts
Nanding, and the two clash over their differing principles. After the incident that
tests their friendship, they part ways but remain friends.
In Tundo: Isla Puting Bato, Nanding (FPJ) is a local of Isla Puting
Bato, who on the verge of defending his sister’s honor, kills the offender. Little
did Nanding know that Bito, the brother of the person he killed, a mob boss and
resident “siga” of Puting Bato, plots revenge against him and his family. The
scene reveals the enemy, and the FPJ hero is about to go through the quest of
saving himself and his family from the revenge plotted against them. To get his
due, Nanding must traverse a vast, unforgiving jungle, and make it back to
society. While still a prisoner, Nanding is forced to work at a labor camp
wherein one of his fellow inmates has beef with him. The FPJ hero meets
another enemy in another inmate’s persona.
Berting (FPJ) stares at Pepe (Joseph Estrada) from a distance through
metallic grills during the funeral mass. This scene in Tatak ng Tundo suggests
Pepe drifting away from Berting – as grills become a symbol of hindrance and a
test to their connection. Upon knowing about Berting, Pepe warns his allies that
Berting is a policeman. Being Berting’s friend can be taken as an opportunity for
Pepe’s group to avoid arrest for their unlawful acts, but Pepe rejects the
possibility of being saved by Berting. At this point, Pepe appears to be in doubt
of his invested trust on long-time friend Berting. While Berting suspects that
Pepe is somehow involved in the warehouse robbery, he investigates the case
and uses the opportunity to subliminally encourage Pepe to return the robbed
money to the Chinese businessman. Berting lives up to his duty as a law
enforcer, but his commitment to his journey as a policeman is tested when his
friend, Pepe, becomes unlawful.
One of the villains in Tatak ng Tundo is Enteng (Max Alvarado) – an
assassin who hails from a different district in Manila. He is the assassin who
threw a grenade at the baptism ceremony of Pepe’s son. Always presented
wearing colored clothes, it makes him appear misplaced in a world where
everyone is wearing clothes in earth colors. The way he is dressed up suggests
that he is not a local of Tondo. Just like other locals, prime villain Cardo
(Paquito Diaz) and a rival gang leader, is wearing earth colors. This signifies his
belongingness to Tondo, in which locals are seen wearing clothes with the same
color scheme.
In Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite, Bador (Ramon Revilla Sr.)
suspects Crisanto (FPJ) of telling on his smuggling operations. Crisanto on the
other hand, foiled an attempt on his life, which he suspects Bador of
masterminding after his refusal to help him. These strings of events result in a
rivalry being born. To settle their differences, Ka Bador and Crisanto’s gangs
meet at a beach in Cavite. The two decide to settle differences through a
fistfight. Armed men storm Crisanto’s home during the night Celia visits him.
His friends arrive to help. In the ensuing crossfire, Crisanto’s friend Berto gets
shot and dies instantly. Having survived the attempt on his life, Crisanto
confronts and threatens his suspect; his rival Kiko. Side antagonist, Poncio (Max
Alvarado) is presented in a bright red shirt. From the moment he appears, it is
made apparent that something is amiss – a misplaced sight in Tondo’s usual
humble earth colors. Bador has an affinity for black, signifying his attempts to
smokescreen his true nature as a smuggler, by appearing as a selfless leader.
The film Dito sa Pitong Datang takes a trip towards a more serious
tone, as the good chairman raids illegal gambling den with his colleagues.
Armed with nothing but a bat and his bravado, Berting (FPJ) ends the operation,
and hauls all the patrons and operators to jail. Transgressions against the
powerful cannot go unnoticed. This raid to the gambling den serves as the
inciting incident or “point-of-no-return” for the hero, as a henchman named
“Masong Pader” is sent to wreak havoc on the barangay detachment. Berting is
absent in Masong’s arrival, so he sends a challenge to Chairman Berting. Upon
introduction, Mason is shot with a high angle view – signifying his superiority
over anyone else.
Berting responds to a robbery that takes place just a few lots away from
where he and his colleagues are resting. Unable to capture the thieves, Berting
orders a heightened alert for all tanods the following day. They eventually catch
up to the culprits; however the chase ends in Barangay Mariposa which is out of
Berting’s jurisdiction. Chairman Godo, chairman of an adjacent barangay, is
involved in illegal gambling operations. He is seen meeting with local tanods to
discuss gambling operations, by which they operate underground. At this point,
Chairman Godo has finally revealed his dark intentions. Berting faces another
test as he gets tangled in youth problems. He suspects one of the classmates of
his daughter of juvenile foolishness. Later, the same kid commits suicide as
result of drug abuse. Hence, the theme of coming of age exploration and juvenile
delinquency is present in the film. Berting is himself a father, who is often
unwillingly caught in the affairs of his daughter’s peers. Chairman, Berting, our
FPJ hero, is not only a father at home but a father of the Barangay.
More of Berting’s dark past is revealed as the scene takes viewers into
an undisclosed city jail. Inmates are seen plotting plans to escape and enact
revenge on Berting for reasons not yet revealed. On his way home, Berting finds
himself surrounded by unknown henchmen. As these henchmen beat him, one of
them tells him “sobra ka maki-alam. Uli-uli kung tatalo ka, alamin mo muna
ang sasagasaan mo!” It wasn’t made clear who sent them, but the scene teases
that it is probably one of the crime lords who are affected by Berting’s crusade
against crime. At this point, the FPJ hero has met other enemies who will test
him. As fate would have it, during Berting’s beat down, the inmates plotting
escape earlier arrive at his house. It was not revealed how or when they escaped.
A bloodied Berting returns home to find his daughter in the arms of one of the
escaped inmates, a gun pointed at her head.
In Eseng ng Tondo, varying threats to the community are introduced,
and of course, Eseng (FPJ), being the workaholic cop that he is, gets his nose
unto each. First, Eseng responds to a tip regarding an organized robbery group in
the Moriones area. Then the good law enforcer orders a raid on his brother
Belo’s gambling house. It erupts into a fist fight between the two which ends in
Belo being sullen towards his brother. Later on, Eseng reconciles with his
brother Belo, who has decided to go down a straight path for his family.
While in the middle of an operation, Eseng’s wife is abducted by the
aptly named “Chikinini Gang,” as reference to their modus operandi of leaving a
hickey on their victims. His wife escape unscathed but Eseng is drawn closer to
finally closing the case. Eseng’s investigation leads him to believe the kidnapers
frequent the bar owned by his mistress.

In Pakners, the FPJ hero privileges the individual who is underrated by
danger. Nanding (FPJ) takes pity on him, and invites Manuel (Efren “Bata”
Reyes) to spend the night in his home which he shares with his cousin Simang
Hoping that Manuel will send money once he gets to Taiwan as gratitude,
Simang agrees. Manuel is stuck with Nanding and Simang, so he gets on his feet
to find employment so he could pay for his accommodation. He initially works
as Nanding’s barker and backride. This is when the FPJ hero earns an ally in
Manuel.
Elias (Dick Israel), the first villain to be introduced, is dressed in red
and is wearing shades. He seems friendly at first but is actually a calculating
trickster who takes advantage of young billiard players and their aggressive
nature, to fill his coffer. Nanding challenges Elias to a bet to win back the
money that PJ (Nanding’s nephew) lost. At first, Elias declines the challenge
from Nanding, so Manuel issues the challenge. Underestimating the timid
probinsyano because of his looks, Elias accepts and becomes victim to his own
bravado. Manuel shows his billiard prowess for the first time, sinking nine balls
in one go. Other billiard players get drawn to the game as they spectate on the
game. Elias’ plot is brought to light, and the titular Pakners gains the attention of
Elias’ equally-conniving friends.
Being an uncle to a typical teenager, Nanding chastises PJ, his nephew,
and his equally unruly “barkada”. Nanding’s affairs linking to his nephew are
seen sprouting in some parts of the movie – which tests and challenges the FPJ
hero, and at the same time, reveals more of his character as he goes through his
journey.
In a billiard game challenge, Manuel beats Olivares – Elias’ mentor. As
result, a riot ensues during the game. Similar to the presence of jeepneys, riots
are likewise a common sight in the Philippine capital, particularly, in Tondo. A
supposedly fun and light-hearted game of billiard erupted into a fist fight, just so
the movie can showcase a bar brawl sequence. Despite being a feel-good
comedy, the FPJ hero added a touch of his trademark “bakbakan” moves. The
FPJ hero, in this scene, conquers another challenge.
Nanding’s family celebrates PJ’s graduation in a restaurant. Nanding
comes across his old rival, Victor, who berates him and Manuel. The FPJ hero is
seen to be of back-up, as Manuel accepts the challenge of Victor.
Simang enlists Manuel and Nanding in the SMB 9-ball invitational
doubles challenge. To train for the tournament, Manuel and Nanding engage a
biker gang in a high stakes billiard bet, held in a restaurant. The tournament ends
in a riot as the two flee the scene. Nanding and Manuel, whenever they are
together, are either challenged to a billiard game, or get involved in a riot.
F. The Innermost Cave
The Innermost Cave in the Hero’s journey is an inner conflict that lays
a terrible danger and a conflict that the hero has not had to face. In this stage, the
Hero faces some doubts and fears once again that had surfaced upon his call to
adventure. The Innermost Cave serves as reflection for the Hero of his journey
so as to find the courage to continue his journey. While family performs a
significant role for the FPJ hero to continue on his journey, family also causes
the Hero’s doubts and fears – but family also gives the courage to the FPJ hero
to continue his journey.
In Tundo: Isla Puting Bato, the scene in Muntinlupa City Jail, with
Nanding (FPJ) being locked-up behind bars while facing an inner conflict,
doubts and fears about the safety of his family. The scene reveals the hero being
conflicted with himself, and he finds trust in the persona of a befriended inmate.
As he begins his quest for revenge by escaping from prison, his return to his
family serves as life brought back to him, but it also lays a terrible danger. As he
also gets closer to the enemy, the FPJ hero is aware of the great danger, or even
death he needs to face in his quest for revenge. But this time, there is no turning
back for him. To finally be committed to his quest, his return to his family
awakens the life and hope inside him – to where he finds the courage to
continue.
In Tatak ng Tundo, the FPJ hero is not revealed yet to be conflicted
with doubts and fears. But in the middle part of the film, Berting (FPJ) is
revealed to also being challenged by an inner conflict about his wife. The story
did not give much emphasis on him, though, as the only personal conflict that he
has is his paraplegic wife and her deteriorating self-esteem, which by the way
was not given resolution towards the end. While Berting’s familial conflict is
not given much emphasis, the conflict he experiences about his friend Pepe
(Joseph Estrada) triggers when Pepe killed Cardo, his rival mob boss. Berting
coerces Pepe, as he claims to have heard the side of an eyewitness in Cardo’s
death. As such, he confronts his friend, and the two engage in a fist fight in a
restaurant. The fist fight suggests a culmination of their clashing ideals; ideals
that may eventually lead the FPJ hero to face a bigger problem.
Similar to Berting’s (FPJ) inner conflict about his wife in Tatak ng
Tundo, Crisanto’s (FPJ) inner conflict in Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite
also relates to his wife. Crisanto battles the fact that despite being pained by his
wife’s passing, he has to wrestle with the truth that his in-laws will never accept
him as the father of Chris. Manuel’s (FPJ) inner conflict in Pakners can also be
seen on the same level with Berting’s and Crisanto’s. In Pakners, Simang
(Nanding’s cousin) reveals to Manuel (Efren “Bata” Reyes) that Nanding is used
to be a champion billiard player. Refusing to take a fall for a game, Nanding gets
beaten by thugs. On the same night he is beaten, his wife gets rushed to the
hospital because of heart-attack and dies shortly. The bad memories caused
Nanding to turn his back on the sport. The scene reveals the inner conflict the
FPJ hero faces; conflict that causes struggle for the hero to move on with life. In
another scene, Nanding opens to Vivian about his painful past and his deceased
wife – which reveals the FPJ hero being conflicted again with doubts and fears
relating to his wife.

The FPJ hero’s dark secret is revealed when Berting’s (FPJ) house help,
known only as “Manang,” tells him she has spotted Tinente Ramos in town. As
Berting listens in horror, it is slowly being revealed that Berting is the fugitive
being tracked by Ramos. This scene in Dito sa Pitong Gatang shows how the
FPJ hero, just like any of us, doubts and fears about an inner conflict which he
has not had to face.
With his growing reputation, Eseng (FPJ) himself becomes target for
the corrupt elite, as one of his operations result in the death of an influential
crime boss. But when Eseng barely dodges a bullet intended for him, he
launches a one-man-war against the oppressive elite. Investigations have led
Eseng to believe that the hitman was sent by a powerful crime lord which causes
him to fear what his journey would be about now that he is set to face a powerful
crime lord in Eseng ng Tondo.
G. The Supreme Ordeal
The Hero is strengthened by a series of tests, obstacles, and challenges.
Now that he is stronger, the Hero is yet to reach his final battle or his Supreme
Ordeal. The Supreme Ordeal can be a dangerous physical test or a deep inner
crisis, regardless of which, the Hero has to face it in order to survive and
continue to exist. As everything he holds dear is put on the line of great danger,
we can see how the FPJ hero gathers all his skills and experiences to overcome
his journey’s most difficult challenge.

Nanding (FPJ) and Pepe engage in a shootout in Ito ang Maynila,.
Pepe hurls a grenade at Nanding, before the grenade explodes, Nanding shoots
and kills Pepe. Nanding realizes Pepe did not pull the pin on the grenade.
Realizing Pepe did not intend to kill him but only to scare him away, Nanding
runs and to his friend’s lifeless body.
In Tundo: Isla Puting Bato, Nanding (FPJ) raids Bito’s house and runs
away with his nephew. Bito gives chase and a climactic battle through Puting
Bato’s shanties ensues. This scene can be taken as the hero’s supreme ordeal, in
which everything he holds dear is put on the line. This part also becomes a
“make or break” for the hero, because if he fails, he only can choose between
dying and struggling harder, and it will not be the same again if he does not
succeed.
In a scene in Tatak ng Tundo, Pepe (Joseph Estrada) goes on a hunting
spree and hunts the rival gang members. As he is outnumbered by the rival gang,
Pepe retreats and his chronic headache manifests one more. Berting (FPJ)
arrives to Pepe’s rescue. As the rival gang member catch up to them, both Pepe
and Berting get shot. Pepe receives a fatal wound, while Berting is able to gun
down the assailants.
Crisanto (FPJ) and Bador (Ramon Revilla Sr.), two respected members
of their respective communities Tondo and Cavite, respectively, are
commissioned by the state to assist in their crackdown of syndicates, who
circulate illegal drugs and counterfeit bills in Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite.
To assist the state, the two men spring into action to rid their locales of the
contraband. Crisanto and Bador meet the syndicate in a beach and a gunfight
ensues. The two men won the fight.
In Dito sa Pitong Gatang, as plot to lure Berting (FPJ) out, Masong
Pader harasses Berting’s daughter Jessica. As his daughter who he holds dear is
put on the line, the FPJ hero is awakened. This time, the FPJ hero is fully-
committed to his quest. Berting springs into action and confronts Mason that
eventually erupts to a fist fight which causes a scene in the entire
neighbourhood. Berting knocks Mason off. In another scene, Berting confronts
the drug dealer who supplies narcotics to Jessica’s (Berting’s daughter) friend in
the port area. In typical climax fashion, Berting takes out the entire syndicate
single-handedly and in his signature “bakbakan” moves, and escapes just before
cops arrive to finish the job. The cops arrive and Berting turns himself over to
Tinente Ramos – suggesting that the FPJ hero surrenders to his fate.
Eseng (FPJ) finally faces off with the hit man in Eseng ng Tondo, the
two engage in close quarter combat which Eseng wins, but the hit man escapes.
To assure his winning on his bet for the the 9-ball doubles challenge,
Carreon (antagonist) has PJ and Angela kidnapped and blackmails the titular
“Pakners” Nanding (FPJ) and Manuel (Efren “Bata” Reyes) to take the fall. The
two are taken to an abandoned building overlooking Pasig River and Manila
City Hall. The Pakners arrive to rescue the teens and make it back to the billiard
game.
H. The Reward
Having survived death and great danger, comes the Hero taking the
ultimate achievement of the goal of his quest called “The Reward”. The reward
does not necessarily come in physical form, but anything that comes in great
importance or power, a secret, greater knowledge or insight, or even
reconciliation with a loved one or an ally.
In Tundo: Isla Puting Bato, Nanding (FPJ) raids Bito’s house and runs
away with his nephew. Bito gives chase and a climactic battle through Puting
Bato’s shanties ensues. This scene can be taken as the hero’s supreme ordeal, in
which everything he holds dear is put on the line. This part also becomes a
“make or break” for the hero, because if he fails, he only can choose between
dying and struggling harder, and it will not be the same again if he does not
succeed. Emerging victorious, Nanding nearly kills Bito, but the authorities
arrive just in time to arrest Nanding who is a fugitive. With evidence pinning
Bito to the smuggling operations and racketeering activities in Puting Bato, the
police arrest him as well. Bito’s arrest, and Gloria’s reunion with her son is
Nanding’s ultimate achievement of the FPJ hero’s quest.
No physical reward is earned in the heroes’ quest in Tatak ng Tundo,
but Pepe (Joseph Estrada) is now liberated from the pains given to him by the
world, whereas Berting (FPJ) is able to serve as guide to a lost soul of Pepe even
on his last minute. The FPJ hero also becomes a great help to another
protagonist in Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite, when Crisanto (FPJ) helps
Bador (Ramon Revilla, Sr.) in an investigation that leads to successfully
flushing out the mole in Bador’s ranks.
Berting (FPJ) gets into a fist fight with Mason in Dito sa Pitong
Gatang. As they erupt into a fist fight, Mason manhandles Berting, then, in
typical FPJ action moves, he springs back and turns the tables on the hulking
bully. Spectators cheer Berting as he knocks out Mason. Berting beats Mason,
his (Mason) final shot is faced down with his face smeared in mud. The scene
represents how Goliath has been beaten, and David, or rather the town’s hero,
has won. One scene shows Ramos (a high-rank policeman) releases Berting
from the cuffs on their way to the jail. Claiming to have been moved by
Berting’s selflessness, heroism (lone raid on drug syndicates), and willingness to
submit himself to the law despite being a fugitive, Ramos claims “ang taong
pinaghahanap ko ng sampung taon na, ay matagal nang patay.” He lets Berting
return home which becomes the FPJ hero’s greatest achievement of his quest.
In Eseng ng Tondo, Elvy gets a tip regarding a new attempt on Eseng’s
(FPJ) life, to which the club owner warns Eseng. Together with Elvy, Eseng
engages the goons in a gunfight. Eseng emerges victorious in the gunfight. And
in Pakners, Nanding (FPJ) and Manuel (Efren “Bata” Reyes) successfully saved
PJ (Nanding’s nephew) and Angela kidnapped by Carreon (antagonist). After
rescuing the teens, Nanding and Manuel make it back in time to play and win in
the 9-ball doubles challenge, while Carreon gets arrested on charges of
kidnapping.
I. The Road Back
The Road Back is the Hero’s return to his Ordinary World. Before he
gets his way back to the Ordinary World, an event is needed to push the Hero to
recommit to complete his journey by crossing through the Threshold, and then
back into the Ordinary World. The FPJ hero finds his way back to the Ordinary
World in some of his “Tondo” films, but some does not go the way as it is
expected to be.
Being released to freedom by a high-rank policeman, Berting (FPJ) in
Dito sa Pitong Gatang, Berting returns and reclaims his position as the
Barangay’s protector and “father figure” – thwarting Godo’s plans of expanding
his gambling operation in Pitong Gatang. The locals gleefully welcome back
Berting – signifying that the FPJ hero has returned and found his road back.
The FPJ hero finds his way back to his Ordinary World when Eseng
(FPJ) decides to return home to his wife Digna in Eseng ng Tondo after
engaging the goons in a gunfight together with Elvy.
The entire neighborhood is treated by Mr. Cheng from his winnings on
9-ball doubles bet when Pakners Nanding (FPJ) and Manuel (Efren “Bata”
Reyes) won the challenge. The scene signifies that a challenge has already been
completed by the hero and his ally, and they are back to their Ordinary World.
J. The Resurrection
The Hero’s most dangerous meeting with death leads the Hero to face
the Resurrection. In his resurrection, the Hero is cleansed and purified now the
he has emerged from death or his most difficult challenge. The Hero is a new
being, as he is transformed with the attributes of his Ordinary self in addition to
the lessons he acquired as he traverses his journey. The Resurrection stage
proves that he has achieved heroic status and willingly accepts the sacrifice at
hand.
In his journey, the FPJ hero may encounter different tests, obstacles and
challenges, and enemies, yet, he maintains his status as the hero in his films –
the archetype of a hero who willingly and selflessly lays his life to save others.
His “Tondo” films reveal him being put on situations where he manifests his
being “savior” to the oppressed underrated by danger and institutional sanctions,
and “equalizer” to the abuses of the powerful. Among his seven “Tondo” films,
a definite Resurrection he has gone through is when he is declared as a freeman
by Ramos (a high-rank policeman) in Dito sa Pitong Gatang. Claiming to have
been moved by Berting’s selflessness, heroism (lone raid on drug syndicates),
and willingness to submit himself to the law, Ramos claims “ang taong
pinaghahanap ko ng sampung taon na, ay matagal nang patay.” The scene
proves the FPJ hero has earned the right to achieve his heroic status despite him
being a fugitive for ten years.

K. The Return with Elixir
The Return with Elixir is where the Hero earns his final Reward on his
journey. As he journeys back to his Ordinary World, the Hero brings with him
the Elixir that he could share with others. The Elixir could be in the form of love
wisdom, or an experience from his journey. The Elixir could also be used to heal
a physical or emotional wound, to heal a wounded land, or accomplish tasks that
had been feared in the Ordinary World. The Elixir may bring closure to the
Hero’s journey, and balance is restored to the ordinary World. As conflicts and
story lines have been resolved, the Hero may now embark on a new life – a life
influenced by his travelled journey.
Bito’s arrest, and Gloria’s (Nanding’s sister) reunion with her son is
Nanding’s (FPJ) ultimate achievement of his quest in Tundo: Isla Puting Bato.
As all three characters (Nanding, Concha, and Gloria) achieve their goals, the
film comes to its close thus signifies the hero’s completion of his journey, and
the final reward is earned. As Crisanto (FPJ) and Bador (Ramon Revilla Sr.) win
the final gunfight battle in Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite, the two reconcile
their friendship. In Eseng ng Tondo, Eseng (FPJ) emerges victorious in the
gunfight and returns home to his wife Digna. Before entering his house, Digna
sees him with Elvy. His wife gets jealous and Eseng lies his way to peace. The
husband and wife happily enter their home.

II. Tondo as Place/Space in FPJ Films
Andre Bazin’s Realism rooted to the human fascination with the
mediation of artistic reproduction of physical reality. A film is taken as realistic
because it correctly reproduces the part of the real world to which it refers (as
cited by Edwards, 2013). For the film to fulfill the goal of reproduction of
physical reality, Bazin believes that the keys are simplicity, purity, and
transparency (Film Reference, n.d.). According to Bazin, showcasing reality is
possible by showing reality itself through its “structural depth” and “preexisting
relations”. Simply put, reality is shown in its very nature – without adding
anything – because doing so can only do harm to this factual character. Bazin
also believes that film interpretation should be left to the audience or spectator
(Realism in the Film Theory of Sergei Eisenstein and André Bazin, n.d.).
To recognize sets and settings as accurate evocations of actual places,
FPJ’s “Tondo” films are studied through Edward Soja’s Trialectics of Space:
Spatiality, Sociality, and History. Soja’s Trialectics of Space asserts that Space
is composed of Spatiality, Sociality, and History. Soja divides Space into: First
Space, Second Space, and Third Space. First space is the ‘real’ space – the
physical built environment, the commonsensical view. Second space is the
‘imagined’ representational space – how the space is perceived, seen and argued
over; political ideologies; cultural ideologies; social attributes and meanings.
Third space is the collective experience of life mediated through expectations.

Being a local of Tondo, the researcher utilizes the preexisting
relations of what comprises the district of Tondo, and the presentation of the
said district in FPJ’s “Tondo” films.
II. A. Tondo as ‘First Space’ in FPJ Films
Protagonists Nanding (FPJ) and Pepe (Joseph Estrada) are introduced
to have arrived at a crowded and unruly slums in Manila, but no definite name is
given on the setting itself in Ito ang Maynila. While jeepneys are a recurring
scene in the said film as it becomes a getaway vehicle for Pepe and his team; the
presence of riots, “siga” and this thugs cannot be taken away as well, as some
characters like Amang (FPJ’s younger brother) becomes victim of them.
The film Tundo: Isla Puting Bato. Isla Puting Bato is a barangay
located in the northern part of Tondo in Manila and is surrounded by a body of
water called “estero” where residences are built around. In the setting of the
same film, it is shown that majority of the land is uncemented, and as the name
suggests, it is surrounded by a body of water. Another scene opens to a brothel
house located in Isla Puting Bato where Concha is introduced as a pleasure-
giver. Other pleasure-givers are also introduced in this scene.
In one of the scenes in Tatak ng Tundo, the protagonists Berting’s
(FPJ) and Pepe’s (Joseph Estrada) gangs meet to clash. However, instead of
battling it out, the two characters became friends. The location is reminiscent of
Smokey Mountain. Smokey Mountain is a large landfill located in Tondo,

Manila. Similar to Tatak ng Tundo, gang culture is also not taken away in the
movie Eseng ng Tondo. This gang hides under the name “Chikinini Gang” who
lures attractive students around Manila’s University Belt area, under the guise of
a modeling agency. Eseng’s wife becomes a target for this group.Aside from
gang wars that are introduced in Tatak ng Tundo and Eseng ng Tondo, clan war
is introduced in Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite when a man named Hildo
runs amok and chases his neighbor with a bolo – a common sight in Tondo
wherein clan war was a thing. Neighbors could only watch as Hildo nears his
target. Horse-drawn carriages, called “Kalesa” are also common sight
throughout the film.
The film Dito sa Pitong Gatang shows busy streets of the titular
barangay and its adjacent districts. Pitong Gatang is a community also known as
“Barangay 77” in Tondo, Manila. In the same film, the audiences are introduced
with night shots of the city enduring vehicular traffic and pedestrians traversing
the neon-covered streets of Manila. But a sense of calmness engulfs the entire
place, yet the shots are positioned to make it look like something is bound to
happen anytime soon, as the camera keeps on panning. The shots are paired with
a romantic acoustic melody, like a serenade looking to woo a lady. Suddenly,
the audiences are introduced to the person playing the soulful tune. The next
screen was cut to daytime, busy streets of the titular barangay and its adjacent
districts. People are busy making a living and rushing to commitments. Tondo’s
gritty manufacture industry is highlighted and local government unit employees

are shown working to correct busted public works. In another scene, Kapitana
Lamberta charges at Berting’s (FPJ) house in the morning due to a false claim
regarding Berting’s comment on her looks. The barangay chairwoman makes a
scene and the entire neighborhood looks on. The commotion gets dragged all the
way to the wet market as spectators look on. The scene ends with Berting,
pushing Lamberta unto a basin of fish, then leaves. As the commotion ends, the
crowd disperses.
The movie Eseng ng Tondo pays much homage to Tondo and the
culture: an extravagant “piyesta” show a massive parade to commemorate Santo
Nino, who happens to be the town’s patron saint. The feast is complete with a
marching band, ati-atihan dancers, a “prusisyon” and beauty contest dubbed as
Ms. Santo Nino. In one separate scene, Eseng (FPJ) even attends as judge of the
local gay beauty contest. As social standards, judges for beauty contests are
chosen either based on their knowledge and experience on the pageant, or their
influence in the locale. Later on, varying threats to the community are
introduced, and of course, Eseng being the workaholic cop that he is, gets his
nose unto each. First, Eseng responds to a tip regarding an organized robbery
group in the Moriones area. Moriones is a street in Tondo, Manila.
In Pakners, Manuel (Efren “Bata” Reyes) arrives in Manila wanting to
provide better life for his family in the province. As he finds himself in the port
of Tondo, he is victimized by a pick-pocket, and then gets lured into a night club
by a shady promoter. Unable to pay his bill since his wallet got stolen; Manuel
gets beaten and thrown out by the night club’s two-faced staff. In the same film,
Simang, Nanding’s (FPJ) cousin, organizes a game of “Bingo” right outside
their house in Tondo, with their neighbors as players.
II. B. Tondo as ‘Second Space’ in FPJ Films
The presence of jeepneys, riots, local “siga” and their thugs in the film
Ito ang Maynila creates impressions of people’s everyday struggles and
survival. As the film Tundo: Isla Puting Bato opens to wide shots of Isla Puting
Bato, it was paired by Ernani Cuenco’s song of the same title. The song is a
hopeful rendition, yet serves as warning to anyone who dare cross the harsh
environment of Isla Puting Bato. In its first scene, the audiences are given an
experience of the place (Liu, 2018) by providing wide shots of houses and
factories surrounding Isla Puting Bato’s community. In support of Liu (2018),
Andre Bazin, through his theory of Cinematic Realism, identifies how a good
work of art in cinema is created as a “perspective painting” – to which the
representation of reality is fulfilled with transparency. In the scene where wide
shots of Isla Puting Bato are utilized not only as a lived space, but as a ‘work of
art,’ the film make the audiences (or the spectator), see the entirety and
transparency of a place in one screen, thus, gives them a feeling and experience
of being situated in the location itself – as if they are about to enter a community
– and be welcomed by it.

A scene of Tundo: Isla Puting Bato opens to a brothel house located in
Isla Puting Bato. A brothel house, in the film, symbolizes slavery. In one
instance in the brothel house, Concha rejects the advances of a client. She is
scolded by the den mother and warned to be more welcoming. For several
times, Concha tries to escape the brothel house but fails. Instances as such
provide a record and experience of aspects of physical reality, Kracauer (Film
Reference, n.d.) by unmasking the world of a brothel house, Bazin (McKibbin,
n.d.). As Concha and her fellow “pleasure-givers” are enslaved by their den
mother who uses their debts as leverage, Concha and other pleasure-givers
become representation of powerless people who become captives of a more-
advantaged class in the vicinity of Tondo. Gloria, another pleasure-giver, who
also is the sister of Nanding in the film, is abducted by Bito and forced himself
upon her. During the rape of Gloria, the scene closes to a shot of the poor lass
with fishing net, draped over her face, signifying the predicament she is now in.
Gloria is taken as prisoner by Bito, forced to be his bride, as she carries his
child. The child is Nanding’s nephew. Gloria is the voiceless woman in a
patriarchal society, whose husband treats her like property. Women, as
represented particularly by Concha and Gloria in the film, are prisoners,
unwilling pawns of the tricks played by society. As Conde (2007) described
Tondo as slum “notorious for its chaos, filth, poverty, and violence,” these
scenes portray how wealth and poverty can be neighbors in Tondo (Ira et al,
1977), hence, proves Soja’s (n.d.) conception of the notion that “geography
shapes class, as much as class shapes geography.”
The film Tatak ng Tundo opens to a series of wide shots of Tondo’s
slums and densely-tact streets, juxtaposed by a narration explaining the brief
history of Tondo – which gives a picture of Tondo in all its austere glory, with
decades of internal migration to the capital – result in its overpopulation. The
city appears to be incapable of supporting its massive populace, as long shots of
the actual setting suggests. The scene shows a ‘real’ and a realistic picture of
what comprises Tondo according to its very nature, Bazin (Realism in the Film
Theory of Sergei Eisenstein and Andre Bazin, n.d.). The film, through its first
scene, is able to establish and fulfill the goal of cinema in providing human
cravings with a realistic representation (Film Reference, n.d.) by showing reality
itself without adding anything (Realism in the Film Theory of Sergei Eisenstein
and Andre Bazin, n.d.). The film’s first act seems to have an overreliance in
wide shots, as one of its primary cinematic elements – to give the audiences an
experience of the place (Liu, 2018) without relying too much on words. In the
said scene, the film’s reliance on wide shots of Tondo’s slums and densely-tact
streets also translates the film’s reliance to simplicity, purity, and transparency –
as the ontology and rhetoric essence of cinema in showcasing reality, hence
called realism (Film Reference, n.d.). Use of slums and overly-populated streets
affirms the ongoing existence of Tondo as garnering the highest number of

population, or the most crowded part in the city of Manila (Philippine Statistics
Authority, 2013; Moses, 1908).
As Conde (2007) claims that gang culture is rampant in Tondo, the film
introduces one particular sequence where young Pepe and young Berting’s
gangs meet at a dumpsite to settle differences – which also affirms Libiran’s (as
cited in Conde, 2007) claim that gangs or “tribes” in Tondo have their own set
of codes of morality and honor. The said dumpsite is reminiscent of what
appears to be Smokey Mountain – a huge dumpsite found in Tondo’s vicinity –
by which Tondo is also infamous for (Cuneta, 2013).
Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite has mastered the art of establishing
a cynical environment, as the opening feels more like poverty porn set in the late
80s. As it introduces clan war culture when a man named Hildo runs amok and
chases his neighbor with a bolo, the movie’s opening does little to romanticize
the crime and poverty that grips Tondo – as it is shown in mostly gritty detail.
Night shots of the city in the film Dito sa Pitong Gatang, accompanied
by a soulful tune while enduring vehicular traffic and pedestrians traversing the
neon-covered streets of Manila sets a light-hearted feels amongst audiences –
with the city’s crowdedness left unnoticed. Simultaneously, the audiences are
travelled through a huddled city while giving them a sense of peace and
calmness. The audiences are brought to a fully-lived chaotic space (real space),
yet the scene also serves them an imaginary, virtual, and abstract serenity
(mental space) – thus the experience of Thirdspace (Soja, 1996). A narrator,

who also is the one playing the soulful tune, opens the story about the titular
Barangay “Pitong Gatang,” its life, and the hero that the place looks up to. The
narrator is used as a tool to romanticize the story of the downtrodden, densely-
populated and crime-ridden streets of Pitong Gatang. As the scene is cut to
daytime showing busy streets and busy people of the titular Pitong Gatang, the
scene speaks about the daily life for Tondenos in its very nature (Realism in the
Film Theory of Sergei Eisenstein and Andre Bazin, n.d.). On these busy streets,
we first get a glimpse of the protagonist “Berting Cayabyab” and his family.
Pitong Gatang is a barangay in Tondo where Berting Cayabyab is the barangay
chairman who leads a crusade against gambling. In one scene, Berting and his
council or “tanods” initiate a raid of an illegal gambling house. This scene
marks a sudden shift of tone from light-hearted townsfolk affairs, to a darker dip
into Pitong Gatang’s underworld crime and dangers. The scene is also
reminiscent to Conde’s (2007) depiction of Tondo being Manila’s slum
notorious for its chaos, filth, poverty, and violence. One scene shows a barangay
chairwoman charging at Berting’s (FPJ) house due to a false claim on her looks.
The barangay chairwoman makes a scene and the entire neighborhood looks on
– a typical scene of bored and often unemployed Filipinos in search of thrill by
peering unto their neighbor’s lives. As the commotion gets dragged all the way
to the wet market as spectators look on. The scene is a portrayal of “chismis”
culture in the Philippine landscape – which can be distinguished with people
living in crowded, middle-class neighborhoods.

As the movie Eseng ng Tondo pays much homage to Tondo and the
culture through its Santo Nino; “piyesta” with ati-atihan dancers; a “prusisyon”
and beauty contest dubbed as Ms. Santo Nino. In a community’s colorful culture
as such, varying threats to the community are introduced. First Eseng (FPJ)
responds to a tip regarding an organized robbery group in the Moriones area.
Then the good law enforcer orders a raid on his brother Belo’s gambling house,
it erupts into a fist fight between the two which ends in Belo being sullen
towards his brother. Also, a group of kidnapper-rapists lures attractive students
around Manila’s University Belt area, under the guise of a modeling agency,
spreads fear across the city.
In Pakners, Manuel (Efren “Bata” Reyes) arrives in Manila. As he
arrives in the port of Tondo, everything is unfamiliar to him, yet he is ready to
gamble his luck in an unfamiliar place. As he sets his foot in the city, Manuel
who hails from the province encounters series of unfortunate events. As a true
blue “probinsyano,” Manuel becomes an easy target for Manila con artists
preying on vulnerable and wretched townsfolk. Simang, Nanding’s (FPJ) cousin,
organizes a game of “Bingo” right outside their house, with their neighbors as
players. In a typical Tondo setting where families are living a life of poverty
(Roy, 2014), its narrow streets are filled with Bingo hobbyists who are trying to
catch their luck with numbers.

II. C. Tondo as ‘Third Space’ in FPJ Films
Unknown to many people, Tondo occupies a good position in the
Philippine history by being a cradle of Tagalog culture and Philippine resistance
against colonial oppression. In fact, some prominent, respected (Flores, 2005),
and some of the richest Filipino families reside in Tondo (Moses, 1908).
In the Philippine landscape, the glorious legacy left by Tondo is
replaced by a brand of being a cesspool of thick crimes, vices, poverty, slums,
its Smokey Mountain dumpsite, gangs, killings, and the tales of its gangsters
like Asiong Salonga and Totoy Golem, and several publications support this
claim (Moses, 1908; Galang, 1969; Ira, Medina & Ricio, 1977; Cuneta, 2013;
Roy, 2014). Tondo is the dirtiest and most crowded part of Manila (Moses,
1908). Tondo is Manila’s backyard somber with the look of poverty (Galang,
1969). Tondo is notorious for its underground characters and goons, filthy
slums, clogged esteros with a crush of people (Ira et al, 1977). Tondo’s Smokey
Mountain dumpsite is a snapshot of “gates of hell” as depicted by Dan Brown in
his novel “Inferno” (Cuneta, 2013). And Tondo is a poverty-stricken, sprawling
district infamous for its slums whose families are living a life of poverty (Roy,
2014). While several publications assess how Tondo was created as breeding
ground of slums, crimes, violent gang wars, and poverty-stricken families, FPJ’s
“Tondo” films do not shy itself away from these commentaries.
Tondo is an unruly place imbued with everyday memories of people’s
struggle and survival in Ito ang Maynila. Isla Puting Bato serves as a dwelling
place for poverty, crime and danger, injustice, and vengeance. Isla Puting Bato
as ‘space’ is waiting to be defended, because the people and the place are
paralyzed by fear, and only waiting to be led by the hero (Tope, 2013). In the
film Tatak ng Tundo, Tondo served as a microcosm of the country’s worsening
state – with poverty worsening; population ballooning; crime rates rising; and
gang wars are raging. The film reveals Tondo being a cesspool of thick crimes,
poverty-stricken places; slum areas; gangs and killings; and vengeance. Tondo’s
rough and chaotic world is an embodiment of struggle and survival – to which
salvation cannot be fulfilled on its own ways because the hero is the only one to
have acquired the iconic substance of a savior or redeemer (Tope, 2013). The
people’s struggles and circumstances dictate that the answer to oppression is not
a popular uprising but a hero (Tope, 2013). Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite is
a reference of Tondo being a crowded and an unruly place that only a hero’s
presence can calm down its rudeness because the people and the place are
paralyzed by fear (Tope, 2013). In Dito sa Pitong Gatang, Tondo is a crowded
and busy place where manufacture industry is bustling and its people have their
own commitments to attend to. Behind people’s everyday commitments lies a
community endangered by drugs and illegal gambling that can only be
redeemed, secured and equalized by a hero with Christ-like qualities yet
dangerous when triggered. Similarly, behind Tondo’s rich culture of festive and
religious celebrations hides varying threats caused by the unruly world of
gambling, corruption, robbery, kidnap, gangs and rape spearheaded by powerful

crime lords. The presence of these crimes in Eseng ng Tondo can only be
equalized by an equally-powerful hero who has the ability to strip of one’s
power.
An FPJ film would have locations imbued with everyday memories of
struggle and survival (Tope, 2013), and the film Pakners does not fall short of
that. Despite being a feel-good movie, Tondo’s everyday memories of struggle
and survival are referenced in the film by the recurrence of the game of Bingo,
billiards, jeepney, and gambling. Of course, narrow streets are also a staple in
the movie. With the overwhelming feeling and rudeness of the district of Tondo
cause on innocent Manuel as he first sets his foot within the district’s vicinity,
Tondo becomes a dangerous place for outsiders like him. Nanding, the FPJ
hero, becomes the guardian of Manuel – with the latter becoming a wiser and
full-pledged urbanite at the end of the movie. Manuel could have not survived
the vast world of Manila if it is not because of the FPJ hero.
III. FPJ as Semiotic Sign
Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) is the action movie hero found within the
landscape of Philippine cinema. The moniker he earned as “Da King” of
Philippine cinema proves that he had risen from being a matinee idol status to a
myth and icon. The man behind the myth is an action star who had portrayed a
number of on-screen characters, but the plot of his story transcends to more than
what the audiences witness on screen. The FPJ hero is regarded as a member of
the community and a Christ-like figure who willingly lays down his life to
protect the oppressed (Tope, 2013). As he is efficient in generating change
communally (Tope, 2013), his story extends to the lives of the audiences –
making him an important element, and symbol of their reality (as cited by
Santiago, 2009). To discover more of the man behind the “FPJ myth”, Roland
Barthes’ Semiotic theory explains how FPJ’s characters as signifier
communicate an aspect of reality referred to as signified.
Upon his break-out from the prison in Tundo: Isla Puting bato, the FPJ
hero changed his clothes: from inmate clothes – to ragged earth-colored clothes
from a farmer – and now to his signature white shirt ensemble with loose
buttons. This change supplements a mythical sign of the hero’s transition from
an inmate to finally becoming a hero; a beacon of hope; a sort of liberator for the
wretched populace of Isla Puting Bato. As the hero changed his clothes, it
explains and reflects how a transition is required to finally become a hero,
because the hero’s series of experiences, tests, tasks, or ordeals make him
undergo the necessary transformation. To successfully generate change on a
bigger scale, the hero should start it in himself so he can communicate to his
audiences how ‘change’ pursuits a better life. As the hero plays a vital role in
generating change, he becomes an important element in the audiences’ reality,
Deza (Santiago, 2009). He then becomes the answer to oppression and the key to
liberate people from their struggles and circumstances (Tope, 2013).

Crisanto (FPJ hero) in Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite, has a no
nonsense approach to protecting Tondo locals, just like a ruthless “Vlad the
Impaler” who resorts to unorthodox and controversial methods to protect his
kingdom of Wallachia Transylvania. Crisanto does not hesitate in taking lives,
for as long as his people can live in a just environment. On more than one
occasion, Crisanto avenges a fellow Tondo local who is wronged by outsiders.
Cristanto has a talent with butterfly knives, or locally known as “balisong”.
However, FPJ did not entirely drop his knack for pistols, especially the trusty
revolver which he uses to take out enemies. Despite his strong countenance,
Crisanto is always wearing white shirt either as prime top or underneath the
iconic leather jacket.
In Eseng ng Tondo, we get a montage of Eseng’s (FPJ) good deeds
such as visiting children’s ward in the real world Mary Johnston Hospital;
assisting his elderly mother in transporting merchandise; rounding up suspects in
a dramatic fashion; bonding with street dwellers and vendors, and setting a
teenage delinquent straight. These scenes manifest the FPJ hero’s act of heroism,
yet his bonding with street dwellers and vendors speaks that the Hero is also a
regular member or neighbor in a community. He is one of the people, talking
casually (Deza, as cited by Santiago, 2009).
On the busy streets of Barangay Pitong Gatang, we first get a glimpse
of the protagonist “Berting Cayabyab” (FPJ hero) and his family. Without much
dialogue, it is made apparent that Berting, the FPJ hero, is a respected member
of the community, as passersby greet and acknowledge him as “Chairman.” It is
then revealed that he is actually the leader of Pitong Gatang. In this scene, the
FPJ hero is both a neighbor and a leader of a community, regarded as one of
their own (Deza, as cited by Santiago, 2009).
In Pakners, Nanding (FPJ hero) works as a jeepney driver. Nanding
does repairs for his ageing jeepney – a public vehicle that has become a
permanent fixture in Philippine roads. Jeepneys serve as reminder of everyday
struggles and survival (Tope, 2013). With his jeepney, the FPJ hero is regarded
as one of the members of the community (Deza, as cited by Santiago, 2009)
surviving the struggles of the city.
When Eseng (FPJ) catches up to the “Chikinini gang” in Eseng ng
Tondo, whose members are revealed to be affluent members of the society,
Eseng castrates their leader. A recurring theme in FPJ films wherein the 1%
takes advantage of everyone else, and Eseng, the hero of the story serves as the
equalizer. The castration is symbolic of being stripped of one’s power – which
can only be fulfilled by the FPJ hero.
Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth explains that people in the Ordinary
World takes the Hero as someone possessing some abilities and characteristics
that make people feel heroes are extraordinary beings. The scene in Eseng ng
Tondo speaks of that claim when Eseng (FPJ) barely dodges a bullet intended
for him; he launches a one-man-war against the oppressive elite – ability and
characteristic that defines an extraordinary being – whose might is beyond
compare.
While heroes are taken as superior and infallible, the scene in Tatak ng
Tundo where the FPJ hero and his best friend are dancing quirkily at a party
shows the hero’s humanity. While being extraordinary with god-like character is
the universal archetype of a hero, the FPJ hero shows otherwise. He commits
mistakes similar to ordinary human beings. Truth is told, in his journey as the
hero in Ito ang Maynila, he commited a mistake that could cause him his
reputation as the hero. Nanding (FPJ hero) finds his way into the location of the
gunfight where Pepe, his good friend, is involved in an illegal activity. Despite
their differing principles, Nanding tries to talk some sense into Pepe, but the
latter does not listen. So Pepe’s team carries on with the robbery operation, but
the police arrive and the robbery is foiled. Pepe’s team tries to escape and a
police chase ensues. The chase happens to pass by the police station where
Nanding is working. Nanding notices the commotion. Pepe’s team abandon their
vehicle and run to an abandoned building where a gunfight ensues. Pepe’s team
get taken out one by one as Pepe remains the last man standing. Nanding finds
his way into the location of the gunfight. Nanding tries to reason with Pepe, but
Pepe refuses to listen. The two engage in a shootout and Pepe hurls a grenade at
Nanding. Before the grenade explodes, Nanding shoots and kills Pepe. Nanding
realizes Pepe did not pull the pin on the grenade. Realizing Pepe did not intend
to kill him but only to scare him away, Nanding runs and to his friend’s lifeless
body.
A typical Filipino who gains strength from family, the FPJ hero is no
different to that. However, several Tondo films show how the FPJ hero is also
mired with problems, especially those about familial matters. In Tundo: Isla
Puting Bato, Nanding’s (FPJ) sister, Gloria, is abducted by Bito and forced
himself upon her. During the rape of Gloria, the scene closes to a shot of the
poor lass with fishing net, draped over her face, signifying the predicament she
is now in. Gloria is taken as prisoner by Bito, forced to be his bride, as she
carries his child. The child is Nanding’s nephew. Gloria is the voiceless woman
in a patriarchal society, whose husband treats her like property. Nanding is a
local of Isla Puting Bato, who on the verge of defending his sister’s honor, kills
the offender.
In Tatak ng Tundo, Berting’s (FPJ) conflict on his family is about his
paraplegic wife and her deteriorating self-esteem, which by the way was not
given resolution towards the end. The audiences are treated to a softer side of
Eseng (FPJ) in Eseng ng Tondo, as the triggerman comes home to his wife, who
is pissed of his habit of coming home in the morning. The entire neighbourhood
looks on with glee as Eseng’s wife Digna hurls kitchenware at him out of
frustration. In the same movie, Eseng’s wife becomes a target and is abducted
by a group of rapists, whose group is known to be “Chikinini Gang” – as
reference to their modus operandi of leaving a hickey on their victims. This

group lures attractive students around Manila’s University Belt area, under the
guise of a modelling agency.
Dito sa Pitong Gatang also reveals the FPJ hero’s character as a father.
During Berting’s (FPJ) beat down, the inmates plotting escape earlier arrive at
his house. It was not revealed how or when they escaped. A bloodied Berting
returns home to find his daughter in the arms of one of the escaped inmates, a
gun pointed at her head. With his daughter being in great danger, the FPJ hero is
pushed to undergo the necessary transformation in order to save his daughter.
Crisanto, the FPJ hero in Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite, consistently meets
Celia, the sister of his late wife Salud. Celia tells him that his in-laws wants to
meet his Son Chris, but they (in-laws) refuse to set foot in Tondo due to the
place’s reputation. Crisanto battles the fact that despite being pained by his
wife’s passing, he has to wrestle with the truth that his in-laws will never accept
him as the father of Chris.
While family is the FPJ hero’s source of strength, yet family is also his
weakness. The FPJ hero has always been regarded as god-like hero who
possesses extraordinary strength, but his humanity is manifested in times when
he feels lost and bewildered – especially with matters concerning his family,
particularly about his wife and children. In times he cannot bear problems about
his family, a woman’s persona becomes his mentor and great support. Out of
seven “Tondo” films, there are three (3) that emphasized women’s significant
roles in the FPJ hero’s journey.

The scene in Tundo: Isla Puting Bato shows the FPJ hero entering the
Special World – the world that contains constant threat of death. The FPJ hero,
who on the verge of defending his sister’s honour, killed the offender who raped
her. Despite his reluctance to leave his family and his ordinary world, Nanding
as the hero, is motivated to defend his sister’s honour because the crime
committed to Gloria, his sister, serves as the hero’s discovery of his world being
in danger. Having crossed the threshold, the FPJ hero encounters an ally in
Concha. Their similarities as run-aways, causes Nanding and Concha to warm
towards each other. As he met Concha, the FPJ hero becomes more prepared to
traverse a vast, unforgiving jungle, and make it back to society to finally get his
due.
In Dito sa Pitong Gatang, Berting’s (FPJ) house help, known only as
“Manang,” tells him she has spotted Tinente Ramos in town. As Berting listens
in horror, it is slowly being revealed that Berting is the fugitive being tracked by
Ramos. In another scene, Berting returns home, but he finds his daughter in the
arms of one of the escaped inmates, a gun pointed at her head. Catching the
nation’s attention and putting his daughter’s life in danger, Berting opens up to
Lamberta. The previous events cause the FPJ hero to feel lost in the wilderness.
At this point of his life, Berting the barangay captain, who has always been the
mentor to his constituents, is in dire need of a Mentor – which he finds in
Lamberta. As Berting opens up to Lamberta, he tells her plans to run away with
his daughter, but Lamberta advices against it. Lamberta heeds to the call of
being the FPJ hero’s guide – at a time he needs it the most. The movie Pakners
also reveals the FPJ hero being conflicted again with doubts and fears. Nanding
(FPJ) opens up to Vivian about his painful past and his deceased wife – in which
Vivian gives him a selfless advice.
IV. Hero and Place as Correlates
In his films, the FPJ hero is a respected member of his community in
Tondo, regarded as one of the people (Deza, as cited by Santiago, 2009) who
also strives to survive the everyday struggles of life. As he is presented as one of
the regular members of the community, the FPJ hero is totally aware of the
struggles of the people in his community, which is why he aspires to provide a
better life not only to his family but also to his community. But to make this
aspiration a reality, there are episodes that he has to change; change that the FPJ
hero does not deny to himself. To generate change on a bigger scale, the FPJ
hero needs to start it with himself. His transformation communicates how
‘change’ pursuits a better life. Similar to other archetypes of the hero’s makeup,
the FPJ hero’s journey contains stages experienced in a somewhat different
order across his films. In these films, Tondo is a picture and experience of social
realities: overpopulation, poverty, vices, crimes, gangs, killings, and injustices.
With social realities rampant in his community, eradicating city crimes becomes
the FPJ hero’s crusade – through and in his films. His crusade continues as long
as societal problems exist. His crusade is the legacy he leaves. Furthermore, as
long as his films exist, the FPJ hero and his legacy would remain ingrained in
the human psyche – thus creating the ‘FPJ myth’.

CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Different cultures around the world, even without direct cultural contact
with each other, do not shy away from the concept of a hero. It is believed that
the myth of the hero is the well-known myth in the world (Davie, 2011) and a
common strand embedded within the infrastructure of each civilization (Harris,
2014). As such, a hero is regarded as someone who is strong, either literally or
figuratively, sometimes even both, and often a hero is someone who is morally
upright because the hero stands for what should be, or the ideal (Tope, 2013).
An act may be taken as heroic if it manifests courage, bravery, altruism, a sense
of duty or citizenship, and a disregard for well-being. Such is the case in FPJ
films wherein the protagonist (FPJ hero) is painted as someone who is
physically capable of defending himself and others, and exhumes judgment as
whether something is worth fighting for or not. Often, a hero is perceived as
someone who sees freedom from oppression and equality as something worth
fighting for regardless of risk. These traits of the hero are what endear him to the
hearts of the lot that comprises the universal hero myth. However, these acts
need not all to be present to be considered heroic (Davie, 2011), as not all hero
myths go through the same path or journey of separation, descent, ordeal, and
return (Campbell & Cousineau, 2003). The FPJ hero traverses his journey in a
somewhat different order, which proves Campbell’s & Cousineau ‘s (2003)
claim that not all myths go through the same pattern.
An ordinary person sees a hero in someone who has the traits and
strength that his personal ego lacks. These traits can either be physical,
emotional, behavioral, mental or even spiritual. In the context of the FPJ films
and the main characters being hailed as heroes, the protagonists are established
as members of the community (Santiago, 2009). These protagonists, either
through fate (Dito sa Pitong Gatang; Eseng ng Tundo; Isla Puting Bato), or
through their own actions (Tatak ng Tundo; Pakners; Ito ang Maynila; Iyo ang
Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite) get plunged into a conflicted environment they never
asked for. Through sheer determination and their own physical prowess, the hero
claws his way out of these conflicts and are glorified in the end. Often, the harsh
realities that Filipinos face – such as but not limited to economy, familial
matters and legal issues – can be somewhat likened to the conflicts that the hero
faces. Being taken as a regular member of the community in his films, Fernando
Poe Jr. (FPJ) as the actor, becomes interchangeable with the “FPJ hero.” As the
myth of heroes is ingrained in the human psyche, the FPJ hero then becomes a
representation, a supplement, and an embodiment of what the personal ego
lacks; hence, the creation of the “FPJ myth.”
While the dangers and conflicts the FPJ hero encounters in his
community reveal his heroic acts, FPJ’s “Tondo” films do not fall short of
revealing the hero’s humanity. It is in familial matters faced by the hero that an
extraordinary being’s weakness is revealed. Aside from the dangers present in
his community (Ito ang Maynila), problems encountered by the FPJ hero in his
Tondo films are about his wife (Tatak ng Tundo; Eseng ng Tondo; Pakners); his
sister (Tundo: Isla Puting Bato); and his daughter and his son (Dito sa Pitong
Gatang; Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite). As these matters are mostly about
women, the FPJ hero identifies his weakness on this aspect. The FPJ hero’s
“bakbakan” moves may help eradicate community problems, but matters
concerning women are those that he cannot solve on his own. In these instances,
a woman’s persona becomes significant to him. The FPJ hero is either the
Mentor to people around him; otherwise, the FPJ hero is the one who needs one
– and women (in the persona of Concha, Lamberta, and Vivian) are considered
his Mentor, guide, and great help.
Tondo, being a densely-populated space and a subject of social illness
and desperation in a developing country, makes for perfect setting in the process
of developing a hero. While it aims to be developed back to its austere glory,
Tondo continuously struggles from thick crimes, vices, poverty, gangs and
killings. As it continuously becomes a breeding ground of chaos that result to
fear and helplessness, it is waiting to be defended and saved because only the
hero acquires the iconic substance of a savior or redeemer (Tope, 2013).
Movies offer individuals and communities throughout the world new
filters through which they can represent, interpret, and critically examine their
daily lives (Parasecoli, 2009). Through machination of the filmmakers, the

heroes triumph in the end, giving fans a glimmer of hope in their own struggles
– often being looked upon as inspiration in trying to win in their struggles.
Locals, who are immersed in their own problems and fear, could see rays of
sunshine in a mythological local, the FPJ hero, who overcame his own problems
and lived happily in the end.
A conventional reception about Tondo and the FPJ hero myth is a result
of images and political messages perpetuated similarly in the films of Fernando
Poe Jr. Thus, FPJ’s Tondo films are not mere reflections of reality; rather, it is a
performance of an ideological role in reinforcing power structures and cultural
assumptions (Parasecoli, 2009). Tondo is a looming image, a subject, and a
motif of social realities in FPJ’s “Tondo” films. Tondo’s spatiality serves as
platform and medium for the FPJ hero to exhibit his heroic acts.
Recommendations of the Study
Over the span of decades, FPJ films have followed the same path that
was paved by the commercialized and star-centric Philippine film industry. Ito
ang Maynila an earlier entry, is a simple and campy, yet enlightening take on
the state of Tondo during the 60s, and the trend of migration from rural areas to
the capital city which is Manila. Tatak ng Tundo relates the effects of poverty
and an abusive household may have on a child. Tundo: Isla Puting Bato
explores the weaknesses of the justice system and the how people react when
pushed to the edge. On the other hand, Pakners tried to tell a story on the
stagnant state of the rural areas, and the tendency of the people living there to
fall prey unto the deceptive urbanites. However, Pakners is mirred with too
much products placements. Its cast is also too big for the story it wants to tell,
which many of the characters are being redundant additions to the story. Such is
also the case of Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite which also relies on the
popularity of Fernando Poe Jr. and Ramon Revilla Sr. Lacking substance, the
film relies on the star factor of its two leads, failing to tell a compelling story
about the relation of rural and urban Philippines. With the rise of independent
cinema, it is worth giving attention to more creative and socially-relevant
features.
A number of negative Filipino traits are recurring in the films, such as
gambling, gossiping, spectating, riots, gang-ups and other social realities. These
traits are more frequent in more crowded areas of the country such as those in
Tondo – the biggest district in Manila. While these negative traits conquer more
attention, those positive traits manifested by the locals of Tondo in the film,
such as camaraderie, get little of the spotlight. Hence, this study recommends a
separate study be conducted to analyze positive traits presented in Tondo films,
including FPJ’s – that could hopefully help sanitize the image of Tondo, and
unravel a new site for Filipino cinematic imaginary with regards to the
depiction, presentation, and representation given on the image of Tondo. Also, a

separate research is also proposed by this study about other iconic Tondo
characters who are heroes in their own rights, such as Asiong Salonga.
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Appendices
Appendix A
Chronological List of FPJ Films

___________________________________________________
1 List of FPJ Films: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0688093/
*as sent through email by FPJ Studios on August 22, 2014, 5:04 PM
2 Seven (7) out of 263 films were “Tondo Films” as per FPJ Studios.
*Tondo films of FPJ are highlighted in yellow.
Appendices
Appendix B
Filmography
Title: Ito Ang Maynila

Year Released: 1963 (Philippines)
Director: Efren Reyes
Genre: Action, Drama
Starring: Fernando Poe Jr., Joseph Estrada,
Rebecca, Melinda Molina, Max Alvarado,
Vicente Liwanag, Dencio Padilla, Danilo
Jurado, Paquito Diaz, Jay Ilagan, Jess Lapid
Production Company: Tagalog Ilang-Ilang

Productions
Title: Tundo: Isla Puting Bato

Director: Cesar Gallardo
Genre: Action
Starring: Fernando Poe Jr., Charito Solis
Production Company: LEA Productions
_
________________________________
2 Ito Ang Maynila filmography: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375859/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Picture retrieved from:
https://www.google.com.ph/imgres?imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nxUb2kYKSvI/R4iqmO630hI/AAAAAAAADYc/8
eJevkuUmyQ/s400/Ito%252Bang%252BMaynila-63-2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://video48.blogspot.com/2008/02/fpj-joseph-
erap-estrada-
starrers.html&h=302&w=400&tbnid=MkWexPU_TjsWhM:&docid=MCAGlehFPq7hXM&ei=VmjYVqDLNoO-
mgXLoaqQDw&tbm=isch&ved=0ahUKEwigzt_w-aTLAhUDn6YKHcuQCvIQMwggKAUwBQ
3 Tundo: Isla Puting Bato filmography: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2170655/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

Picture retrieved from: https://www.google.com.ph/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-
ySd7gO_OrEI/TeT3fbszMpI/AAAAAAAAaNU/YlGdCgMDFiA/s1600/Tundo%25252BIsla%25252BPuting%25252BBat
o-77-sf.jpg&imgrefurl=http://fpj-daking.blogspot.com/2011/06/tundo-isla-puting-bato-1977-film-
by.html&h=800&w=493&tbnid=a_6hf5oHS0AaxM:&docid=u6IM3_uCbq4jUM&ei=dW3YVumyNYK60gSO95vgAw&t
bm=isch&ved=0ahUKEwipwe_h_qTLAhUCnZQKHY77BjwQMwgbKAAwAA
Title: Tatak ng Tundo

Director: Ronwaldo Reyes
Genre: Action
Starring: Fernando Poe Jr., Joseph Estrada,
Anna Marin, April Cezar, Divina
Valencia, Paquito Diaz,Van De Leon,
Anita Linda, Dencio Padilla, Nello
Nayo, Victor Bravo, Vic Varrion,
Virginia Montes, Ven Medina,
Nonoy De Guzman
Production Company: FPJ Productions
Title: Iyo ang Tondo, Kanya and Cavite

Director: Pablo Santiago
Genre: Action, Drama
Starring: Fernando Poe Jr., Ramon Revilla,
Anita Linda, Liza Lorena, Paquito
Diaz, Berting Labra, Ruel Vernal,
Lito Anzures, Victor Bravo, Lito
Garcia, Christopher Paloma,
Herminio ‘Butch’ Bautista, King
Gutierrez, Carmen Enriquez,
Willie Chavez
Production Company: FPJ Productions / Imus

Films (co-production)
________________________________
4 Tatak ng Tundo filmography: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401816/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

https://www.google.com.ph/imgres?imgurl=http://s3.amazonaws.com/shelfworthy/cache/raw/items/21aec3aa-e3e7-4e8a-
b21c-2179259666e8_size_640.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.shelfworthy.com/library/movies/942373-tatak-ng-
tundo/&h=750&w=500&tbnid=OfyMfn2pcdS4_M:&docid=FZvURQViR9aCaM&ei=xHPYVvbkN-
HtmQX_o4KQBw&tbm=isch&ved=0ahUKEwj21v3jhKXLAhXhdqYKHf-RAHIQMwgbKAEwAQ
5 Iyo ang Tondo, Kanya ang Cavite filmography: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0444199/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

htOyr6cgBuo/UjPGEzqpjpI/AAAAAAAABt8/BsWfN_X-
LiE/s1600/Iyo%252Bang%252BTundo%252BKanya%252Bang%252BCavite-86-%252BFPJ-
%252BRRevilla.jpg&imgrefurl=http://hopiamovies.blogspot.com/2013/09/iyo-ang-tondo-kanya-ang-cavite-
1986.html&h=400&w=299&tbnid=e1wA1IlYWdmqCM:&docid=epghq98FgpIHpM&ei=yHXYVrOSAoHz0ASUs62QB
w&tbm=isch&ved=0ahUKEwizls7ZhqXLAhWBOZQKHZRZC3IQMwgmKAwwDA
Title: Dito sa Pitong Gatang

Director: Pablo Santiago
Genre: Action, Comedy
Starring: Fernando Poe Jr., Nanette Medved,
Paquito Diaz, Harlene Bautista, Dencio
Padilla, Max Alvarado, Jose Romulo,
Ruel Vernal, Larry Silva, Dindo Arroyo,
Chinggay Riego, Robert Ortega, Vic
Varrion, Rene Hawkins, Nonoy De
Guzman
Title: Eseng ng Tondo

Director: Ronwaldo Reyes, Augusto Salvador
Genre: Action
Starring: Fernando Poe Jr., Ina Raymundo, Jenny
Syquia, Eddie Arenas, Bernard
Atienza, Tony Bernal, Tony Carreon,
Bing Davao, Ernie David, Romy Diaz,
Richard Duran, Gerald Ejercito,
Nanding Fernandez, Bong Francisco,
Leo Gamboa
Production Company: Viva Films /FPJ Productions
__
_________________________
6 Dito sa Pitong Gatang filmography: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377791/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Picture retrieved from: https://www.google.com.ph/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CckkpoYjd9I/ThxuS3--
rUI/AAAAAAAADdA/WX2IBke6rc8/s640/DITO%252BSA%252BPITONG%252BGATANG-
sf.jpg&imgrefurl=http://epbites.blogspot.com/2011/07/dito-sa-pitong-
gatang.html&h=400&w=254&tbnid=rs7YRtuUXP7w4M:&docid=CzZO5BQ7i-
3bBM&ei=KXvYVuehKIar0QTB04TgDA&tbm=isch&ved=0ahUKEwin2sHqi6XLAhWGVZQKHcEpAcwQMwghKAc
wBw
7 Eseng ng Tondo filmography: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377873/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

https://www.google.com.ph/imgres?imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nxUb2kYKSvI/R8bJ2N796OI/AAAAAAAAEaw/A
9C3sk8YY_8/s400/Eseng%252Bng%252BTundo%252B-97.jpg&imgrefurl=http://fpj-
daking.blogspot.com/2008/02/eseng-ng-tondo-on-march-1-at-cinema-fpj.html&h=400&w=225&tbnid=d7rmSQ-
1m68E6M:&docid=99C8OlHDdsNt6M&ei=mXzYVuTGN4TEmwWK0YqIDQ&tbm=isch&ved=0ahUKEwik942ajaXLA
hUE4qYKHYqoAtEQMwgyKAwwDA
Title: Pakners
Director: Tony Y. Reyes
Genre: Action, Comedy, Musical
Starring: Fernando Poe Jr., Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes,
January Isaac, Candy Pangilinan, Tiya
Pusit, Oyo Boy Sotto, Toni Gonzaga,
Johnny Delgado, Pocholo Montes, Dick
Israel, Romy Diaz, Rico J. Puno, Gerald
Ejercito, Remy Javier, J.R. Reyes
______________________________
8 Pakners filmography: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365609/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

ziZG9a9TjYk/URgK47PB9AI/AAAAAAAAAEM/PbTpcjHipaA/s1600/Pakners-%252B36%252Bx%252B24-
sf.jpg&imgrefurl=http://cinema-ofw.blogspot.com/2013/02/pakners-
2003.html&h=800&w=600&tbnid=fgXI6SYnlJAFWM:&docid=VaLRjUO-
BbLDIM&ei=Kn_YVqLkK8Xc0ATA97XgAw&tbm=isch&ved=0ahUKEwiioabTj6XLAhVFLpQKHcB7DTwQMwgaK
AAwAA
Appendices
Appendix C
Film Analysis Rubric

Appendices
Appendix D
Summary of FPJ’s “Tondo” Films
Ito ang Maynila (1963)
Two rural grown men, Nanding and Pepe take a leap of faith as they
move to the urban city of Manila. Living on the same slums, and similarities in
their backgrounds made the two instant friends. However, difficult life and vices
in the concrete have led the two men on different paths. The morally upright
Nanding is willing to walk down the longer, yet more honest path, while Pepe
took a shortcut and lead a life of crime. Principles clash as Nanding and Pepe
become more initiated into the challenges and glory of city life.
Tundo: Isla Puting Bato (1977)
Inmate Nanding recounts the events wherein he killed a man who
wronged his family, leading to his conviction. While Nanding is incarcerated,
Bito, the brother of the man who he killed and local mobster of his hometown
Isla Puting Bato comes after his own family. Bito rapes Nanding’s sister and
keeps a prisoner. Nanding escapes from prison to return to Isla Puting Bato and
save his family. He teams up with Concha, a victim of human trafficking, who is
on the run from her insidious brothel keeper.

Tatak ng Tundo (1978)
Pepe and Nanding are two true-blue Manilenos who were born in the
harsh slums of Tondo. They are drawn together as friends by the cynical state of
their environment, as they are often left to fend for each other. Fate separates the
two friends growing up as they took different paths of morality. Pepe
succumbed into his situation and chose a life of crime, and ironically, his best
friend became a crime buster. As Pepe descends deeper into immorality and
drifts further away from the law, Nanding sets out to save his best friend as fate
comes after Pepe for his transgressions.
Iyo ang Tundo, Kanya ang Cavite (1986)
Ex-convict Crisanto is a respected member of the community in Tondo
whose very own presence is enough to curb a riot. Bador, also an ex-convict is a
robin-hood like smuggler in Cavite, who constantly doles out to his needy
neighbours. Having once served time in the same cell, the two men were once
allies who had each other’s backs in the hostile environments of prison.
Manipulative rivals have brought the two men together once more, in a
conspiracy to get the two titans to clash against each other and, establish new
leaderships in their respective domains.

Dito sa Pitong Gatang (1992)
Chairman Berting is the charismatic leader of Barangay Pitong Gatang
in Tondo, Manila. His unyielding campaign against criminality, strict
observance of the law and father-like approach to his constituents’ problems has
made him a respected figure in the said barangay. Unknown to many, the good
chairman keeps a deep dark secret, which if revealed, could cause Nanding his
freedom and reputation. As Nanding pushes his crusade against forces that
disrupt his community, he has to settle his own demons as his past comes to
haunt him.
Eseng ng Tondo (1997)
Tinyente Eusebio “Eseng” Natividad is a Tondo-based policeman, who
has developed a reputation for being an excellent marksman, a just law enforcer,
and a caring leader figure among the locals of Tondo. Eseng’s wife, Digna,
almost falls prey to a gang of rapists who have spread fear among women all
over Manila – prompting Eseng to double-down in investigating the case and
finally bring these rapists into justice. Eseng’s efforts lead him to cross paths
with Elvie, a bar owner who is versed in Manila’s criminal underworld.
Pakners (2003)
Manuel is a ‘probinsyano’ whose dreams of providing better life for his
family lead him to Manila. He is scammed by an illegal recruiter and left to the
deceptive Manilenos who want to cheat him out of whatever little he has left.
Taking pity on Manuel, Nanding, jeepney driver and former billiard champion,
arrived to Manuel’s rescue and take him in like a brother. Unknown to Nanding,
Manuel himself is a billiard prodigy. When Nanding’s problematic nephew, PJ,
gets in trouble with billiard gamblers, Manuel uses his billiard prowess to
vindicate the teenager, and later on help Nanding come to terms with his past.

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL PAGE 1

A. Background and Rationale of the Study

Watching movies has become an integral part in the lives of Filipinos

(Sotto as cited in Tope, 2013). Watching a film is an experience, and movies

components where individuals, subcultures and communities can borrow to

make sense of the everyday experience (Parasecoli, 2009).

Fruchtl (2015) asserts that a feature film or motion picture relies on

the emerging figure of the hero that personifies a sociocultural whole, or an

individual who embodies a community, permitting a concept of reality.

hero. According to Henderson, there is a universal and common pattern in the

schemas have been ingrained in the human psyche, functioning as symbolic

comprehensive identity to what the personal ego lacks.

In a study conducted by Harvey, Erdos and Turnball (Davie, 2011), it

hero to attain a desired outcome. Therefore, heroism is defined as “a

combination of bravery or courage, altruism, a sense of duty or citizenship,

and a disregard for personal well-being.” However, as these characteristics

act to be heroic, Harvey et al. (as cited in Davie, 2011).

As feature film or motion picture relies on the figure of the hero

(Fruchtl, 2015), Wojcik (2014) stresses the historical interrelationship of

moving images in the form of film. According to Davies, this interplay is

dynamic, which is full of unfolding relationships and hidden depths. However,

we have of urban spaces is always a negotiation between various powers and

influences (Gieseking et. al., n.d.)

As cities are often made as a common backdrop found in film and

television programs, this proves that there is an undeniable link existing

part of a culture (Davies, 2009). In the Philippine landscape, city films

incorporate Manila not only as a site but as a character (Tolentino, 2012); as

space and moment (Flores, 2012); as an image machine that spontaneously

thwart the possibility of an exit against the helplessness of their condition

(Tolentino, 2010). In this concept, the presence of the hero as redeemer

circumstances of his audience (Tope, 2013).

In Exploring a Material World: Mise-en-scène, Corrigan and White

movie creates a truthful picture of a society, person, or some other dimensions

of life. It also refers to psychological or emotional accuracy (in characters),

recognizable or logical actions and developments (in a story), or convincing

realism is through the scenic realism of the mise-en-scène. Scenic realism

enables us to recognize sets and settings as accurate evocations of actual

places. Scenic realism is most commonly associated with:

• the physical accuracy of the backgrounds, objects, and other figures

• the cultural accuracy of the backgrounds, objects, and other figures

• the historical accuracy of the backgrounds, objects, and other figures

Moreover, Corrigan and White (2009) explain that the measure of

characters. Recognition of scenic realism frequently depends on the historical

mise-en-scène of a film also creates scenic atmosphere and connotations, those

feelings or meanings associated with particular sets or settings in a film.

Not only considered as one of the most mentioned historical places in

perennial choice of setting and atmosphere in many films, in both mainstream

and independent, particularly in FPJ films. In the Philippine cinema, the

district of Tondo in Manila has been a perennial choice of setting stimulating

poverty-stricken places; slum areas; gangs and killings; and less-fortunate

As Tondo is a perennial choice of setting in local films stimulating

in the Philippine cinema. However, the typical action-driven narrative

efficiently operates through a single hero that allows the audience to

characters he portrayed (Tope, 2013).

The discussion of the city is mainly used as a supplement to analyze a

reference to film and television as a source of information. More so to the

nexus of film as reference to other indirectly related disciplines such as the

geographical sciences, economics and philosophy — television (cinema) and

character is prominent in cinema particularly in action movies, works