Torture in Martial Law Cinema
Article
In the context of the broad historical amnesia and authoritarian nostalgia that attended the rehabilitation of the Marcoses in Philippine politics, the filmic representation of torture has served as a crucial element in constructing the memory of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. This article examines how torture in Martial Law cinema contributes to the cultivation of the public’s historical consciousness about the dictatorship. Touching on significant concerns about the representability of political violence and trauma, sense memory, and the question of sensationalism, the article analyzes the film ML (2018) by Benedict Mique, which graphically portrays Martial Law torture through conventions associated with torture porn. It highlights how the film’s explicit reenactment of political violence engenders reflections about the crisis of historical memory, and the continuities between Marcos Sr.’s dictatorial rule and fascist violence under the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte. The article explores how such generic adherence to violent cinema can advance our understanding of the complex sensory dynamics of filmic spectacle in shaping political memory and articulating socio-political commentary.
Queer Love and Urban Intimacies in Martial Law Manila
Article
This article examines certain representations of Metropolitan Manila and the city’s queer intimacies during Martial Law. In particular, it analyzes Ishmael Bernal’s film Manila By Night (1980) and Jessica Hagedorn’s novel Dogeaters (1990).
Released during a time when the Marcoses secured rule through an over-production of their “love team,” and by IMF supported justifications for molding a “beautiful and efficient” Manila, Manila By Night challenges disciplinary plans for the city and its populace through the presence of queer characters that unabashedly love the dirty, dysfunctional and impoverished city. In a similar vein, Dogeaters incorporates characters that practice queer love as they navigate a version of Manila antithetical to the one the government and the neo-colonial elite produced for the West. Although coming from different genres, it is perhaps unsurprising that both Manila by Night and Dogeaters center on Manila as the quintessential space for queer revolutionary politics. Bernal and Hagedorn re-imagine Manila as connecting militant forms of queerness across geo-political spaces and temporalities. Both works also highlight the utility of a queer diasporic framework to understanding revolutionary politics during dictatorial rule.
