The following is an excerpt from an article I wrote for The Aswang Project, Modern Interpretations of the Tungkung Langit and Alunsina Story, where I break down the theoretical framework of theater productions and my own adaptations of the story. It is taken from my research promoting Philippine mythology and storytelling through interactive art. If you are not familiar with the story, you may read it here.
"Hindi sa pagtakas o paglipad masasagot ng hangin ang hinahanap. Hindi sa pagpapanggap o pagpapakatatag mabibilang ang kayang iluha at itumba ng tadhana. Marahil tayo nga ay nawawala pa at marami pang hinahap."
- Alunsina, Alunsina Desap (Ramirez, 2011)
“Alunsina Desap” showcases the richness of Philippine mythology through the character of Caloy, a Literature major who acts as a commentator of the play itself as the events unfold. He gets to meet Alunsina and immediately recognizes her as a character from mythology. Set in the hyperreal, Alunsina comes in contact with the people “our world”, who just like Alunsina, are either missing, losing direction, or in search for something or someone.
The play then becomes self-reflexive as Caloy makes a commentary on other works of literature sharing the experience of loss and being lost, hence the name “Desap”, which refers to desaparecidos or a disappeared person.
Toward the end of the play, he comes to the conclusion that he--along with the rest of the characters--are all products of the world that was created in the myth; while the gods themselves are in turn products of the imagination of those who invented their story. This creates a riddle of causality, parallel to the chicken and egg question.
These postmodern literary devices however were not merely stylistic additions. Each serve a role in the story. This revelation lead Alunsina to discover that though she is just a made up character, she has the power to choose her next move. Having developed compassion for the other characters, Alunsina chose the creation of the universe as we know it over being reunited with Tungkung Langit, even if it means she would be wandering forever, in the hopes that the lost would find what they are looking for by the time she finally returns to Tungkung Langit once and for all. By doing so, she reminds the characters that they too have the power to choose their destiny, because Alunsina's story is also their making.
“… Pero ako’y nagkapagpasiya nang makipaghiwalay kay Tungkung Langit pagkat pipiliin ko pa ring malikha ang mundo ninyo. Kayo ang dapat na mapagpasiya at kayo ang tunay na gagawa ng inyong kapalaran. Hindi kaming mga diyos o Bathala. Andito kami para kayo’y gabayan at tandaan nyo, ang aming mga tadhana ay inyo ring gawa.”
- Alunsina, “Alunsina Desap” (Ramirez, 2011)
It must be noted however that though the play makes use of postmodern literary devices, the play itself may be more fitting as post-postmodern literature. While postmodernism leaves the audience with a lot of morally ambiguous questions, modernism actually gives the audience answers.
Though some do not believe in post-postmodernism, arguing that it is just a return to modernism, post-postmodernism makes use of postmodern stylistic devices. Yet whereas the irony and cynicism that characterizes postmodernism tends to render the work as rather nihilistic, post-postmodernism transcends this with modernist sincerity and faith (Barker, n.d.). “Alunsina Desap” ends on a positive note based on compassion and hope for the lost.
University of the Philippines Los Banos (2019). Alunsina Desap uplb. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOavnd8ECuw [Accessed 20 May 2019].
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