Violence, satire, social activism, & metacinema as signature: A critical study of Mike de Leon's films

Date of Publication

8-2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Literature

Subject Categories

Film and Media Studies

College

College of Liberal Arts

Department/Unit

Literature

Thesis Adviser

Cloadualdo A. Del Mundo, Jr.

Defense Panel Chair

Shirley O. Lua

Defense Panel Member

Roland B. Tolentino
Miguel Q. Rapatan
Dinah T. Roma
Ronald Baytan

Abstract/Summary

This study, as the title implies, is a search for the Mike de Leon signature. Following the tenets of auteur criticism that proposes a film auteur to have an autonomous, original, and individual voice despite the nature of filmmaking as an art form that follows the Fordist model, this work looks at how De Leon’s artistic style has become the ordering agent for the unarguably collaborative medium of this art form.
The primary objective of this study is to examine the consistent core of thematic and stylistic motifs in De Leon’s films. This objective seeks to answer the main question, “What constitutes De Leon’s directorial signature?” By thematic motif I refer to the ‘what’ of De Leon’s films— the “content”, the narrative structure of his films, the recurring subject matters and issues in his body of work. Stylistic motif I use to refer to the ‘how’ of his art (composition, camera movements and angles, cinematography, production design, sound design, etc.). By exploring De Leon’s signature can one only claim what the artist’s personal vision is and how this vision is made evident in his cinematic signature.
This study also attempts to put under the lens De Leon’s signature and to confront the difficulty of assigning authorship within a collaborative, institutionalized medium. Authorship in the case of De Leon is quite possibly multiple, attributable not just to the director but to the input of the other involved personnel. How is De Leon’s signature fashioned out of the multiplicity of cooperation and conflict within the system he works with/against? His signature is tightly linked with several determinants namely: the commerce of the name Mike de Leon, multiple authorship, genre conventions, studio policy, etc. How do we locate the signature of De Leon given the many difficulties the surround the filmmaker within the landscape of Philippine cinema?

Abstract Format

html

Language

English

Format

Electronic

Accession Number

CDTG008238

Keywords

Mike De Leon; Motion pictures--Philippines; Violence in motion pictures

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Embargo Period

3-12-2025

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