IJCH 2016 Vol.2(3): 106-112 ISSN: 2382-6177
doi: 10.18178/ijch.2016.2.3.047

Tropical Dystopia: Prequel and Sequel to Filipino Postmodern Climate

Rhodora G. Magan
Abstract—This paper utilizes an expanded sense of the term dystopia. It begins from common associations such as chaos, disintegration, and disorder to the occasionally occurring term, necrophilia, among researches on dystopia. It is of key interest in the postmodern era to examine the degree of “egregiousness” the society has become since the modern period. The scope is not limited to assessing the era that followed right after the twentieth century as this study is built on the premise that today’s postmodern setup is Philippines’ metamorphosis from a dystopian past, and from the postmodern present another picture of the future can be gleaned which is of the same dystopian vein. This paper sought evidences proving the nation’s anti-utopian past, present and future from the characters, non-linear plot, and tropical images in Bob Ong’s novelette, Alamat ng Gubat (Legend of the Forest). The text which caricatures an Asian dystopia (as espoused in the title of this paper) streamlines the departure of an Oriental culture from an established set of events known as history that has been influenced by many cultures. Hence, history is responsible in shaping today’s dystopian society and in predicting another of the same situation.

Index Terms—Pastiche, intertextuality, nostalgia, postmodernism, nemesis of utopia, parody.

Rhodora G. Magan is with the Cebu Technological University-Cebu City, Philippines (e-mail: rod.megan@yahoo.com).

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Cite: Rhodora G. Magan, "Tropical Dystopia: Prequel and Sequel to Filipino Postmodern Climate," International Journal of Culture and History vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 106-112, 2016.

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