What’s in a movie title?
“MY CACTUS HEART.” Is “foreign” better?
Our continuing focus on signs and symptoms of “colonial mentality” in Philippine entertainment and the arts takes us to the giveaway manner in which we think up titles for our movies. Recently, three popular films were given English titles: “My Cactus Heart,” “Unofficially Yours” and “Private (Praybeyt) Benjamin.”
(By the way, using “My” in a title has become a local sidebar quirk, with “Oh, My Girl” setting the pace, “My Amnesia Girl” following up, along with “My Big Love” and “My Only U”—and “My Kontrabida Girl” still waiting in the wings!)
Quite instructively, our informal research shows that the use of English titles for Filipino movies has been part of local tradition since “prewar” days. We reckon that some 20 to 30 percent of local movie titles aren’t local, but for the life of us sound like they’ve been minted in our local side street of Hollywood!
Reason
The reason is all too obvious: Since “foreign” means “better” in these parts, the use of an English title suggests that the film in question is more trendy, sophisticated, with-it, stylish, sosyal and generally better than if the same film had been titled in the vernacular.
For instance, a romantic drama that could very well have been titled “Mahal Na Mahal Kita” ostensibly sounds “better” in translation or trendier “approximation” in English—“I Do Love You,” “My Pledge of Love,” “True Love,” “I Adore You,” “Love Is For The Two Of Us,” “From the Bottom of My Heart,” “Give Me Your Love,” “I Love You, Honey” (actual local movie titles, would you believe?)!
Action flicks
“MY KONTRABIDA GIRL.” Waiting in the wings.
Local action flicks have been similarly partial to English or English-ized titles, to make them sound like action-adventure Hollywood blockbusters—“The Pushers,” “Magnificent Convict,” “Inside Job,” “Kidnappers,” “Ransom,” “Combat Snipers,” “Contraband,” “The Sky Divers,” “Deadly Fighters,” “Spy Hunt,” “Counter Attack,” “Shotgun Kid,” “Arizona Kid,” “Manhunt” and “Crisis”—!
And, local movie producers seem to believe that, if they give their sex flicks English titles, they will seduce viewers with the promise of extra, “imported” sizzle—to wit: “The Climax of Love,” “The Strip Teaser,” “Devil Woman,” “Three Nights of Love,” “Love for Hire,” “Playgirls in the Night,” “Psycho Sex Killer,” “Lovers’ Hideaway,” “Bar Girl,” “Nympho,” “Hot Angels,” “She Walked By Night,” “Inferno,” “Diamonds Are For Eva” and “Sinner or Saint”!
Is it time to stop thinking so “colonially”? Kahapon pa!
