Tweaking the mermaid character

One of the most uniquely exotic and iconic film types on the local screen is the mermaid movie. Ever since National Artist for Film Gerry de Leon megged its initial and prime exemplar, “Dyesebel,” starring the young and lissome Edna Luna, the tragic tale of the mermaid both loved and feared by humankind has taken hold of the Filipino imagination and filled it with a seductive mix of superstition, fantasy, sex, drama and tragedy.

The mermaid as seductive and tragic heroine has been played again and again in different productions by new generations of nubile female stars, not just on the big screen, but more frequently these days on TV.

The latest version, “Aryana,” has just started telecasting, and it’s both interesting and instructive to see how it’s tweaked the old mermaid formula to make it fresh and appealing to today’s local viewing demographic.

Successful formula

Since today’s teleserye viewers are both young and female, the new series’ title character is a tween played by a former child actress.

As of this writing, the show has been concentrating on Aryana’s childhood years, but it appears that, aside from the developing tween aspect of its eventual characterization and storytelling, the show doesn’t intend to change the mermaid syndrome’s successful formula all that much.

Fantasy, melodrama, surreal supporting characters with magical powers, cataclysmic events, sinister subplots and extravagant emotionalizing still rule and carry the day. So, jump right in, the water’s fine!

What makes the mermaid drama, on the big and small screens so durable as an attention-grabber? De Leon’s original film, which effectively set the template for the film type, took great pains to cast the ethereal Luna in the title role.

With her large, twisting eyes and waif-like projection, she looked otherwordly and quite vulnerable. Thus, she made viewers feel protective, and they were incensed when the movie’s opportunistic characters trapped her and sold her to a traveling circus, which debased her into a sideshow attraction.

Thus, the Filipino mermaid character type has been made to symbolize other people who are “different” in various ways, and tend to be so helpless and trusting that they are often victimized by those who pretend to care for them.

In keeping with this haunting ethos, a new drama about mermaids would still be welcome and instructive in a fresh way if its central or side conflicts could be related to the currently topical issue of environmental degradation and the urgent need for us to protect the planet’s threatened ecosystem, and the vulnerable species who struggle to survive in it.

We hope that “Aryana” will find a way to address these topical and pressing concerns into the standard melodrama that it dispenses. The fact that its title character is very young should further underscore her vulnerability, and the need for us to protect helpless creatures like her. With these and other topical inputs, we can say that, yes, local TV could benefit from yet another drama series about mermaids!