Of Drag-racing Tikbalang and Chocnut-eating Nuno
Of Drag-racing Tikbalang and Chocnut-eating Nuno: The Contemporization of Philippine Mythology in the Graphic Novel Trese
Agustin, D. T. (2011). Of Drag-racing Tikbalang and Chocnut-eating Nuno: The Contemporization of Philippine Mythology in the Graphic Novel Trese. Unpublished undergraduate thesis, University of the Philippines Diliman - College of Mass Communication, Quezon City
This thesis explores how the graphic novel as a form of mass communication contemporizes Philippine mythology for 21st century Filipino society. Through the increasingly popularized graphic novel, the creatures of lower mythology are viable cultural artifacts that preserve and promote national identity. Trese, a local crime-fantasy graphic novel series by Ferdinand-Benedict "Budjette" Tan and Jonathan "Kajo" Baldisimo, is the catalyst for this cultural promotion and preservation. The path to contemporization was outlined through the semiotic concepts of denotation and connotation, and modality and representation, operating under the umbrella theory of Barthesian polysemy. Using these concepts, the thesis asserts that contemporization of the creatures of lower mythology can be achieved through the persistence of similarities, emergence of differences, and convergence of reality and fantasy. Through analysis of pertinent stories in the series against research by folklorist Maximo Ramos, it was discovered that the creatures of lower mythology were modernized through the revision of environment, inorganic external appearance, and the usage of human technology, and the retention of traditional character traits, both of which were supported further by the decidedly globalized art style of Trese.
Subject Index : Graphic novels--Philippines, Mythology, Philippine