Virtucio 1 Michael Benedict L. Virtucio Ms.

Kristine Marie Reynaldo English 11 WFY1 28 March 2014 World Building in Philippine Speculative Fiction Most probably, if someone is asked to think of a fantasy story in literature, the first thing that would come up to mind is Harry Potter, or The Lord of the Rings, or The Chronicles of

Narnia. This would show that the West has dominated fantasy literature for quite some time
now. But what about Philippine fantasy, or Philippine speculative fiction? The Philippines, actually, is not a stranger to this type of stories. As Dean Francis Alfar mentioned in his anthology of speculative fiction: The literature of the fantastic existed in these islands, long before the term speculative fiction was used. In the oral traditions of many parts of the Philippine archipelago, wonder tales and myths rubbed shoulders with horror stories about underworld denizens. Heroic legends were told and retold, while supernatural narratives were recounted. The Spanish brought stories of the miraculous along with the Christian faith, but even more fantastic stories were already flourishing in Muslim Mindanao (xi). Speculative fiction is a type of story that deals with the observation of the human condition, but offers the experience through a different lens (Dean Francis Alfar, Best of Phil

Spec Fic, xii). Speculative fiction includes fantasy, which covers magical and mythological
elements or anything that is out of this world, and science fiction, which is a type of story that projects future reality usually by introducing technology which would change the world. Both of these types of speculative fiction, especially fantasy, make use of world building. World building

Virtucio 2 is the process by which a writer constructs an imaginary setting wherein his story unfolds. This process is used in speculative fiction because the world in which the story takes place is usually important in the development of the plot. In the case of the Philippines, a country whose culture has been influenced by so many other cultures, most stories have high Western influences. Some examples of which are Philippine superheroes Darna and Captain Barbell who greatly resemble Wonder Woman and Superman respectively. These instances somehow question the identity of the Philippines when it comes to speculative fiction. The goal of this critical paper is to explore several pieces of Philippine speculative fiction and point out how world building is done in these stories. This paper also aims to explain how Philippine speculative fiction makes use of its national identity to develop its plot and expand on its theme. The first story I chose is Isabel Yaps Sink. Sink is a story on a single mother whose young son dies suddenly. In loneliness and in desperation, she asks someone, the Salesman, to bring her son back. In exchange for some amount of money, the Salesman comes up with a machine duplicate of the son whose actions are based on the memory of the mother. She struggles to live with this clone until the machine wears out and this is the moment when the mother is forced to move on and accept the ultimate fate of her son. The story is set in what seems to be modern day Philippines. But later on, as the plot unfolds and as the child is revealed to be a machine, it becomes evident that the story does not happen in the present. Some values that are clearly practiced in the Philippines can also be seen in the text such as the strong bond of the family, and the most prominent one in the story, the love of a mother for her son. Sink is an example of Philippine science fiction and the elements used in its world building are highly Filipino from the setting to the values presented.

Virtucio 3 Another interesting story of Philippine speculative fiction is Yvette Tans Sidhi. Set in Quiapo which used to be a center of business in the Philippines during the Spanish era, the story starts in an apartment which is made dark due to the sensitivity to light of Noah, the Dreamer. It turns out to be the day of a festival and the characters then explore the streets of Quiapo where the event is being held. The festival being celebrated is in commemoration of Sta. Teresa, the Abandoned Child, which is supposed to be a religious event. However, it is shown that this festival does not really promote Christianity; instead it promotes paganism, magic and hedonism. The society that Yvette Tan projects in the story is one that displays decay in morality and a patronage to pleasure. As part of the world building of the story, the characters appear to be human but have supernatural abilities. The Dreamer, for example, supposedly has powers to share his dreams and grant temporary salvation to people. Also, creatures in Philippine folklore like the tikbalang are presented in the story to show that this is a time where the supernatural and the humans live together. Though set in the future, the society seems kind of backward and chaotic since there appear to be no rules and people are very much free to do whatever they want in contrast to an organized and peaceful society that exists at present. This piece of speculative fiction is one that shows the darker side of Philippine culture and is an example of high fantasy. Lastly, I chose Dean Francis Alfars The Kite of Stars. Set in a place which seems to be the Philippines in the Spanish era, the story follows a young woman and her companion who journey to different places in the world for 60 years just to collect materials for a kite designed to carry a person. This woman goes through all this effort just to be noticed by a man who has eyes only for the stars.

Virtucio 4 Though not talked about in length in the story, the two protagonists went through a lot in their adventure. During their quest, the pair faced many characters and went to many places inspired by Philippine folklore such as the cerena, Palaoan, MArinduque and many others mentioned in the text. This story also reflects individualism, as can be seen by the womans decision to leave the city in search of her own fortune, and feminism, as can be seen simply in the gap in the age of maturity considered by the society for men which is 20 years old and for women which is 16 years old. These two ideologies are actually prominent in the Philippines. This setting and the ideologies presented in The Kite of Stars is very telling of the kind of world that is built for the story. The Kite of Stars shows a place and a people that can more or less be considered Filipino. In contrast with Sidhi, The Kite of Stars displays Philippine culture in a brighter and more colorful light. The texts presented clearly show that the Philippines has its own identity and it is with this identity that the worlds in the stories are set. The settings presented are highly Filipino, places such as Quiapo and the iconic Pasig River is presented in Sidhi while Batangas and Greenhills are mentioned in Sink. A lot of Filipino values presented in the texts can also be seen such as feminism, the closeness of the family and the torpe behavior of Filipino men. In synthesis, Philippine speculative fiction may hold fragments of Western influence but nevertheless, the Philippines imprints its own identity on its stories. Any piece of Western influence may it be Spanish, American or of any other country that has deep ties with the Philippines is actually part of the established Filipino identity that exists in the present. Included in this identity are culture, history, traditions, folklore and mythology which may or may not have changed throughout the years. This is also mentioned by Dean Francis Alfar in the preface of his anthology: We are a people of mountain, sky, and sea, and our oldest stories took in elements of the other cultures that came to our shores (Dean Francis Alfar, Best of Phil Spec

Virtucio 5

Fic, xi). This identity is what makes the worlds built in Philippine speculative fiction unique and
different from the literature of Western countries and from the stories of anyone else.

Virtucio 6 Works Cited Alfar, Dean Francis and Alfar, Nikki, Eds. The Best of Philippine Speculative Fiction 2005-2010. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2013. Print. Alfar, Dean Francis. The Kite of Stars. The Kite of Stars and Other Stories. Pasig City: Anvil Publishing Inc., 2008. 1-13. Print. Tan, Yvette. "Sidhi." The Best of Philippine Speculative Fiction 2005-2010. Eds. Dean Francis Alfar and Nikki Alfar. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2013. 278-295. Print. Yap, Isabel. "Sink." The Best of Philippine Speculative Fiction 2005-2010. Eds. Dean Francis Alfar and Nikki Alfar. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2013. 184-195. Print.