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Why Is Heneral Luna A Hero

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Ann Marie Elaine D. Rafael
Associate Professor Nerisa del Carmen Guevara
Literature 103
04 October 2015
Heneral Luna: An Analysis of the Quest of a Hero Heneral Luna is a movie directed by Jerrold Tarog illustrating what happened after the long reign of the Spaniards in the Philippines, specifically the events during General Luna’s quest of clashing against the American colonizers. The film exhibited Luna’s remarkable military prowess and it also revealed that his fight was not only against the foreign invaders but also with the treacherous Filipinos within their ranks and even within the Philippine Revolutionary Government. General Antonio Luna is a hero that chose to undertake the journey because he intentionally set out to fight his country’s …show more content…

They are somehow preventing themselves from overcoming their unawareness and they are not making any move to remedy that problem. Next would be the Scapegoat, and it is, in my opinion, Emilio Aguinaldo. After the death of Antonio Luna, the immediate suspect was the president himself, even though he was in another place when the murder happened. And it is unfortunate that Aguinaldo is still blamed by society for the death of his comrade to this day, because until now, historians are still debating about the real culprit behind the crime. Next, the Creatures of Nightmare, or the minions of the Devil Figure, would be Pedro Janolino and the other men who contributed to the slaying of Antonio Luna. The movie also had its Woman Figures, particularly the Earthmother and the Temptress. The Earthmother is Doña Laureana Luna, Antonio Luna’s mother. Her appearance in the film was quite short but it was still very meaningful. She said consoling words to Luna when he needed it the most—it is very evident that even with his tough and arrogant persona, he is vulnerable and still needs his mother’s assurance. Now, the Temptress is Isabel, a woman that Luna was romantically involved with. Isabel is a member of the Red Cross and we can see in the movie that she is independent and does not need the support of Luna, unlike other women who need the constant presence of men in their lives. That is why I think she fits the archetype of the Temptress perfectly. Last but not the least the Hero of the movie is General Antonio Luna. He has gone beyond the normal range of achievement and experience (Campbell). He has done something phenomenal. And even though some may say that he is a clown because he did not accomplish his quest, I will still firmly state that he is a true hero—he just did not get to finish his adventure because of his assassination at the hands of his own, treacherous

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