The 1950s Filipino Komiks-to-Film Adaptation during the Studio Era

Abstract

This chapter explores the relationship between the komiks industry and the film industry in the Philippines during the peak of the 1950s studio era. The discussion outlines how stories from komiks published in magazines and dedicated publications served as source texts for these films. Drawn from earlier oral, theatre and folkloric sources, the komiks funnel story materials towards the films, thereby recycling the success of the texts in previous forms and recreating the genres as means of producing a distinctly Filipino vernacular modernism. It argues that the komiks-to-film adaptation highlights the ability of hybrid/adaptive forms to shape the national-popular imaginary.