My first lesson in Adm420

Even though this is the 2nd week of school, today is my first lesson of adm420. A blur me indeed, late into the class and without any lesson notes, i stepped into the lecture room just in time to catch the "12 stories" movie playing. Without any ADM background, i watched the movie just like a casual audience looking for just pure entertainment.

12 STORIES....

Well, this is my first time watching Eric Khoo's "12 stories" and also the first time watching a Singapore-Based film. Sad to admit, i had been one of the many Singaporeans to be ashamed of Singapore very own film. What seems to be the reason? ... Well, maybe we Singaporeans are just afraid of acknowledging our own culture(urine behaviors in the life, 4-D gambling-obsessed uncles, obsenities-speaking ah bengs). However, what "12 stories" illustrate is quite an actual reality of Singapore. No nation's culture is as perfect as on the surface. Through this course, i learnt to appreciate my own Singapore beauty through the movie.

Yes, more than 70% of Singapore population lived in HDB today. But behind every household, there seems to always have a story behind it.

There are basically 4 main protagonists in "12 stories", being the spirit, the faithful brother, the disgruntled couple and the lonely loveless depressed spinister respectively. Behind the story Eric tried to depict, it reflected their respective dreams.



Invisible Cities....

Invisible cities are one of the few documents about Singapore that I watched. Before this documents, I never stop to think about the fast pace of development; how cultures buildings and environments are sacrificed for industrialization and nation building. Until this documents, I gained my insight on how fragile histories are, only to be remembered through memories and artifacts, and many soon be forgotten over times.

Photographs, artifacts and recounts are usually the medium we seek our knowledge of the past from. From the movie, we can see a number of different individuals being interviewed. Retied photographers, pervious Chinese school protestors and even the Japanese news reporter gave greater insights to the previous history collections.

Their dreams: Even though their agendas may differ, they share the same dream. Retired photographers took photos of the buildings they seen in the past as they foresee changes that could happen when the buildings are demolished over time. Those previous Chinese school protestors hope to regain their pride and glory of the olden days and wished to pass on the time history to the current generation even when they passed away.

History is something we should learnt about, no matter how ugly the truth may seen. The Japanese news journalist wrote about the recounts f a sufferer of the Japanese occupation period. Her agenda is simple. She hoped to pass on the truth and learning histories to her citizens.

When we finally reached the end of the 1-hour documentary, we will realize behind all these people, their dreams are united. They seek to preserve the memories of the past and let the story continue.