I was filled with feelings of dismay and dread when I saw last Nov. 25 in an episode of a popular telenovela (with a “motherly” title) a scene depicting the brutality of man against man. A barangay chair and a policeman, inside a safe house, were about to bring back home victims of child slavery who had escaped from their abductors when a group of armed men attacked and killed them.
Even more appalling was, as the scene winded up, the mother of one of the children, in trying to shield the children, was also gunned down by the armed group, some of whose members were in police uniform pretending to be in a mission to rescue the children.
The fact is, gruesome scenes like this have become commonplace around us these days, bringing home the message that we are going back to the lowest depths of civilization. Yes, we hear every day of massacres, extrajudicial killings and other heinous crimes. So we are forced to accept that “that’s reality.”
Still, the unrestrained bloodletting we see in reality does not justify their indiscriminate depiction on TV or media, for that matter. Not even in the name of art. There are ways for wholesome entertainment to flourish.
Do the promoters of teleseryes care enough to protect the welfare of the actor-participants, especially the children portraying “victim” roles? They could be the ones most likely to get traumatized by such macabre scenes, even if they are acting out the roles. Viewers deserve more meaningful forms of entertainment that enrich their cultural wellbeing.
Paging the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board to do its job conscientiously.
NESTY REYES,
Molino 2, Bacoor City